Recaps

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville visited Hagrid to ask about magical creatures that could live for more than a thousand years and petrify their victims. Hagrid listed several possibilities, then realized they might be investigating the creature that petrified Mrs. Norris and asked whether they suspected a monster from the Chamber of Secrets.

• Hagrid welcomed Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville to his hut and mentioned that all his roosters had mysteriously died.
• Hermione asked Hagrid which magical creatures could live for more than a thousand years, claiming the group was considering Care of Magical Creatures.
• Hagrid named phoenixes, sphinxes, and runespoors as long-lived creatures, but the four students thought they did not fit the clues.
• Ron asked about Medusas, and Hagrid explained that Gorgons could live for over a thousand years and had a deadly petrifying gaze.
• Hagrid stopped and asked whether the students suspected that a monster from the Chamber of Secrets had petrified Mrs. Norris.

Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione suspected Draco Malfoy of opening the Chamber of Secrets, but they had no proof. Hermione proposed using Polyjuice Potion to question him, and Harry offered to sneak into the Restricted Section to copy its recipe.

• Ron and Neville supported the theory that Draco Malfoy had opened the Chamber of Secrets, citing his prejudice and his father Lucius’s ties to Voldemort.
• Harry pointed out they had no way to prove Draco’s guilt or make him confess, so Hermione suggested they might question him indirectly.
• Hermione proposed using Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Slytherin students and question Draco, though brewing it would require a restricted book and difficult-to-find ingredients.
• Harry offered to use his invisibility to enter the Restricted Section and copy the recipe from Moste Potente Potions.

Hermione began researching the Polyjuice Potion while Hogwarts students speculated about Slytherin’s heir and ranked the likely suspects. As Quidditch season approached, Harry resolved to help Oliver Wood win the House Cup despite the challenge posed by the rival team’s new brooms.

• Hermione estimated that brewing the Polyjuice Potion would take six to seven weeks and took charge of researching it.
• Rumors about Slytherin’s heir spread through Hogwarts, and students made a suspect ranking that placed Dulang Shafiq first, Draco Malfoy second, and Harry third.
• The Twins and Lee Jordan repeatedly asked Harry whether he was Slytherin’s heir.
• With Quidditch matches nearing, Oliver Wood focused on winning the House Cup, and Harry resolved to help him.
• Seven Nimbus 2000 and Ones appeared, and most Hogwarts students doubted Harry’s team could win despite its hard training.

Harry won Gryffindor’s Quidditch match against Slytherin in under two minutes on the experimental Firebolt Neville had given him. As the celebration began, a rogue Bludger struck Harry’s arm and knocked him off his broom, leaving him dangling in the air in severe pain.

• Hermione learned that Neville had kept quiet for two months about his aunt giving him an experimental Firebolt, which Neville had passed on to Harry.
• Harry, Ron, and Oliver secretly tested the Firebolt, and Oliver decided to keep its exceptional speed a secret from the rest of the team.
• Harry outflew Draco Malfoy and caught the Snitch less than two minutes into the match, giving Gryffindor a 160–0 victory.
• A Bludger continued flying after the match and struck Harry’s arm as he held the Snitch.
• Harry hooked his foot around his broomstick to avoid falling outright, but his injured arm left him dangling in the air.

After Lockhart accidentally removed all the bones from Harry’s broken arm, Harry spent the night in the Hospital Wing drinking Skele-Gro and enduring the pain as his bones regrew. He realized that the Bludger had been tampered with, but Professor McGonagall had destroyed it before anyone could investigate.

• Lockhart ignored Harry’s protests and cast a spell that removed every bone from Harry’s right arm.
• Harry was taken to the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey gave him Skele-Gro to regrow his bones.
• Harry repeatedly blamed Oliver, Angelina, and his other teammates for failing to stop Lockhart.
• Unable to sleep through the pain, Harry recalled that the Bludger had pursued him throughout the match and concluded that someone had tampered with it.
• Harry remembered that Professor McGonagall had blasted the Bludger apart, leaving no way to examine it.

Harry confronted Dobby in the Hogwarts hospital wing and learned that Dobby had tried to keep him away from the school because of a danger linked to the Chamber of Secrets. Dobby begged Harry to leave, but Harry refused because his friends were in danger too.

• Harry discovered Dobby beside his hospital bed and questioned him about sealing the platform barrier.
• Dobby admitted he had blocked Harry from reaching Hogwarts and said he had come to save Harry from danger at the school.
• Harry asked whether the danger involved the Chamber of Secrets, and Dobby refused to explain further while urging him to go home.
• Harry gave Dobby a healing potion for the burns he had inflicted on his hands as punishment for visiting without his master's permission.
• Dobby admitted he had caused the Bludger to injure Harry so that he would leave Hogwarts, but Harry refused to abandon his friends.

After Colin was petrified in an attack, Harry told Gryffindor about the danger and realized the attacker might have been targeting him. As suspicion shifted toward Draco, Hermione pressed ahead with the Polyjuice Potion plan to investigate him.

• Harry left the Hospital Wing after learning Colin had been petrified and returned to the Gryffindor Common Room.
• Harry told Ron, Hermione, Neville, and the Twins what he had learned, and the news spread through the school.
• Ron, Hermione, and Neville considered whether the attacker had targeted Colin or Harry, while Harry described Dobby’s warning and the others discussed the house-elf’s unusual defiance.
• Hermione urged the group to finish the Polyjuice Potion so they could investigate whether Draco had opened the Chamber of Secrets.
• After Colin’s attack, more students suspected Draco and fewer suspected Shafiq or Harry, though some still considered Harry a likely attacker.

Hermione brewed the Polyjuice Potion while Harry, Ron, and Neville studied, and Gryffindor defeated Ravenclaw after Ron made an exceptional series of saves. Harry later gained an initial grasp of Lightning Storm, but discovered he lacked the magical power to sustain it.

• Hermione began brewing the Polyjuice Potion after practicing with substitute ingredients, while Harry, Ron, and Neville focused on their studies.
• Harry and Ron used the Marauders' notebook to improve their Transfiguration and earn Gryffindor points.
• Oliver Wood was injured during Potions class, so Ron started as Keeper in Gryffindor's match against Ravenclaw.
• Ron made fifteen saves as Gryffindor built a commanding lead, and Harry caught the Snitch to secure a 260–50 victory.
• Ron gained fans, Hermione remained busy with the potion, and Harry continued studying with Miss Padma's help and the Marauders' notebook.
• Harry began to understand Lightning Storm and sensed thunderclouds gathering when he cast it, but he lacked enough magical power to sustain the spell.

Harry studied the Patronus Charm and other magic from the Marauders' notes, but his practice produced only a faint beam of light. A school notice announced that Hogwarts would reopen the Duelling Club, which had been closed after students were injured while practising offensive spells.

• Harry learned from the Marauders' notes that white magic relied on positive emotions, while dark magic relied on negative ones, and that protective magic was only one branch of white magic.
• Harry began practising the Patronus Charm, but his attempts produced only a weak light that he doubted could block a curse.
• Harry found the Sword Beam Charm easier to learn and used it to help Hagrid cut pumpkins.
• Hogwarts announced that it would reopen the Duelling Club to help students respond to danger.
• The chapter explained that the club had closed during Armando Dippet's tenure after students injured one another while practising powerful offensive spells.

Lockhart opened the Duelling Club with Snape as his assistant, and Harry used Magic Perception to study them as they prepared to duel. Harry found that both professors had powerful magical flames, but he had not yet worked out what was odd about Lockhart.

• Lockhart announced that Dumbledore had approved his Duelling Club and said he had applied to reopen it.
• Lockhart introduced Snape as his assistant, while Ron, Harry, and Neville privately hoped both professors would get hurt.
• Lockhart explained duelling etiquette and the modern procedure before he and Snape took their stances.
• Harry activated Magic Perception and recalled that Lockhart had shown unusually powerful magic and Soul Projection during earlier lessons.
• Harry examined Lockhart and Snape and saw that their Magical Flames were about as large as McGonagall's and Flitwick's.

At the Duelling Club, Lockhart covered for his poor showing against Snape before setting the students to practice. Snape arranged new opponents for Harry and Hermione, leaving Harry facing Draco as Draco nervously reminded him to use magic.

• Snape sent Lockhart flying with a spell, but Lockhart got up and claimed he had let the spell hit him for the students’ benefit.
• Lockhart ended the demonstration and began pairing students for practice, while Harry switched off Magic Perception because it was giving him a headache.
• Snape argued that Harry and Ron should not spar together and suggested that Hermione face Millicent Bulstrode instead.
• Snape paired Harry with Draco, referring to their previous first-year encounter, and Harry raised his fists as Draco warned him that this was a wizard’s duel.

Harry dodged Draco’s spell and disarmed him in their practice duel, but Draco recovered and attacked with a bird-shaped stream of fire. Harry had to choose how to defend against the flames.

• Harry used his reflexes to dodge Draco’s spell on the stage.
• Harry cast Expelliarmus, knocking Draco’s wand away and sending him flying as the Gryffindors cheered.
• Draco stood up, retrieved his wand, and revealed a rubber cord attached to it.
• Draco cast the Fire-Making Spell and shaped its flames into a large bird that flew toward Harry.
• Harry considered using a shield, but knew he could not reliably use the Fire-Control Charm.

Draco conjured a giant black snake with Dark Magic, and Lockhart’s spell made it grow larger. Harry stopped the snake and heard it speak, prompting Snape to destroy it; the students reacted to Harry with horror, and Hermione rushed onto the stage.

• Draco summoned a huge black snake from his wand, and Harry sensed traces of black threads in Draco’s Magical Flame.
• Lockhart struck the snake with a spell, but it grew from nearly five meters to over eight.
• Harry told the enraged snake to stay still, and it obeyed before telling him that its body hurt.
• Snape destroyed the snake with a gray-black spell and stared at Harry in shock.
• Ron, Neville, and the other students looked at Harry with horror, and Hermione rushed onto the stage.

After Harry spoke Parseltongue at the Duelling Club, most students began to suspect he was Slytherin’s heir, and Harry started questioning whether it might be true. He left the library amid classmates’ awkward assurances of trust, then recalled that he could speak Parseltongue only to snakes.

• After the Duelling Club, students increasingly believed Harry was Slytherin’s heir, and Harry wondered whether the Sorting Hat had originally considered placing him in Slytherin.
• In the library, Justin Finch-Fletchley thanked Harry for stopping the snake but said he still thought Harry might be Slytherin’s heir.
• Seeing students watch him, Harry told Padma he was leaving; Padma and Sally Turpin assured him they trusted him.
• Back in his dormitory, Harry recalled testing his Parseltongue with Ron and the others and realizing he could not speak it to people.
• Harry remembered that he had successfully spoken Parseltongue to Hermione’s transfigured snake, though the language sounded like fierce hissing.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville deduced that the Chamber of Secrets monster traveled through the Castle’s pipes and identified it as a Basilisk. They learned how deadly and enormous the creature could be, but its whereabouts remained unknown.

• Hermione realized the monster was a giant snake that could move unseen through the Castle’s pipes.
• Harry, Ron, and Neville agreed with Hermione’s explanation and joined her in searching the Library for the snake’s identity.
• The four found a book on dangerous magical creatures and discovered that the monster was a Basilisk.
• They read that Basilisks could grow over fifty feet long, carried lethal venom, and could kill with their gaze.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville told Professor McGonagall that they had identified the Chamber of Secrets monster as a basilisk. She took them to Dumbledore’s office to inform him and summon the other professors.

• Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville rushed to Professor McGonagall’s office and announced that they knew what the Chamber of Secrets monster was.
• Professor McGonagall believed their certainty, summoned Borl, and asked him to notify Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and Snape.
• Professor McGonagall led the four students to Dumbledore’s office, where Harry noticed that the password was a dessert.
• Professor McGonagall served tea while Harry and the others looked around Dumbledore’s office and noticed the Sorting Hat and an ugly red bird on a perch.

Harry and the other three young wizards reported their discoveries about the basilisk to Dumbledore and the Heads of House, who planned to deal with it. The discussion paused when Fawkes burst into flames and began his rebirth.

• Harry and the other three young wizards recounted their discoveries to Dumbledore and the Heads of House.
• Dumbledore praised their deductions and asked Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick to handle the basilisk.
• Professor Flitwick suggested preserving the thousand-year-old basilisk as a specimen, while Snape said it was not worth Dumbledore's intervention.
• Fawkes burst into flames as everyone in the Headmaster's Office watched.
• Fawkes became a heap of ashes in the golden tray.

Professor Flitwick revealed the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets and protected Harry and the others from its deadly gaze with the Holy Spirit Barrier. As the other professors arrived, the basilisk suddenly lunged at Flitwick, leaving Harry unable to react.

• Professor Flitwick cast the Holy Spirit Barrier on himself and Harry, explaining that it could block a basilisk’s deadly gaze.
• Professor Flitwick tore open the wall and pipe, revealing a huge male basilisk.
• Harry met the basilisk’s yellow eyes, but the barrier held and he remained unharmed.
• Professor Sprout, the other Heads of House, Hermione, and two other youngsters arrived under the protection of the same barrier.
• Professor Flitwick declined Professor Sprout’s offer of help and turned toward the group, giving the basilisk an opening to lunge at him.

A preserved basilisk was displayed at Hogwarts with a plaque crediting Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Neville Longbottom for identifying it and Professor Filius Flitwick for killing it. The four students received Special Contribution Medals and praise from their families, while Ron got an unexpectedly affectionate Howler from Mrs. Weasley.

• Students at Hogwarts gathered to marvel at the giant basilisk preserved in amber and read the account of how the culprit had been exposed and killed.
• Lockhart claimed he had identified the basilisk and intended to capture it, but most students dismissed his boast.
• Dumbledore awarded Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Neville Longbottom Hogwarts Special Contribution Medals and wrote to their guardians.
• Neville received treats from his grandmother, and Hermione received a proud but concerned letter from her parents.
• Ron received a Howler in which Mrs. Weasley praised him warmly.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville visited Hagrid after he invited them with an unusually fancy note, and learned how Hagrid had been blamed for the Chamber of Secrets attacks fifty years earlier. Ron recognized the name Tom Riddle from a trophy in Hogwarts, leaving Hagrid horrified and the others wondering why the name mattered.

• Hedwig delivered Harry an elegant note from Hagrid inviting him and his friends to visit.
• Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville went to Hagrid's Hut, where Hagrid tearfully thanked them for solving the basilisk attacks.
• Hagrid explained that fifty years earlier he had been blamed for opening the Chamber of Secrets, expelled, and spared Azkaban through Dumbledore's support.
• Hagrid recalled that Tom Riddle had accused him of opening the Chamber, and Ron said the name sounded familiar.
• Ron remembered seeing Tom Riddle's name in the Trophy Room while cleaning trophies as punishment, and Hagrid reacted with horror.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville learned that Hagrid had kept Aragog, an Acromantula, in the Forbidden Forest and found him a mate. Hermione warned Hagrid that the spider colony could threaten people and told him to control its population.

• Hagrid admitted he had been expelled from Hogwarts for keeping dangerous creatures, though Dumbledore had believed he was not the murderer.
• Hermione asked what had happened to the Acromantula, and Hagrid revealed that Aragog had escaped and lived in the Forbidden Forest.
• Harry and the others realized that Aragog might explain the many spiderwebs and spiders near Hogwarts.
• Hagrid said Aragog was male and revealed that he had found him a mate, leaving the others alarmed.
• Hermione warned Hagrid that Acromantulas reproduced rapidly and might have harmed people beyond the forest, then urged him to control their numbers.

Harry suspected that his Parseltongue came from a fragment of Voldemort’s soul inside his mind, while Ginny confronted Tom in a mirror about the attacks. The mirror image denied responsibility, but Ginny pointed out that she had lost time whenever the attacks occurred.

• Harry reasoned that the fragment of Voldemort’s soul in his mental world likely explained his ability to speak Parseltongue.
• Harry compared Voldemort’s fragment with Neil’s stronger soul fragment, which had given him knowledge including the Meditation Method, Occlumency, and the Aegean language.
• Ginny Weasley angrily asked Tom in a mirror whether he had caused the earlier attacks.
• Tom’s mirror image denied responsibility and claimed that a memory could not act on its own.
• Ginny told Tom that she had lost her memory around the attacks on Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey, and had been in the corridor late on the night of the latest incident.

Tom Riddle, inhabiting Ginny Weasley, inspected the petrified Basilisk and recognized Harry Potter and Severus Snape as threats. After Snape passed him, Tom returned toward the Common Room, while Snape resolved to watch Ginny in class.

• Tom Riddle left the Gryffindor Common Room carrying the black notebook and went to see the Basilisk encased in amber.
• Tom reflected that Harry Potter had defeated his future self and resolved to be cautious at Hogwarts.
• Severus Snape confronted Tom, who pretended to be Ginny and said he was returning to the Common Room.
• Tom suspected Snape had powerful Occlumency and Legilimency, while Snape sensed gloom in Ginny and decided to pay attention in class.
• Ron stood on a table in the Gryffindor Common Room and retold how Professor Flitwick had defeated the Basilisk.

Harry, Ron, and Neville planned to leave Hogwarts for Christmas, while Fred and George prepared to put their inventions into practice with Harry’s help. Hermione learned that Draco would be staying at school because his parents had to leave the United Kingdom.

• Mr. and Mrs. Weasley planned to give Ron an owl for Christmas, so Ron decided to go home and choose one.
• Fred and George solved the problems with their inventions after months of research and help from Bill, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick.
• Fred and George invited Harry to join them at Christmas to help put their plans into practice.
• Harry, Ron, and Neville planned to leave Hogwarts for the holidays, with Neville looking forward to seeing the Wimbourne Wasps play.
• Hermione learned that Lucius Malfoy and his wife would leave the United Kingdom over Christmas, leaving Draco at Hogwarts.

With the Chamber of Secrets threat apparently settled, Hogwarts relaxed as Christmas approached, and Harry followed the final Quidditch match of the term. Ravenclaw lost to Hufflepuff despite dominating the goal count, leaving the House Cup standings heavily in Gryffindor’s favor.

• The students felt safer after Professor Flitwick dealt with the basilisk, and Ravenclaw students increasingly wore robes decorated with blue goshawks.
• Hogwarts professors reduced homework, giving Harry more time to focus on Quidditch and other activities.
• Ravenclaw scored eleven goals against Hufflepuff’s three, but Cedric Diggory caught the Golden Snitch and won the match for Hufflepuff.
• Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet praised Cedric’s flying, while Wood said Harry’s Firebolt would make him difficult to beat.
• After six matches, Gryffindor led the standings, Hufflepuff and Slytherin were tied on wins, and Ravenclaw sat last with two defeats.