Chapter Summaries

Draco impressed Professor Sprout with his affinity for Mandrakes, while Hermione and Ron discussed the new Defence Against Dark Magic teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. On Wednesday, Lockhart began his first lesson by boasting about his awards and achievements, while the students watched and Draco's presence made him uneasy.

• Draco handled a Mandrake calmly, and Professor Sprout praised his talent and gave him an Outstanding grade.
• At dinner, Hermione questioned Lockhart's celebrated adventures, while Lavender and Parvati defended him and Ron mocked him.
• Draco told Hermione that having something to anticipate made school less dull, and Hermione decided to wait for Lockhart's lesson to reveal the truth.
• On Wednesday, Lavender and Parvati eagerly hurried to Defence Against Dark Magic after Herbology.
• Lockhart entered the classroom, noticed Draco, and avoided drawing his attention before boasting about his awards and the Wandon Banshee.
• Lavender, Parvati, and the other girls applauded Lockhart as he basked in their admiration.

Lockhart gave his class a quiz about his books, then introduced a cage of Cornish Pixies as a Defence Against Dark Magic lesson. He scolded Seamus for laughing at the creatures, leaving the class silent as the lesson began.

• Lockhart handed out a quiz about his personal exploits, but exempted Draco after Draco flattered him.
• Hermione answered every question correctly and earned ten points for Gryffindor, despite inwardly resenting Lockhart.
• Lockhart criticized the class’s poor quiz results and told everyone to study his books more thoroughly.
• Lockhart unveiled a cage of Cornish Pixies and warned the class not to scream.
• Seamus laughed that the Pixies looked like little flying blue dolls, so Lockhart lectured him about underestimating their danger.

Lockhart’s attempt to demonstrate how to tame Cornish Pixies unleashed chaos in the classroom, and Hermione took charge while the students fought back with spells. After the pixies were captured, Draco claimed he had stayed back to give everyone else a chance, and Neville thanked him sincerely.

• Draco asked Lockhart about Cornish Pixies, and Hermione explained that they were mischievous and difficult to control.
• Lockhart opened the cage to demonstrate taming the pixies, but they attacked the students and wrecked the classroom.
• Draco rescued Neville from the pixies, while Lockhart’s spell failed and he hid under the lectern.
• Hermione rallied the students and led them in using spells to subdue the pixies, with Draco protecting her from ambushes.
• Hermione and the students captured the last pixies, and Draco claimed he had held back to let them gain experience.
• Neville thanked Draco and Hermione, while Ron doubted Draco’s explanation and complained that Hermione was defending him.

After the students defeated the Cornish Pixies, Lockhart falsely claimed credit and fled when the bell rang. Draco repaired the classroom, and the students brought the pixies to Hagrid, who happily took them in.

• Lockhart emerged from beneath the lectern and claimed that the pixie fight had been part of his plan, but Harry asked where his wand was.
• The bell rang, and Lockhart hurried out without collecting his wand or the pixies.
• Ron mocked Lockhart, Olivia brought up Professor Quirrell, and Draco repaired the wrecked classroom with Reparo.
• Hermione suggested taking the pixies to Hagrid, and Harry, Dean, and Neville helped carry their cage.
• Hagrid eagerly took the pixies to keep in an enclosure behind his hut alongside the Augurey.

After Professor Lockhart lost control of Cornish Pixies in class, Harry and his friends handed them to Hagrid and discussed the disaster over lunch. Lockhart hid in his office, wondering whether he should resign, while his reputation crumbled.

• Harry, Ron, and Dean told Hagrid how Lockhart had released the Cornish Pixies and hidden under his desk, and Hagrid took the creatures into his care.
• Harry's group crossed the courtyard, where Colin Creevey tried to photograph Harry and Ron; Draco led Hermione ahead to the Great Hall.
• Ginny, Lavender, and Parvati discussed the chaotic lesson with Draco and Hermione, and the group hoped Lockhart would avoid another disaster that afternoon.
• Lockhart hid in his office and regretted trying to capitalize on Harry's fame as he wondered whether to resign.

Lockhart abandoned his dangerous demonstrations and taught Defence Against Dark Magic from the textbook, while Hogwarts students competed in Quidditch and faced the autumn cold. Draco cared for Hermione in the corridor, pulling her into his robe and calling her his girlfriend as they walked together.

• Lockhart stayed at Hogwarts to protect his reputation and led his afternoon class by reading theory from his book.
• Ginny joined Gryffindor's second team and Fred and George became first-team starters, while Ron failed to make the team again.
• Cho Chang joined Ravenclaw's Quidditch team, and Ravenclaw won the championship after Harry was distracted during a match.
• As colds spread through Hogwarts, Draco noticed Hermione was poorly dressed for the cold and zipped up her jacket and scarf.
• Draco wrapped Hermione and himself in his robe, held her close in the corridor, and called her his girlfriend.

Hermione and Draco’s shared robe drew teasing from Ginny and the Gryffindor common room, leaving Hermione mortified while Draco indulged in the attention. Hermione dragged Draco away and hurried toward the library to study, where they walked together through the cold corridor.

• Hermione pulled the school robe tightly around herself when Ginny spotted her and Draco sharing it near Gryffindor Tower.
• Ginny denied telling anyone, but Lavender, Parvati, and Ron’s teasing made Hermione realize the others had heard about them.
• Hermione fled upstairs for her coat, then returned and pulled Draco out of the common room amid more laughter.
• Hermione blamed Draco for distracting her and rushed him toward the library so they could finish their homework.
• Hermione hunched her shoulders as a cold October wind blew through the corridor.

Draco and Hermione shared a tender study session in the library before joining the Halloween Feast, where Harry heard a sinister voice speaking Parseltongue. The voice moved upward through Hogwarts, and Hermione and Draco arrived as Harry tried to explain the danger.

• Draco cast a Warming Charm on Hermione and joined her in the library, where he flirted with her and helped with her homework.
• Hermione accepted Draco's hand beneath the table as they studied together.
• Hermione and Draco heard a commotion, packed up, and followed the crowd to the Halloween Feast.
• Harry heard a cold, malicious voice in Parseltongue and told Ron and Ginny that it had returned.
• Harry heard the voice say it was hungry and time to kill, then realized it was moving upward through the castle.
• Hermione hurried over to Harry and Ron, and Draco followed, asking whether Harry had seen a ghost.

Harry heard a Parseltongue voice moving through Hogwarts, and Filch announced that Mrs. Norris had been found dead in the second-floor corridor. Dumbledore summoned Draco and Hermione to his office to discuss the Chamber of Secrets, ending by asking Draco who might have opened it.

• Harry heard the Parseltongue voice again and warned that it was moving through the castle.
• Filch rushed into the Great Hall and announced that Mrs. Norris was dead in the second-floor corridor.
• Dumbledore ordered the students back to their dormitories while Draco suspected Harry was the only person present who could open the Chamber.
• Dumbledore signaled Draco to meet him privately, and Draco brought Hermione with him to the Headmaster's Office.
• Dumbledore said the diary Draco had given him had remained safely in his possession and asked who Draco thought had opened the Chamber.

Draco, Hermione, and Dumbledore investigated the Chamber of Secrets and concluded that Harry had not opened it, though an unknown force was imitating the Chamber’s attacks. Meanwhile, blood writing appeared on a corridor wall, and the frightened students began to suspect Harry.

• Draco told Dumbledore and Hermione that Harry’s behavior at the feast had not seemed like an act and that he doubted Harry had opened the Chamber.
• Dumbledore revealed that a fragment of Voldemort’s soul attached to Harry let him hear Parseltongue, but did not make him the Heir of Slytherin.
• Hermione connected the petrification to the Basilisk, and Dumbledore asked Draco whether he had encountered another object tied to Voldemort; Draco said the diary was the only one.
• Students returning to their dormitories found Filch sobbing over the petrified Mrs. Norris as blood writing formed by itself on the wall, declaring that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened.
• Harry heard the cold Parseltongue voice again but could not explain it as suspicious glances turned toward him, while Ron tried to shield him and Pansy and other Slytherins whispered about the Heir.

After Mrs. Norris was petrified and a warning appeared on the wall, Dumbledore sent Draco and Hermione away together to avoid further danger. Draco revealed that the Chamber of Secrets had opened despite the diary being destroyed, and began explaining its deadly history to Hermione.

• Professor McGonagall calmed the crowd, ordered students back to their common rooms, and sealed the bloody writing on the wall.
• Draco, Hermione, and Dumbledore agreed to wait for the culprit to act again, while Dumbledore told Draco and Hermione to stay together.
• Draco warned Hermione that Harry carried a fragment of Voldemort’s soul and that a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets could petrify anyone who looked directly into its eyes.
• Draco explained that someone else might possess an unknown object and be continuing Voldemort’s work, then led Hermione away from deserted places.
• Draco told Hermione that the Chamber of Secrets had opened fifty years earlier and that someone had died during the attacks.

Draco explained to Hermione that Voldemort had opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years earlier and that the diary was a Horcrux, while warning that another hidden force might now be controlling the basilisk. They formed a plan to protect Harry and investigate the mystery, then returned to the Gryffindor common room, where the students described the bloody message appearing on its own.

• Draco connected the Chamber's history, Moaning Myrtle's death, and the current attacks, and Hermione realized Voldemort had been the true culprit fifty years earlier.
• Draco told Hermione that Voldemort's diary was a Horcrux and suspected another means of controlling the basilisk remained hidden.
• Draco and Hermione agreed that Olivia would watch over Harry while they researched the Restricted Section for information about the Chamber.
• Draco and Hermione returned to the Gryffindor common room, where Harry and Ron questioned them about their absence and the attack on Mrs. Norris.
• Colin and Ginny described how the bloody warning appeared to seep from the castle walls without anyone writing it, confirming one of Draco's suspicions.

Draco and his friends discussed how the Chamber of Secrets seemed to be acting without a visible controller and agreed to investigate cautiously while keeping Harry from acting alone. That night, Draco and Hermione searched the Restricted Section, narrowly avoided Filch twice, and continued their investigation after he left.

• Draco said the Chamber's bloody writing and the Basilisk's movements suggested either an ancient curse or someone hiding through unknown means.
• Hermione, Olivia, Ron, and the others agreed to look for clues while prioritizing their safety, and Olivia and Ron promised to stay near Harry.
• Draco contacted Hermione through the Two-Way Mirror, took her under his Disillusionment Charm, and searched the Restricted Section by recording the books' contents without touching them.
• When Filch approached, Draco pulled Hermione into the shadows and shielded her until Filch passed.
• A restless book alerted Filch again, and Draco hid Hermione in his arms until Filch searched the room and left.

Draco told Hermione that the Chamber of Secrets had awakened on a fifty-year cycle and that the basilisk was following Salazar Slytherin’s ancient orders to attack Muggle-born students. He then revealed that he knew the Chamber’s entrance was in the abandoned girls’ bathroom where Moaning Myrtle stayed.

• Draco teased Hermione into praising his quick reflexes and research before explaining what the system had deciphered.
• Draco explained that the Chamber had awakened automatically and that the basilisk was carrying out Slytherin’s orders to attack Muggle-born wizards.
• Hermione condemned Slytherin’s prejudice and cruelty, and Draco comforted her before suggesting Voldemort had added another layer to the curse.
• Hermione said they needed to find the entrance, kill the basilisk, close the Chamber, and break the cycle.
• Draco revealed that the entrance was in the abandoned third-floor girls’ bathroom where Moaning Myrtle stayed, and Hermione realized how the clues fit together.

Draco and Hermione discovered that a mirror could make the Basilisk petrify itself, but the creature hunted them in the corridors and targeted Hermione. Draco redeemed several Basilisk countermeasures and prepared to fight back while the Basilisk remained nearby.

• Draco warned Hermione that confronting the Basilisk directly would be too dangerous, and they realized a mirror could make it see its own eyes and petrify itself.
• Draco and Hermione encountered the Basilisk’s tail hanging from the ceiling, then escaped to an empty classroom as it hunted them through the pipes.
• Draco concluded that the Basilisk had deliberately targeted them, especially Hermione, and angrily asked the system for effective countermeasures.
• Draco redeemed Phoenix Tear Concentrate, a Godric Mirror Fragment, and a Snake Venom Immunity Amulet, then gave Hermione the amulet to wear.
• With the Basilisk still nearby, Draco gripped his wand and prepared to fight back.

Draco used the Godric mirror fragment to turn the basilisk into stone and comforted Hermione after she escaped its gaze. They fled before the professors arrived, leaving the staff to discover the petrified serpent and wonder who had defeated it.

• Draco explained that Hermione’s amulet protected her from the basilisk’s gaze and that the mirror fragment could reflect it.
• Draco activated the mirror fragment when the basilisk entered the classroom, and its own gaze petrified it.
• Draco embraced Hermione, and they reassured each other that they could not bear to lose one another.
• Draco led Hermione out through a side door as Professor McGonagall and Filch hurried toward the classroom.
• Professor McGonagall, Filch, Flitwick, Sprout, and Snape found the petrified basilisk and reacted with shock and relief.

Draco and Hermione returned to Gryffindor Tower after escaping the basilisk, where Hermione admitted how frightened she had been and Draco reassured her. Draco then convinced his roommates that he and Hermione had both been sick, leaving them unaware of what had happened.

• Dumbledore arrived at the classroom and praised the castle's courageous guardian while looking toward the corridor where Draco and Hermione had gone.
• Draco and Hermione returned to Gryffindor Tower, and Hermione told Draco she was shaken and worried that he had risked his life for her.
• Draco and Hermione joked and kissed while planning an excuse for being out after curfew, then agreed to claim they had eaten bad food.
• Draco entered the boys' dormitory and told Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Harry that he and Hermione had both suffered diarrhea after eating the same pastries.

After Draco and Hermione secretly defeated the Basilisk, Dumbledore announced that Hogwarts was safe and summoned them to his office. Draco began explaining what he and Hermione had discovered in the Restricted Section.

• Harry told his friends that the Basilisk had threatened someone before a crash silenced it, and the group speculated about who had stopped it.
• Hermione told her roommates she had been out because of an upset stomach, while students and professors spent the night on alert.
• Dumbledore announced that the source of the petrifications had been dealt with, and students celebrated their safety.
• Draco and Hermione went to Dumbledore's office, where he praised them for defeating the Basilisk and promised to keep their secret.
• Draco told Dumbledore that he and Hermione had found information in the Restricted Section.

Draco assembled a team to return to the Chamber of Secrets and break Slytherin’s curse permanently, with Harry’s Parseltongue needed to unlock the seal. The group met Hagrid late that night and prepared to enter the Chamber together.

• Draco told Dumbledore that the Chamber reopened in a fifty-year cycle and proposed that Harry use Parseltongue to break the curse permanently.
• Dumbledore entrusted Draco with the mission, and Draco chose Hagrid to join them so he could witness the end of the injustice he had suffered fifty years earlier.
• Draco told Hagrid that the Basilisk had caused the attacks and invited him to help close the Chamber; Hagrid agreed.
• Draco explained the plan to Harry, who agreed to go because the school's safety was at stake.
• Draco, Hermione, Harry, and Hagrid met at the castle's west corridor late at night and prepared to enter the Chamber.

Draco led Hermione, Harry, and Hagrid to the girls' bathroom and revealed that a broken tap concealed the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Harry opened it with Parseltongue, and the group descended into the winding passages, where Draco and Hermione fell through a collapsing section and landed on a lower platform.

• Myrtle welcomed Draco and Hermione, flirted with Harry, and then fled from Hagrid in fright.
• Draco identified the broken tap as the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and told Harry to open it.
• Harry spoke Parseltongue, causing the tap and sink to move and reveal a dark passage.
• Draco, Hermione, Harry, and Hagrid entered the passage and followed its winding, basilisk-marked pipes downward.
• The pipe wall gave way beneath Draco and Hermione, and Draco shielded her as they fell onto a lower platform.