Releasing the Serpent at the Dueling Club

The Dueling Club demonstration, organized by Gilderoy Lockhart in December of Harry Potter's second year, became the event that publicly revealed Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue and transformed the school's suspicion into near-universal belief that he was the Heir of Slytherin. What began as a farcical display of Lockhart's incompetence ended with a conjured serpent, a panicked crowd, and a revelation that would define Harry's social standing for the remainder of the term.

Background and Setup

Lockhart, having obtained Dumbledore's permission to start a dueling club, announced the first meeting at eight o'clock one evening in the Great Hall, where the long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage appeared under thousands of floating candles. The ceiling was velvety black, and most of the school packed beneath it, carrying wands and looking excited. Lockhart walked onto the stage in robes of deep plum, accompanied by Severus Snape in his usual black. Lockhart introduced Snape as his assistant, claiming Snape knew "a tiny little bit about dueling" and had sportingly agreed to help with a short demonstration. Ron Weasley muttered to Harry that it would be good if they finished each other off. Lockhart and Snape bowed—Lockhart with much twirling of his hands, Snape with an irritable jerk of his head—then raised their wands like swords. On the count of three, Snape cried "Expelliarmus!" and a dazzling flash of scarlet light blasted Lockhart off his feet, sending him flying backward off the stage, smashing into the wall, and sliding down to sprawl on the floor. Draco Malfoy and some Slytherins cheered; Hermione Granger danced on tiptoes, asking if Lockhart was all right. Harry and Ron answered together, "Who cares?" Lockhart got up unsteadily, his hat fallen off and his wavy hair standing on end, and claimed the Disarming Charm was an excellent idea to show them, though he said it was very obvious what Snape was about to do.

The Demonstration and the Serpent

Lockhart announced he would come among the students and put them into pairs. Snape reached Harry and Ron first, sneering that it was time to split up the dream team. He paired Ron with Seamus Finnigan and, smiling coldly, called Malfoy over to partner Harry. Hermione was paired with Millicent Bulstrode, a large, square Slytherin girl with a heavy jaw. Lockhart called for partners to face each other and bow; Harry and Malfoy barely inclined their heads. Lockhart shouted for them to cast charms to disarm their opponents on the count of three. Malfoy started on "two," hitting Harry so hard he felt as though he'd been hit over the head with a saucepan. Harry recovered and shouted "Rictusempra!" hitting Malfoy with a Tickling Charm that doubled him up, wheezing and laughing. Lockhart shouted that he said disarm only, but Malfoy, gasping for breath, pointed his wand at Harry's knees and choked "Tarantallegra!" sending Harry's legs jerking around in a kind of quickstep. Snape shouted "Finite Incantatem!" stopping both spells. A haze of greenish smoke hovered over the scene; Neville Longbottom and Justin Finch-Fletchley lay on the floor panting; Ron was holding up an ashen-faced Seamus, apologizing for whatever his broken wand had done; Hermione was in a headlock from Millicent, whimpering in pain. Harry pulled Millicent off with difficulty. Lockhart, flustered, said he'd better teach them how to block unfriendly spells. He suggested Neville and Justin as a volunteer pair, but Snape intervened, saying Neville causes devastation with the simplest spells and they'd be sending what was left of Finch-Fletchley to the hospital wing in a matchbox. Snape then proposed Malfoy and Potter, with a twisted smile. Lockhart gestured them into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away. Lockhart attempted to show Harry a complicated wiggling action but dropped his wand. Snape moved closer to Malfoy, bent down, and whispered something in his ear; Malfoy smirked. Harry asked Lockhart to show him the blocking thing again, but Lockhart cuffed him on the shoulder and told him to just do what he did. On the count of three, Malfoy raised his wand and bellowed "Serpensortia!" The end of his wand exploded, and a long black snake shot out, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. Screams erupted as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.

Harry's Parseltongue Revelation

Snape, clearly enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless eye to eye with the angry snake, said lazily, "Don't move, Potter... I'll get rid of it." Lockhart shouted "Allow me!" and brandished his wand at the snake. There was a loud bang, but instead of vanishing, the snake flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike. Harry, without being aware of deciding to do it, found his legs carrying him forward and shouted at the snake, "Leave him alone!" The words that came out were not English but a strange hissing. Miraculously, the snake slumped to the floor, docile as a thick, black garden hose, its eyes now on Harry. Harry felt the fear drain out of him, knowing the snake would not attack anyone now, though he could not have explained how he knew. He looked up at Justin, grinning, expecting to see relief or gratitude, but instead found Justin angry and scared. "What do you think you're playing at?" Justin shouted, then turned and stormed out of the hall. Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke. Snape was looking at Harry in an unexpected way—shrewd and calculating—and Harry dimly heard ominous muttering all around the walls. Ron grabbed Harry and steered him out of the hall, with Hermione hurrying alongside. As they went through the doors, people on either side drew away as though frightened of catching something.

Immediate Aftermath and Interpretation

Once they reached the empty Gryffindor common room, Ron pushed Harry into an armchair and demanded, "You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?" Harry did not know what a Parselmouth was. Ron explained it meant he could talk to snakes. Harry said it was only the second time he had ever done it—he had accidentally set a boa constrictor on his cousin Dudley at the zoo once, before he knew he was a wizard. Ron repeated faintly that a boa constrictor had told Harry it had never seen Brazil. Harry asked what was wrong with everyone, pointing out that he had stopped the snake from biting Justin's head off. Hermione spoke in a hushed voice, explaining that being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for, and that the symbol of Slytherin House was a serpent. Ron added that now the whole school would think Harry was Slytherin's great-great-great-great-grandson or something. Harry protested that he was not, but Hermione said he would find that hard to prove, as Slytherin had lived about a thousand years ago and for all they knew, Harry could be a descendant. Harry lay awake for hours that night, watching snow start to drift past the tower window, wondering. He did not know anything about his father's family; the Dursleys had always forbidden questions about his wizarding relatives. He tried to say something in Parseltongue quietly, but the words would not come—it seemed he had to be face-to-face with a snake to do it. He thought that the Sorting Hat would not have put him in Gryffindor if he had Slytherin blood, but a nasty little voice in his brain reminded him that the Sorting Hat had wanted to put him in Slytherin. The next day, a blizzard canceled Herbology, and Harry went looking for Justin to explain that he had been calling the snake off, not egging it on. In the library, he overheard Ernie Macmillan telling a group of Hufflepuffs that Harry was a Parselmouth, that everyone knew that was the mark of a Dark wizard, and that they had never heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes. Ernie also pointed out that Harry had had a run-in with Filch before Mrs. Norris was attacked, and that Colin Creevey had been annoying Harry at the Quidditch match before he was attacked. Harry stepped out from behind the bookshelves and confronted them, but Ernie insisted that all he saw was Harry speaking Parseltongue and chasing the snake toward Justin. Harry stormed out of the library, and shortly afterward discovered Justin and Nearly Headless Nick Petrified in a corridor, leading to his being taken to Dumbledore's office.

Significance

The Dueling Club incident served as the narrative's critical turning point, transforming Harry from a suspected but unproven figure into the prime suspect in the Chamber of Secrets attacks. The revelation of his Parseltongue ability, a trait uniquely associated with Salazar Slytherin, provided what the school considered definitive evidence that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin. The event also completed the exposure of Lockhart as a fraud: his inability to perform even basic defensive magic, his failure to control the snake he had conjured, and his subsequent attempt to take credit for Harry's intervention all demonstrated that his celebrated exploits were fabrications. For Harry, the incident deepened his personal crisis of identity, forcing him to confront the possibility that he might share more with the Dark wizard who murdered his parents than he had ever imagined, a doubt that would not be resolved until his final conversation with Dumbledore at the end of the year.