The Chamber of Secrets Expedition

The Chamber of Secrets Expedition marks the story's decisive descent into the hidden dungeon beneath Hogwarts, where Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and a coerced Gilderoy Lockhart venture to rescue Ginny Weasley and confront the basilisk and the memory of Tom Riddle. This journey transforms a legendary threat into a tangible, deadly reality, forcing Harry to face not only a monster but also the truth about his own connection to the Dark Lord.

Discovery of the Entrance

The expedition begins in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where Harry, guided by the ghost's account of her death, deduces that the entrance to the Chamber lies within the plumbing. Myrtle describes seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes just before she died, confirming the basilisk's method of attack. Harry spots a tiny snake engraved on the side of a copper tap that has never worked. Speaking in Parseltongue, he commands the tap to open, and it glows with brilliant white light, spins, and sinks out of sight, revealing a large pipe wide enough for a man to slide into. Harry makes up his mind to go down, knowing he cannot refuse now that they have found the entrance, not if there is even the faintest chance that Ginny might be alive. Ron insists on joining him. Lockhart, white-faced and wandless, is forced to go first, sliding into the pipe after a push from Ron.

Descent into the Dark

Harry follows quickly, lowering himself into the pipe and letting go. The journey is like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide, twisting and turning, sloping steeply downward, deeper than the dungeons. He shoots out of the end with a wet thud onto the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in. Ron comes whizzing out behind him. Harry estimates they must be miles under the school, probably under the lake. The tunnel is so dark that they can only see a little distance ahead with the light from Harry's wand. Their shadows on the wet walls look monstrous. Harry warns the others to close their eyes at any sign of movement. The tunnel is quiet as the grave, the floor littered with small animal bones. They find a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor; the creature that shed it must have been at least twenty feet long.

Betrayal and Separation

Lockhart, having recovered Ron's wand, attempts to cast a Memory Charm on the boys, shouting "Obliviate!" The wand, damaged and held together with Spellotape, explodes with the force of a small bomb. The blast brings down a section of the tunnel ceiling, separating Harry from Ron and Lockhart. Harry finds himself alone, gazing at a solid wall of broken rock. Ron's muffled voice confirms he is okay but that Lockhart has been hit by the backfired charm and has lost his memory. Harry tells Ron to wait and goes on alone, promising to return in an hour. The tunnel turns and turns again, every nerve in Harry's body tingling unpleasantly. At last, he sees a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents are carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds. Speaking in Parseltongue, he commands them to open, and the serpents part as the wall cracks open, the halves sliding smoothly out of sight.

The Chamber and the Heir

Harry walks into a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rise to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom. At the far end, a statue high as the Chamber itself looms into view, ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard. Between the statue's enormous gray feet lies Ginny, facedown, her flaming-red hair visible. Harry sprints to her, but she will not wake. A tall, black-haired boy, Tom Riddle, is leaning against a pillar, watching. He reveals that he is a memory preserved in the diary for fifty years. Riddle explains that Ginny has been writing in the diary for months, pouring out her soul to him, and that he grew powerful on a diet of her deepest fears and darkest secrets. He confesses that he made Ginny open the Chamber, strangle the roosters, daub the messages, and set the basilisk on the victims. Riddle then reveals his true identity: he is Lord Voldemort, having fashioned himself a new name from his birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. He summons the basilisk from the mouth of the statue, commanding it to kill Harry.

The Battle and the Rescue

Fawkes the phoenix arrives, dropping the Sorting Hat at Harry's feet. The phoenix blinds the basilisk by pecking out its eyes. As the blinded serpent thrashes, the Sorting Hat contracts and produces the Sword of Godric Gryffindor. Harry seizes the sword and, as the basilisk lunges, drives it to the hilt into the roof of the serpent's mouth. A poisonous fang sinks deep into Harry's arm, but Fawkes's tears heal the wound. Harry then plunges the basilisk fang into the heart of Riddle's diary, destroying the memory and causing Riddle to vanish. Ginny stirs, and Harry helps her to her feet. Fawkes leads them back through the tunnel, where Ron has managed to create a gap in the rockfall. The phoenix carries them all back up the pipe to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, completing the expedition and ending the threat of the Chamber of Secrets.