Skirmish in the Chamber of Secrets

"Let's match the power of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter."

- Tom Riddle to Harry Potter while in the chamber The skirmish in the Chamber of Secrets was a conflict that took place on 29 May, 1993 in the Chamber of Secrets where Harry Potter slayed Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk and destroyed Tom Riddle's Diary.

It was precipitated when Tom Riddle's Diary, one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, possessed Ginny Weasley and forced her into the Chamber of Secrets. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Gilderoy Lockhart came to the rescue, but as Ron and Lockhart were stuck behind an avalanche of stone, and the battle was fought mostly by Harry. He managed to defeat both the Basilisk and the memory of Tom Riddle, thus saving Ginny's life and unknowingly eliminating one Horcrux.

Background information
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware."

- One of the messages on the walls of Hogwarts Castle

On New Year's Eve, 1926 Tom Riddle was born to the pure-blood witch Merope Gaunt in a London orphanage. He was an odd boy and discovered in his eleventh year that he was a wizard. Believing death to be the realm of the weak, he initially believed his mother could not have been magical, given her death, and the young Tom focused on finding his father among the records at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, his search was fruitless, as Tom Riddle Snr had never set foot in the school. After discovering this, he turned his attention to his mother's family and found the Gaunt line, direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin himself leaving near Little Hangleton.



Riddle took some time to research his famous ancestor and in his fifth year, he found the fabled Chamber of Secrets. Having come to believe in fanatical pure-blood supremacy, Riddle planned to use the "terror within" the chamber to rid the school of those "unworthy" to learn magic; that is, Muggle-born wizards and witches. Throughout the 1942-1943 school year, a series of Muggle-born students were petrified. Finally, late in the school year, Myrtle Warren was killed, and the Headmaster threatened to close the school unless the culprit was apprehended. Not wanting to return to the Muggle orphanage from which he came, Riddle decided that he needed a patsy. He chose third year Gryffindor Rubeus Hagrid, who had a reputation already and took the information to Professor Dippet, the Headmaster. Hagrid was expelled but allowed to remain as Gamekeeper, because the Transfiguration professor, Albus Dumbledore, did not believe him to be guilty. Riddle used the girl's death to create his first Horcrux, Tom Riddle's Diary, but he did not want his work forgotten, so later in his life he planned with Lucius Malfoy that the diary make its way back to Hogwarts, where it could finish Salazar Slytherin's work.

After Voldemort's first defeat
"I think you slipped the diary into Ginny Weasley's cauldron... that day at Diagon Alley."

- Harry letting Lucius know that he knows that the latter was behind the second opening of the Chamber of Secrets



After Lord Voldemort's defeat, Mr Malfoy shelved the plan, until such time his master returned. However, after a decade had passed, he revived it, as a way to accomplish some personal goals. A new Muggle Protection Act was coming down from the Ministry of Magic, and Mr Malfoy was desperate to derail it. Therefore, he planted the diary on Ginny Weasley, the daughter of the Act's chief proponent, Arthur Weasley. He hoped that if the authorities discovered Arthur Weasley's daughter attacking Muggle-borns, the Act would die with Arthur Weasley's career. When Ginny discovered the diary among her possessions, she began to use it, and slowly, the piece of Tom Riddle's soul inside began to exert an influence over the young girl. By Hallowe'en, it could possess her entirely, and that night, it forced her to open the Chamber of Secrets for the first time in fifty years and to attack Mrs Norris. Panic set in at Hogwarts as more students were attacked, including Colin Creevey and Justin Finch-Fletchley. In December, when Harry Potter revealed that he was a Parselmouth, many students began to believe that he was the Heir of Slytherin. After the double attack on Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly-Headless Nick, the rash of attacks suddenly stopped.



Shortly before Valentine's Day, Harry found an old diary abandoned in Myrtle Warren's bathroom. While he found nothing in the diary, he was drawn to it. Late in the evening, he wrote in the diary and was shocked to see it write back. When asked about the Chamber of Secrets, the diary showed Harry Tom Riddle's capture of Hagrid. Not willing to believe that Hagrid was the culprit, Harry decided to ask him about it if another attack occurred. Meanwhile, Ginny stole the diary back from Harry so it would not divulge her secrets. On a Saturday, early in May, Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater were attacked, and Harry and Ron felt that it was time to question Hagrid. Unfortunately, Hagrid was arrested by Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, and Professor Dumbledore was suspended that night, but not before Hagrid gave them a cryptic clue about spiders. Following Hagrid's clue, they learned that he was innocent and that the girl who died was killed in a bathroom. Putting these clues together with Hermione's clue about the basilisk, Harry was able to intuit that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was in the second-floor girls' lavatory.

Going down into the Chamber
"Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever"

- Tom Riddle's horcrux possessing Ginny Weasley forcing her to write this message in blood

On 29 May, when the petrified students were to be cured and it appeared that life at Hogwarts was going to return to normal, the diary possessed Ginny again, forcing her to go down to the Chamber of Secrets and await her death. Before she went into the Chamber for the final time, the diary coerced her into scrawling "Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever" on the wall. This alerted the faculty to her disappearance. They appointed Gilderoy Lockhart to save her, as Lockhart had said the previous night at dinner he knew where the entrance to the Chamber was, mainly to get him out of the way, while they prepared for the worst. Lockhart, a charlatan, tried to sneak out of the school, but was stopped by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, who intended to save Ginny Weasley.



At wand point, Harry and Ron forced Lockhart to take them to the bathroom. Once there, Harry asked Myrtle about her death in the hope that she would confirm his hypothesis. She claimed that she heard a boy's voice speaking a strange language and then saw a pair of great yellow eyes. When he further inspected the lavatory, Harry found a broken tap with a snake engraved in the handle. He spoke to the engraving in Parseltongue, and the entrance to the Chamber opened, the entrance behind the sink was a pipe big enough for a man to crawl through. Ready to take the plunge, Harry and Ron forced Lockhart into the opening and followed.

The battle
"Slytherin’s gigantic stone face was moving. Horror-struck, Harry saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole... And something was stirring inside the statue’s mouth. Something was slithering up from its depths"

- The basilisk is unleashed



Upon entering a series of maze-like dungeons, Harry, Ron, and Lockhart set out in search of Ginny. They found nothing until they came across a great snake skin, upon seeing which Lockhart feigned a collapse. Ron tried to force him to his feet, but Lockhart grabbed Ron's wand and told the boys that he was going to wipe their memories and escape. However, his plan failed, as the Memory Charm backfired, causing the ceiling to cave in. Ron and a memory-erased Lockhart were stuck behind the wall of rocks, and Harry had to venture into the Chamber by himself. As Harry turned to head deeper in the dungeon, Ron told Harry he would try moving some of the rock while he waited.

Harry next reached a set of doors engraved with serpents, and when he spoke in Parseltongue, they opened, allowing him into the Chamber properly. Reaching the end of the Chamber, Harry discovered Ginny collapsed at the foot of a statue of Salazar Slytherin. As he tried to wake her, Tom Riddle appeared behind him telling Harry that she would not wake. Harry tried to tell Tom that they were in great danger, but Tom just scoffed. This confused Harry, as he had seen Riddle's capture of Hagrid and believed that he too wanted to stop the attacks. Then Riddle began asking Harry how he survived Voldemort's attack on him when he was a baby, which worried Harry more.



He then showed Harry that his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, could be rearranged into I am Lord Voldemort. After Harry realised the truth, Riddle continued to question him. They argued over the merits of Voldemort's magical experimentation, and Harry told Riddle that Dumbledore was the greatest sorcerer in the world. His loyalty summoned Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix. Fawkes brought the old school Sorting Hat. When satisfactorily answered, Riddle used Parseltongue to order Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk to attack Harry. While Harry ran with his eyes covered, Fawkes dug his claws into the basilisk's eyes, blinding it and allowing Harry to look at the monster. Unfortunately, the basilisk had an acute sense of hearing and smell. It continued its attack on Harry, but Harry dodged each time it lunged. Unsure of what to do, Harry placed the Sorting Hat on his head and asked for help. He felt the hat squeeze on his head, and then something hard fell out of it. It was Godric Gryffindor's Sword.



Harry picked up the sword and waited for the basilisk to attack again. It lunged twice, but Harry dodged its strikes. On the basilisk's third lunge however, its aim was true, but Harry managed to stab the basilisk through the roof of its mouth, mortally wounding it. Unfortunately, one of its fangs pierced Harry's arm, poisoning him. As Harry lay dying with the poison running threw his veins, Riddle taunted him telling him "he'll be reunited with his dear Mudblood mother soon". He even pointed out that Fawkes was crying, not realising until later that phoenix tears had healing properties. Harry pulled the enormous fang out of his arm, and Fawkes settled his head above Harry's wound. His tears magically healed Harry's injury.



Enraged by the slaying of Slytherin's basilisk, Riddle then stated that he would murder Harry with his own wand. Just as he was pointing the wand at Harry ready to curse him, Fawkes dropped the diary into Harry's lap. Harry plunged the fang into the pages and front cover of the diary, destroying Riddle beyond magical repair, saving Ginny's life and unknowingly eliminating one of Lord Voldemort's seven Horcruxes. The Horcrux essentially died with ink pouring from its pages like blood from an open wound and addiction with Riddle's screams. The diary was rendered useless and unable to function.

Aftermath
"You will both revive Special Awards for Services to the School and — let me see — yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."

- Albus Dumbledore rewarding Harry Potter and Ron Weasley



When Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart emerged from the Chamber, they headed to the office of Minerva McGonagall. Dumbledore was in there when they arrived as were Ginny's parents, Arthur and Molly Weasley. Harry explained all that had happened but tread lightly around Ginny's involvement. Dumbledore came to his rescue, by asking how Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny. Harry explained all about the Diary. Ginny was not punished, and Harry and Ron both received Awards for Special Services to the School and 200 points each for Gryffindor. Harry exposed Lockhart as a fraud, and he was sent to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

After slaying the basilisk, the sword was impregnated with basilisk venom; basilisk venom is one of the rare ways to destroy a Horcrux, as its only cure is also incredibly rare: phoenix tears. Since the sword was in his possession, Albus Dumbledore used it to destroy Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, and, after his death, he left it to Harry Potter. Ron Weasley used it to destroy the locket horcrux, and Neville Longbottom used it to decapitate Nagini.

Notes and references
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