Second year



A second year is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who is in their second year of magical education. Second years are typically 12 to 13 years of age. The second year is the first year in which students ride up to the castle in carriages pulled by Thestrals.

Classes
Second year students must take Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy and Herbology.

The second year is the first time when students are allowed to try out for their house Quidditch teams. The one exception to this was when Harry Potter was allowed to join the house Quidditch team during his first year due to his exceptional skills.

Like first years, second years aren't allowed to accompany those in the third year or above to Hogsmeade village for the weekend trips, however, they are allowed to have their own broom inside the school grounds.

Curriculum
Little is known of the average second-year curriculum. However, when Gilderoy Lockhart taught the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, he taught them mainly about himself, after releasing a cage full of pixies into the class and causing utter pandemonium on the first day. In Herbology students are generally taken to the more dangerous greenhouses; they learn about Mandrakes, spending much of the class re-potting them so that they can be chopped up and stewed. History of Magic students learn about the International Warlock Convention of 1289; in September of 1289, something happened involving some Sardinian sorcerers. In Transfiguration, students learn the beetle to button and rabbits to slippers spells. In Potions class, they learn about the Hair-Raising Potion, as well as the Swelling Solution.

Elective subjects
At the end of the second year, students chose elective subjects for their third year. They must select at least two from Divination, Arithmancy, Study of Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies.

Harry's second year (1992)
Harry's second year at Hogwarts was filled with odd occurrences before he even got to school; a house-elf named Dobby appeared to tell him that he would be in danger should he return to school, he was rescued from his Aunt and Uncle's house by Ron, Fred, and George Weasley in their father's flying car, and taken to The Burrow for the rest of the summer. When he and Ron were trying to get onto the Hogwarts Express, the barrier to Platform 9¾ mysteriously sealed itself against them. Having lost the train, Harry and Ron thus decided to fly the car to Hogwarts, reasoning that they would not be seen due to the Invisibility Booster Arthur Weasley had installed. The booster failed shortly after takeoff, and the car was spotted by several Muggles as they flew northward. Their day-long flight ended with their crashing into the Whomping Willow, instead of with the graceful landing they had imagined. To add insult to injury, they were found by Professor Severus Snape as they watched the Sorting ceremony from the window; Harry and Ron were taken to Snape's office, where they were given separate detentions, despite Snape's best efforts to get them expelled. Ginny, meanwhile, was sorted into Gryffindor.

The next day at breakfast, Ron received a Howler from his mother who told him that he would be brought home if he broke another rule; the day only got worse, as the Gryffindors had their first lesson with Gilderoy Lockhart, appointed as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. The class was a complete disaster: after a pop quiz on his books, he let a cage of Pixies loose. As the DADA lessons continued, Harry found that Lockhart liked to use him to act out bits from his books as he read them out to the class. Lockhart was not the only one who paid Harry extra attention: both Colin Creevey and Ginny Weasley were attracted to Harry, though in different ways.

For his detention, Harry helped Lockhart answer his fan mail, while Ron was made to polish the school's prizes and trophies. After hours of tedious work, Harry heard a disembodied, sinister voice quite different from Lockhart's self-obsessed ramblings, which Lockhart was unable to hear.

Death-day Party


In return for distracting Argus Filch just when he was about to give Harry severe punishment, Harry promised he would attend Nearly Headless Nick's Death-day Party on Hallowe'en. He brought Ron and Hermione along, as well, but the three of them quickly grew tired of the ghostly party and returned to the Great Hall. Before they got to the Hallowe'en feast, Harry heard the voice (which Ron and Hermione also could not hear) and followed it to the second floor, where he found the bathroom flooded and Mrs Norris, Filch's cat, petrified — coupled with a message on the wall, reading:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

Filch and Snape tried to get Harry in trouble for this, but Dumbledore said that it was powerful dark magic that no second year student could perform. They decided that Sprout's mandrakes would be used, once they were mature enough, to create a draught capable of reviving Mrs Norris.

History of Magic


Hermione wanted to research the Chamber of Secrets, so she talked Professor Binns (the History of Magic teacher) into telling the class about it. He explained that one of the founders of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin, got into an argument with the others about whether Muggle-borns should be admitted and, when the rift grew too large, he left the school. According to legend, he built a going-away present to the school in the form of a secret chamber that could only be opened by his true heir. This "Chamber of Secrets" allegedly contained a monster that, once released, would purge the school of all Muggle-borns. Professor Binns unsuccessfully tried to assure the class that the Chamber did not actually exist and that the school had been searched many times in vain.

Harry, Ron and Hermione decided that the heir was probably Draco Malfoy. To try to prove it, Hermione proposed to use the Polyjuice Potion, which can change one's appearance into somebody else's for an hour. Hermione warned that the potion would take a month to brew, supposing they gathered all the necessary ingredients (one of which could only be found in Professor Snape's private inventory) and managed to keep it a secret.

Quidditch
During the month that it took the Polyjuice Potion to brew, a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin took place. Draco Malfoy had been made Slytherin's new Seeker, on the merit of his father's generous contribution to the team: a set of Nimbus 2001 brooms. During the match, one of the Bludgers took after Harry and focused completely on him. Since Bludgers were supposed to attack each and every player, the crowd immediately realised that this Bludger had been tampered with. Harry still managed to catch the Snitch and Gryffindor won. However, the Bludger broke his arm and Lockhart, attempting to fix it, removed all of the bones in his arm instead. Madam Pomfrey gave Harry Skele-Gro potion to counter this and Harry was forced to stay in the hospital wing overnight.

During that night, Dobby visited Harry and revealed that it was he who made the Bludger chase after Harry, and was also responsible for the barrier of platform 9¾ not letting him in — all in hopes of Harry leaving or never arriving at Hogwarts. He also revealed that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened before and immediately punished himself, as he was not supposed to reveal anything. After Dobby disappeared, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey entered with Colin Creevey, who had apparently been petrified. He was found with a camera containing film that had been burnt to the melting point.

Duelling Club
Harry signed up for a Duelling Club which was (to Harry's great displeasure) taught by his two least favourite teachers: Lockhart and Snape. During a practice battle in the first meeting, Draco Malfoy conjured a snake to attack Harry. Lockhart tried to banish it, but all he managed was to set it loose on the students. Harry saw that the snake was advancing on a Hufflepuff student named Justin Finch-Fletchley and instinctively told it to stop, which — to Harry's great surprise — it did. The others students were less than ecstatic about this, however. All they saw was Harry speaking Parseltongue, the language of snakes, and since they could not understand it, it seemed to them that he was egging the snake on. It turned out that Parseltongue was a very rare gift that was closely associated with Salazar Slytherin. Due to this, Harry became the number one suspect among students for being the heir of Slytherin. Hermione even told him that since Salazar Slytherin lived so long ago, he might actually be.

Seconds after leaving a conversation with Hagrid, Harry ran into a petrified Justin Finch-Fletchley and a black, smoking Nearly-Headless Nick. Peeves alerted the whole school, and a Hufflepuff called Ernie Macmillan claimed that Harry had been caught red-handed. For the first time, Harry was taken to Dumbledore's office, and there he witnessed Fawkes — Dumbledore's phoenix — bursting into ashes and being reborn. Dumbledore says that he did not believe Harry to be behind the attacks, a belief reinforced by Hagrid backing Harry's alibi, but a large portion of the school was sure that Harry was Slytherin's heir.

Polyjuice Potion


Harry, Ron and Hermione all signed up to remain at the school during Christmas, since Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had done so as well, and this gave them the perfect opportunity to use their Polyjuice potion. When Christmas arrived (Harry's gifts: a toothpick, fudge in a tin, a copy of Flying with the Cannons, a new quill, a jumper and plum cake) they drugged Crabbe and Goyle via chocolate cakes, took their hairs and assumed their forms. Hermione tried to use a hair she thought belonged to Millicent Bulstrode, but it was actually her cat's and Hermione was transformed into a cat/human hybrid. Hermione was forced to spend a few weeks in the hospital wing. As Crabbe and Goyle, Harry and Ron interrogated an unsuspecting Malfoy and discovered that even though he wished he were, Draco was not the Heir of Slytherin. They also heard that the last time the chamber was opened, fifty years ago, a Muggle-born girl died and whoever was responsible was expelled. Malfoy also mentioned his father's secret stash of illegal artefacts.

Weeks later, Ron and Harry overheard Argus Filch complaining about his workload and leaving. They arrive at Myrtle Warren's bathroom to find it flooded. Myrtle, a sulking ghost, explained that she had flooded it because somebody threw a diary at her. Harry picked it up; it turned out to have belonged to a T.M. Riddle and appeared to be completely blank. Ron remembered from his detention that Riddle had won an award for special service to the school fifty years before. Hermione deduced that since this coincided with the last time the Chamber was opened, Tom Riddle might have received his prize for catching whoever was responsible for the attacks back then. Even though all attempts to extract information from the diary failed, Harry felt a strange compulsion to keep it.

On Valentine's Day, Ron and Harry were dismayed to find out Lockhart had spread dwarves dressed as cupids throughout the school to receive and deliver Valentines. One cupid-dwarf managed to deliver one to Harry. While struggling to avoid him, the embarrassed Harry tripped and fell, spilling ink all over the contents of his bag. Ginny noticed the diary and assumed a horrified expression.

The Secret Diary


Later, Harry realised that even though ink was spilled all over the diary, it was not stained at all. He tried writing to the diary and, to his surprise, the diary — or rather T.M. Riddle — began to write back. Riddle explained that he was the one who caught the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets the last time, and he could show Harry what happened. Harry agreed and got sucked into a "recording" of Riddle's memory. He witnessed the school's previous headmaster, Armando Dippet, informing Riddle that the school would be closed and Riddle, apprehensive of this, catching Rubeus Hagrid fiddling with a large spider in a box. Riddle reported Hagrid to Dippet. During the memory, Harry also learned that Riddle was an orphan that did not want to go back to the orphanage, and his full name was Tom Marvolo Riddle. Having seen this, Harry wondered whether Hagrid was the one who opened the Chamber fifty years before and whether he was responsible this time.

Harry, Ron and Hermione decided not to ask Hagrid about it, hoping that the attacks had stopped — and indeed, almost four months after the attack on Justin and Nearly-Headless Nick, the disembodied voice kept quiet and the attacks seemed to have ceased. However, odd things keep happening: Harry returned to his dormitory one day to find it a mess. Ron deduced that somebody had been looking for something, and Harry eventually noticed that Tom Riddle's diary was gone. This greatly befuddled them, seeing as only a Gryffindor could know the password to enter the dormitory.

Cornelius Fudge
The next day, the scheduled Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff was cancelled due to yet another attack and Harry heard the voice again. This time, Minerva McGonagall called for Harry and Ron personally, and led them to the hospital wing, where they saw Hermione petrified. She was found near the library with a Ravenclaw prefect, inexplicably holding a small, circular mirror. This removed Harry as a suspect in the eyes of many of the students, as they knew he would never harm Hermione.

Harry and Ron decided they now must talk to Hagrid. With the now constant supervision on students, this was not easy, but they managed to do it by using Harry's Invisibility cloak. When they reach Hagrid's cabin, Harry and Ron managed to hide just before Cornelius Fudge — the Minister for Magic — and Dumbledore arrived at the scene. Fudge announced that Hagrid, who to the best of his knowledge opened the Chamber of Secrets the last time, would be sent to Azkaban prison as a precaution. They were shortly joined by Lucius Malfoy, who declared that he and the other governors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had unanimously voted to suspend Dumbledore, despite the obvious logic that this would only worsen the situation. Both Hagrid and Dumbledore give last words. Hagrid covertly suggests to Harry and Ron that, if they want the truth, they should "follow the spiders", and Dumbledore says that he would only truly have left the school when none there remained loyal to him. He also stressed that if anybody at Hogwarts needed help, it would always be available.

Aragog
Harry and Ron decided to follow the spiders as per Hagrid's advice. Walking along the trails of the spiders, which were strangely all fleeing Hogwarts, take them into the Forbidden Forest. Even though Ron was deeply arachnophobic, the fact that Hermione had been petrified and that they may be able to help through this investigation gave him the willpower to go along anyway. There, they encountered Arthur Weasley's car, which had apparently taken to driving through the forest like some sort of wild animal. They eventually meet Aragog, a giant spider which had been the monster Hagrid had been "caught" setting on other students fifty years ago. Aragog explained that Hagrid was innocent, but rather than letting Harry and Ron go, he decided to leave them as dinner for his children. Mr. Weasley's Ford Anglia came blasting through the layers of spiders, however, and assisted the boys' escape.

After this, Harry and Ron felt that they had reached dead ends everywhere, until one possible last hope occurred to them. Aragog said the monster's last victim died in a bathroom, and it occurred to Harry that Myrtle Warren might have been that victim. Of course, with the school under such security, it would be almost impossible to sneak in the girls' bathroom near where the first attack occurred.

The last attack
Later that same day, Harry and Ron managed to trick Lockhart — who was leading them to their next class — into letting them go by stroking his ego. Just as they patted themselves on the back, they were caught by Professor McGonagall, and Harry had to make up an excuse — they were going to see Hermione in the hospital wing, where visitors were now barred. They now had to go along to make their story appear convincing, but rather than simply hanging around Hermione's petrified form, this time Harry noticed a piece of paper tightly clutched in her hand. This piece of paper revealed what Hermione had found out before she was attacked. She had discovered, based on strong circumstantial evidence, that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was a basilisk. As a basilisk was a giant snake, this explained why only Harry could hear it. The basilisk killed people by looking it in the eye, but no one died because nobody had looked at its gaze directly. Colin Creevey saw it through his camera, Justin Finch-Fletchley saw it through Nearly-Headless Nick (who was already dead), Mrs Norris saw its reflection in the waters from the flooded bathroom, and Hermione used a mirror to look around corners after figuring things out. There was also a note about how spiders feared the basilisk (which explained them fleeing Hogwarts) and the rooster's call being potentially fatal to it (which explains Hagrid's roosters having been mysteriously killed during the year).

On the note was also scribbled a single word, "pipes", which meant that the serpent moved around through the plumbing. Having solved the mystery, Harry and Ron decided to go to the staff room and report to the teachers. When they got there, they overheard the teachers talking about another attack having occurred. Harry and Ron decided to hide to hear more details, and learning that Ginny had been kidnapped and the heir of Slytherin had left another message under the previous one:

HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER

Harry and Ron also heard that Hogwarts would be closed the following day. The teachers then forced Lockhart to deal with the monster, as he had been claiming he could handle whatever was responsible for the attacks, irritating the rest of the staff to no end. Looking very crestfallen, he left for his room.

Chamber of Secrets
That night, Harry and Ron felt utterly useless and helpless, until it occurred to them that if the serpent used the plumbing to get around and the last time the chamber was opened a girl died, then the chamber entrance must be in the bathroom Myrtle Warren haunted.

Harry and Ron decided that if Lockhart was going to deal with the monster they might as well tell him what they knew. They went to his room, only to find him frantically planning to run away. When questioned on why such a talented wizard as himself was leaving, Lockhart admitted that he was a fraud and that he put Memory Charms on the people who really did the things that he claimed to have done in his books.



He then attempted to put a memory charm on Harry and Ron as well, but they managed to disarm him and, under wand threats, took him to Myrtle Warren's bathroom.

Moaning Myrtle explained her death, saying the last thing she saw was a pair of enormous eyes by one of the sinks, the tap of which had never worked. Harry found a snake carved on the tap and then opened the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets by speaking Parseltongue to it.

Harry, Ron and Lockhart slid down a large pipe and found themselves in maze-like tunnels far under the school. Down there, they encountered a snake skin left by the basilisk. Just then, Lockhart feigned fainting and stole Ron's wand. Victoriously proclaiming that he would erase Harry and Ron's memories and tell everybody they lost their sanity at the sight of Ginny's mangled body, Lockhart attempted a spell. Ron's broken wand caused the charm to backfire, erasing Lockhart's memory and causing a portion of the ceiling to cave in. This trapped Harry in the direction of the chamber and Ron in the direction of the castle. Ron had no choice but to stay behind and clear a path through the rocks while Harry continued in search of Ginny. Harry then encountered a wall with stone snakes on it, opened it by speaking Parseltongue, and enters the Chamber itself.

The Heir of Slytherin
Inside, he found Ginny lying on the ground, pale and cold. He dropped his wand and ran to her, trying to get a response from her, but to no avail. He then saw Tom Riddle smiling at him and holding Harry's wand. Riddle explained his presence in the present by revealing he was a memory, which had been preserved in his diary for fifty years.

He then explained what had happened. Riddle had opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago and planned to purge the school of Muggle-borns and half-bloods; however, when he learned that the school was going to close down due to the attacks and that Dumbledore (then the Transfiguration teacher) was keeping a closer and closer watch on him, he had no choice but to cease the attacks and frame Hagrid for doing it. Not wanting to waste all the years he spent on figuring out where the chamber was and how to get to it, he left behind a diary containing the memory of his sixteen-year-old self in hopes that it would, one day, fall into the hands of an unsuspecting victim who would help him finish his work.

Ginny had been writing in the diary all year. Riddle had written back sympathetically and Ginny grew to confess her fears, hopes and feelings to him. She essentially poured some of her soul into him, which was exactly what he wanted. He gradually grew more powerful and eventually managed to pour some of his soul back into her, possessing her and using her body to open the chamber and launch the new series of attacks. However, eventually Ginny became suspicious of the diary and decided to get rid of it by flushing it down the toilet in Myrtle Warren's bathroom. This is when Harry found it.

When Ginny saw Harry with the diary on Valentine's Day, she panicked and worried that Riddle had told all of her secrets to Harry, so she stole it back from Harry's dormitory. It began taking control of her again, but this time with the intention of killing Harry, so he had Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down to wait, luring Harry to the rescue and, consequently, his doom.

Riddle then asked how Harry managed to defeat the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort as a mere baby. Harry asks Riddle why he cares, as Voldemort existed after his time. Riddle replies that Voldemort was his "past, present and future." He then wrote his name in the air with Harry's wand:



TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

Riddle then waved the wand and the letters rearrange themselves into

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

Needless to say, this meant Riddle grew up to become Lord Voldemort. Riddle then revealed he was, in fact, a half-blood, and his mother had named him Tom after his Muggle father and Marvolo after his wizard grandfather, a descendant of Salazar Slytherin. He scrambled his name to create a new one, which he knew people would fear when he became the most powerful wizard in the world.

Basilisk
Harry retorted that he must be mistaken, because the greatest wizard in the world, as everybody knew, was not Voldemort but Dumbledore. Even when Voldemort was at the peak of his power, he was afraid of Dumbledore, and now he was barely alive. Riddle angrily answered that Dumbledore had been driven out the castle by the mere memory of him. Harry yelled that Dumbledore was not as gone as Riddle seemed to believe. In this display of loyalty, he summoned Fawkes the phoenix to him, who also brought with him the Sorting Hat, both assets that Riddle deems extremely useless.

Riddle then summoned the basilisk and commanded it to kill Harry. However, Fawkes was not as defenceless as one might initially think, and pecked out the basilisk's eyes, thus preventing its gaze from killing. The basilisk could still smell Harry, however, and remained very dangerous; Harry, in desperation, put on the Sorting Hat, wishing against hope for help. Instead of an answer, Harry had a heavy sword with a hilt embedded with rubies fall on his head from inside the hat. After several missed strikes from the blinded basilisk, Harry plunged the sword into the roof of its mouth, killing it. However, one of its poisonous fangs sank into his arm, injecting a deadly poison. While Riddle gloated over his "win", Fawkes cried on the wound, and since phoenix tears had incredible healing properties, Harry was instantly cured.

Basilisk's fang
Harry then plunged the basilisk fang into Tom Riddle's diary. Ink began pouring out of the book and the memory of Riddle faded out of existence; Ginny immediately stirred and woke up, quite distraught. Harry and Ginny travelled back through the Chamber to find Ron and Lockhart, who had no idea of who or where he was.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Lockhart grabbed onto Fawkes and flew out of the Chamber (another phoenix specialty). They returned to the castle to find Dumbledore, McGonagall, Arthur and Molly Weasley, who were delighted to see them alive. Harry worried that Ginny would get blamed for being the person behind the attacks, but to his great relief Dumbledore rightly deduced that Voldemort was the culprit. After Ginny left to get a much-needed rest, Harry and Ron both received 200 house points each for Gryffindor and both got an Award for Special Services to the school, and then Dumbledore asked to speak with Harry alone.

Harry expressed his concern that he belonged in Slytherin. Dumbledore revealed that Voldemort transferred some of his powers to Harry when he gave him his scar, explaining his ability to speak Parseltongue. He asked Harry why he thought the Sorting Hat put him in Gryffindor if he had so many Slytherin qualities, and Harry admitted that the only reason it did was because he had asked it to. Dumbledore confirmed this and told Harry that "it is our choices, rather than our abilities, that reveal who we truly are". He pointed out to the sword Harry had drawn out of the hat - Harry now noticed it had Godric Gryffindor's name on it. Dumbledore said that only a true Gryffindor would be able to draw it out.

Dobby's reward
Lucius Malfoy barged into Dumbledore's office, outraged that Dumbledore had returned to the school after being dismissed. Dumbledore calmly responded that the governors had asked him to return once they heard that Arthur Weasley's daughter was attacked. Apparently they had been blackmailed by Lucius to vote for Dumbledore's dismissal in the first place on pain of Lucius cursing their families. Dobby followed Lucius into the room, thus showing that his masters were the Malfoys.



Dumbledore and Malfoy had a calm and venomous interchange (respectively), during which Dumbledore and Harry (with the help of Dobby's unspoken hints) essentially exposed Lucius sneaking Riddle's diary (one of his illegal artefacts) into Ginny's school things during the fight with Arthur at Flourish and Blotts. This was supposed to frame Ginny for the attacks, with heavy implications on the Muggle Protection Act Arthur Weasley had been suggesting. Malfoy dared Dumbledore to prove his accusation, and while the Headmaster has insufficient evidence to do that, he cautioned Malfoy against orchestrating further such plots.

Knowing that a master could release his house-elf by giving them some clothes, Harry tricked Malfoy into freeing Dobby by giving Malfoy one of his own socks, which he promptly threw away, and was caught by Dobby. Malfoy, after discovering Harry's trick, attempted to kill Harry, only to be stopped by Dobby. Dobby thanked Harry dearly for freeing him and left. At the ending feast, Dumbledore announced his school treat of cancelling all final exams (much to Hermione's dismay) and that Lockhart would not return to Hogwarts.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
 * Pottermore

Notes and references
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