FAQ

It would have destroyed the horcrux in Harry, had it killed him. The only way to destroy a horcrux is by complete destruction, or in the case of a living being (Nagini, and Harry), by their death.

Now 12 years old, student wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his fellow wizard students Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermoine Granger (Emma Watson) are back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for their second year only to find that Hogwarts residents are becoming petrified, muggle-born students are being attacked, mysterious voices are issuing from the walls, and a message scrawled on the wall in blood reading, "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir... beware". Harry, Hermoine, and Ron must uncover the truth about the chamber before the school is forced to close.

The Chamber of Secrets (1998) is the second book of the Harry Potter series written by British author J.K. Rowling. The movie was preceded by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and followed by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011). Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was adapted for the screen by American screenwriter Steve Kloves.

In Greek legends, the basilisk (meaning "little king") is a small, foot-long, venomous, serpentine reptile whose gaze is said to have the power of death. It is hatched from a snake's or toad's egg under a cock (rooster). To see an artist's drawing of the legendary basilisk, look here. In the Harry Potter stories, the basilisk is, of course, much larger. In reality, there is a real basilisk, a small South American lizard belonging to the genus Basiliscus. For a photo of the South American basilisk, look here. Other legendary properties of the basilisk, not mentioned in the Harry Potter stories, is that is leaves a trail of venom behind itself and can destroy plants with its breath; the odour of a weasel is fatal to it.

Of the seven Weasley children; Ron, Fred, George, Percy (Chris Rankin) and Ginny (Bonnie Wright) are all there when Harry visits their house, the Burrow, for breakfast on his way back to Hogwarts. Mum Molly (Julie Walters) is also there, and we are introduced to Dad, Arthur (Mark Williams), a pure-blooded wizard who works at the Ministry of Magic in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. This year will be Ginny's first year at Hogwarts. No mention is made of Bill or Charlie Weasley, but it can be assumed that Charlie is still studying dragons in Romania.

That was Dobby the house-elf (voice Toby Jones), trying to prevent Harry from returning to Hogwarts. Dobby knows Harry is in grave danger.

It's a Ford Anglia, which was the name applied to four models of car produced in the UK between 1939 and 1967. A total of 1,594,486 Anglias were produced before being replaced by the new Ford Escort.

Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) was using a derogatory term that implied Hermione was of inferior, dirty blood because she was born of Muggle parents. This opens up the idea of discrimination against blood "purity" on which the future films center.

Yes. The root of the mandrake (genus Mandragora) has a long history in both the magical and the healing arts. It is even mentioned in Shakespeare's Macbeth.The lore surrounding the mandrake root in The Chamber of Secrets is quite accurate. Mandrake root has a tendency to bifurcate and some may even resemble the shape of a human. For this reason, mandrake roots were highly sought by medieval alchemists and magicians for use in their rituals. Some even used mandrake roots as familiars. As in the movie, it was believed that mandrakes shrieked when being dug out of the ground and that their shrieks could drive a person mad. Therefore, mandrake-pulling dogs were often used for this purpose. Medically, the mandrake belongs to the Solanaceae [Nightshade] family along with henbane, jimsonweed, and belladonna, as well as some more common plants such as potatoes and tomatoes. Certain parts of the Solanaceaes contain alkaloids, such as atropine and hyoscyamine, which have hallucinogenic properties along with other properties that make them valuable in the medical field. In The Chamber of Secrets, mandrake was used to cure those who had been petrified (turned to stone) by the glance of the Basilisk.

Returning are Professor Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris), headmaster of Hogwarts; Professor Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith), deputy headmistress of Hogwarts, head of Gryffindor House, and teacher of Transfigurations; Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), head of Slytherin House and Potions Master; and Professor Filius Flitwick (Warwick Davis), head of Ravenclaw House and teacher of Charms. In addition, we are introduced to Professor Pomona Sprout (Miriam Margolyes), head of Hufflepuff house and teacher of Herbology, and Professor Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh), temporarily assigned as teacher of a class in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) is back as Hogwarts groundskeeper, and we also meet for the second time Argus Filch (David Bradley), Hogwarts caretaker. In a flashback, we see Professor Armando Dippet (Alfred Burke), former headmaster of Hogwarts, prior to Dumbledore's appointment.

Harry's snowy owl: Hedwig

Ron's rat: Scabbers

Caretaker Filch's cat: Mrs Norris

Professor Dumbledore's phoenix: Fawkes

Hagrid's Acromantula spider: Aragog

Weasley family's mail carrying owl: Errol

Hagrid's dog: Fang

Once again, that was Dobby the house-elf, hoping that the Bludger would frighten or mildly injure Harry enough for him to leave Hogwarts.

At first, Harry, Ron, and Hermoine think it might be Draco Malfoy, based on his disdain of muggles and the fact that his father Lucius (Jason Isaacs) was a student at Hogwarts 50 years ago, the last time that the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Then, suspicion shifts to Harry himself when Draco conjures up a cobra, and Harry is able to talk to it using Parseltongue (the language of snakes), a rare talent that few wizards possess. Even Harry begins to doubt himself when he remembers how the Sorting Hat first wanted to place him in Slytherin House, whose symbol is a serpent, when he arrived at Hogwarts. Then Ginny finds a diary which contains a "preservation" of Tom Marvolo Riddle, at the age of 16. Toward the end of the movie, it is revealed that Riddle is none other than the evil Lord Voldemort, who is the true heir of Slytherin. The passing of fifty years since the previous opening of the Chamber of Secrets falsely suggested that different persons within Slytherin's bloodline were responsible, while, in fact, it was the same person all along.

If you pay close attention in the beginning, it is clear that Lucius Malfoy takes a book from Ginny's cauldron, observes and comments about it, and then puts two books back. The second book is Riddle's diary. While the film does not explain his reason for why he did this, in the book it was revealed to be part of an elaborate scheme to frame Ginny for the attacks with his true target is to discredit her father Arthur Weasley to ruin his career at the Ministry. His main reason for doing so is that Arthur had proposed a new law, the "Muggle Protection Act", that would allow the ministry to protect Muggles from dark magical artifacts. Lucius found the Act offensive and wanted to prevent it from gaining passage in the Ministry. Lucius's other objectives were to use the attacks to kick Dumbledore out of Hogwarts due to Dumbledore's acceptance towards Muggles and Muggle-born wizards, and to get rid of the diary due to it being a dark artifact itself that would have gotten him in trouble.

The Chamber of Secrets has been opened twice. (1) When Tom Riddle (Christian Coulson)'s "preservation" shows the events as they happened 50 years ago to Harry, it was Hagrid who was accused and subsequently expelled from Hogwarts. When Ron and Harry follow the spiders to Aragog, who was accused of being the monster who killed the Hogwarts student now known as Moaning Myrtle (Shirley Henderson), Aragog confirms Hagrid's innocence. (2) The second time the Chamber is opened, suspicion again falls on Hagrid, and he is sent away to Azkaban. When Harry finally finds his way into the Chamber, he learns that Tom Riddle was the one who opened the Chamber the first time; the second time, it was Ginny Weasley, entranced by Tom Riddle's ghost, who opened the Chamber.

It is briefly revealed that Lucius actually wanted to use the Avada Kedavra on Harry, which is the Killing Curse (although the audience doesn't know this). Good thing Dobby intervened.

• The Herbology class where the second-years repot the Mandrakes is shown.

• Lockhart's first Defence Against the Dark Arts class is shown where he releases the pixies and Harry, Ron and Hermione have to round them up.

• Transfiguration class is the setting for Hermione asking about the Chamber of Secrets but before she does McGonagall teaches them how to turn an animal into a water goblet.

• Quidditch practice is shown briefly, although they don't actually do any flying.

• The Duelling Club is shown in good detail.

It's actually very rude. A version of it is here.

This is not explained in the film, and it does not occur in the book. It's probably just there to demonstrate how arrogant and selfish Malfoy is, damaging a book that he does not own (and could easily afford to buy) just because he liked a picture or saw something interesting. Similarly, later in the film, when Harry and Ron disguise themselves as Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy steals a gift off the table.

After finding the underground entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, Harry, Ron, and Professor Gilderoy Lockhart jump into it. Scared out of his wits, Lockhart tries to bluff his way out and put a spell of memory loss on Harry and Ron—after stealing Ron's wand when he lost control of it during a scuffle, and also unaware that the wand was broken and malfunctioning all during the school term—but the spell backfires and Lockhart loses his own memory. Harry enters into the inner chamber where he finds Ginny Weasley lying on the floor and a ghostly manifestation of Tom Riddle standing next to her. Riddle describes how he entranced Ginny to open the Chamber, write the words on the wall, and then plant the diary where Harry could find it. As Ginny grows weaker, he says, he is growing stronger and will soon be able to inhabit a corporeal body. Of course, Ginny will die. When Harry asks who he really is, Tom shows how his name Tom Marvolo Riddle can be anagrammed to read I am Lord Voldemort. Tom/Voldemort then releases the basilisk to kill Harry, but Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes suddenly flies through the Chamber. He drops the Sorting Hat into Harry's hands, and pecks out the basilisk's eyes so that it cannot turn Harry to stone with its glance. Harry manages to evade the Basilisk, and notices that a Gryffindor sword appears inside the Sorting Hat. Harry is cornered by the basilisk, but defeats it by driving the sword through the roof of its mouth. Unfortunately, the basilisk manages to bite Harry before it dies, leaving its fang in Harry's arm. As Voldemort gloats, Harry takes the fang and drives it through the diary. As Voldemort has still not fully manifested, the venom causes his "preservation" to explode. Ginny wakes up. Fawkes cries healing tears into Harry's wound, and he carries Harry, Ginny, Ron and Lockhart through the cave back to school. Dumbledore returns to Hogwarts, signs release papers for Hagrid, and awards Ron and Harry for their special service to the school. He also explains to Harry that, when Voldemort put the lightning scar on Harry's forehead, he unintentionally transferred some of his powers into Harry, which explains why Harry can speak Parseltongue; and that Harry rightfully belongs in Gryffindor, because the Sorting Hat knew he wanted to be there, and only a true Gryffindor could have pulled the sword from the Hat. Suddenly, Lucius Malfoy enters the room with his House Elf Dobby in tow. Figuring that Harry has finally been fingered as the culprit who opened the Chamber, he is surprised to hear Dumbledore blame it on Voldemort. In a cryptic message, Dumbledore indicates to know fully well that Lucius had extorted several school governors into suspending Dumbledore as headmaster, and that Lucius was the one behind Riddle's Diary; he subtly warns him that he will face severe consequences, should proof of such scheming ever come out. Angrily, Lucius storms out of Dumbledore's office. Harry runs after him to give him back the diary, which Lucius had surreptitiously slipped into Ginny's cauldron. When Lucius tries to deny it, he gives the diary to Dobby, who opens it to find a black sock. "Master has given Dobby a sock!", Dobby cries, "Dobby is free!" Lucius, of course, is doubly angry at Harry for releasing his servant and tries to zap Harry with the Killing Curse, but Dobby steps between them and zaps Lucius across the room. Lucius makes an embarrassed retreat, but not before reminding Harry that his parents were killed because they meddled in the wrong affairs. Harry makes Dobby promise to never try to save his life again. In the final scenes, Hermione, cured of petrification, joins Ron and Harry at the end of the year feast, and Hagrid returns just in time to thank them for getting him released from Azkaban.

In the book, Harry's summer with the Dursleys is miserable, as they punish him repeatedly at the mere mentioning or suggestion of the word "magic". Dobby splatters the pie over the kitchen floor, but the Masons leave anyway when an owl flies in the house which startles them, carrying a message for Harry from the Ministery of Magic that he has broken the law by practising magic as a minor outside of Hogwarts (they apparently did not detect that it was done by Dobby). Harry is locked in his bedroom for three days, unable to free himself because another display of magic will get him expelled from school.

After the breakout, Harry spends the rest of the summer with the Weasleys, assisting the Weasley brothers as they de-gnome the garden as punishment for stealing the flying car. As he uses the Floo network to go meet Hermione in Diagon Alley and mistakenly ends up in a shop in Knockturn Alley, he witnesses Draco Malfoy and his father, Lucius, selling some dark items for fear of being discovered while carrying them (this scene was filmed but deleted from the movie).

Harry makes a stop at Gringotts bank to withdraw some money, where his inherited wealth contrasts painfully with the Weasley's meager possessions. While at Flourish and Blotts, Gilderoy Lockhart already announces his recent appointment as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, and Arthur Weasley's argument with Lucius Malfoy escalates to the point where the two men have to be physically restrained by Hagrid.

While driving the flying Ford to Hogwarts, the movie contains a scene where the car gets in front of the train, and Harry almost falls out. This scene is not in the book.

It is Snape who catches Ron and Harry outside the Great Hall, not Filch. Professor McGonagall informs the boys that in their absence, Ginny has been selected into Gryffindor house. Hermione berates the boys for their reckless behavior with the car, but they find that the other Gryffindor boys regard them as heroes for such audacity.

At Herbology class, Professor Sprout displays annoyance over Professor Lockhart's unsollicited advice in treating the damaged Whomping Willow. Lockhart is apparently mistaking Harry's sincere efforts to get to Hogwarts as attempts to draw attention and become famous, and keeps providing him with unwanted advice throughout several chapters. During Herbology class, Justin Finch-Fletchley introduces himself as a Muggle-born student (in an deleted scene, he was introduced during the Duelling class).

Hagrid is the next person to criticize Lockhart for his know-it-all attitude and continuous bragging; he mentions that Lockhart was the only applicant for the vacancy of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. The post is rumored to be jinxed, since no recent teacher has been able to stay in the position for over a year.

Coming from a particularly rained out Quidditch practice, Harry meets Gryffindor's house ghost, sir Nearly-Headless Nick, but is nearly punished by Mr Filch for dripping mud and water on the floor; however, when Filch has to leave briefly to get rid of Peeves the mischievous poltergeist, Harry notices that Filch keeps a course for something called "Kwikspell" on his desk. Filch is so embarrassed that Harry has found it, that he lets him go. Upon leaving, Nick confesses that he arranged for Peeves to create a distraction for Harry, and would like the presence of Harry and his friends on his Deathsday Party. They attend the party and also meet Moaning Myrtle for the first time; however, the presence of Peeves causes quite some disharmony, prompting the trio to leave. The movie picks up when Harry hears the voice for the second time while serving detention with Lockhart and they discover Mr Filch's Petrified cat. Filch is quick to accuse Harry of targeting him for being a Squib. Harry has no idea what a Squib is, but Ron later explains that a Squib is someone born from magical parents, but without magical powers himself; the "Kwikspell" is a course that Squibs can follow to appear able to perform magic.

The supposed opening of the Chamber of Secrets and Harry's unexplained presence near the victims causes more and more people to suspect him of being the Heir of Slytherin. The legend of the Chamber is told during one of Professor Binns' History lessons (in the movie, it is during one of Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration lessons, since Binns was excluded from all movies). They soon discover that an unused girl's bathroom is overflowing and that spiders are fleeing from the scene; but upon exiting the bathroom, they are caught by Percey Weasley, who deducts points for entering the off-limits area.

The production of the Polyjuice Potion requires quite a lot more effort from the trio in the book. During a Defence class, which Lockhart abuses to show off on his heroic deeds once more, Hermione tricks him into signing a paper that will allow her to obtain the book with the potion's recipe from the library's restricted section. They also need to distract Snape during Potion class, so Hermione can sneak into his cabinet and obtain two rare ingredients for the potion.

The Quidditch match plays out mostly like in the movie, only that Draco does not notice the Golden Snitch and does not get injured during the match while pursing it (in the book he gets reprimanded by the team captain for failing to notice the Snitch hovering above his left ear, as he was too distracted with insulting Harry Potter). During the Duelling class, Hermione obtains some hairs from Millicent Bullstrode for the Polyjuice Potion during a bout of wrestling (which ends with Hermione in a headlock). Afterwards, Harry overhears several students who mention that Justin got into hiding because everyone now believes that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin, and has it in for all Muggle-borns (a scene filmed, but deleted). While leaving, Harry bumps into Hagrid who comments that something is killing his roosters. Harry proceeds down the hall, discovering a Petrified Justin. Sir Nick appears black and smouldering due to being Petrified, and Peeves is the one to discover Harry at the scene, warning McGonagall.

Fred and George joke around, yelling, "make way for the Heir", wherever Harry goes (also filmed and deleted). Although Harry appreciates the twins' effort to defuse the tense situation, Ginny makes a distraught impression.

While disguised as Crabbe and Goyle, Ron and Harry find out from Draco that Mr Weasley is facing fines on his work due to his illegal tampering with a Muggle car. It is revealed that Draco has already learned from his father that the Chamber was opened 50 years ago, but his father wouldn't say who got convicted for it; Lucius hinted at the reopening of the Chamber, but urged Draco not to get involved. Draco also confesses that his family keeps a lot of Dark Objects in a secret room below their manor.

Upon finding Tom Riddle's diary, Ron remembers seeing an award for "special services to the school" presented to a Tom M. Riddle during one of his detentions (another deleted scene). Hermione, noticing the diary has dates corresponding with the first opening of the Chamber of Secrets, tries several revealing spells on it, to no avail. Lockhart boastfully claims credit for the fact that no recent attacks have taken place, and organises a celebratory Valentine's Day special. A Valentine's card directed to a reluctant Harry causes a lot of mayhem and another one of Malfoy's taunts, in which ink spills over Riddle's diary, but Harry notices that no ink stains appear on the pages, prompting him to try writing in it. In the memory contained in Riddle's diary, Tom Riddle is seen talking with headmaster Dippet instead of Dumbledore (the latter only making a short appearance).

Harry's time is absorbed by strenuous Quidditch training prior to the match against Hufflepuff, and deciding which courses to take in his next year. On his way to the match, he hears the voice for the third time, prompting Hermione to run into the library with a sudden hunch. The match itself is cancelled when both Hermione and Ravenclaw student Penelope Clearwater are found Petrified (Penelope is not a Basilisk victim in the film). With one of his close friends among the victims, Harry is no longer a suspect; Lockhart triumphantly announces that Hagrid was the culprit, much to the chagrin of Ron and Harry.

Two weeks after Hagrid's arrest, Harry and Ron notice a group of fleeing spiders again, and follow them into the Forbidden Forest (this happens on the night of Hagrid's arrest in the movie). When they discover the Weasley's flying car in the forest (deleted scene), large spiders grab them and take them to Aragog, who resents the intrusion and immediately orders his children to kill the boys; Harry manages to stall them with his questions, until they are rescued by the car. Through Aragog's story, Harry already deduces that the girl killed fifty years ago could be Moaning Myrtle (in the movie, he doesn't find out until he discovers Hermione's note).

Due to tight security and unexpected scheduling of final exams, Ron and Harry have to wait for several days to talk to Moaning Myrtle. Ginny wants to say something important to Harry, but she is silenced by Percy, and leaves. Harry and Ron trick Lockhart into letting them wander around unescorted, since the danger has passed anyway. They lie to McGonagall that they are on their way to Hermione in the hospital, which actually forces them to go there, but it leads to the fortunate discovery of the note explaining the monster is a Basilisk. The note also explains that a rooster's crow is fatal to a Basilisk, explaining why someone was killing Hagrid's roosters.

While in the Chamber of Secrets, Tom Riddle's is a ghost-like apparition which solidifies as Ginny is slowly dying (unlike in the movie, where he looks like a physical being the entire time). It turns out he has been communicating with Ginny all year long through writings in his diary, gradually earning her trust and finally physically possessing her, forcing her to do his bidding (including killing Hagrid's roosters). Tom reveals that his first name came from his Muggle father, and his second name, Marvolo, comes from his maternal grandfather, a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. He also demands to know how baby Harry managed to defeat the adult Voldemort; Harry tells him it was through his mother's sacrifice.

As the Basilisk is blinded, Tom urges it to use its smell to locate Harry (in the movie, the Basilisk uses sound). Harry obtains the Gryffindor sword by putting the Sorting Hat on his head and thinking "Help me!"; he can feel the sword falling on his head. As Fawkes lands next to a poisoned Harry, Riddle tries to kill it with a Killing curse, but Fawkes quickly drops the diary into Harry's lap, who pierces it with the Basilisk fang from his arm.

As Fawkes carries everyone out of the cave to safety, the entire ordeal is recounted in Professor McGonagall's office, where the Weasleys have arrived in the meantime. Dumbledore mentions that the "real" Voldemort is currently hiding in Albania, but he is quick to assure the Weasleys that Ginny was cursed by one of his memories and is therefore not to blame, since Voldemort managed to deceive much more experienced wizards and witches. A confused Gilderoy Lockhart is taken to the hospital. As Lucius Malfoy comes in to demand explanation, Dumbledore subtly suggests that the whole idea of cursing Ginny's was to discredit Arthur Weasley, and that if Lucius ever tries again, Arthur will surely expose him. In the remainder of the year, Lucius is fired from Hogwarts' board of Governors. Ginny mentions that she had tried to warn Harry about the dark influence of the diary earlier, but that Percy silenced her, thinking she wanted to reveal that Percy had a secret relationship with Penelope Clearwater (information the Weasley twins will surely abuse in their ongoing pranking).

In 2009, Ultimate Editions of the first two Potter movies were released on Blu-ray/DVD. These new editions feature longer cuts of the movies and for the Chamber of Secrets, this new "version" runs approximately 13 minutes longer than the well-known theatrical cut. Most of these scenes are deleted scenes from the old DVDs that were reinserted into the movie. Disney Channel aired a longer cut of this Potter movie in the States as well and one can guess that the Ultimate Edition and the Disney Channel cut are probably the same.