Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
During the summer holidays, very important guests arrive at the Dursleys' house for Uncle Vernon's meeting. Vernon orders Harry to stay in his room and not to show himself until the meeting is over. Harry obeys, but a house-elf named Dobby appears in his room. The elf tells Harry that he must not return to Hogwarts because it will be too dangerous this year. Harry disagrees, so Dobby casts a spell on a celebration cake, causing it to float upwards and fall on the head of the Dursleys' guest—Mrs. Mason. The elf then disappears, setting Harry up for trouble. Uncle Vernon becomes furious, locks the windows in Harry's room, and tells him that he will never return to Hogwarts.
Late at night, Harry wakes up from a strange sound. To his surprise, he sees an old flying Ford Anglia outside his window, with the Weasley brothers—Ron, Fred, and George—peering out. They rescue Harry from his confinement (despite the Dursleys' attempt to stop them) and take him to their home, the Burrow, where they are met by their mother's anger for not informing her of their plans.
Later, the Weasley family, along with Harry, visit Diagon Alley, where they meet Hermione. In the bookstore, there is a presentation of the latest book by Gilderoy Lockhart, the wizard who is to replace Quirinus Quirrell as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. During the presentation, Lucius Malfoy slips a second-hand diary of Tom Riddle into Ginny Weasley's textbooks, but no one notices.
September 1st arrives, and everyone heads to Platform 9¾ to board the train, but for some unknown reason, Harry and Ron are unable to do so. After missing the train, they take Ron's father's flying car and make their way to Hogwarts in it. The car lands on the Whomping Willow, where it suffers a series of violent blows before ejecting the passengers and their belongings and driving off into the Forbidden Forest. The boys are met by Argus Filch, the caretaker, who takes them to Professor Severus Snape. While reading the latest issue of the Evening Prophet, which reports on the boys' misdeeds, Snape says that had they been in his house, he would have thrown them out of school without hesitation. However, Professor McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor House, does not expel them, though she does assign a punishment to both of them.
Ron receives a howler from Mrs. Weasley, which scolds him in front of everyone for stealing his father's car and nearly getting expelled.
Strange things begin happening at Hogwarts. While serving his punishment with Lockhart (helping him answer fan mail), Harry hears a voice calling to him, speaking of murder. No one but Harry hears the voice. Hermione believes it is best not to tell anyone, as hearing things that others don't hear is considered a bad sign, even in the wizarding world. Ron and even the portrait character nearby agree with this, but the voice leads them to a place flooded with water, where the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, is found frozen on a lantern bracket, and a bloodstained message on the wall reads that the "Chamber of Secrets" has been opened, and the enemies of the heir should tremble. The friends are then caught by other students, as well as professors and Argus Filch, who suspects Harry of being involved in the incident.
The friends are filled with fear and confusion. During a Transfiguration lesson, where students practice turning animals into containers for liquids, Hermione asks Professor McGonagall about the Chamber of Secrets. The professor reluctantly explains that Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin House and one of the four founders of Hogwarts, always believed that only pure-blood wizards (those whose parents are wizards) should study at the school, a view not shared by the other founders. Eventually, Salazar left the school, but according to legend, he left behind a chamber within Hogwarts, which his heir would one day open to rid the school of Muggle-borns, who Salazar Slytherin considered unworthy of studying magic. The legend says that a monstrous creature lies within this chamber, which can only be controlled by the heir of Slytherin.
During another game of Quidditch, the Bludger keeps attacking Harry and eventually breaks his arm, but Harry still manages to catch the Golden Snitch. The situation is worsened by Lockhart’s clumsy intervention, which removes all the bones from Harry’s arm. Harry ends up in the hospital wing. During the night, Dobby visits him and confesses that it was he who blocked the barrier to Platform 9¾ to prevent Harry from returning to Hogwarts and also made the Bludger chase Harry in order to force him to go home. Dobby knows who opened the Chamber, but cannot reveal it to Harry.
Meanwhile, following the cat, Colin Creevey becomes the next victim of the unknown attacker. Harry, Ron, and Hermione suspect Draco Malfoy, as he has always spoken out against half-bloods and Muggle-borns (whom he calls "Mudbloods"). The friends think that the Chamber could have been opened by Lucius Malfoy (when he was at school) and then he might have told his son how to do it. Hermione suggests brewing Polyjuice Potion, which would allow Harry and Ron to take the appearance of Crabbe and Goyle and then question Draco about everything. The boys agree. The brewing of the "forbidden" potion takes place in an abandoned girls' bathroom, which is haunted by the ghost Moaning Myrtle.
Lockhart starts a "Dueling Club" at the school, designed to teach students how to defend themselves if attacked. Lockhart faces off against Snape (who agreed to be his assistant), and it becomes clear that he is completely incompetent in this matter, as in almost everything else. Snape suggests arranging a duel between students to show them how to block malicious spells aimed at them. Lockhart picks Harry, and Snape picks Draco. The boys are evenly matched, and neither of them intends to back down, but Draco makes an unusual move: he releases a snake from his wand. The snake tries to attack one of the students, but Harry speaks to it, and the snake calms down before Snape destroys it. This is when everyone learns that Harry is a Parselmouth. Hermione explains to Harry that the ability to speak to snakes is associated with dark magic. Many students begin to believe that Harry Potter must be the heir of Salazar Slytherin, as he was the most famous Parselmouth of all time.
Meanwhile, the next victims of the attacks are Nearly Headless Nick the ghost and another student (Justin Finch-Fletchley), and Harry once again finds himself at the scene of the crime, leading Argus Filch to once again suspect him. Harry is summoned to the headmaster's office, where Dumbledore says that he has no doubt of Harry’s innocence, but asks if Harry has anything he wants to tell him. Harry cannot bring himself to speak.
By Christmas, the Polyjuice Potion is finally ready. After drugging Crabbe and Goyle with cakes laced with sleeping potion, Harry and Ron take their hair and, adding it to the potion made by Hermione, transform into Draco’s friends. Hermione has bad luck: instead of Millicent Bulstrode’s hair from Slytherin, she ends up with a hair from her cat, and she transforms into a half-human, half-animal form. Harry and Ron go to Draco and try to extract information about who opened the Chamber, but to their surprise, they learn that Malfoy doesn't know anything and that the Chamber had been opened before, even before his father attended Hogwarts.
Soon, Harry finds a strange book in Myrtle’s bathroom with the inscription that it belongs to someone named Tom Riddle. The book turns out to be a diary, which shows Harry a memory of young Riddle (revealing that Hagrid had opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago). However, soon after, someone steals it from Harry's bedroom.
Another victim, paralyzed and lying in the hospital wing, is Hermione herself, who was attacked while returning from the library. To investigate, Harry and Ron visit Hagrid, but they witness Hagrid being taken to Azkaban, as the Ministry believes he has returned to his old ways. Furthermore, Lucius Malfoy arrives and informs Dumbledore that the Board of Governors has decided to remove him from his position. Just before being taken away, Hagrid manages to tell the boys (who are hiding under the invisibility cloak) that if they want to understand what’s going on, they should follow the spiders. Indeed, for some unknown reason, spiders start fleeing the school and head into the Forbidden Forest.
Harry and Ron follow the spiders and meet Aragog, a huge, ancient spider. Aragog confirms that he was raised by Hagrid, but he is not the monster of Slytherin, and the gamekeeper never opened the Chamber. The real monster hides in the castle, and the spiders are so terrified of it that they don’t even speak its name. Aragog also reveals that when the Chamber was opened last time and a Hogwarts student was killed, her body was found in the girls’ bathroom. After the conversation, Aragog allows his large brood to eat Harry and Ron, but they escape thanks to the flying Ford Anglia they had used to travel to Hogwarts earlier.
When visiting Hermione again, the boys find a piece of paper in her hand, which describes the Basilisk (a giant snake). The friends realize that this is the creature of the Chamber of Secrets. Harry also figures out that the victim of the Basilisk fifty years ago was Moaning Myrtle. Meanwhile, a panic rises in the castle—on the wall near the girls’ bathroom, a message appears stating that a student has been taken into the Chamber, and their skeleton will remain there forever. It turns out that the student is Ginny Weasley...
The school is about to be closed, but the boys decide to take action. They go to see Lockhart (who, as it turns out, planned to flee the school and even confessed to taking credit for other people’s achievements), and together with the cowardly professor, they head to the bathroom. After questioning Myrtle, they find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Descending into the dungeon, they encounter the discarded skin of the giant snake. After that, Lockhart unexpectedly turns on the friends, trying to use the only spell he knows perfectly—the Obliviate spell. However, Ron’s wand, which the professor tried to use, is faulty, and the spell backfires, erasing Lockhart’s memory. Furthermore, the ceiling of the dungeon collapses, and Harry and Ron end up on opposite sides of the rubble.
Harry continues alone and enters a hall where Ginny lies unconscious. Near her is the diary. From the shadows emerges Tom Riddle, who picks up Harry's wand that he had left on the floor when rushing to the girl. Harry demands his wand back, but Riddle refuses, stating that it was he who ordered Ginny to open the Chamber of Secrets. Tom also tells Harry that he and Voldemort are the same person, and when Ginny dies, he will regain his flesh, power, and life. After this, Riddle releases the Basilisk.
Harry fights the creature, and he receives invaluable help from Fawkes, the phoenix, who pecks out the snake's eyes (since its gaze is fatal to anyone who looks directly into them). From the Sorting Hat brought by the phoenix, the sword of Godric Gryffindor appears. With this weapon, Harry kills the Basilisk, but the creature manages to injure him with its poisonous fang. After pulling the fang from his hand, Harry uses it to stab Riddle’s diary. The snake venom eats through the pages, the diary bleeds ink, and Tom vanishes in a burst of light. Ginny comes to her senses, and Fawkes' tears heal Harry's wound, neutralizing the Basilisk's venom. The group, along with Lockhart, escapes the dungeon—carried away by the phoenix.
Harry and Ron find themselves in Dumbledore’s office. The headmaster says that the boys have broken several school rules in the last few hours and deserve serious punishment, but instead, they will receive special awards "for services to the school." Ron leaves to send an owl to Azkaban requesting Hagrid’s release. Dumbledore thanks Harry for his bravery in the Chamber of Secrets and asks if something is troubling him. Harry replies that he cannot help but notice some similarities between himself and Tom Riddle. The headmaster explains that Harry can speak Parseltongue because Voldemort, when he tried to kill Harry, unknowingly transferred part of his powers to him on that night when he gave him his scar. Harry wonders if the Sorting Hat was right in offering him a place in Slytherin. Dumbledore says that Harry does have qualities highly valued by Voldemort—determination, resourcefulness, disregard for rules. But Harry was firmly against entering Slytherin, and in that respect, he differs from Voldemort. Dumbledore also advises Harry to look at the blade of Gryffindor's sword if he needs confirmation that he belongs in Gryffindor. Harry finds the inscription "Godric Gryffindor" on the blade, and Dumbledore explains that only a true Gryffindor could have pulled the sword from the Hat.
Suddenly, the door bursts open, and Lucius Malfoy enters, followed by the house-elf, Dobby. Lucius is enraged by Dumbledore’s return to Hogwarts, but the headmaster calmly explains that after Ginny’s disappearance, the governors requested his return. Some of them even hinted that they had been forced to support Dumbledore’s resignation due to threats against their families. Malfoy hypocritically declares that his main task has always been and will always be the welfare of the school and its students. When asked if the culprit has been revealed, Dumbledore confirms and explains that it was Voldemort, but he was using someone else's hands this time, through Tom Riddle's diary. Fortunately, Harry defeated the evil, and Dumbledore hopes that in the future, Voldemort’s items will no longer fall into innocent hands; otherwise, the one who does this will face severe punishment. Lucius and Dobby leave, but Harry, realizing that it was Malfoy who gave Ginny the diary, runs after them and returns the diary to its former owner. Lucius hands the diary to Dobby, who finds the sock Harry hid between its pages, thus setting himself free, since "clothes" were given to him. An angry Malfoy attempts to use magic on Harry (likely the killing curse "Avada Kedavra"), but Dobby throws his former master aside. In the end, Lucius leaves empty-handed, telling Harry that he will someday meet the same fate as his dead parents. The house-elf is happy and is ready to do anything for Harry, but the boy asks him never to try to save his life again.
As the dramatic story comes to a close, a celebratory feast is held at Hogwarts. Hermione, who appears in the Great Hall, hugs Harry joyfully, while Ron only shyly shakes his hand. The other victims of the Basilisk attacks are also healed, for which Professor Pomona Sprout and Nurse Poppy Pomfrey (who prepared the Mandrake Draught) receive a standing ovation from the entire school. Additionally, in light of everything that has happened, Dumbledore presents the students with a special gift: all exams are canceled. Soon, Hagrid is released and thanks Harry, Ron, and Hermione for his freedom. The students greet the gamekeeper with great joy.
After the closing credits, Diagon Alley is shown—on a storefront window is a book by Gilderoy Lockhart. On the cover, he is depicted in a straitjacket. The title reads: "Who Am I?"