Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Chapter 17

The Heir of Slytherin

• The Chamber is lined with columns in the shape of snakes.
• Against the back wall is a huge statue of a wizard.
• At the base of the statue is a "small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair" (17.5).
• Ginny isn't dead, but she won't wake up.

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• There is a black-haired boy leaning against a nearby pillar.
• It's Tom Riddle.
• Riddle tells Harry that he is a memory, preserved in a diary for over fifty years.
• Confused, Harry asks Riddle to help him get Ginny out of the Chamber.
• Harry tries to lift Ginny while Riddle picks up Harry's wand.
• Riddle tells Harry that he has been waiting for the chance to speak to Harry.
• Harry finally twigs to the fact that something is wrong.
• Riddle begins to explain.
• Ginny has been writing in Riddle's diary for months and months, spilling her secrets to Riddle.
• Riddle has been writing back to her, making friends with her, and slowly developing his power over her.
• As Riddle's power grows, he begins "feeding Miss Weasley a few of [his] secrets, to start pouring a little of [his] soul back into her" (17.45).
• Riddle uses Ginny to kill the roosters, paint threatening messages on the walls, and set the basilisk on four students and Mrs. Norris.
• Harry is absolutely horrified.
• Riddle continues: Ginny begins to suspect that the diary is responsible for her periods of lost memory and for the terrible things that are happening at the school.
• She throws the diary away.
• Luckily for Riddle, the next person to pick up the diary is Harry, the one person Riddle wants to meet more than anyone else.
• Before Riddle can really get to know Harry, Ginny steals the diary back.
• She won't let Harry be harmed by Riddle.
• Still, Riddle knows by now that Harry will do anything to rescue his friends.
• So Riddle forces Ginny to "write her own farewell on the wall" (17.64) and come down to the Chamber of Secrets to wait for Harry to arrive.
• She is growing weaker and weaker as Riddle takes physical form outside of the diary.
• Harry asks why Riddle cares about Harry at all.
• Ginny has told Riddle that it was Harry who brought down Voldemort eleven years ago.
• Riddle wants to know what's so special about Harry, since Voldemort was "the greatest wizard of all time" (17.66).
• Riddle is eager to know because he is Voldemort as a young man.
• Rearrange the letters in his name – Tom Marvolo Riddle – and you get "I am Lord Voldemort" (17.71).
• Harry tells Riddle he isn't the greatest wizard in the world; that wizard is Albus Dumbledore.
• As Harry says this, he hears sudden music: "It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on Harry's scalp and made his heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its size" (17.81).
• The song is phoenix song.
• Fawkes has arrived, and he's carrying the Sorting Hat.
• Riddle laughs at Harry, that these are the great reinforcements Professor Dumbledore sends his defender.
• Harry doesn't care. At least he's no longer alone.
• He tells Riddle that he survived because his "common Muggle-born mother" (17.94) died to save him.
• Riddle is glad to hear that it was only lucky chance that saved Harry from Voldemort.
• Riddle finally calls the basilisk to come out and kill Harry.

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• Harry sees a massive snake slithering out of the mouth of the statue at the end of the hall.
• Harry runs.
• Fawkes swoops in and tears out the snake's eyes.
• Maddened with pain, the snake continues to hunt Harry.
• Harry grabs the Sorting Hat and jams it onto his head. He begs for help.
• Something lands on Harry's head with a clunk.
• It's a sword.
• Riddle keeps egging the basilisk on to kill Harry.
• The basilisk strikes, but Harry is fast enough to bury the sword into the soft palate of its mouth.
• Still, the basilisk sinks a poisonous fang into Harry's arm.
• Fawkes flies to Harry's side.
• Riddle gloats: Harry is dying, and Riddle gets to watch.
• Then, though, Harry starts to feel better.
• He realizes that Fawkes's tears are healing him.
• Riddle uses Harry's wand to zap Fawkes away, and then he raises his wand to Harry.
• Fawkes flies overhead and drops Riddle's diary into Harry's lap.
• Harry sticks the basilisk fang into the book.
• Ink streams out in ribbons and Riddle screams and disappears.
• At the other side of the Chamber, Ginny wakes up.
• She cries and apologizes.
• Ginny can't calm down. She's sure that she will be expelled.
• Soon, Ginny and Harry reach the pile of stone.
• They call for Ron, who is still there with Professor Lockhart.
• Ron shouts, "Ginny! […] You're alive! I don't believe it!" (17.158).
• Ginny climbs through the stones and Fawkes follows.
• Harry comes last.
• Ron explains that Professor Lockhart has completely lost his memory, thanks to that rebounded Memory Charm.
• Fawkes flies Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Professor Lockhart up the pipe and away from the Chamber of Secrets.
• Moaning Myrtle is astonished to see them all alive.
• She's a little disappointed that Harry won't be joining her as a ghost.