harry! harry looks up, sees hermione granger standing at the top of gringotts' white steps. she runs down to meet them.
hello, hagrid. oh, it's wonderful to see you two again.
oculus reparo. instantly, harry's glasses are mended.
c'mon. everyone's been so worried. hermione leads them to gringotts, where hermione's rather nervous-looking muggle parents stand with the weasleys.
isn't it thrilling! gilderoy lockhart's going to be there! we can actually meet him! i mean, he's written almost the whole booklist! as mrs. weasley and hermione dash off, harry frowns.
fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. lucius malfoy's eyes slide, find hermione staring defiantly.
i should think you'd count yourself lucky that's all you got.
mandrake, or mandragora, is used to return those who have been transfigured to their original state. it's also quite dangerous. the mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it.
immobilus! the pixies freeze in midair. neville falls, plops onto lockhart's desk, shaken but unhurt. he looks at hermione.
i'm sure professor lockhart just wanted to give us some hands-on experience.
rubbish. read his books. you'll see all the amazing things he's done.
at least no one on the gryffindor team had to buy their way in. they got in on pure talent.
ron! say something! ron opens his mouth and.  belches. hermione draws back, and watches a trio of slugs dribble out his mouth. the slytherins crow with laughter. angrily, ron rises, only to belch again. fascinated, colin creevey runs up with his camera.
he called me a mudblood.
it means dirty blood. mudblood's a really foul name for someone who was muggle-born. someone with non-magic parents. someone.  like me. it's not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation.
harry!
voice? what voice?
'the chamber of secrets has been opened?'
look at that. have you ever seen spiders act like that? ron?
that's why ron and i went looking for him, professor. we'd just found him when harry said.
harry. this voice. you said you heard it first in lockhart's office?
and did he hear it?
i hardly think someone with gilderoy lockhart's credentials would lie to one of his students, ronald. besides, if you recall, we didn't hear anything either.
'course we do. it's just.  it's a bit weird, isn't it? you hear this voice and then.  mrs. norris turns up petrified.
no, harry. even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign.
professor, i was wondering if you could tell us about the chamber of secrets? a hush falls over the class. professor mcgonagall my subject is transfiguration, miss granger.
yes, professor. but there seems to be very little written about the chamber of secrets. for those of us with a personal interest in the subject, that is.  disturbing. malfoy regards hermione with chilly amusement. mcgonagall considers hermione's question for a long moment, then nods. professor mcgonagall very well. you all know, of course, that hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age:
muggle-borns. professor mcgonagall yes. naturally, the school has been searched many times for such a chamber. it has never been found.
professor, what exactly does legend tell us lies within the chamber? professor mcgonagall the chamber is said to be home to something which the heir of slytherin alone can control. it is said to be home.  to a monster. ron's eyes shift. malfoy sits calmly, smiling to himself.
yes. couldn't you tell: mcgonagall's worried. all the teachers are.
the heir of slytherin has returned to hogwarts. the question is, who is it?
if you're talking about him --
i heard him. but malfoy? the heir of slytherin?
no. even they aren't that thick. but there might be another way. mind you, it would be difficult. not to mention we'd be breaking about fifty school rules. and it would be dangerous. very dangerous.
here it is: 'the polyjuice potion. properly brewed, the polyjuice potion allows the drinker to transform himself temporarily into the physical form of another'
yes.
exactly. but it's tricky. i've never seen a more complicated potion. lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed. and, of course, we'll need a bit of whoever we want to change into too.
a month.
you didn't have to tell me that.
you're joking, right? besides, even with a proper wand, it's too risky. you could hit harry. as harry frantically dips and dives, malfoy cruises by.
finite incantatem! the bludger hangs briefly in the air. slowly ceases spinning. drops heavily to the pitch. harry exhales, relieved, only to recall the searing pain in his arm. as concerned faces swim above him, one particular face pushes through the others:
you will be able to, won't you?
again? you mean, the chamber of secrets has been opened before?
maybe. we'll have to wait for the polyjuice potion to know for sure.
never. no one over comes in here.
moaning myrtle.
she's a little sensitive.
do you think he's all right?
you can talk to snakes.
no. they can't. it's not a very common gift, harry. this is bad.
i don't know, harry. but it sounded like you were egging the snake on or something. it was.  creepy. as gryffindors stream into the room, they eye harry warily. even seamus, neville, and dean thomas walk by without a word.
harry, listen out me. there's a reason the symbol of slytherin house is a serpent. salazar slytherin was a parselmouth. he could talk to snakes too.
he lived a thousand years ago. for all we know.  you could be.
harry!
you don't believe that, harry, i know you don't. and if it makes you feel better, i just heard malfoy's staying over for holiday, too.
because, in a few days, the polyjuice potion's will be ready. in a few days.  we may truly know who is the heir of slytherin.
everything's set. we just need a bit of who you're changing into.
and we also need to make sure that the real crabbe and goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating malfoy.
i've got it all worked out. i've filled these with a simple sleeping draught. simple, but powerful. ron glances at malfoy, crabbe, and goyle, who presently are eating everything in front of them.
you know how greedy crabbe and goyle are. they won't leave the christmas feast until every last drop of trifle is gone.
now, once they're asleep, hide them in a broom cupboard and pull out a few of their hairs.
i've already got mine. she removes a small vial. inside is a tiny hair.
millicent bulstrode. she's in slytherin. i got this off her robes. all right then.  i'm going to check on the polyjuice potion. hermione points to the cakes in front of her.
remember. just make sure crabbe and goyle find these. hermione exits. ron looks at harry.
did you get it? harry and ron hold up their hands. in each: a tuft of hair. hermione points to a pair of slytherin robes.
i sneaked those out of the laundry. harry and ron nod, glance at the cauldron. the potion resembles a thick, dark, bubbling mud.
i'm sure i've done everything right. it looks like the book said it should. once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly one hour before we change back into ourselves.
we separate it into three glasses and add the hairs. harry and ron grimace.
i -- i don't think i'm going. you go on without me.
just go! you're wasting time!
go away!
do you remember me telling you the polyjuice potion was only for human transformations? even in shadow, they can see: hermione's face is covered in fur, her eyes yellow, and pointed ears poke through her hair.
it was cat hair i plucked off millicent bulstrode's robes! look at my face!
oh, good. put those anywhere. they look. there is no anywhere. so they just.  drop them.
i've got to keep up, haven't i? just then, hermione's tail twitches into view.
any day now, according to madam pomfrey. i'm just thankful i've stopped coughing up fur balls.
now. what about the chamber of secrets? any new leads?
and has it gotten any better? i mean.  is anyone speaking to you?
of course not. i don't know how that got there. now go. i still have six hundred pages to read in transformation through the ages.
tom riddle.  hm. and ron said he won an award fifty years ago?
fifty years ago? you're sure?
don't you remember what malfoy told you? the last time the chamber of secrets was opened was --
tom riddle was here, at hogwarts, when it happened. what if he wrote about what he saw? it's possible he knew where the chamber was, how to open it, even what sort of creature lives in it. if so, whoever's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want a diary like this lying around, would they?
it might be invisible ink. aparecium! she taps the diary three times. nothing happens. the pages remain blank. she frowns, passes the book back to harry.
i don't know, harry. but i think you should be careful with this. something tells me ron might be right. it could be dangerous.
i'm scared, harry. but not of you.
it can't be hagrid. it just can't be.
look. hagrid's our friend. why don't we just go ask him about it?
it had to be a gryffindor. nobody else knows our password. unless, it wasn't a student.
harry.  i think i've just understood something! i've got to go to the library! as hermione sprints back up the stairs, harry yells.
you solved it! you solved it!
oh, no! at the rear of the hall, the great doors open. it's hagrid. he enters. stops. looks around. the room falls silent. all eyes upon him. he glances around. nervous. embarrassed.