The Chamber of Secrets - History

The school of Hogwarts was constructed over 1000 years ago by its four founders: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. For a number of years they worked in harmony as a team, striving together towards their goal of educating young witches and wizards in an age where persecution was commonplace. As time went on, however, tensions began to rise. The main dispute concerned Slytherin, who was unhappy with the policy of allowing Muggle-borns and half-bloods into the school. He was a firm believer that magic should be the realm of the pure-blood and nobody else, and attempted to impose this restriction on school entry.

Godric Gryffindor in particular opposed him on this issue, and a serious argument ensued. The result was that Slytherin resigned his position and left the school – but not before he had constructed a means to exact his bloodthirsty revenge: The Chamber of Secrets!

Legend states that Slytherin built a secret chamber deep in the rock below the castle. In it he placed a deadly Basilisk, and then he sealed it with charms so powerful that it would be undetectable even to the other three founders of the school (and indeed every teacher and headmaster since), and could be opened only by his own true Heir. And this was his plan: time would pass, the Chamber would be forgotten, and then his Heir would arrive at the school. The Chamber would be opened, the Basilisk would be released, and it would rampage through the school, killing all Muggle-borns and preserving the sanctity of pure wizard blood.

It would be 1000 years before the plan was put into action. Slytherin’s line had all but died out: the male line had ceased to exist altogether, but one person remained: Slytherin’s Heir through his mother’s side. Contrary to Salazar’s vision, he wasn’t even a pure-blood, as his mother had married a Muggle. But still, he was Slytherin’s Heir, and he was determined to carry out Slytherin’s glorious work. His name was Tom Riddle.

Riddle arrived at the school around 1936/37, and reached his fifth or sixth year before he was confident enough to make his move. As a Parselmouth he could both open the Chamber and control the Basilisk, and he was more than willing to purge the school in the way that Slytherin desired. In the summer of 1942 he opened the Chamber for the first time.

The Basilisk was released, and a number of attacks on students followed, culminating with the death of Moaning Myrtle. This must have been something of a disappointment for Riddle – despite being a 60-foot serpent with a gaze that can slay instantly, the Basilisk managed only one killing before it had to return to the Chamber to avoid detection. Naturally, Professor Dippet – the Headmaster at the time – made plans to close the school following the death of the student, but Riddle had other ideas. He managed to frame fellow pupil Rubeus Hagrid and convince the Headmaster that Hagrid’s illegally-kept pet acromantula was in fact the monster from the Chamber. Hagrid was expelled, but Riddle was forced to leave the Chamber untouched for the remainder of his time at school, his hopes for a massacre of Mudbloods dashed. He simply couldn’t risk another attempt to open it with the increased vigilance that now surrounded the school.

And so the Chamber of Secrets remained sealed for another 50 years, still housing the bloodlusting Basilisk. It remained sealed, in fact, until Harry Potter arrived at the school.