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Chapter 14
The Chamber of Secrets, which is deep under the school (most likely under the lake),[22] was home to an ancient Basilisk, intended to be used to purge the school of Muggle-born students. Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Hogwarts, built the Chamber before he left the school.
The entrance to the Chamber is hidden in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the second floor. One of the sink taps has a snake scratched into its side; when a command in Parseltongue is spoken, it opens to reveal the mouth of a dark, slimy chute, wide enough to slide down, that gives onto a stone tunnel. There are many skeletons of small animals littering the floor and even a gigantic skin shed by the Basilisk. The tunnel leads to a solid wall, carved with two entwined serpents with emeralds for eyes.[22] At a command in Parseltongue, the wall opens to expose a long, dim corridor, lined with monumental statues of snakes, including two rows of towering stone pillars with more carved serpents that brace the ceiling. A colossal statue of Salazar Slytherin, looking ancient and monkey-like, is at the centre. The Basilisk rested inside the statue and emerged from its mouth when the Heir of Slytherin, Tom Riddle, summoned it.[23] In his second year at Hogwarts, Harry uses Parseltongue to open the chamber and destroys the diary containing the embodied memory of a 16-year-old Tom Riddle from his own days at Hogwarts and also slays the basilisk. It is later revealed that the diary was a Horcrux. In Deathly Hallows, Ron and Hermione enter the Chamber. Ron opens the door (despite not speaking Parseltongue) by imitating sounds he heard Harry use to open Slytherin's locket. They pull a basilisk fang from its skeleton to use to destroy the Horcrux made from Helga Hufflepuff's cup.
When Tom Riddle opened the Chamber, Myrtle was sulking in a stall after being teased by student Olive Hornby. She opened the door, intending to tell him to leave, but died immediately upon meeting the Basilisk's gaze and decided to become a ghost to revenge on Hornby.[22] Her bathroom remains operational, but is rarely used by students because of Myrtle's disagreeable presence and her habit of flooding it when she is distraught.
The film's depiction of the Chamber has snake heads in place of the pillars and Slytherin's statue is only his head. Rowling reveals in the book Harry Potter Page to Screen; The Complete Filmmaking Journey that the Chamber has flooded since its creation under unknown circumstances.
