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Harry and Ron learn from a piece of paper Hermione was holding when she was attacked that the monster is a Basilisk, a giant snake that kills those who look it in the eye, although the petrified victims only ever saw it in a reflection or through a medium. They later discover the entrance to the Chamber in Myrtle's bathroom, which Harry opens by speaking Parseltongue. They have brought with them Lockhart, whom they have caught trying to run away from Hogwarts. He steals Ron's wand and attempts a memory charm on them, revealing that he is a fraud whose "great accomplishments" were stories he stole from other wizards whose memories he then erased. He admits that the memory charm is the only one that he can do right. As he attempts to erase their memories, Ron's broken wand reflects the spell back at Lockhart, knocking him down and erasing all of Lockhart's memory. Harry is forced to go on alone after the spell causes a cave-in.

 

Inside the chamber, Harry finds the unconscious body of Ron's sister Ginny, as well as the almost physical form of Riddle who reveals that Ginny had been communicating with him by writing in his diary, allowing him to possess her and have her set the Basilisk on the Muggleborns. Ginny had realised that the diary was not what it seemed and tried to dispose of it in Myrtle's bathroom, but stole it back when she saw Harry with it, afraid that her crimes would be revealed. Riddle then forced Ginny to enter the Chamber, to lure Harry down there, and, by possessing Ginny's soul, began to take physical form. Riddle reveals that his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, is an anagram for I am Lord Voldemort and that he is Voldemort's past self.

 

Riddle then summons the Basilisk and orders it to attack Harry. Just when it seems Harry will be killed, Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet phoenix, appears and blinds the Basilisk. Fawkes carries the Sorting Hat, from which Harry draws a sword and kills the Basilisk, but one of its fangs pierces Harry's arm. Healed by Fawkes's healing tears, Harry stabs the diary with a Basilisk fang, defeating Riddle and saving Ginny. The two return with Ron and Lockhart to the school, where Ginny is reunited with her parents, and Harry and Ron are commended by Dumbledore. In the aftermath, Harry accuses the school governor, Lucius Malfoy (Draco's father), of putting the journal in Ginny's cauldron in the first place, and later tricks him into freeing Dobby. Malfoy is sacked as governor, the final exams are cancelled, and Lockhart resigns as a professor.