harry potter and the chamber of secrets

Chapter Eighteen: Dobby's Reward
Summary
Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart enter McGonagall's office to find Dumbledore and Molly and Arthur Weasley waiting inside. The Weasleys fling themselves on their daughter and ask Harry how he saved her. Harry tells them everything from the voice to Aragog to Moaning Myrtle, managing to avoid the parts involving Ginny and the diary. When asked directly about this topic, Harry instinctively looks to Dumbledore, who gently prods him to answer the question of how Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny. So the part of the diary comes out into the open, and Dumbledore sends Ginny to the infirmary for rest and hot chocolate, and he informs all of them that the Mandrake juice is presently being administrated to the petrified victims. Dumbledore calls for a feast for the entire school, and he awards Harry and Ron each two hundred points for Gryffindor House on account of their daring tasks in battling the monster. Dumbledore then sends the clueless Lockhart to the infirmary under Ron's care, and finally he asks Harry to remain.


While Dumbledore is alone with Harry, he explains that Fawkes came to his aid because of the true loyalty Harry showed Dumbledore down in the Chamber. Harry asks Dumbledore the question that has been bothering him for so long, whether he is in fact like Riddle, marked with evil potential and predestined for Slytherin House. Dumbledore explains here in a gloriously reassuring passage that the Sorting Hat put Harry in Gryffindor because Harry did not want to be in Slytherin, and that choices made are far more important than abilities. Dumbledore also adds that only a true Gryffindor could have pulled Godric Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat.
The door bangs open and Lucius Malfoy appears, Dobby squealing at his heals. Lucius is most upset that Dumbledore has returned to Hogwarts, and Dumbledore calmly explains that the attacks have been stopped, and that eleven of the school governors contacted him, begging him to return to Hogwarts and suggesting that they had been blackmailed into suspending him. When Dumbledore holds up the diary as evidence from the recent events, Dobby begins to make strange faces and gestures, which Harry ultimately understands to mean that Lucius had slipped the diary into Ginny's books in Flourish and Blotts, so many months ago. Lucius acts shifty and defensive when Harry accuses him of this, and he sweeps out of the room, yelling at Dobby to follow. Harry thinks quickly and wraps the diary inside one of his slimy socks, then hands it to Lucius. Lucius unwraps it and disgustedly throws down the sock, which Dobby retrieves with a thrilled expression on his face. In handing him an article of clothing, Lucius has inadvertently freed his house-elf, and Dobby thanks Harry profusely in front of the livid Lucius, and then the elf disappears with a crack.
Harry then attends the great feast. Hagrid returns, exams are cancelled, and Lockhart is officially removed from the school staff, and Gryffindor is given the House cup. Harry has not been this happy for a long time. The last bit of school passes calmly and happily. Defense Against the Dark Arts classes are cancelled, and Lucius Malfoy is fired as school governor. All is well. On the train ride back to London, Harry curiously asks Ginny what she caught Percy doing. She giggles and replies that he was kissing his girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, in an empty classroom. Fred and George are pleased by this bit of knowledge, and together they all walk back into the Muggle world for their summer vacations.
Analysis
This chapter neatly ties up all loose ends still dangling after the rest of the story has been resolved. We see the reason why Percy was sneaking suspiciously into empty rooms and corridors, and we understand finally how Ginny came to possess the diary. Most importantly, we are reassured that Harry was not, in fact, destined for the dark wizard House, Slytherin. Dumbledore's speech in which he explains to Harry the importance of choices over ability reveals Harry's success as a character. In none of the books is he a stereotypical or epic hero; he simply is marked and helped by the people who have loved him and his flights into adventure and detective work have the noble intentions of keeping himself, his friends, and his school safe. Harry is simply a good person with courage and people looking out for him, and this combination, more than any natural or learned talents, brings him to triumph again over the world's most powerful dark wizard. He and Ron and Hermione each add their individual talents to the group, but their group efforts and initiative as a whole is what makes them so successful in their ventures. The same is the case for Harry; he is a sum of decent parts, but he uses them in ways that make him a truly impressive magical hero.
The ending serves justice to all characters. Dobby is liberated, Lucius Malfoy is without a servant and loses his job as school governor. Ginny is freed from enchantment, and her involvement in the Chamber of Secrets is kindly and instantly forgotten by her friends and family. Gryffindor wins the House cup, which is always a delight, since we know that the students in it are a good, smart, deserving bunch of kids. Harry is happy and satisfied and safe as he heads into summer vacation. The fairness element is crucial in this book, as a children's book and somewhat of a fantasy/fairy tale. Good triumphs over evil with no casualties to be mourned, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ends in a nice, tight conclusion. This was the case in the first book and also the third, but as the series progresses, the author does involve incidents in which life is not fair at all, and is in fact laden with unnecessary tragedy. In this book, the ending follows a standard storybook pattern, but it is not an easy ending. Everything that happens has a reason behind it, something significant in the lessons learned or the personalities shown in the dealing with danger. Whichever morals seem vague are soon explained by Dumbledore, who once again is safely overlooking Hogwarts' affairs. A sense of comfort ends this book, and for the time being, Hogwarts is left in its natural state-a cheerful and eccentric place where students grow up, make friends, and learn magic.

harry potter and the chamber of secrets

Chapter Seventeen: The Heir of Slytherin
Summary
Harry enters the snake statue-lined Chamber of Secrets and approaches an enormous stone figure of Salazar Slytherin, at whose feet lies the still, small figure of Ginny Weasley. Harry runs to her and examines her, and while he is doing this he notices the misty, shadowy figure of Tom Riddle standing nearby. Harry desperately asks Tom to help him rescue Ginny and escape the Chamber of Secrets, but Tom remains where he is, speaking in a lofty voice, unconcerned about the situation. At one point he captures Harry's wand, slightly alarming Harry, but more than anything else, rendering him more impatient to get himself and Ginny out of the way of the hidden basilisk. Harry finally asks Tom how Ginny got to be in her present state, and Tom smiles broadly and begins to speak.

He tells how Ginny found his diary and poured all of her worries about Hogwarts and her crushes on Harry into it, and how Tom wrote back, comforting her. Through this dialogue, Tom grew stronger and ultimately poured a little of his soul into Ginny, manipulating her to kill Hagrid's roosters and open the Chamber of Secrets. Inside of the diary, Tom explained, he had captured his sixteen- year-old self so that one day, he could lead another to finish the work begun by Slytherin himself. Harry got hold of this diary, delighting Tom, and when Ginny broke into Harry's dorm and stole it back, she had already put so much of herself into the diary that Tom could persuade her to write her own farewell, come down into the Chamber, and allow Tom to leave the pages at last. Tom then begins to question Harry about Voldemort, and Harry grows suspicious and more impatient. Tom then traces the letters of his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, into the air, and rearranges them to read "I am Lord Voldemort," proclaiming himself the greatest wizard in the world.
Harry argues with this statement, declaring that Dumbledore is a greater wizard, and Tom grows angry. Suddenly, a strange singing bird appears, and Harry soon recognizes it as Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet phoenix, carrying in his beak the school Sorting Hat. Tom begins to laugh at the weapons sent by Dumbledore, and he commands Harry to explain how he survived his attack eleven years before. Harry angrily answers that it was because his mother died to save him, and Tom's smile widens at the thought that there is nothing genuinely special about Harry. He proceeds to point out certain odd similarities between them, in their origins, childhoods and appearances, and then he challenges Harry to a duel. Tom hisses for the basilisk to emerge from its chamber, and Harry closes his eyes and feels Fawkes leave his shoulder. He hears a great, weighty slithering noise and he begins to run, fearing for his life. From above him he hears a great spitting sound among all the hissing, and he squints open his eyes only to catch sight of Fawkes puncturing the basilisk's other eye. The blind snake sways madly about the chamber, and its tail sweeps the Sorting Hat into Harry's hands. Harry puts it on and wishes desperately for it to help him, and out of nowhere it produces a glittering sword, which Harry then slides into the mouth of the striking serpent, killing it, but getting injured by a fang in the process. Fawkes lands back on Harry's shoulder and begins to cry. Tom laughs, proclaiming that even the bird knows that Harry is dying, but then all of a sudden Harry's wound seals up, due to the healing properties of phoenix tears. Tom is angered by this and lifts his wand to exterminate Harry, but before he can cast a spell, Fawkes knocks the diary into Harry's hands, and Harry thrusts the basilisk tooth into the center of it, causing Tom to scream in agony and disappear.
At this time, Ginny begins to stir, and Harry collects her, his wand, the punctured diary, the sword, and the hat, and follows Fawkes out of the Chamber where Ron and a thoroughly vacant Gilderoy Lockhart await him. Ginny is weeping and fretting, and Ron has cleared a space in the fallen rock wall, and the four of them hold onto Fawkes' tail feathers and are pulled back up the pipes. Back in the bathroom, Moaning Myrtle is a bit disappointed that Harry didn't die, because she had developed a crush on him and was hoping that he might share her toilet. They all leave the bathroom and are led by Fawkes into Professor McGonagall's office.
Analysis
Here, as in the Aragog chapter, Harry enters a situation bearing only courage and a faint inborn hope that he may be helped along his way. Here, he remains faithful to Dumbledore, and Dumbledore in turn sends the help that brings Harry to triumph. Harry trusts people before suspecting them, as we see when he tries to elicit Riddle's help in removing Ginny from the Chamber, and only after some explanation does he realize that Riddle is working against, not for him. This lack of suspicion is a mark of Harry's inherent innocent and good-intentions; he first gave Riddle the benefit of the doubt, thinking that perhaps he made a mistake in turning in Hagrid as the Chamber of Secrets culprit. But when he finds that Riddle is in fact Voldemort, Harry's attitude changes and he speaks boldly and spitefully, refusing to bow to Voldemort's power or give him the answers he wants to hear. Harry is determined to die struggling, if he must die.
Voldemort is once again the evil instigator. Even though Harry defeated him as a baby, and then again in the first book of the series, Voldemort always finds a new, clever way to return. This pattern will continue through the series, and Harry will continue to do his best to restrain Voldemort from gaining full power and massacring his opposition once again. Although Harry can, with a great struggle, hold him at bay, he cannot yet defeat him. This recurrence of the same evil in different guises reveals a certain truth, which is that no matter how hard a person fights and tries, certain obstacles are never fully absent. The beauty in this is that Harry can go about his life, engage in friendship, learn in his classes, while still in the back of his mind knowing that Voldemort is still lurking out there somewhere, waiting to strike again. All Harry can do is to be alert, careful, brave and lucky, and he must enjoy his days while preparing for the next encounter. Certain strains of worry or tragedy will always be themes in individual human lives, and they will reappear in one of many different forms to challenge us again; as seen through the combat of evil in this book, all we can do it be vigilant while not letting it ruin our lives.
Voldemort is an especially frightening and well-cast enemy figure because he is no longer human, and therefore not subject to the limitations of natural human laws. He can feed off of people and return, or let his belongings fall into unknowing hands and still return. Perhaps the greatest advantage possessed by Voldemort (Riddle) was foresight. Before his strength was diminished by the infant Harry, he had set his affairs in order so that he could return in a number of different ways. This makes him threatening, the most difficult possible challenge to fight in a series such as this. Harry is required to act especially resourcefully, as he did when he stabbed the fang into the center of the diary, in order to combat this multi-faceted enemy creature.

harry potter and the chamber of secrets

Chapter Sixteen: The Chamber of Secrets
Summary
Ron and Harry speculate about ways to enter Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and question her about her death. With no good ideas, they head to class, only to be informed by Professor McGonagall that exams would take place in a week. Nobody has studied, of course, so everybody is in an uproar. Three days before the first exam, Professor McGonagall announces that the Mandrakes are ready to be cut and used to restore the petrified victims. Everybody is delighted, and in the midst of the cheering, a very nervous looking Ginny Weasley seats herself near Harry and Ron. Harry asks her if she wants to tell them anything and Ginny nods, only to be interrupted by Percy, who takes her seat. Ron is outraged at this and declares to Percy that Ginny may have known important information about the Chamber of Secrets, and Percy blushes and says that what she was going to tell them was not about the Chamber, but about something she saw him doing. He refuses to carry the subject further.

Later that day, Lockhart is escorting his students through the corridors and complaining about the extra precautions taken, and Harry and Ron agree and kindly suggest that he leave them to escort themselves to the next class. Lockhart is pleased and leaves, and Harry and Ron dash toward Myrtle's bathroom, only to run into Professor McGonagall. They lie that they were going to visit Hermione, and miraculously she lets them go. Not wanting to get caught in their lie, the boys trudge to the infirmary and find, clasped in Hermione's hand, a piece of paper that, once wrenched out, displays a paragraph of information about the basilisk that fits right in with all of the eerie things that have happened: it lives for hundreds of years, speaks in Parseltongue and so could be the voice Harry hears, kills with its stare, is the enemy of spiders, and is killed by the crow of a rooster. Underneath this information, Hermione had written "pipes," and Harry and Ron realize that she meant the pipes in Myrtle's bathroom.
The boys dash to the staff room to show their findings to McGonagall, only to hear an announcement that another attack has occurred and teachers must report to the staff room immediately. Hiding behind a row of robes, Harry and Ron listen to the staff meeting and learn that Ginny Weasley had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets, and that written on the wall were the words, "Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever." McGonagall then announces that the school will be closed, the students sent home the following morning. At this point, Lockhart enters the meeting and all the teachers turn on him, challenging him to take on the monster by himself, since he is so boastful that he knows how. Lockhart titters nervously and leaves the room, and soon Harry and Ron walk to his office to help him by telling him what they know of the monster in the pipes, and they find him in his office packing his bags.
An exchange follows in which Lockhart confides that he has never fought a dark arts creature before in his life, but rather he has interviewed the people who did the things he claimed to do, and then erased their memory of the encounter before writing up their adventures as his own. He then prepares to erase Ron and Harry's memories, but Harry yells, "Expelliarmus!" as he learned how to so in the dueling club, and Lockhart's wand flies into Harry's hands. Together, he and Ron push Lockhart into Myrtle's bathroom, where they question her about her death, which was in fact caused by a pair of large, yellow eyes, and where Harry spies a small snake carved onto the taps on her sink. Speaking Parseltongue, Harry tells the tap to open and it does, revealing a large pipe into which Harry, Ron, and a reluctant Lockhart descend.
Inside the pipes, the three come upon a giant snakeskin. As they examine it, Lockhart snatches Ron's wand and tries to destroy the boys' memories, but Ron's wand backfires and destroys Lockhart's own memory, also causing an avalanche of rocks to fall, creating a solid barrier keeping Ron and Lockhart on the close- to-home side, and Harry on the other side. Harry calls to Ron to try to make a hole in the wall, while he himself trudges on alone through the tunnel. Finally he comes upon a wall engraved with glittering serpents. Harry instructs it to open, and he enters.
Analysis
This chapter connects many of the uncertain and unresolved situations rising in their tension throughout the book. For one, Hermione has not failed to solve the mystery that has proved so elusive to Harry and Ron; she sought knowledge in the library and found it in the form of the basilisk description she has balled into her hand. Everything fits. All of the mysteries, voices and attacks suddenly make sense. Nobody has died yet because all of the petrified victims so far have seen the basilisk through something else; Mrs. Norris, a puddle of water; Colin, his camera; Justin, through Nearly-Headless Nick; Hermione and Penelope, through a mirror. Even while she is frozen like a rock, Hermione can still be of service, and through her research is the first part of the mystery brought into light. Ron and Harry's hunch about Myrtle proves also to be correct; the information she gives regarding her death is right in line with how a basilisk would most likely attack. The pieces of the puzzle have come together, revealing everything except for the Heir Slytherin himself. This having been ascertained, Harry and Ron can proceed into the chamber with a good idea of what to expect.
The truth about Lockhart also is revealed in this chapter, when he nervously edges out of the staff room when given free rein to tackle the monster. He confirms Ron and Harry's suspicions that he is a phony when he is packing to leave so as not to face the monster, and we know immediately that the defense against the dark arts post will be left open again (in the first book of the series, the defense against the dark arts teacher has to leave for being affiliated with Voldemort). Lockhart is utterly useless and actually detrimental to Harry and Ron as they venture into the tunnels to confront the basilisk, and luckily his role in the plot is made fair when he casts a memory- obliviating charm that backfires, leaving him blithering idiotically to himself. He gets what he deserves during this scene, and his punishment fits his crime.
Finally, Ginny has been unduly frightened by the attacks over the course of the year, and Percy has been upset about her terror and nightmares. In this chapter, we see that Ginny did in fact know something about the attacks, or else she, a pure-blood young witch, would not have been taken into the Chamber of Secrets. We also learn over breakfast that Percy has something he is hiding, suggesting that he is not the perfect prefect he wants everybody to believe he is. Perhaps she could have been saved had she been given the chance to confide in Ron and Harry, or perhaps not. At any rate, Percy is absolutely distraught by her disappearance, as could be expected. When Harry and Ron set down the tunnels to rescue Ginny and save their school, the revelations caused by all of these events shape their journey.

harry potter and the chamber of secrets

Chapter Fifteen: Aragog
Summary
Spring continues its sweep through Hogwarts, but even the loveliness outside the castle cannot take Harry's mind off the terror inside the castle. He ponders Hagrid's advice regarding the spiders and Dumbledore's about help and loyalty, but he is not sure how to proceed with either. Malfoy, meanwhile, seems delighted by the state of things. He boasts that his father has finally gotten Dumbledore out, and he suggests that Snape apply to be the new headmaster

In Herbology class, Ernie Macmillan apologizes for having suspected Harry, since after the attack on Hermione he now that Harry would never have been responsible for hurting a good friend. Harry accepts the apology, and minutes later during this same class, he spies a line of spiders moving toward the Forbidden Forest. He whacks Ron with his pruning shears, and Ron looks doubtful at the prospect of following them. They head next to Lockhart's defense against the dark arts class, during which a confident Lockhart gleefully waxes on about the safe state of the school now that Hagrid has been removed. Ron and Harry are extremely annoyed, and after the joint events of Lockhart's accusation of Hagrid combined with a glance at Hermione's empty seat, the two agree to follow the spiders that very night.
Beneath the invisibility cloak, Ron and Harry set out into the forest with Fang scampering nearby. They soon spy a few solitary spiders scuttling deep into the forest, away from the paths, and so they follow them for a long time. Eventually, they hear something large moving behind the trees, and they are greatly relieved to see that it is Ron's once-flying car, the Ford Anglia that hit the Whomping Willow and now is running wild in the Forbidden Forest. The boys laugh at their initial fright and prepare to continue when they and Fang are met and captured by a trio of clicking, horse-sized spiders. Ron, who fears spiders above all else, is speechless with fear, and Harry himself is terrified too.
The spiders carry them into a clearing with a giant domed web, where they are met with an elderly blind spider, Aragog, who first dismisses Ron and Harry to be killed, but then speaks with them when they claim to have been sent by Hagrid. The boys learn from Aragog that the school thought he was the monster within the Chamber, but really he had been given to Hagrid as an egg and raised in captivity. They learn also that the monster in the chamber is the creature most feared by spiders, and because of that its name is not spoken. They learn finally that the creature's victim was found in the toilet, and that soon after the event, Hagrid set Aragog free in the Forest. After informing them of this, Aragog instructs his children to eat the humans and dog. For a moment Harry and Ron know that they are doomed, and then all of a sudden they hear a horn and see the Weasley's car rumbling over to them. Panicked, they open the door, shove in Fang and themselves, and flee the Forbidden Forest.
Once they say goodbye to the car and head back up to the dormitory, feeling discouraged at having found no new clues. Only once Harry is back up in his bed does it occur to him that the girl found in the bathroom fifty years back could be Moaning Myrtle.
Analysis
Harry's role as a suspect finally diminishes in this chapter after Hermione is petrified, because everybody knows that Harry would never harm one of his best friends. The situation is still dire and complicated, however, and the venture into the Forbidden Forest does not make it any less so. Two vital themes are introduced during this venture, each of which addresses the narrative's attitude toward evil adversaries.

First, the community of spiders, including Aragog himself, refuses to name the creature within the Chamber. Dobby, Ron, and many other creatures and wizards cower at the sound of Voldemort's name, but Dumbledore, and Harry under his instruction, always calls Voldemort by his name, rather than the more wide- spread "He who must not be named." This is a means for humanizing the enemy, for creating a tangible name for the form that is so dangerous and frightening. By saying the name, both Dumbledore and Harry are able to see Voldemort for what he is, an ordinary wizard gone astray, and the fact that they face him with this confidence of naming is perhaps responsible for the fact that he is not able to defeat either of them. Voldemort has always been wary of attacking Hogwarts while it was under Dumbledore's care, and in the end of each book when Voldemort faces Harry Potter, who has reduced him into the bodiless form that he now is, Harry always puts up an bold, scrappy, and unexpected fight, rather than whimpering timidly at the power in front of him. The spiders have not dared to name their enemy. Therefore, they live in the woods, hidden far away from the still undefeated creature. By this comparison in the action of naming, we watch the effects of acknowledging the earthliness of one's enemy in order to triumph over it.
Second, the appearance of the car at the critical moment in the spiders' clutches is a trademark of J.K. Rowling's style. Ron and Harry are bold enough to enter the Forest to follow the spiders, not knowing what they will eventually find, but even this courage is not enough to fight the hungry band of giant spiders. This is where the connections made becomes important; they would have died had the car not zoomed in to save them, as in many other critical moments, other forms of help come in at the last possible moment. This recipe for triumph is central to the story: any victory is half-courage to enter, and half-help from friends. Harry and Ron had no idea that the car would save them from death by pinchers, but they remained alive as long as they could, clinging to the faith that some more powerful power would help them escape.

harry potter and the chamber of secrets

Chapter Fourteen: Cornelius Fudge
Summary
Harry, Ron, and Hermione spend endless conversations discussing Harry's jaunt into the diary and the possibility that Hagrid could be the culprit. The three students debate asking him, but decide against it, at least until another attack occurred. Meanwhile, the school term continues: the Mandrakes are still maturing, once delighting Professor Sprout by throwing a wild party in their greenhouse, and the Hogwarts second-year students are busy choosing their classes for the following year. Ron and Harry sign up for the same few classes, while Hermione signs up for everything offered. Things are surprisingly normal during this time, and soon the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor Quidditch match draws apace. The evening before the big game, Harry is startled to find that his dormitory room has been broken into, his things torn, broken and rearranged, and Riddle's diary taken. He and Hermione are alarmed to conclude that a Gryffindor must have done it, as nobody else knows the House password.

The morning of the match, Harry hears the hissing, disembodied voice again, and Hermione leaps up and dashes to the library. Harry heads out to the Quidditch pitch, and no sooner than he has taken his position does Professor McGonagall step into the field and stop the game, instructing all students to return to their houses, and Harry and Ron to follow her to the hospital wing, where they find Hermione and a Ravenclaw prefect named Penelope Clearwater, petrified, with a small hand mirror lying next to them. The students all are told to remain in their House common rooms from six P.M. on, and always to be escorted by teachers to and from class. Professor McGonagall adds that the school will likely be closed down unless the attacks are halted. Ron and Harry decide that this is a moment to visit Hagrid. Because of the strict rules about wandering around unchaperoned, they decide to do this underneath Harry's invisibility cloak, a gift left to him by his late father.
The boys set out late that night, and as soon as they enter Hagrid's small wooden cabin, they hear a knock at the door and hide invisibly in a corner. Dumbledore enters with a man Ron immediately recognizes as Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Fudge explains apologetically to Hagrid that in light of the present circumstances, he must ask him to leave Hogwarts and reside in Azkaban, a frightful wizard prison, until the events stop or are solved. Dumbledore states calmly that he trusts Hagrid entirely, but Fudge says that he must act or else the ministry will think he is doing nothing to stop the attacks, and since Hagrid's history is muddled with rumors about the Chamber of Secrets, he should be the Ministry's first target. While this is being discussed, the door opens again, and Lucius Malfoy enters, explaining icily that the twelve school governors have signed a petition calling for Dumbledore to step down as headmaster. Dumbledore consents without argument, saying only these portentous words, "You will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." Hagrid leaves more reluctantly, calling out behind him two instructions heard by Harry and Ron: to follow the spiders to find the culprit, and to feed Fang, his dog.
Analyis
With the break-in to his dormitory, Harry has further cause for alarm: the criminal of that endeavor must be someone he knows, someone who is in Gryffindor, someone he had up until that point trusted. The Heir of Slytherin speculation shifted away from Malfoy after the Polyjuice affair, but now it is away from Slytherin altogether, leaving Percy, due to his earlier suspect positions, as a more likely threat, but really anyone in the House could now be responsible. After Hermione is petrified while all of Hogwarts is outside watching the Quidditch match, the circumstances become more threatening; the creature responsible for the crime may not even be a student. With the diary gone, Harry can no longer communicate with Riddle, and so the burden of discovery lies entirely on him alone.
Harry and Ron's decision to slip out of their dorms and question Hagrid is one of obligation to their involvement in the crisis. Harry wound up with the diary, he spoke with Tom, and now he feels it his responsibility to cut to the core of the mystery in any way he can, even at great personal risk. Ron, as loyal as ever, accompanies him. This is the quintessential origin of Harry's heroism at Hogwarts; he is bold enough to break rules in search of evidence, and his situation brings together personal interest (keeping Hogwarts open and functioning so that he can remain there instead of with the Dursleys) and a general sense of integrity (a need to do everything he can to help stop the attacks on his community).
The boys are handicapped by not having Hermione with them. Hermione pieces facts together in a way that could only be possible for someone as well-read as she. Having her petrified leaves Ron and Harry to figure out the information that Hermione sought. With her out of the picture, the two boys must be more alert than ever, since their way of discovery is trial-and-error exploration, while Hermione's is based more on research. Here Ron and Harry must do both, and the need to revive the victims is more pressing than ever, now that their best friend is one of them. The mirror next to them serves as evidence, but of what we do not yet know. Obviously Hermione had learned that the monster in the Chamber was somehow rendered less dangerous by a mirror, but what she found is useless until the Mandrake potion will be ready.
In Hagrid's house, Harry and Ron learn critical pieces of information that seem directed at them by Hagrid, who of course knows that they are hidden in his house, and by Dumbledore, who Harry always suspected could see through the invisibility cloak. They have witnessed what nobody else in the school has, and what they have seen and heard requires them to remain involved in the solving of the Chamber of Secrets attacks until the very end. Although the boys don't yet know how to use these words of wisdom, they know that they are important.