basilisk

[Jim Flanagan]

No: HPFGUIDX 8950

There are several possible reasons why Tom Riddle Jr. might not be 
able to kill Harry directly, and has to use the basilisk instead:

- Harry's wand won't work against its master (but where is Ginny's 
wand?)

- an incorporial being like TR Jr. may not be able to use a killing 
curse like Avada Kedavra

- the protection that Harry's mother's death gives him against Lord V 
also protects him from TR Jr. 

Any of these would be good and sufficient reason to justify using the 
basilisk to kill Harry (and JKR has my permission to use them if she 
is ever asked about this during a chat). Besides, it's like 
suspending James Bond over a pit of cobras while a candle slowly 
burns through the rope -- better theater.

-Jim Flanagan


--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Dai Evans" <dwe199 at s...> wrote:

> in CoS Tom Riddle Jrs. memory 
> seems to have no trouble using Harrys wand when tracing the anagram 
> in the air, so it seems a little strange he didn't just kill Harry 
> as soon as he turned up. But as we saw at the end of GoF, HWMNBN 
> does like to play doesn't he?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dai