Basilisk/Petrification Question

[mitchbailey82]

No: HPFGUIDX 47553

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Strix" <kethlenda at y...> wrote:
> I'm just bubbling over with questions today, so I think I'll de-
lurk...
> 
> A question about the basilisk, petrification, etc.:
> If you wear glasses, and see the basilisk through the lenses of 
> the glasses, do you die?  It would seem to me that you would 
> only be petrified, just as you would be if you looked at it in a 
> mirror or through a camera lens.  But Moaning Myrtle was 
> shown, at least in the movie, as wearing glasses.  I need to go 
> back to the book to find out whether she really does wear them.  
> Any insights on this?
> 
> Strix

Me:

I had always presumed that Myrtle had taken her glasses off to dry 
her eyes when she saw the basilisk (don't know how I made that 
assumption - maybe its because it's hard to dry your eyes whilst 
wearing glasses) - however re-reading the scene where Harry asks her 
how she died no comment is made on this although the reason she is in 
her bathroom in the first place is because Olive made fun of her 
glasses. However it is said that she unlocked the toilet door  before 
she came face to face with the basilisk - so I would presume 
(although it depends on how bad her eye sight is/was)that she would 
put her glasses back on to do this (if she had taken them off in the 
first place).
As to whether seeing the basilisk through glasses would kill you or 
not Harry when in was in the chamber deffinately thought it would - 
but then again he probably wouldn't have know either way.


Michelle