Choosing the Basilisk's Victims (was: Mrs. Norris)

[Judy]

No: HPFGUIDX 46734

Vincentjh asked:
> > Why's Mrs. Norris petrified(sp.)? Why petrify a cat? < <

And bboy_mn speculated:
> I don't think the basilisk specifically sought out Mrs. Norris...
> The Basilisk seems to have consistently roamed the castle 
> until it encountered someone, then by nature 
> or on order from Riddle, returned
> to the Chamber after the first encounter of that
> roaming of the school.
> ...I don't think seeing a basilisks eyes will kill you.
> You have to be held in it's gaze. In other words, it has to look
> right at you. Possibly, you even have to look at each other; 
> your gazes have
> to lock together. This explains how Riddle 
> could keep his eyes open
> and control the basilisk. He probably ordered 
> it to never look at him.<


"Why attack Mrs. Norris" is a good question, which then raises the
more general question of "Can the Basilisk choose its victims, and if
so, how?"  

My understanding of how the Basilisk works is similar to BBoy's --
look into the Basilisk's eyes, and you're dead (or petrified, if you
see the eyes through a ghost or in a mirror.)  But, if that's how it
works, how can the Basilisk choose whom it will "attack"? The Basilisk
can't look around and choose a victim, without risking looking into
the eyes of the wrong person. This seems to be what happened to
Myrtle.  She just happened to open the bathroom door and -- oops.  She
was dead. There's nothing to indicate that Tom Riddle choose her as a
victim.  In fact, given that he was distressed about the closing of
the school, it's likely that he expected the bathroom to be empty and
that her death was not planned.  

Just attacking victims at random might work fine for the purpose of
luring Harry to the Chamber or for the purpose of getting Dumbledore
and the Weasleys in trouble (which may have been Lucius' goal.) 
However, how would it help rid the school of muggleborns?  Presumably,
Salazaar Slytherin's monster could attack muggleborns specifically. 
Furthermore, all of the petrified humans in CoS *were* muggleborn, and
this doesn't seem like it could be coincidence. So, there needs to be
some method to select specific victims, but I don't know what that
would be. 

A couple of more points about the Basilisk.  I agree that the room
containing the entrance to the Chamber might not have been a girls'
bathroom back in Salazaar's time.  If it had been a girls' bathroom,
though, that would be interesting -- it might imply that Salazaar
expected his heir to be a girl!

And, even if Myrtle's death wasn't planned, I'd still say that Tom
Riddle was morally responsible for her death. He unleashed the monster
on the school. I expect that Myrtle will play an important role in
future books. She was Voldemort's first victim, and who knows what
powers ghosts have?  JKR says we will learn more about why ghosts are
in contact with the living, and perhaps it will be revealed that
Myrtle is there for a reason. 

~~ Judy Serenity