[HPforGrownups] How did Ginny open the chamber?

[Audra1976 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 46762

In a message dated 18/11/2002, sgarfio at yahoo.com (Sherry) writes:
>  How exactly did sweet little Ginny open the Chamber of Secrets?  We
> know she was under Tom Riddle's control, but you have to be a
> Parselmouth to tell the sink to open up.  I'm not sure I can accept
> that Tom made her speak Parseltongue; all evidence seems to imply that
> Parselmouth is a gift from birth, not something you can learn.  


Me:

Not all the evidence implies that. Dumbledore told Harry that Voldemort 
transferred some of his power to him, which could have resulted in Harry's 
ability to speak Parseltongue.  So we have Dumbledore's word as evidence that 
Parselmouth ability can be passed on to another in this way, not just by 
birth.  Tom's comment about "pouring a little of [his] soul back into 
[Ginny]" through the diary is just as valid an explanation for Ginny speaking 
Parseltongue as the explanation Dumbledore gave Harry.  

Of course, this could be one of the important clues JKR refers to in CoS.  
Pre-Voldemort Tom Riddle has transferred some of his power to Ginny, just as 
Voldemort transferred some of his power to Harry. This means Ginny and Harry 
now both have increased magic ability and Tom Riddle/Voldemort's special 
talents.


Sherry again:
> What if the Weasleys are decendants of Slytherin?  And
> what if Lucius Malfoy knows it?
> <snip>
> Now, of course, my proposition implies that the Weasleys would also be
> Parselmouths, or at least Ginny, without anybody in the family ever
> noticing this about each other or themselves.  But what if there is
> something special about the *7th* child of a Slytherin decendant? 


Me again:

Seven has always been considered a lucky number.  It is an old superstition 
that the seventh son of a seventh son would have supernatural abilities 
(well, Ginny is a seventh child, not a seventh son, and we don't know if 
either Mr. or Mrs. Weasley might have had 6 siblings either).  This is an 
interesting theory all the same.  

There is no evidence that Tom Riddle didn't have any older siblings.  In 
fact, we might be able to make a case for it.  Mrs. Riddle never told Mr. 
Riddle that she was a witch up until she was pregnant with Tom Jr.  Why did 
she choose to tell him then?  Maybe she had a guilty conscience, but it 
sounds like she was in denial.  If Tom Jr. had older siblings (6 older 
siblings, as Sherry would have it) and one of them turned 11, that 
incriminating Hogwarts letter would have come.  Well, she would have had to 
own up to it then.  That's when they have the big blow out, and poor 
Mrs.Riddle is left a single witch with child. Hmm..if that is the case, 
several of Tom's siblings might have been at Hogwarts with him, and they 
didn't even know, unless they taken very far away.

Sherry:
> As a side note, there has been speculation that the Weasleys' Muggle
> relation (Molly's cousin, the accountant?  Alas, my SS is also at
> home) is a link to red-headed Lily.  If so, that also puts Lily in
> Slytherin's line.


Me for the last time:

That is one of the big theories surrounding Lily.  And what can you say?  
It's possible.    Almost anything is possible at this point, and JKR has said 
we will learn something important about Lily's past in the next book.  I kind 
of hope Harry and Ginny aren't cousins or something though.  How will Ginny 
feel if it turns out she's had a crush on her cousin for the past 3 years?  
Eew.

Audra


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