[HPforGrownups] Re: Avada Kedavra, Ginny & Tom Riddle, and various basilisk things

[Indigo]

No: HPFGUIDX 46770

No, he didn't actually blow up a water main. That /was/ just a story told to give the muggles something to rationalize what happened.

It was just something that caused a big enough explosion to kill 12 people.

It could've been a spontaneous combustion spell, but that really makes muggles look silly, considering they were told it was a /water/ main.

So it might've just been pure concussive force. 

Indigo
who seems to be delurkively pensive tonight.

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 11/19/2002 at 4:12 AM ashfaex wrote:

>First post by me. *gryn* Nice to meet y'all.
>
>Regarding Avada Kedavra:
>
>From: Chocobo
>>>Well, I don't know anything for sure here, just guessing...  it does
>>>seem like that spell (some kind of explosion) does have a stronger
>>>effect, but maybe it also has some drawbacks to it. Maybe a spell
>>>with such a big effect takes a long time to set up, maybe it's hard
>>>to aim the effects, maybe it's easy to avoid if you're a wizard. AK
>>>is instant death and can be done quickly, so that could definitely
>be >>more dangerous.
>
>I suspect that the reason Avada Kedavra is one of the Unforgivable
>Curses is because it's unblockable (unless you're Harry Potter). Other
>curses could cause death, but they would probably do so in an indirect
>manner, and indirect things have a chance of being blocked. For
>example, if a wizard casts a spell to call lightning down upon another
>wizard, the second wizard theoretically has a chance of shielding or
>protecting himself somehow. Peter Pettigrew's notorious curse was
>probably such an indirect spell; I don't think it was ever made clear
>if he actually blow up the water main, or if that was a story told to
>appease the Muggles. But regardless, there would at least be a chance
>to shield oneself, through a magical shield or Apparation or somesuch.
>Avada Kedavra offers no chance for such protection; essentially the
>wizard casting the spell is pointing at you and stating "Die!", and
>the next instant, you do. (this is of course just a theory, but it
>seems to hold water)
>
>
>Regarding Ginny:
>
>From: Audra
>>>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.
>
>While I agree that Tom Riddle must have transferred some of his powers
>and abilities into Ginny in order for Ginny to open the Chamber of
>Secrets/control the basilisk/etc, I think it unlikely that she retains
>any such abilities now. Tom was feeding off of Ginny's soul, using the
>book, and this was killing her; but when the book was destroyed, all
>the "soul" (for lack of a better word) that had been transferred from
>Ginny into Tom was returned to her. It's logical that any powers she
>gained from Tom would have been destroyed along with the book. The
>Harry/Voldemort scenario is not quite comparable; first of all because
>Tom Riddle was only a memory, whereas Voldemort was alive and kicking;
>and second of all because the Tom Riddle memory was completely
>destroyed, and Voldemort is _still_ alive and kicking. (it would be
>interesting if, when Voldemort is ultimately and finally destroyed,
>Harry lost his ability to speak Parseltongue)
>
>
>Regarding Mrs. Norris:
>
>from: Carol Bainbridge
>>>So could someone have hung Mrs. Norris on the wall for some reason
>>>and then Mrs. Norris, because of her position on the wall, saw the
>>>basilisk's reflection in the water? Or could she have been lying
>>>petrified on the floor and then someone hung her up afterwards? Who
>>>did it and why? That's never mentioned by anyone in the book, is it?
>>>If it is, I can't remember. Any ideas?  (Or corrections)
>
>I would suspect that it was Tom Riddle, acting through Ginny, who
>decided to hang up "the Squib's cat" as a warning. (though that leads
>me to wonder how Tom knew Filch was a Squib; it's unlikely that Ginny
>knew, as Filch's nature doesn't seem to be common knowledge) I suspect
>that whenever the basilisk struck, Ginny/Tom was almost certainly
>present and controlling its actions. This would explain how the
>basilisk knew which students to attack. One piece of evidence for this
>is that Ginny wrote in her diary that she had no memory of where she
>was when the students were attacked. 
>
>From: Indigo
>>>But this does beg an interesting question.  The ensorcelled Ginny
>>>controlled by Tom -- was she immune to being petrified like Tom
>seems >>to also have been?
>I imagine that the basilisk, after hearing Ginny/Tom speak
>Parseltongue, recognized her as an ally, and thus knew not to attack
>her. That, or Tom simply ordered the basilisk not to look at him. 
>
>
>Here's a curious thought: the fact that none of those attacked died
>seems almost wildly coincidental, given the the extreme deadliness of
>the basilisk and the undeniably evil intentions of Tom Riddle. Is it
>possible, do you think, that a small part of Ginny was aware of what
>was going on? While she couldn't fight back entirely, perhaps she
>tried to make sure that the basilisk only attacked students when those
>students had a means of defense handy. Given the number of Muggleborns
>at Hogwarts, it's astonishing that the basilisk just _happened_ to
>attack Justin while Nick was nearby, or that it went after Colin
>Creevy, who's never seen without his camera. (not sure how Hermione
>and Penelope Clearwater fit into that theory though)
>
>"ashfaex"
>
>
>
>
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