The Basilisk *Does* Target Its Victims (IMO)

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 46869

Melody states;

>>Well, in the chamber, Riddle said he sent the basilisk after the "squib's 
cat" (Ch 17).  Since he made that distinction, I would say Mrs. Norris was 
attacked because Filch has no magic ability. Mudbloods are rare, but squibs 
are even more rare.  Either way, Riddle doesn't like those without magic 
whether in heritage or in life. <<

I think the answer to this lies in Tom Riddle's own school days. He was 
sorted into *Slytherin*. As a half-blood. A *Muggle-raised* halfblood. As a 
*penniless* Muggle-raised halfblood. And I REALLY don't think that the values 
which predominate in Slytherin House were any different in Tom Riddle's day. 
And the "non-intervention" practices on the part of the House Heads (a little 
unusual today, but not 50 years ago) would not have made his experiences any 
easier. 

Riddle, however, was clearly gifted. In the way of many gifted children he 
was adept at projecting what would most impress his audience. By the time he 
reached his third year, he had negotiated a place for himself, and by sheer 
excellence, was making himself a force to be reckoned with. He also had a 
patron somewhere. Think about it. He states that he searched for the Chamber 
for five years. He was a 5th year when he found it. He would not have been 
told anything about his background by the Muggle orphanage which raised him. 
He certainly wouldn't have been told anything about his magical background. 
And yet he knows of it enough to take up his search for Salazar's Chamber in 
his first year. 

Or does he?

I could readily see the search for the Chamber being taken up by every 
adventurous Slytherin first year since Salazar's time. But they don't all go 
claiming to be his heir. Or do they go looking for the Chamber in hopes of 
proving themselves to be his "true" heir by finding it? Each of Hogwart's 
Houses has its own "Noble History". I never heard of a history without a few 
stories, myself. The story that Salazar left the Chamber and its monster for 
his heir would be an easy one to reconfigure into a "we'll know who his heir 
is when they find the Chamber."

And doesn't the poor, pitiful tale of Tom Riddle's martyr mother and her 
wicked Muggle husband sound a little like a classic "cuckoo tale" to you? (My 
parents aren't my REAL parents. I'm really the lost prince in exile and 
someday my REAL parents will find me and rescue me from all this commoness 
that isn't WORTHY of Me.) Isn't it possible that he was told that his mother 
was a witch of good family and filled in the blanks from there? We do know 
that he came close to Dumbledore's summary (maybe it was Dumbledore who told 
him?) in PS/SS. But that was a very spare outline of the basic facts that 
Riddle's mother WAS in fact Slytherin's last known direct decendent. And we 
do know that Riddle was brilliant enough to connct the dots, even if he did 
put his own spin on the findings.

In any case there has been a deal of speculation on just what house the 
Muggle-born Myrtle was sorted into. And quite a few of these debates have 
concluded that she may very well have been in Slytherin. It stands to reason 
that there must be any number of Muggle-borns whose overriding character 
trait is a hunger for power. And Myrtle's behaviour shows a great deal of 
slyiness and very little hesitation in using whatever method occurs to her 
which will produce an effect (usually to make other people feel --and look -- 
bad). A mudblood in Slytherin in Riddle's 4th year would have raised some 
very inconvenient questions of loyaltyies, sponsorship and solidarity from 
Riddle's new allies. Particularly given that Riddle had already set himself 
up as Slytherin house's shining new star, and sneering at a first year would 
not have suited his image. That Myrtle shows no signs of being either very 
clever or very powerfull, but simply a wet mess with a fondness of making 
other people look bad, would have made the situation all the more galling. I 
am not convinced that Myrtle's murder was accidental. If she *was* a 
Slytherin, the would have been the *one* mudblood who was most in Riddle's 
way. And she was the first to go. (And it would certainly have been child's 
play for Riddle to find out where she was sulking from Olive Hornsby.)

Possibly, Myrtle was the ONLY one to go. We've heard nothing about any series 
of petrifications 50 years ago, although given that Dumbledore and Minerva 
(who is of an age to have possibly still been at school herself at the time) 
talk as though they recognize what is going on, would tend to suggest that 
there were. 

Another questionable in all this is how Malfoy knows that a mudblood was 
killed the last time the Chamber was opened. Yes, his father told him. But he 
also states in the same conversation that this happened *before* his father's 
time at Hogwarts. That he is privy to this kind of information would tend to 
indicate that at the very least, Lucius's father or uncle was also a school 
governor at the time and knew of the matters that Dippit wanted hushed up. Or 
that an elder Malfoy was one of those close companions who already knew 
Riddle as "Lord Voldemort" in his school days. There is already ample 
indication that the Riddle/Malfoy association goes back a long way. It sounds 
like Draco is a third-generation supporter. 

I'm also of the oppinion that Salazar left his basilisk in a charmed sleep 
that only another parselmouth could awaken it from.

-JOdel