Slytherin, the Chamber and the Basilisk

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 47062

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "David" <dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:

> What might such a spell be?  We know that Slytherin was concerned 
> about the admittance to Hogwarts of muggleborns - but not on 
> grounds of magical inferiority or hostility, just of security in an
> age of persecution.  

We *don't* know that Salazar didn't feel hostility/bigotry toward 
Muggleborns *as well as* viewing them as security risks. (Someone 
asked why Muggleborn wizards would be security risks, as they are 
also wizards and would be victims of anti-magic persecution. Surely 
the risk that worried Salazar was that they would let information 
(about the location of Hogwarts and so on) slip to their Muggle 
families, who might then pass it on to persecutors.)

> A *magical* approach to this problem would be to try to bring
> about some kind of reconciliation between wizards and muggles 
> by means of a spell.
> (snip)
> So what we could be looking for is a wizard who unites Slytherin 
> characteristics with those of other houses, particularly 
> Gryffindor,  who can speak Parseltongue, who knows where the
> Chamber of Secrets is, and also has a foot in the muggle camp.

David! It's so *original*, I love it! It would *totally* distroy my 
impression of old Salazar as an evil Dark Wizard. How could all the 
people who were Sorted into Slytherin House, and all the other 
wizards, and especially Tom Marvolo Riddle, consistently have such a 
WRONG idea of Salazar Slytherin and what his "noble plan" was?