What it means to be an heir. (WAS Re: Who were the Potters?)

[kateydidnt2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 45942

Emily wrote:
<This may seem like a silly question, but what are the odds that 
<Godric 
<Gryffindor only has one heir (then two, with the birth of Harry)? I 
<assume 
<that most wizarding families aren't as...numerous as the Weasleys. 
<Nonetheless, we're looking at MANY generations of people! There 
<should be a 
<multitude of heirs, right? Perhaps I misunderstand the meaning of 
<the word 
<heir, but this is something that's always bothered me about heir.

In a family the heir is the one who inherets.
Perhaps being an heir of a founder does not just mean a blood 
descendant of a founder, but includes inheriting the powers of the 
founder also.  In that, there could be blood descendants of 
Slytherin, but Tom Riddle would be the only Heir of Slytherin because 
only he inherited Slytherin's special talent of speaking Parseltongue 
In CoS Riddle says to HArry "we are probably the only two 
Parselmouths to pass through this school since Slytherin himself," 
(paraphrasing, not looking at book...)does this mean that none of 
Slytherin's descendants went to Hogwarts before Tom Riddle? I find 
that unlikely and therefore come to the conclusion that an heir 
indicates inheritance of a certain power or trait.  Of course this is 
only theory and we know that Voldemort is the last remaining 
descendant of Slytherin, if we are to trust Dumbledore's wisdom on 
that point. However perhaps this holds true for other lines, like the 
Gryffindor line.  There could be numerous descendants, but only 
select few (ie. James and HArry Potter) who are heirs.
Just some thoughts.
Kate