[HPforGrownups] Did Harry speak to the Basilisk?

[Taryn Kimel]

No: HPFGUIDX 50492

Tom:
I'll be darned if I didn't spend almost an hour looking for something 
in the archives on Harry speaking to the Basilisk.  I know that, 
somewhere, somehow, I ran across posts wondering why Harry didn't 
speak to the snake in the Chamber of Secrets, why he didn't attempt 
to counter-control it.

Me:
Because the basilisk can only be controlled by the Heir of Slytherin. As Professor Binns puts it:

"Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The **heir alone** would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic." (US paperback p. 151, emphasis mine)

So it stands to reason that /only/ the Heir of Slytherin could control the basilisk, whether another person was a parselmouth or not.

Hah! I'm proud of myself for not giving into movie contamination and using Tom's, "It only obeys me."

--Taryn

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