Voldemort and Slytherin

[Milz <absinthe@mad.scientist.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50775

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tom Wall <thomasmwall at y...>" 
<thomasmwall at y...> wrote:
> "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." Professor Binns (CoS 151)
> 
> Does anyone have any idea why Slytherin's descendants weren't 
watched 
> with the utmost scrutiny?
> 
> Obviously, the rumor of the Chamber of Secrets was enough to cause 
> many wizards and witches to search for its location in the school.  
> In other words, they took it seriously enough to believe it might 
be 
> there. So, if they took it seriously enough to entertain notions of 
> its existence, how come they didn't take it seriously enough to 
trace 
> Slytherin's lineage through to the present day?  
> 
> After all, Riddle's mother would have also been a descendent of 
> Slytherin. In fact, there were probably tons of descendents of 
> Salazar Slytherin. There are any number of generations between 
> Slytherin and Riddle. And the likelihood of there being a single-to-
> single family tree is pretty minimal, I mean, one-to-one all the 
way 
> down *is* a fairly rare occurance. And although we don't know this 
as 
> fact, we must assume that some, if not all of them attended 
Hogwarts.
> 
> So with all of those generations of little Slytherins bouncing 
> around, why was Riddle the only one to open the Chamber of 
Secrets?  
> 
> I can only settle on three solutions:
> 
> 1) Slytherin's descendents didn't attend Hogwarts until Riddle did 
> (this seems totally ridiculous to me.)
> 2) The other descendents didn't figure out that they were 
Slytherin's 
> heirs (this also seems silly to me.)
> 2) Riddle was the only one who was a Parselmouth, since that's 
> supposed to be a very rare ability, so it's possible that none of 
the 
> other descendents possessed the skill.
> 
> I like three the most, but it still doesn't settle well.
> 
> All the same, it just seems, well, *irresponsible* to not follow 
all 
> of Slytherin's descendents very closely, particularly if they 
> attended Hogwarts, knowing that there was a potential for 
said 'heir' 
> to unleash evil upon the school.
> 
> -Tom

You raise some very interesting points. Maybe Slytherin's descendants 
WERE watched and maybe even banned from attending Hogwarts? It would 
be interesting to learn if Riddle's mother attended Hogwarts.

Riddle could have slipped in under the radar. He was half-Muggle. His 
mother died during or shortly after his birth and he was placed in an 
orphanage. If his grandfather, Marvolo, harbored the same anti-Muggle 
sentiments as Slytherin, then it would only follow that Riddle's 
mother did not tell him of her relationship with Tom Riddle Sr or 
that she was pregnant with a half-Muggle child. Who knows, maybe 
Marvolo, ummm, magically helped his daughter "off the mortal coil" 
when she gave birth to Riddle Jr.

Again, you raised very, very interesting points.

Milz