The Mystery House (was; OOP: OoTP clip - driving me crazy!)

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 60315

Where are we, and why are we in this handbasket?

Okay we've got a house. To Harry it looks like the house of a Dark wizard. 
What does Harry know of wizarding interior design? The only wizarding house he 
has ever been in is the Burrow, and the Weasleys, even by wizarding standards, 
probably classify as a pack of raging eccentrics. Well, let that pass.

The House has doorknobs with a serpent motif. Well, that's at least some 
help. It does strongly suggest a Slytherin connection. And it is a place currently 
disused, but known to Dumbledore's people (assuming that the "Molly Weasley" 
mentioned wasn't a polyjuiced villian leading all three of the trio into a 
trap). Have we finally been given some clue regarding the hypothetical "good 
Slytherin"? Well, we will know in just over a week.

As to empty houses, we have a couple of possibilities: We could be 
"squatting" without the knowledge of the rightful owners, or we could be hiding out in a 
house which the owner has made available to Dumbledore's organization, secr
etly.

Okay. Who are some known or probable ex-Slytherins who would have had a house 
than might be currently available? 

In the first case we have a lengthy list of names of dead or incarcerated 
Slytherins who might have left a house and no other family to claim it. This 
could be the Lestrange's house, or that of the Wilkes' or the Rossier's. Snape 
might have been in a position to let people know whether the house was likely to 
be in use by anyone. Of course it could be his own family house, disused 
because he is in the School most of the year. But that's a bit obvious.

In the second case; Who is around to claim the Crouch house? Is the souless 
husk of Barty Jr. being quietly cared for in one of the other rooms? The house 
has been vacant since Barty's father was sent "home" (in fact, he was being 
held at the Riddle House) with a case of overwork sometime between the previous 
Halloween and Christmas. 

Of course there is the hint we were given in GoF that families do not always 
all sort out into the same house and that someone already mentioned in the 
series as a Gryffindor and deffinite "good guy" is from a family which is 
predominently Slytherin. Or that it was a Slytherin ancestor who built the house and 
the doorknobs are a legacy which his Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, or even 
Hufflepuff decendents regard as a family in-joke. Could this be Sirius Black's house? 
The old Potter Hall? The Figg residence? (My vote is for the Figg residence -- 
just for the hell of it.)

One of the *last* places it is likely to be is the Riddle House.

-JOdel