Snape, Dumbledore and Harry with a side of MD (Was: The Dueling Club - an interp

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 57921


> > Grey Wolf:
> > Dumbledore, according to MD, knows that the chamber exists, not 
> > where to find it, and knows that monster is a basilisk, but not 
> > how it moves around the castle. This isn't Dumbledore's plan. He 
> > couldn't stop it 50 years ago, and he cannot stop it now,  
> > because he is looking for a needle in a haystack. He knows 
> > Voldemort has to be involved, but doesn't know how.
> 
> Me (Gomes Moor):
> Well, but I wonder: why didn't Dumbledore ask Moaning Myrtle? As 
> you wrote:
> <And Since Hermione could put it all together in six months, 
> Dumbledore has had more than enough time in 50 years>.

Quite possibly Dumbledore *did* ask Moaning Myrtle. All she actually 
knew, however, was that she saw a pair of ' great big yellow eyes' 
as she came out of the toilet. [CoS p.223 Ch.16 UK paperback]. She 
knew the direction was near the sink.

Notice that it is *Harry* (who speaks Parseltongue) who spots the 
snake symbol. It's entirely possible that only someone who spoke 
Parseltongue would ever see that symbol (Ron is never described as 
seeing it, or as looking at it).

Dumbledore may well have figured out that it's possible that one 
entrance to the Chamber is in Moaning Myrtle's toilet. But he can 
never, ever find it. Professor Binns tells us: 'the school has been 
searched for evidence of such a chamber, by the most learned witches 
and wizards.' [CoS Ch. 9 pp.114 115].  

It can only be found by someone who speaks Parseltongue. 

Gomes:
> And if he knew there was a basilisk inside, why didn't he take 
> other measures to defeat it, like bringing more roosters to the 
> castle?

Wrong question. What you should be asking is: 'why are there 
roosters at Hogwarts *at all*'?

Figure it out. JKR estimates that there are 1000 pupils, there are 
certainly a minimum 400 or so pupils. How many eggs is that per day?

Hogwarts doesn't need a hen coop. It needs a hen *farm* to supply 
its breakfast eggs. And its lunchtime eggs. And its teatime eggs. 
And the eggs in the cakes, and the puddings.

I know JK Rowling OBE is bad at maths, but she has referred to 
Hagrid's vegetable patch as 'small' more than once. I think she's 
quite aware that Hogwarts doesn't grow its own food, and is trying 
to imply that Hagrid grows vegetables (and keeps chickens) as a 
hobby.

This being so, why is there more than one rooster at Hogwarts? We 
know there was more than one, because Hagrid refers to 'second one 
killed this term' [Ch. 11 p.150]. But if it's a hobby coop, there is 
no need for more than one rooster (believe me, roosters are noisy 
little ... err ... fowls). If the coop really does supply all 
Hogwart's breakfast eggs, then we're asked to believe that Harry and 
Co. have never really noticed a thousand or more chickens ranging 
around the grounds.

(Harry, Hermione and Ron decided to go and talk to Hagrid at his 
farm ...)

So the fact that Hogwarts has *any* roosters at all (they really are 
noisy ... ) suggests that Dumbledore has put anti-basilisk 
protections in place. Tom Riddle, however, figured out how to handle 
the problem (send Ginny out to kill them, whilst keeping the 
basilisk away).

Was rooster no. 2 the replacement rooster? We'll probably never know.

Pip!Squeak