Now that I think about it, I'm not sure the Basilisk was such a good idea...

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 57963

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kelly Grosskreutz" 
<ivanova at i...> wrote:
> I don't really have much to contribute to this fascinating 
conversation, but
> I did want to place this a little bit more correctly into history.
> 
>

<snip the history lesson> :)

Now me:

I should have spelled out what I meant a bit more clearly.

Given that the references are to Hogwarts being founded "1,000 years 
ago," and allowing that a reference to "1,000 years" could mean 
anywhere from 900 to 1,100, I'd say the school was founded around the 
year 1000.

The Inquisition was indeed a few centuries later. Given that D-Dore 
has lived as long as he has, I think a case could be made that the 
four founders lived a while, but I'm not going to reach. Very 
unseemly.

Anyway, I shouldn't have used the I-word and just left it at Muggles 
being the ones persecuting the wizards. And since we know from PoA 
that many wizards laughed their way through the Inquisition, it was 
doubly stupid to use. 

It is entirely possible, as I said, that Salazar really did have the 
best interest of the school at heart when he wanted only purebloods. 
And to be fair, given the tenor of the times, it is possible Godric's 
ideas about open admission could have been fairly revolutionary. But 
since Binns only talks about those Goblins in history class, we don't 
know.

Where I start to bog down is on the idea that the Basilisk, a killing 
creature if there ever was one, is left behind as a benevolent act. 

Defense I can understand a bit easier, but I find it more plausible 
that Salazar, by the time he was ready to leave, had more of 
an "every pureblood for himself" attitude and the Basilisk was for 
HIS defense, not anyone else's. Perhaps he meant the Heir of 
Slytherin to lead a takeover of the school...

Regardless, I do hold closer to the genocidal maniac theory, although 
it is open to interpretation. 

And at this point in the History of Magic, now that V-Mort is back, 
the Slytherin creed is genocide. 

So, contradicting the genocidal maniac theory, just for fun, maybe my 
good Slyth will be Salazar himself? 

As the essence of Godric continues to help Harry be dropping useful 
weapons in his path, perhaps the essence of Salazar will, at the 
critical moment, deny Voldemort assistance.

And then he looks at the TRUE Heir of Slytherin. Resourceful, 
determined, a certain disgregard for the rules, ambitious, desperate 
to prove something...

Best I say it in an acro...

SALAZAR SLYTHERIN

Sinister Ancestral Loony Actually Zooms Around, Rehabilitating 
Slytherin Legend. Young Trainee Hermione Emerges, Reclaiming 
Inheritance Now.

Darrin
-- NOW that would be a good Slyth. :)