How Riddle Knew He Was A Descendant of Slytherin (WAS: Heir defined)

[innermurk]

No: HPFGUIDX 58836

I, Innermurk suggested earlier in response to Phyllis' question on 
how Tom knew he was the heir of Slytherin:
> 
> > Here's an idea, what if the Sorting Hat told him? 



~Phyllis replied:
> I actually did consider that option, especially in light of JKR's 
> statement that there's more to the Sorting Hat than meets the eye.  
> However, what gave me pause was the fact that the Sorting Hat was 
> once Godric Gryffindor's hat, and given the enmity between 
Gryffindor 
> and Slytherin, I suspect the Hat would not have divulged Riddle's 
> Slytherin ancestry to him (assuming the Hat knew about it in the 
> first place, that is).  Also, it's the Sorting Hat that Fawkes 
brings 
> to Harry's aid in the Chamber when Harry is fighting against both 
> Memory!Riddle and Slytherin's serpent, so I really see the Hat as 
> being part of the fight against the evil Slythierin and Voldemort 
> represent.
> 

I innermurk reply:
But, the sorting hat may not have come outright and told him. As I 
suggested earlier, maybe it just said something that gave him a 
start. He only needed a place to start. 
His curiosity about his roots must've heightened greatly after 
finding out he was a wizard. If he guessed his name might tell him 
something, the most innocent statement (such as your mother....was in 
Slytherin, or whatever) from the sorting hat might have given him all 
he needed. He would've deduced from that statement that his mother 
was the witch, and he could've started there. I'm sure that some of 
his teachers would have taught his mother there as well, and might've 
said something to him about her. He seemed proud of his tragic life 
as an orphan, so I'm sure he played it up all he could. 
This was before he CHOSE to be evil, and his image in school was a 
handsome, good, honest, and hard working boy. No one had any reason 
not to help him as they couldn't know that they were helping evil.

Innermurk