[HPforGrownups] Re: Ponderables...

[James Sharman]

No: HPFGUIDX 83178

Deedee: 
> 2.  If only the heir of Slytherin could open the chamber of secrets 
> how was Harry able to open the Chamber of Secrets??!?
> 

Geoff:
In COS, where Harry meets up with Tom Riddle in the Chamber, TR tells 
him that Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber......

James:
I've seen this heir of Slytherin subject discussed a few times and I think a
possibility has been missed. My suspicion is that when Slytherin said that
only his true heir could open it he might have meant any parcelmouth who
wanted to kill mugleborns.

Slytherin may well have put the parceltonge lock onto the chamber as a pure
security measure to ensure only he could open it (considering the rarity of
the trait this would not be unreasonable). When he left hogwarts he left
behind the legend we all know thereby polarizing the kind of people who
would go looking into two groups. Good wizards who would want to destroy the
monster and Dark Wizards who would want to use it.

Because the parceltonge trait seems to only occur in Dark wizards this means
SS knows exactly the kind of person who is actually going to eventually open
it. Under these circumstances Slytherin may have been working under the
logic that whoever eventually found and opened the chamber would be his
ideological heir (even if not necessarily genetically speaking).