Re-reading CoS : questions

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 94804


Hello all !

I flipped through CoS yesterday for a bit of light reading, and I 
have a few questions.
(British Bloomsbury paperback First Edition if I'm not mistaken)

1. Okay, what's up with Snape and Malfoy !? Different looks, but 
same behaviour : same speech pattern as far as I can see, same 
coldness, same restraint, same cruel humour, same cold rage when 
angered. I won't give any examples, but just read the descriptions 
of Malfoy and then Snape, it's eerie and scary ! Add to that their 
obvious complicity against all odds, and I have to ask : what's 
going on ?
And in a world where Metamorphagi (?) exist, I have to ask : have we 
ever seen Malfoy and Snape together ? Or have we ever seen one when 
we know for sure where the other is ? Because otherwise, I have to 
postulate that Snape and Malfoy could very well be one and the same 
person... (Canon counter-proofs more than welcome, because I get a 
headache just thinking of the implications of this possibility ! 
Though it would finally explain why Snape seemed to be almost 
smiling when Mrs Norris was found Petrified : he would be pleased 
that his plan worked)

2. What's up with Penelope Clearwater ? Why did she stay at Hogwarts 
for Christmas if her love affair with Percy wasn't supposed to be 
public, and why was she roaming the castle all alone ? What was she 
doing all alone around the library when everyone had gone down to 
the Quidditch pitch ? Both occurences being especially suspicious in 
the light of her being a Muggle-born, and thus especially at risk of 
being attacked.
I can't find my PoA book, so I can't check up on her next year. I 
can't remember her doing anything suspicious, but still I'm 
wondering if Miss Clearwater is as clear as spring water...

3. The Chamber of Secrets : considering its name and its size, I'm 
fairly sure it was built to contain more than just the Basilisk. 
What those other secrets are, I can only guess. But one thing I did 
notice : the pipe that leads to it is described as having smaller 
pipes branching off it (p. 324), and the many pillars in the Chamber 
are all entwined by a big carved snake (p.329). Could this be some 
kind of Army of Slytherin ? Not just the Basilisk, but a whole army 
of smaller (but still big) snakes, that could invade the whole 
castle at once through the many pipes ? Tom could have missed it, he 
might have not realised that the Basilisk was only the leader of a 
whole army.
Will this army come into play later ? And if so, WHO will be leading 
it ? Harry, or LV ?

4. Salazar Slytherin, or rather his statue : it is described as 
having an "ancient and monkey-like" face (p. 329). Unusual 
description, which put in my mind the image of a goblin. Could there 
be a connection between SS and the goblins ? Could SS be the 
ultimate fraud, pretending to want to clean Hogwarts of all non-
purebloods when he in fact was half-goblin ?
Another, much wilder, idea is that the whole goblin race could have 
been created, maybe even fostered somehow, by SS. What do we know 
about them ? I can't remember anything specific, apart from their 
perpetual wars, which happened only a few centuries ago if I recall 
correctly. Oh, and they seem to love underground tunnels as much as 
SS... I would welcome any canon info supporting or refuting these 
theories.

5. What happened to the basilisk fang Harry used to destroy the 
Diary ? I couldn't find any mention of it.

6. Myrtle's death : she describes it as follows.
'Ooooh, it was dreadful,' she said with relish. 'It happened right 
in here. I died in this very cubicle. I remember it so well. I'd 
hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The 
door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come 
in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must 
have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a *boy* 
speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own 
toilet, and then -' Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining, 'I 
*died*.'
Well, I'm bothered about the sequence. She says that Tom came in, 
which I believe means *through the door*. I mean, if Tom had come 
back all the way up the pipe (and *how*, by the way, *did* he come 
back up the pipe all those times ???), she wouldn't describe it 
as "someone came in", would she ? Moreover, I think she would have 
noticed if there had been a big great hole in place of one of the 
sinks, no matter how distressed she was when she herself came in. 
Then Tom spoke, Myrtle came out of the cubicle, and died right away. 
That would mean the Basilisk was right there in the pipe, waiting to 
get out of it the moment Tom opened the entrance. It doesn't sound 
terribly realistic to me.
I don't see what it could hide, I'm just bothered.

I'll stop here for today. I'll welcome any comment, including the 
ones implying or even stating clearly that I am completely out of my 
mind :-)

Del