How did Tom kill his father?

[Brenda M.]

No: HPFGUIDX 111553

>>> Jekatiska wrote:
> Tom was only a teenager when he killed his father, and don't think 
he could have used such a powerful curse at such a young age. 
> Moreover, undetected by the MoM, who would have tracked him down 
for the murder of three people, I believe, even if he was 17 and 
allowed to perform magic outside school. <<<

Brenda now:

You know, I wondered about the same thing. I imagined one would need 
powerful Dark desire and much practice to perform Unforgivable 
Curses, especially AK. But we know Hogwarts doesn't teach Dark Arts. 
Does this mean Tom Riddle practiced AK secretly in his dorm? On... 
animals?

I don't understand why MoM wasn't involved in the homocide 
investigation of the Riddles. I thought the Muggle authorities were 
aware of the Wizarding World? They knew about Voldemort and Sirius 
Black, during the First War... and when Sirius escaped from Azkaban, 
the Muggle media reported it.


> What if it was the Basilisk? Ok, the idea may
> sound ludicrous, because when we met the Basilisk, it was very big
> indeed. But what if it was a lot smaller 50 years earlier? Small
> enough to be transported to Little Hangleton? What gave me this idea
> was the fact that the three of them had frightened expressions on
> their faces, like those petrified by the Basilisk, and unlike Cedric
> who was killed by Avada Kedavra. Just a thought.

But wasn't Basilisk around since the times of Salazar Slytherin? 
According to Aragog, the monster was born in the castle. I don't 
think snakes reproduce asexually, do they? The page from library book 
says "capable of living for hundreds of years..."

So I'm not so sure if Basilisk was much smaller mere 50 years ago and 
when the Chamber was closed, it *suddenly* grew up to how-many-feet-
long?

If (regardless of its size) Basilisk was transported to Little 
Hangleton, it would have had to be Transfigured. How much of powerful 
magic one would need to Transfigure that giant snake into something 
portable?

You brought up an interesting point. I believe the AK victims have 
the expressions of "empty" as opposed to "frightened". Perhaps the 
Riddles were petrified, by some Dark Art object that works as those 
giant yellow eyes.

Or... Nagini, anyone?


Brenda