Why put the entrance tothe Chamber of Secrets in a girl's bathroom?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 88357

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister"
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Berit Jakobsen" 
> <belijako at o...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Berit:
>  
> > Well, I have canon facts that suggests the bathroom probably has 
> not 
> > been remodelled... Quote: "'That tap's never worked', said Myrtle 
> > brightly, as he [Harry] tried to turn it.'" (CoS p. 222 UK Ed).
> > 
> > It's kind of implied the reason that tap has never worked is 
> because 
> > it has a different use than the usual one; it's the key to the 
> secret 
> > chamber, not an ordinary tap where water pours out if you turn it. 
> 
> Geoff:
> Myrtle knew that the tap has never worked in her time in the place, 
> i.e from perhaps 1940 onwards.
> 
> That tap could not be an original piece of Hogwarts plumbing because 
> taps weren't around a thousand years ago. I recently visited the old 
> underground conduits in Exeter which were built to bring water into 
> the cathedral and the city about 600 years ago and although they were 
> an excellent piece of engineering for their time, they were stone 
> lined and there was no piping in the sense that we would expect 
> today. The interesting question becomes whether there has been an 
> heir of Slytherin at Hogwarts prior to Tom Riddle who was there at a 
> time when a piped water system was installed.

Or possibly Tom himself etched the snake on the tap when he first
discovered the entrance as a way of identifying the entrance for the
person who discovered his diary. Or he might even have been showing
off--writing "the Heir of Slytherin is here" in secret code. Whatever
his motive, I think he's the person most likely to have etched the
snake on the tap. (I entirely agree with the rest of your argument,
especially Myrtle's use of "never" to mean "never in my time at
Hogwarts." She's still mentally a little girl of about twelve who
would have little knowledge of or interest in Hogwarts' thousand-year
history.)

Carol
Carol