TBAY: PS I LOVE ME LETS KISS (very long unifying theory)

[boyd_smythe]

No: HPFGUIDX 106085

Boyd stood for a moment on the dock, smelling the clean breeze and 
glancing out at the Bay. Nary a vessel was in sight today, and no 
surprise there. Boyd had seen fewer and fewer vessels traverse its 
glassy surface this year. So many stayed on the shore these days, as 
if afraid of what secrets lay submerged in the depths.

"Perhaps it is time."

With a telling last look back over his shoulder, he quickly grabbed 
one corner of the tarp and 
.

"Not so fast, Boyd." A small but strong hand grabbed at his, causing 
his heart to jump. "You'll have to get a signed permission slip from 
me before you can take this out on the Theory Bay."

Spinning around, Boyd saw that which he feared most. "W-w-what?" he 
stammered. "What are you doing here, M-M-Minerva? Please, I just want 
to take my boat out. I didn't know there were r-r-rules about TBay!"

As she turned her steely gaze on his new craft, which he had been so 
proud of a moment before, he began to wonder whether it was even 
seaworthy. "That's Professor to you, Boyd. What makes you think the 
rest of the group wants your ungainly contraption blocking their 
view?"

Feeling lightheaded now, Boyd almost agreed. "No, wait, Professor, 
don't you think my craft is beautiful? I've made it both seaworthy and 
majestic, with great windows looking both fore and aft. It even 
has
canon!"

McGonagall flared her nostrils, pointed her wand at his nose, and 
spoke two simple words that made Boyd's knees go weak. "Prove it."

Boyd took a deep breath and began discussing how he built his vessel.

----TBAY Continues After References Below----

OK. There are a number of puzzles left for Rowling to solve in the 
final two books, and frankly, it's hard to see how all of the pieces 
can fit together. For example, what does the prophecy mean? What about 
the gleam, "essence divided," life-debt, Tom Riddle becoming Lord 
Voldemort, Gryffindor and Slytherin, what makes Harry special, and how 
the whole thing will end. Theories abound on each of these, but few 
attempt to explain them all. With her assertion that she nearly gave 
it away in CoS, JKR started me thinking down a path that led to a 
solution to all of these questions that feels as though it just might 
fit. So let's start with CoS itself.

In CoS, JKR spends a great deal of time talking about one backstory 
that seems to have no compelling reason to exist: the Four Founders of 
Hogwarts.

JKR apparently had something like Salazar's Chamber figured from the 
beginning (see Canon 1, below). Hardly indicative of a throwaway bit 
of backdrop.

Further, JKR could simply have had LV make the CoS or unleash a 
basilisk on the school. No Slytherin-built CoS was required by the 
basic plot of that book. So the presence of Slytherin in the books 
must have another purpose.

The backstory is also too elaborate to be mere window dressing. As 
introduced by Professor Binns (Canon 2), it includes an initial 
friendship destroyed by Salazar's pure-bloodism, which resonates 
ominously with the general themes of racism and judging a book by its 
cover that crop up repeatedly throughout the series. Add that in 
Binns' four-page speech JKR makes a glaring omission in not mentioning 
what happened to Slytherin after he left Hogwarts. If there were 
nothing more, couldn't Binns have said simply that Salazar was killed, 
imprisoned, or left to found another school?

We also know a bit more about Slytherin through the Sorting Hat, which 
paints the picture of a cunning, power-hungry wizard who *literally* 
fought and dueled with his erstwhile friends for control of the 
school. (Canon 3)

 Where the most obvious options for Slytherin were to accept the 
difference of opinions and try to get on with life, or to try to 
change Hogwarts during his lifetime, Salazar chose a bizarre 
alternative: creating the CoS for his eventual heir to find centuries 
hence. But how sweet could this revenge be if Salazar would never live 
to see it? This is a patience that goes well beyond normal human 
endurance. And wouldn't his revenge be as short-lived as his heir is 
human? After all, there will always be more wizards born to Muggles, 
but the all-too-human Heir will eventually die, right? This indicates 
that centuries ago, Salazar already knew that his Heir could somehow 
achieve immortality-or that he would himself.

Clearly the events of 1,000 years ago are not dead. Why else would 
Godric Gryffindor's stuff keep popping up? Or the Chamber and 
Basilisk? So it seems obvious that there's more to the story. But how 
does that impact Harry? Read on 
.

There is one other significant fact that we know about Salazar 
Slytherin: Tom Riddle is his "Heir." But what does that mean, exactly? 
Was Tom *born* the Heir of Slytherin, or did he *become* the Heir of 
Slytherin?

According to Voldemort, his mother was a witch and the descendant of 
Salazar Slytherin. Dumbledore and JKR's website confirm that Riddle is 
the last descendant of Slytherin. Yet we have heard of no other "Heirs 
of Slytherin" who have released the basilisk, and no subsequent 
parselmouths aside from Harry. And if Tom Riddle is truly the 
descendent of Salazar Slytherin, then he would have less than 1% of 
Slytherin's blood in his veins (Calculation 1). So it seems that it 
takes more than just Slytherin's blood to become his Heir. But what?

But before we answer that question, let's pose another. Why, despite 
the fact that they never met (hem hem) and share little blood in 
common do Salazar and Tom share the following striking similarities: 
Parselmouth, hatred of Muggle-born wizards, strong wizarding 
abilities, and a desire to impose their wills upon others using any 
means necessary (e.g. the basilisk)? Hmmm.

And one last question: given her focus on choices, would JKR have 
created a Tom Riddle who was fated by blood to become the Dark Lord?

One explanation answers all three questions. Tom *chose* to become the 
Heir of Slytherin through his actions: he sought the Chamber and 
attempted to finish what Salazar started nearly 1000 years earlier 
(Canon 4). And by so choosing, he became more like Salazar for a very 
simple reason; just as Harry received some aspects of Voldemort (e.g. 
Parselmouth) at Godric's Hollow, Tom Riddle received some of 
Slytherin's essence in the Chamber of Secrets. In short, Tom Riddle is 
the Heir of Slytherin simply because he was literally granted the 
powers of Slytherin-not through the vagaries of bloodlines; but 
directly from some essence of Slytherin in the Chamber. At this point, 
recognizing that he has changed, Tom begins to call himself Lord 
Voldemort.

What is this essence of Salazar? The clues: as far as we know, Salazar 
disappeared; he left for his Heir a Chamber that would win his fight 
centuries hence; and this Heir would somehow win the victory forever, 
perhaps through achieving immortality. We've also seen the 
diary-memory of Tom Riddle nearly become real many years later, and 
we've seen Lord Voldemort's unending quest for eternal life. Put it 
all together
the essence of Salazar is a memory much like Tom Riddle's 
diary, but this memory is of a powerful adult wizard at the height of 
his powers. So Slytherin created a memory in some vessel (perhaps a 
diary, perhaps not), which waited in the Chamber for an Heir to come, 
and now has merged with that Heir. Salazar now shares the body of Tom 
Riddle, one snake (the symbol of Slytherin) "in essence divided" 
(inhabited by two beings).

So Salazar now inhabits Tom Riddle a.k.a. Lord Voldemort. What does 
that mean for Harry?

According to the prophecy (Canon 5), "And either must die at the hand 
of the other for neither can live while the other survives." If Lord 
Voldemort is actually both Tom Riddle and Salazar Slytherin together 
in one body, then we can read the prophecy as, "And either (Tom or 
Salazar) must die at the hand of the other (Salazar or Tom) for 
neither (Tom nor Salazar) can live while the other (Salazar or Tom) 
survives." Essentially, Trelawney prophesied that for some reason, Tom 
and Salazar would not be able to inhabit the same body and both fully 
live. Why? The failed AK. It was meant to destroy one spirit, but 
rebounded on them both, cursing both to live a terrible 
half-existence. So one of them will have to destroy the other to live 
fully again. Thanks to that AK, there's just one life per body, Lord 
Voldemort!

But Dumbledore says the prophecy refers to Harry as the one who can 
destroy Voldemort, and indeed Harry must figure in somehow to be able 
to take the prophecy in the MoM. So obviously Harry's role is as "the 
one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord." Apparently, Harry is 
the one who can make one of the two spirits within Lord Voldemort 
decide to destroy the other.

But why Harry? In the MoM battle scene, Harry repels possession by 
Lord Voldemort through simple emotion. Emotion too strong for the 
spirits within Lord Voldemort to bear, because they no longer feel 
such strong emotions; they are merely living half-lives, and can't 
bear to remember how a full life feels, especially a full life as 
emotionally strong as Harry. Remember, this is the young wizard who 
can already conjure an extremely powerful Patronus, thanks to his 
extremely strong happy memories. Dumbledore also cites Harry's heart 
as his strength, so we can assume the strongest of Harry's emotions to 
be love.

So how will Harry make one of the two spirits destroy the other? He'll 
force them to feel his unbearably strong emotions, particularly love, 
thereby causing one spirit to destroy the other rather than go on 
living a half-life that seems so pale in comparison to Harry's. 
Harry's blood in Voldemort's veins is the key; Dumbledore's gleam 
meant that it opened a portal into the Dark Lord for Harry's emotions.

Which spirit will destroy the other? Well, it seems that if Slytherin 
could destroy Tom and live, he would have already done it. So Tom must 
destroy Slytherin. How? Remember that Slytherin was a memory much like 
Tom in the diary, and that Harry destroyed diary!Tom by destroying the 
diary. So whatever is the source of the memory of Slytherin, Tom will 
destroy that. That's what CoS almost gave away.
So why hasn't Tom done this before? At first, he didn't want to; he 
was realizing his dreams of domination and enjoying a full life before 
the failed AK. During the lost years after the AK, Slytherin was a 
valued ally, for it was he who knew how to regain some physical form. 
And finally, Tom has lacked access to the source of Slytherin's memory 
since then.

But that leaves the powerful evil wizard Tom Riddle, who was ESE 
before ever he found the Chamber. Won't he still want to kill Harry 
and loads of others? Here I can only conjecture (as if all the rest 
were facts! <g>). When Slytherin's spirit is destroyed and Lord 
Voldemort becomes simply ESE!Tom again, Peter will be released from 
his bondage to the Dark Lord. Then Peter will show his true loyalties 
always lay with James and Lilly, and he will kill Tom, also repaying 
the life-debt he owes Harry. The end.

Is there any other evidence for any of this? A few random ones 
.

* If you feel skeptical about multiple spirits in one body, remember 
that it has happened enough times to be a full-fledged theme: Lord 
Voldemort and Quirrell, Diary!Tom and Ginny, Lord Voldemort and the 
snake that attacks Mr. Weasley, Lord Voldemort and Harry (the 
nightmares), Lord Voldemort and Harry (the MoM scene).

* Lazarus = Salazar? Jesus brought back Lazarus from the dead after 4 
days, Tom brought back Salazar from the dead after 1,000 years?

* Tom Riddle is not the same as Lord Voldemort according to Dobby. 
(Canon 6)

* Rather than remain at Hogwarts between terms, Tom chose to stop 
allowing the basilisk to terrorize the school. (Canon 7) Why? He 
needed to stay at Hogwarts to allow the spirit of Salazar to 
completely enter him , and perhaps he had to stay to protect or remove 
the vessel (diary or otherwise) from which Salazar's spirit emanated.

* Tom said that the one who had the power to release the basilisk "was 
not imprisoned." (Canon 8) True, for Tom had released Salazar from the 
vessel that had held his memory.

* "There are things worse than death." Such as living an eternity in a 
half-life.

REFERENCES:
Canon 1. JKR in Scholastic interview #2: "I always knew the chamber 
was there. I don't know what first gave me the idea; I just liked the 
thought that Slytherin had left something of himself behind."

Canon 2. Binns on the Founders: "You all know, of course, that 
Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago-the precise date is 
uncertain-by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age." "They 
built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an 
age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards 
suffered much persecution." "For a few years, the founders worked in 
harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and 
bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements 
sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the 
others. Slytherin wished to be more /selective/ about the students 
admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept 
within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle 
parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there 
was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and 
Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school." (CoS, Ch. 9)

Canon 3. The Sorting Hat on Slytherin: "Or perhaps in Slytherin You'll 
make your real friends, Those cunning folks use any means To achieve 
their ends." "Power-hungry Slytherin Loved those of great ambition." 
"And for a while it seemed the school must meet an early end, what 
with dueling and with fighting and the clash of friend on friend. And 
at last there came a morning when old Slytherin departed and though 
the fighting then died out he left us quite downhearted." (Sorting Hat 
Songs)

Calculation 1. Being ultra-conservative, assume 100 years per 
generation (that means that Riddle's ancestors bore children on 
average when they were 100). In just under 1,000 years, you'll have 
about 10 generations. Assuming nothing incestuous, there will be 50% 
dilution of the blood/genes in each generation from the non-Slytherin 
parent. Therefore, Tom will have less than 50%^10 = <<1%.

Canon 4. Diary!Tom: "I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my 
sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I 
would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar 
Slytherin's noble work." (CoS, Ch. 17)

Canon 5. The prophecy according to Dumbledore: "The one with the power 
to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice 
defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the Dark Lord will 
mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. 
And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live 
while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark 
Lord will be born as the seventh month dies." (OoP Ch. 37)

Canon 6. Dobby on Diary!Tom being separate from Lord Voldemort: "Hang 
on-this hasn't got anything to do with Vol-sorry-with You-Know-Who, 
has it?" "Not-not /He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named/, sir-" But Dobby's eyes 
were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Harry a hint. Harry, 
however, was completely lost. "He hasn't got a brother, has he?" Dobby 
shook his head, his eyes wider than ever. (CoS, Ch. 2)

Canon 7. Riddle on Why He Turned in Hagrid: "I'd much rather stay at 
Hogwarts than go back to that-to that-" Then Headmaster Dippet: "The 
thing is, Tom,
special arrangements might have been made for you, but 
in the current circumstances
.My dear boy, you must see how foolish it 
would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends. 
Particularly in light of the recent tragedy
the death of that poor 
little girl
.You will be safer by far at your orphanage. As a matter 
of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the 
school. We are no nearer locating the-er-source of all this 
unpleasantness
."  Riddle's eyes had widened. "Sir-if the person was 
caught-if it all stopped-" (CoS, Ch. 13)

Canon 8. Tom on the basilisk: "The monster lived on, and the one who 
had the power to release it was not imprisoned." (CoS, Ch. 13)

----TBAY Continues----

Now feeling much more confident, Boyd looked directly into 
McGonagall's eyes and said, "Not watertight, but she might float, 
mightn't she?"

"If you take this leaky bucket out on the Bay, you will drown in 
yellow flags so deep that you'll never see the shore again," 
McGonagall hissed. "You will *never* get a signed pass from me."

Narrowing his eyes, Boyd sighed, imagined Minerva with Tonks' purple 
spiked hair, Trelawney's egregious jewelry and two of Moody's electric 
blue eyeballs. And he laughed, "Riddikulus!"

All that the boggart left behind was a spinning blue eyeball. "Looks 
like I've got my pass," Boyd chuckled. "Time to set sail." As he 
finished pulling off the tarp, the name came into view.

P.S. I. L.O.V.E. M.E. L.E.T.S. K.I.S.S.
(Parasitic Salazar Is a Layer Of Voldemort, Evildoing Most 
Egregiously. Love Ends Tom's Spell. Kedavra Is Still Smarting.)

--boyd