Chamber of Secrets - The Unexplained

[fiondavhar]

No: HPFGUIDX 108249

Like many others here, I have just re-read Chamber of Secrets, 
looking for clues and the elusive "discovery" Harry made that will be 
so important to the 6th book. I decided to focus on the apparently 
insignificant things that could become hugely significant given the 
right circumstances. Here are some of the things that stuck out to me:

1) The scorch marks on the floor after the first attack.

- Obviously, these might have been caused by the Basilisk, but they 
were not mentioned at any of the other attack scenes. Could there be 
any other reason for their presence, or the lack of explanation in 
regards to them? I for one don't recall "leaves scorch marks on the 
ground" as being part of the description of the basilisk.


2) Aragog's blindness.

- I couldn't discern the significance of this. Why would it matter 
that Aragog be blind? 


3) Tom Riddle's "bravery".

- When Harry and Tom speak in the chamber of secrets, Tom says that 
he was considered to be very brave. The word is stressed, actually, 
written in italics (pg 230, Canadian soft-cover). My question is, 
since Tom was implying that he was thought to be very brave BEFORE 
having captured Hagrid, WHY was he considered brave? What sort of 
things had he done to earn that reputation, and could they be 
important to the plot of the story?


4) The use of the word "ancestor" as opposed to "descendant" in 
regards to Riddle and Slytherin, in Harry's conversation with 
Dumbledore.

- On page 245 of the Canadian soft-cover edition, Dumbledore tells 
Harry that Voldemort is the last remaining ancestor of Salazar 
Slytherin. The last remaining ANCESTOR. Not DESCENDANT. Is this a 
flint? Or could there be some strange reversal of time at work? 
Because, of course, an ancestor is someone you are descended from - 
so Tom should be Slytherin's DESCENDANT, not his ancestor. Hmmm.

Anyone have any thoughts on any of these?

Bonny