talking to basilisks (was fighting dragons)

[hines571]

No: HPFGUIDX 103316

Amy Z <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> By the time he gets to the Chamber of Secrets, Harry knows that 
> he's a Parselmouth, that he has been hearing the basilisk talk, 
> and that whoever has been setting it loose is a Parselmouth too 
> and has been controlling the basilisk that way.  Whatever a 
> basilisk is, Harry knows he can talk to it.  So why doesn't he 
> say "stay, boy!" to it when it comes after him?  Probably because 
> he doesn't think it will heed him, with another Parselmouth giving 
> it orders to the contrary.  Probably a good bet.


Sorry that this is pretty outdated, (I'm new here and just started 
reading the old posts) but I think I have the answer to this one. 
It's pretty obvious why Harry doesn't try and talk to the basilisk. 
Disregarding the fact that he is fighting like crazy to keep himself 
and Ginny alive, Harry knows that the basilisk wouldn't listen to 
him. Hermione, and Professor Binns tell him that the monster within 
the chamber CAN ONLY be controlled by the true heir of Slytherin. No 
one else. Even though Voldemort (Tom Riddle) isn't the only 
parselmouth ever, only he and Slytherin can tell it what to do, 
because it is a monster bred for their own purposes. Hopefully this 
clears up things a bit.

         Ryan S.