Colin Creevy/The basilisk attacks

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 113054

> > Hannah originally wrote:
> > >>I also believe that Colin Creevy may be a half-blood. Although 
he is attacked by the Slytherin monster, I think one muggle parent
 would be enough to justify a basilisk attack in the eyes of the  
pure-blood fanatics.<<

 > DuffyPoo replied: You may be right.  <snip>> 
However, Draco Malfoy believes Colin is Muggle-born.  The pure-blood-
prejudiced kids seem to 'know' everyone else's blood status.  In 
CoS, Riddle says "She [Ginny] set the Serpent of Slytherin on four 
Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."  Ginny was the one setting the 
basilisk on people, she knew who were Muggle-borns and who were not 
<snip>  (On a side note, since Sir Nicholas was also kind of 
petrified by the basilisk, does that prove that he was Muggle-born 
as well?) 

Hannah now replies: I don't know if Ginny or Draco would have 
*known* that Colin had two muggle parents.  They would have assumed 
he was by the way he acts, his obvious lack of knowledge about the 
WW, his milkman father.  I doubt either would have even thought 
twice about the possibility of an absent witch mother.  Malfoy would 
despise Colin even if his mother had been a witch, because of 
Colin's father and his behaviour.  Anyway, I think being a half-
blood would still be considered enough to warrant an attack. I don't 
know about Nick's parentage (it's a good question) - but he wasn't 
the target of the attack, so wouldn't have to have been muggle 
born.  Also Riddle refers to 4 mudbloods (Colin, Hermione, Justin 
and Penny.)

> > HunterGreen:
> > It wouldn't matter to the basilisk whether or not the person is 
> > muggleborn (after all it does attack Harry later on), only to 
the 
> > person commanding the basilisk. And that person is not doing 
> > a 'pureblood test' to find out if the person is muggleborn or 
not,  just going with what she has been told. The snake could have 
just  as 
> easily attacked Dean Thomas, since he (and no other students) 
know  he's a half-blood. I have a question now though, how did 
Ginny  know 
 Filch was a squib?<

Hannah again: That's a good question. And it makes me 
wonder what the actual mechanism of the basilisk attack is. To 
release the basilisk, presumably possessed!Ginny has to go down 
into  the Chamber. The basilisk then slithers off through the 
plumbing. 
But how does she know where to send it? It takes a long time to 
get to the chamber, release the snake, and for the basilisk to then 
 travel to the site of attack - so how does she know where the 
victim will be? All victims were attacked while moving through the 
castle. This suggests possessed!Ginny released the basilisk and 
had it lie in wait. But how did it know who to lie in wait for? How 
did  Ginny communicate with it once it was inside the pipes?

The only way I can see it working would be for Ginny to go to the 
chamber and release the basilisk. She tells it who to attack, 
maybe gives it something with their smell on it, so it can find 
them. 
The snake then goes and lies in wait somewhere. When it smells out 
the person alone, it attacks them. Ginny herself simply returns to 
her dormitory (no mean feat since it seems quite tricky to get out 
of the chamber). This would also explain why none of the basilisk 
victims seem to realise Ginny was there when they were attacked - 
she wasn't. 
 
One more thing - how is the basilisk getting into and out of the 
pipes? It seems to be getting all around the castle inside them, 
so  there must be places it can emerge from and return to them. If 
it 
could only get in and out in Myrtle's bathroom, why hasn't someone 
seen it moving from there to the attack sites?

>Hannah originally:
"My supporting evidence for this is the existence of wizard!
Dennis.   A wizard child born to two muggle parents is fairly 
unusual.Lily's sister (Petunia) is not magical, neither is 
Hermione's younger sister (from JKR website/ chats), so it doesn't 
seem that siblings of muggle born wizards are usually magical too. > 
> 
> > DuffyPoo:I, personally, don't think this is enough evidence.  
Not enough to prove anything.  We only have the Creeveys and the 
Evans'.  For our purposes Hermione doesn't have a sister.  "JK 
Rowling replies - I always planned that Hermione would have a 
younger sister but she's never made an appearance and somehow it 
feels like it might be too late now." She doesn't give any 
indication, that I can see, whether the sister would magical or not.
Hannah replies:  The JKR quote you give is correct, but I was 
thinking of another one, made at the Edinburgh Book Festival.  She 
says; 
'When I first made up Hermione I gave her a younger sister, but she 
was very hard to work in.  She wasn't supposed to go to Hogwarts, 
she was supposed to remain a muggle.'  
So Granger sister is/ was intended to be a muggle.  But I agree that 
even so, that is only 2 families (with the Evans as well) and that's 
not enough for definite evidence.  It's just what I think, which is 
a different matter!
Hannah