Heir of Slytherin (was: Dumbledore in CoS)

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 113511

> Yonna wrote:
> > So with this bit of information I would say yes. Parseltongue is 
> > required to open the Cos sink entrance and the serpent door 
below. If not, anyone could simply open the CoS and not the "only" 
the true heir to Slytherin.
> 
> SSSusan wrote:
> But Harry *isn't* the Heir of Slytherin.  So I guess what Harry 
was doing was opening the Chamber, whereas Tom unsealed it.  At 
least that's the only way it makes sense to me.  I asked in another 
post what would have happened if Harry had happened into Myrtle's 
bathroom *before* Diary!Tom unsealed the Chamber and had happened to 
> hiss "Open it" to the faucet in Parseltongue.  Presumably, since 
he *isn't* the Heir of Slytherin, the sink would not have budged?

Hannah now: I have a different way of interpreting the true heir of 
Slytherin.  I think that Slytherin was taking a bit of a gamble when 
he created the chamber, assuming that, parseltongue being so rare, 
only descendants of his were likely to be able to speak it, so only 
an heir of his would be able to open the chamber.

Also, even Riddle has trouble working out how to do it.  For someone 
to open the chamber, they would not only need to speak the language, 
they'd have to really want to.  A parseltongue wouldn't just wander 
into the bathroom and open it accidentally.  I think Slytherin must 
have left some sort of clues to be passed down through the 
generations to help.

I think Harry could have opened the chamber before Riddle came 
along, even if it had *never* been opened since Slytherin made it.  
It's just that he'd never have wanted to, and probably would never 
have known to try.  

The 'true heir' bit, I take to refer to someone who not only has 
Slytherin's gift of parseltongue (which he assumed meant that person 
was descended from him) but also shared his pure blood supremacist 
theories.  Someone who was not just related, but actually wanted to 
inherit his legacy of 'ridding the school of those uworthy to study 
magic.'  After all, for Tom to exist there must have been a whole 
line of heirs of Slytherin, most, if not all, of whom would have 
gone to the school, and yet no one ever says anything about any of 
them opening the chamber.

Hannah