Couple of questions after CoS reread

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 125495


<snip of debate on DD's role in protecting students during CoS)
> Geoff:
> I think  assumptions are being made here which are not necessarily 
> borne out or supported in canon.
<snip canon extract>
> 
> (1) What evidence is there to suggest that Colin was found 
> immediately after the attack? He might have been there some time...
> 
Hannah:  Well, Harry hears the basilisk when he wakes up.  Then he 
has a short conversation with Dobby, lasting a few minutes, followed 
by DD and McG coming in with Colin.  It's reasonable to assume, I 
think, that the basilisk is on it's way to attack Colin when Harry 
hears it.  So given the time it would take for the basilisk to reach 
Colin (emerge from pipes etc.), then for McG to find him, DD to 
arrive, and for them both to haul him up the stairs, I would say McG 
found him almost immediately after he was attacked.

Geoff:
> (2) Which set of stairs was Colin on? Were these leading to the 
> entrance hall?
> 
Hannah: Hogwarts layout is a bit of a mystery to me... Colin is 
presumably somewhere between the hospital wing and Gryffindor tower -
 unless he'd gone via the kitchens to get the grapes.  Or maybe he'd 
gone to get the grapes at night (since students apparently aren't 
meant to take food from the kitchens) and wasn't planning to visit 
Harry right then at all.  The kitchens theory would tie in with 
DD's 'hot chocolate' story.  If McG sleeps near Gryffindor tower 
(which makes sense given her appearances in PoA and OotP when there 
are disturbances at night) then her room would also be near the site 
of the attack.  So I reckon stairs between Gryff tower and the 
kitchens.

Geoff:
> (3) Dumbledore states quite clearly that /Professor McGonagall/ 
found  Colin.
> 
Hannah:  Yes, you're right.  Well spotted.  So... McG was working 
with DD to protect the students. It would make sense for DD to have 
the teachers - at least those closest to him, like McG, helping him 
if he was indeed trying to protect the Muggleborns.  So if there is 
some sort of alarm system to alert DD to lone Muggleborns in 
potential danger, perhaps it alerts the nearest teacher, who can get 
there first, as well as DD.  That would make sense to me.  If Colin 
was close to Gryff tower, that would probably make McG the closest 
staff member.

Geoff:
> (4) So, what do we read into Professor McGonagall's comment about 
> Dumbledore being on his way downstairs and what else does she 
think might have taken place if he hadn't?

Hannah: Well, given that it's common knowledge that those petrified 
can be revived, it's quite possible the monster (or the 'heir') 
would have tried to finish Colin off rather than leave him there 
petrified.  They fear that possibility later in CoS, as Madam 
Pomfrey says when refusing permission to enter the hospital wing.  

McG presumably thinks that her arrival scared the monster off, but 
perhaps she thought that it would return and attack her too.  When 
DD turned up, the monster was scared off (because DD is the all 
powerful one, right?) Having two of them there also adds safety in 
numbers.  I think it's quite possible that the basilisk would have 
tried to kill Colin had it had the chance - after all, it has those 
poison teeth to try out...

Hannah