Couple of questions after CoS reread

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 125506


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Hannah" <hannahmarder at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> <snip of debate on DD's role in protecting students during CoS)
> > Geoff (earlier):
> > 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:
But, equally, the basilisk could have been /returning/ from the 
attack......


> Geoff(earlier):
> > (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...

Geoff:
But why?

When Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick are attacked and 
Harry finds them, how long after the attack was this? And the same 
question can be asked about Hermione.

In all these cases, the victims were left where they fell; I suspect 
that the basilisk could have attacked very quickly and been on its 
way in just a couple of minutes.