Another silly question

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 187238

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "zanooda2" <zanooda2 at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" <gbannister10@> wrote:
> 
> 
> > In the UK original, the bathroom is on the second floor as 
> > was the attack. 
> 
> 
> zanooda:
> 
> I still think there is some discrepancy here, because the first time Myrtle's bathroom ever mentioned ("The Deathday Party"), it is on the first floor: "'She haunts the girls' toilet on the first floor', said Hermione"(p.101 Br.ed.).
>
Carol responds:

Yes, that was my point (although my edition is American--an old one that still has Voldemort as Slytherin's last remaining "ancestor"). It's not consistent. And first floor makes more sense than second floor for the location of that bathroom, anyway. Why would have the school come rushing into *both ends* of a *second-floor* corridor as they leave the Great Hall? They might rush into a *first-floor* corridor (or more likely still, a ground-floor corridor since the Great Hall is on the ground floor)--at least from the end nearest the Great Hall if not from both ends. but Harry runs up a flight of stairs from the basement to the entrance hall, another flight to the first floor, and a third flight to the second floor (third floor in American English) (138).

Possibly, Gryffindors or Ravenclaws might choose to get to their respective towers by way of the second (third) floor, though it seems like a roundabout way, and it's odd that most if not all of them would choose that route. But why would Hufflepuffs, who live one floor below the Great Hall if I understand the floor plan correctly, and Slytherins, who live in the dungeons under the lake, be rushing up to the second floor after the Halloween banquet? Harry hears "hundreds of feet climbing the stairs," making it sound as if every student who had attended the banquet is heading that way, and the next moment, students are rushing into that particular corridor (which you'd think would be rather secluded given that several of the attacks occur there--admittedly, in this case, while everyone was in the Great Hall) from both directions. (CoS Am. ed. 159)

Draco Malfoy, for unknown reasons, is among them. Filch is apparently attracted by Draco's shout (was he lurking there or at the feast with the students?). Lockhart, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape arrive seconds later despite the absence of any unusual noise. (Draco's shout isn't even in capital letters.) They must have followed the students into this corridor. Hundreds of students, including at least one Slytherin, and several key staff members in a second-floor corridor rather than heading to their respective dormitories and offices? Why?

And, BTW, any theories as to how the Basilisk attacked the students in other locations than outside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom? Yes, it can travel through the pipes, but how can it get out of the pipes if it's not near the exit/entrance to the Chamber of Secrets?

Carol, still unsure where Hermione got the old cauldron that she used to make the Polyjuice potion and wondering how they managed to pick the fluxweed at midnight