On Thu, 22 November 2001, eccleston@clara.co.uk wrote:

> I've just finished re-reading CoS & I was struck by how strong the 
> references were to the chamber being opened by the heir of S (TR/V), 
> and yet Harry got in, and then that he pulled out Griffindors sword 
> from the hat. Could it be that in Harry's ancestry he is both heir of 
> S & G all at the same time? Apologies if this has been discussed 
> before, but I'd like to know

I vaguely remember something of the sort having been discussed previously, but I myself am relatively new to this list and only de-lurk occaisionally.  Still, I thought I'd present my thought on this item.  I do not believe that Harry is in any way the heir of Slytherin.  I believe the only heir is Tom Riddle, who is able to open the CoS through Ginny Weasley.  IIRC, the last time that the CoS was opened was when Riddle was at the school himself.  And in the CoS book, Riddle is the first one to "open" the CoS.  I think that Harry is able to get in because of powers accidentally gained from Voldmort, but from my view Harry didn't actually "open" the CoS because in a sense similar to that of an Egyptian sealed tomb, the CoS was already open.

Comments anyone?

Delenne
aka An Unexpected Caller
aka Shari Thornton
mailto:scrapbook@holmes.net