The basilisk gateway, was: Preparing

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "constancevigilance" <constancevigilance at ...> 
wrote:
> 
> CV: Perhaps Merope opened the chamber and carved the handle? She could 
> speak to the basilisk, would have been in the girl's loo and could have 
> left a trail for young Tom to follow somehow? Maybe there was something 
> in the locket? Does the carving match the snake on the locket? It would 
> be typical of an adolescent girl to decorate something with a personal 
> mark. 
> 
> (Given our new image of Sally at JKR's website, does it seem a bit odd 
> that he would be wearing a locket? It looks so uncharacteristically 
> gentle for the rest of him.)
>

You might have opened a can of worms (or Basilisks) here.
Why restrict it to Merope? Why not the youngest of any generation
of Sal's direct descendants? That way they'd each sort of be a true
heir, at least until they were superceded by the next generation.

Pop in, do a little light dusting, change the litter in the Basilisk tray...
all part of the ancestor worship instilled in the bloodline.

But Tom gets unlucky (or lucky, depending on your poinnt of view),
'cos old Sal is in, active and looking for a new partner now that
Grindelwald has proved such a disappointment.
The rest, as they say, is history.

Harry, because of his cranial inclusion, can be counted as family,
but he was lucky - Sal was out, still playing with Tom.

Kneasy