Text Cut: Replies

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Idris had been only too happy to listen to all of Paul’s theories, and oftentimes piled onto them with enthusiastic and supportive exclamations. He hoped that at least one of the boyfriend’s theories was right! This was still his thought after they were seated. And Id wasn’t as preoccupied with the mirror anymore, preferring to just leave his be for the time being; though he did gather that the underside was awfully dirty due to some of his classmates’ reactions. Oh, there was Rory! The Gryffindor returned the greeting in the form of some vigorous waving that could have probably taken Paul’s eye out if they had been seated super closely.

The seventh year had only just finished arranging his books when professor Amstern got started with the lesson. Toying with his quill by twirling the object around with his fingers, he hung onto her words. Yet again, the guy found himself wondering how and why Salazar Slytherin could even consider depriving Muggle-Borns of a magical education. He wasn't judging, of course. Everyone had to stand for something, otherwise they fell for everything, right? Iddy was just glad that Slytherin hadn’t gotten his way. But…

The Chamber of Secrets! What a fascinating topic! Minus the Basilisk though.

Id involuntarily shuddered slightly at the thought of the giant snake slithering around the school, hidden away from much insolation. But after brainstorming a bit, he raised a hand. “Possibly because Slytherin wanted to ensure that he wasn’t linked, with proof, to the attacks, at least not immediately?” He did his best not to think about what he read about those that had happened so long before he was born. All that terror that had been inflicted...

"A likely factor, yes." Vashti nodded. "There are many who, though they believe they are right, recognize the consequences that could follow if they acted on their beliefs, and thus decide the cost is not worth it." Or at least, perhaps it was not worth paying the cost himself, while encouraging someone else to do it was more appealing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

A faint flush crept into Iris' cheeks as Professor Amstern answered her observation, only then realizing she'd been thinking aloud again. She really did need to stop narrating her own thoughts... or at least become better at noticing when she was doing so. The sixth year attempted to compose herself, offering the professor a sheepish bow of the head and doing everything she could not to glance around the classroom to learn who else may have just collected a bit more fuel for their amusement pyre.

The scrape of a chair beside her drew her attention, the blonde's features easing easily despite the lingering awkwardness, as Aurora settled into the neighbouring seat and offered a small, genuine curve of her lips accompanied by a quiet, "Morning." That would be all for now since class had begun ― whatever else needed saying between them could wait for another time.

Her quill was already in hand by the time Professor Amstern began speaking, its tip dancing across parchment in quick, practiced strokes as she noted dates, names, and the occasional thought in the margins. Much of it she already knew, but history had a habit of revealing something new when viewed from a different angle, and she wasn't about to assume she'd heard every interpretation.

A notion brought to the forefront by the Hufflepuff Head of House's question.

Her quill stilled against the page. Her first instinct was practicality. The Chamber had taken considerable effort to conceal and perhaps it simply wasn't ready before his departure. Yet that felt... incomplete.

Her own thoughts were put on temporary pause, however, while she considered Idris' suggestion. It was certainly possible that anyone orchestrating violence would wish to distance themselves from it — but the idea felt oddly at odds with everything history suggested about Salazar Slytherin. By every surviving account, he'd been remarkably unapologetic in proclaiming his beliefs, even when they placed him in direct opposition to the other founders. He had walked away from Hogwarts rather than temper those convictions. Hiding his involvement after the fact seemed... almost uncharacteristically timid for a wizard so certain of his own righteousness.

But, history had always been vulnerable to the biases of those entrusted to record it. After all, there were few people more dangerous than someone with a quill and authority to decide which truths endured, which were forgotten, and which were left to desiccate into myth.

The gears in Iris' head resumed their spinning.

History, legacy, descendents... the basilisk itself was a legacy. Leaving it hidden ensured that only a descendant — someone who could speak Parseltongue and, presumably, had inherited Slytherin's convictions — could decide when to awaken it. If he had released it himself and failed, the creature could have been killed, the Chamber discovered, and his plans ended with him. By entrusting the basilisk to the future instead, he transformed it from a weapon of opportunity into one of inheritance.

It was almost as though Salazar had understood something fundamental about history: time blurred facts into stories, stories into legends, and legends into myths. With every generation that passed, the Chamber became less a hidden room beneath a school and more an impossible tale whispered to frighten students. If an heir ever did return to prove the myth true, the revelation would carry a weight no immediate attack ever could.

And hadn't history shown this to be true? Tom Riddle had not merely opened the Chamber, but had become Lord Voldemort. If that wasn't a more devastating hammer than the one Salazar himself might have wielded, Iris wasn't sure what was.

She tapped the feather of her quill lightly against her chin, another possibility surfacing ― this one leaning much more into practicality at first, but unable to totally shake her musings about the folly of recorded memory.

"If Slytherin created the basilisk during Hogwarts' construction, perhaps it simply wasn't yet large enough to serve its intended purpose by the time he left. Leaving it sealed away for future generations would have given it centuries to mature into precisely the weapon Slytherin intended. And, perhaps more importantly, enough time for history to soften its existence into myth. A threat dismissed as little more than a founder's ghost story was far less likely to be guarded against than one everyone believed was real."

"Yes, very well said." Vashti nodded. "The age and development of the basilisk could be a very key factor. If it was too young at the time of Slytherin's departure, it would be more practical for him to wait until it grew into its adult form before using it. And it seems likely that he was confident enough in his magical abilities that no one except his descendants would ever be able to find the chamber he had hidden so well, and thus none would ever expect an attack until it was too late." A very forward-thinking approach, and one that had, it seemed, worked.

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OOC: Class will continue around 8:00 PM EDT (GMT -4) on July 5th.