Salazar's retirement career

[sunnyskywalker]

It's interesting that we never hear what happened to Salazar Slytherin after he "departed" that fateful morning. Jodel suggested a couple of possibilities (included below). As a slightly tongue-in-cheek exercise, here's a quiz on his possible post-Hogwarts activities.

(a) He founded Durmstrang.
(b) He founded the Department of Mysteries (whatever it was called pre-Ministry).
(c) He started a war (maybe with pureblood supremacist ideology, maybe something else).
(d) He retired and lived a quiet life of scholarship and contemplation.
(e) He served on the Wizards' Council.
(f) He started a pet shop specializing in exotic snakes.
(g) He accidentally got killed by his own basilisk. The other Founders covered it up out of respect for his memory.
(h) The other Founders killed him and buried him under the foundations of their new Astronomy Tower.
(i) Other, explained in comments.

Comments

[chantaldormand]

I'm almost positive that there is secondary entrance to CoS that leads to Forbidden Forest.

When Harry enters tunnels leading to CoS he notices rat bones and snake molts. Considering that the tunnel's walls are wet, those must be recent.
This means that over 6 meters long snake ate well enough to grow, but there is no way that this big boy would be satisfied with just rats and we don't hear any reports of missing pets. So what the Basilisk eats?

About 50 years ago Hagrid released an invasive specie of spiders into forest. Spiders that grow to size of elephant. Students are forbidden from entering the forest so aside from occasional rule breaker spiders must prey on some other big animals.
And yet the forest isn't overrun by Aragog's spawn and in the first book not only there is enough unicorns for herd, but also centaurs aren't afraid of travelling on their own.
So something must act as population control for Acromantulas.
I believe that after Acromantulas ate all animals that Basilisk normally ate, it moved to eating younger Acromantulas.

[sunnyskywalker]

Now there's a thought. Spiders are also naturally afraid of basilisks--maybe Acromantulae are something like like to eat when they get a chance, and all the little spiders are afraid because of the stories from their giant cousins?

It's also possible that the basilisk can get out into the lake. Maybe it eats baby giant squid, and that's why we only ever see one. (Otherwise, we have to ask whether it's an immortal giant squid, or do they re-stock it every so often when the old one dies, or what.) Maybe it's only because Harry killed it that they could hold one of the Triwizard tasks in the lake at all without risking the students getting Petrified by the basilisk's gaze through the water.

The rat bones are puzzling. Snakes don't actually rip the meat off and leave the bones, unless I'm wildly mistaken. Are basilisks different? Or did something else eat those rats--and if so, what?

[chantaldormand]

The bones are bit puzzling, but there might be explanation for this. While normally bones are digested by snakes, that would not be the case if the prey is vomited. Usually snakes vomit if they are too stressed out, are too cold (since their digestive system depends on environmental temperatures) or are sick. It's possible that since Diarycrux stopped the Basilisk from hibernating during winter, the poor thing had problems with keeping food down. Damp environment would speed up decay of soft tissues so only bones are left (though I wouldn't be surprised if adrenaline pumped Harry failed to spot fur laying nearby). When Harry enters CoS it's... June(?) so the snake had enough time to eat enough to shed molt.

It's kinda scary to think what will happen now that Basilisk is dead.