The question I always had here was “But what was Voldemort’s original plan for dealing with this issue when he decided to teach at Hogwarts?”
My guess was that he never considered the possibility that Harry would do something like report it to an authority figure. For example, consider this from chapter 49:
Professor Quirrell was smiling thinly now. “Well now, let us suppose that there was a Parselmouth in this year’s crop of students, a potential Heir of Slytherin. You must admit, Mr. Potter, that you stand out as a possibility whenever extraordinary people are considered. And if I then further ask myself which new Slytherin would be most likely to have his mental privacy invaded by the Headmaster, specifically hunting the memories of his Sorting, why, you stand out even more.” The smile vanished. “So you see, Mr. Potter, it was not I who invaded your mind, though I will not ask you to apologize. It is not your fault that you believed Dumbledore’s protestations of respecting your mental privacy.”
“My sincere apologies,” Harry said, keeping his face expressionless. The rigid control was a confession in its own right, as was the sweat beading his forehead; but he didn’t think the Defense Professor would take any evidence from that. Professor Quirrell would just think Harry was nervous at having been discovered as the Heir of Slytherin. Rather than being nervous that Professor Quirrell might realize that Harry had deliberately betrayed Slytherin’s secret… which itself was no longer seeming like such a smart move.
Quirrell never even pauses to consider that Dumbledore may know about it because Harry told him; it doesn’t show up in his action space at all in modelling a younger version of himself.
That would depend on whether he actively considers it as something to rely on, as opposed to an assumption so baked in he forgets to question it, right? If questioned I think Quirrell would rightfully consider the Chamber to be something critical enough to be worth having other contingencies for, but he just never considered it necessary.
My guess was that he never considered the possibility that Harry would do something like report it to an authority figure. For example, consider this from chapter 49:
Quirrell never even pauses to consider that Dumbledore may know about it because Harry told him; it doesn’t show up in his action space at all in modelling a younger version of himself.
For me that fell under ‘My simulation of Voldemort isn’t buying that he can rely on this, not for something so crucial.’
That would depend on whether he actively considers it as something to rely on, as opposed to an assumption so baked in he forgets to question it, right? If questioned I think Quirrell would rightfully consider the Chamber to be something critical enough to be worth having other contingencies for, but he just never considered it necessary.
And the basilisk is already dead, so there’s nothing useful to find there anyway.