There are many questions like this raised so far, and many others will pop up in the future. Unfortunately, not every question related to Harry Potter novels can be answered. Why? The answer is very simple:
In asking those questions we are usuing the logic of the real life. While HP is a fantasy novel and this logic does not apply there. I don't mean to discourage others from exploring and exercising the art of reasoning and the power of arguments in anwering questions, but simply try to ahve fun with Potter. Thats what He was created for.
I know Harry Potter is just a book and all of those characters are fictional as well as anything happening in the book/movie BUT you would've thought that Rowling would've came up with something for this error.
Here's another question. Why would Hermione be affraid to say "Voldemort"? I can understand why Ron is, but Hermione didn't even know who is the guy until she went to Hogwarts.
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Azula: My mommy didn't love me so I'm going to burn down your village.
Gender: Female Location: When in Doubt, Go to the Library.
Nearly Headless Nick was petrified because he looked directly at the basilisk... but he couldn't die again, so he was petrified. Mrs. Norris was petrified at the same time, because she looked at the basilisk directly, but through Nearly Headless Nick, therfore, the vision wasn't clear, so she was just petrified.
Colin Creevy looked at the Basilisk through a camera lens - petrification; and Hermione looked at it by checking around corners with a mirror, so she saw it's reflection, and was only petrified.
Also, Hermione was and extreme bookworm. She was able to perform a spell on Harry's glasses [occulus reparo] before she reached Hogwarts. She read every book on the school list multiple times, and then bought more books on every subject she could think of, including the book that described the "death" of Voldemort and the survival of Harry Potter. Harry commented that she knew more about him than he did. Reading up on all of Voldemort's evil-ness, she would know about the whole "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," because in books, that's how they would address Voldemort.
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It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.
Gender: Female Location: When in Doubt, Go to the Library.
because the basilsk has to do something - either petrify, or kill.
and NHNick was already dead, so in the world of JK, that means petrification. It also serves to point out how powerful the basilisk is - omg, basilisk is TROUBLE. and harry has to fight the ultimate bad guy at the end of every book, so it's also setting up that when Harry battles the basilisk, he knows how powerful it is, and when he defeats it, we [the readers] know how powerful Harry is, which sets up for the whole series that Voldemort's pet, the basilisk, was defeated by Harry at twelve.
so basically by the time Harry turns seventeen, we know that Harry can take on the Bad Guy itself.
um.... yeahhh. but mrs. norris saw the basilisk's eyes through the reflection of water.
HAHA!!
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It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.
But the spell backfired, and she instead started to grow a tusk. Nick was then arrested and sentenced to death: a botched beheading that, because of a dull axe, took 45 hacks to kill him, but still didn't sever his head from his body. Hence the nickname Nearly Headless Nick.