Any Lucius theories?

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

I'm replying off-list because I'm pretty sure the Mods would take 
points from my House for me being too fan-ficcy on list:

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., xEmeraldxSnakex at a... wrote:

> So what do you guys think about him? Personality? His occupation? 
> Past? Is he having an affair with Snape?

Ooh, I love speculating about Lucius!

Occupation: managing his very large inherited fortune. As for how his 
ancestors started accumulating this fortune, starting around 800 BCE, 
see my http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/44028 
Managing his money leaves him plenty of time for his hobbies, such as 
playing politics, aiming to be power behind the throne.

Pesonality: I think he's probably the most purely evil person in 
canon. I think he may love Narcissa and might have an emotional 
conflict about sacrificing her (that means KILLING her by BETRAYAL) 
to achieve some goal, but dunno whether he loves Draco at all. Surely 
not enough that he wouldn't sacrifice Draco for a valuable goal. 

He's proud of his bloodline, intelligence, good looks, and elegance, 
but proudest of all of his success at manipulating people for his own 
benefit. 

With the possible exception of Narcissa, the most important thing to 
him is increasing his power. (Okay, saving his own skin comes before 
increasing his power, and even before Narcissa.) Then the glory of
the Malfoy family name, and his own reputation. Then a few 
sophisticated hedonistic pleasures.

I think he learned this twisted and heartless set of values from Tom 
Marvolo Riddle, whom I think was his godfather. I figure Lucius was 
born around 1950, making him 8 to 11 years older than the MWPP-Snape 
generation but younger than the Arthur and Molly generation, and 
Riddle left school in 1945 according to Lexicon, in 1946 according to 
another calculation.

In the Graveyard circle in GoF, Voldemort purrs at Lucius, the 
Teacher's Pet, while snarling at all his other followers. At first, 
I thought that Voldemort still had the emotions of Tom Riddle who was 
raised in a working-class orphanage, and Voldie was just SO proud of 
himself for having a toff among his associates, but then I decided it 
was more personal, a sort of paternal affection, therefore godfather. 

If there were a Malfoy at Hogwarts with Tom, that would be the most 
'useful' friend he could make -- entry to Malfoy Manor, with its 
large financial and magical resources for his research, and the 
Malfoys to give him alibis for little things like AK'ing those 
Muggles (the ones named Riddle) ... I believe that Riddle spent years 
living in Malfoy Manor, doing research there, and being a bad 
influence on little Lucius, until he reached the point in his 
research where he had to travel to far distant places.

To me, the timing is not right for Riddle and Lucius to have been 
lovers (besides I think they are both more heterosexual than 
otherwise). I think that Tom Riddle *became* Voldemort when his 
experiments in immortality succeeded AND turned him into a snake-man 
AND incidentally left him with neither sex organs nor sexual desire. 
I figure he reached that success in 1968 or 1969 and immediately 
began recruiting Death Eaters to start his Reign of Terror (which 
started in 1969). Therefore, he went off to foreign lands as Lucius 
got old enough, and lost all sexuality when Lucius reached adulthood.

I think Lucius became the head of the family so very young by 
murdering his father and older brother ... no doubt with TMR's 
assistance ... Voldemort thinks he is using Lucius, and Lucius thinks 
he is using Voldemort ... TMR is all in favor of parricide, like the 
Barty Junior thing ... 

It is possible that his Malfoy friend from school was Lucius's 
father, but also possible that TMR betrayed his schoolfriend to help 
another Malfoy (who became Lucius's father) whom he thought would be 
more useful ...

What else? Oh, Snape. In my fic, young Severus left school and 
went to London for advanced study of Potions. He was 19, young and 
awkward, and fell in something like love or hero worship with Lucius, 
who was everything Severus kicked himself for not being: handsome, 
blonde, rich, elegant, popular... (as well as having the traits 
Severus admired in himself: intelligence and magical talent). 

Lucius discovered that this unwashed puppy was a very talented 
Potions scholar  who would be useful to the Dark Lord, and recruited 
him by seducing him: holding his hand a *little* too long when 
shaking hands, and looking into his eyes a *little* too deeply when 
saying good-night is all it took ... In the years since Severus fled 
to Hogwarts, a handshake and friendly little chat once or twice a 
year is all it takes to keep it going ... 

Severus never really got over it, and managed to persuade himself 
that Lucius had been telling the truth about having been innocent, 
been under Imperius, and that's why he was so shocked to hear Harry 
say that Lucius was at the graveyard circle...