Lucius and Tom (was The Riddle House

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 29718

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Evil1ClaudeRains at a... wrote:

>  Does Lucius Malfoy know that Voldemort's real name is Tom Riddle? 
> Or about the Riddles at All? 

In HP & the Chamber of Secrets, it was Lucius who planted the Riddle 
diary on Ginny. In the finale, Dumbledore told Lucius: "I would 
advise you, Lucius, not to go giving out any more of Lord Voldemort's 
old school things." So Dumbledore, who knows these people very well, 
believes that Lucius knew the diary was Voldemort's. I am sure Lucius 
also knew it was Tom Riddle's. Knowledge is Power. Having the diary 
in his possession, Lucius would have examined it (in a secure hazmag 
(HAZardous MAGic) area) or had some assistant examine it.

I think Lucius and Voldemort were close, and Lucius already knew that 
Voldemort was Tom Riddle and didn't need to find out by examining the 
diary. We know from the graveyard scene in GoF that Voldemort 
first-names Lucius and doesn't punish him for insufficient loyalty, 
and generally treats him like "teacher's pet". So I vaguely suppose 
that Voldemort had given the stuff to Lucius to hide in Malfoy Manor, 
and told Lucius something about what it was and how to use it, before 
he was disembodied by Baby Harry.

"Lucius was on the Board; the youngest since Salazar was there
Evil rumours followed him, but Lucy-boy was just too rich to care
It was whispered all around Big V had had a fling
No-one had ever come between Lucy and the King
And  no-one ever would
Except maybe
The lover of the Jack of Hearts."
(At this point, I couldn't resist quoting from Susan Hall's wonderful 
filksong in post#26864.)

Of course, "before" is a vague term. It is possible that Lucius first 
met Voldemort several years into Voldemort's Reign of Terror (The Bad 
Years) when Voldemort sent someone to recruit the rich and powerful 
and therefore useful Malfoy of the Manor. That would go along with my 
intuition that Voldemort, despite being the greatest Dark Wizard of 
his era and having all wizards scared of him, still has young 
Riddle's social class neurosis and therefore is a little awed by 
Lucius's social position and thrilled to have a person of such high 
standing as a friend. I think that's funny, the thought of each of 
them sucking up to the other.

However, they might have known each other much longer. When Harry 
confronted Riddle in the Chamber, Riddle admits to being Voldemort: 
"It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate 
friends only, of course." I would love for Lucius to have been one of 
(the closest of) those friends, but Draco told Harry/Goyle and 
Ron/Crabbe: "Father won't tell me anything about the last time the 
Chamber was opened either. Of course, it was fifty years ago, so it 
was before his time, but he knows all about it, and he says that it 
was all kept quiet and it'll look suspicious if I know too much about 
it." 

It would not be unreasonable for the father of a second-year student 
to have been in school fifty years ago. If he'd been a second-year 
himself at the time, he would have been 50 years old when his child 
was born, and it is not all THAT unusual even among Muggles for a 50 
year old man to have a baby, and long wizarding lifespans should make 
it even less unusual. Then he would be 62 in CoS, a plausible age to 
have as much power over the government as he does, and a wizard 
wouldn't look middle-aged for another ten years. However, "Lucius was 
on the Board; the youngest since Salazar was there": unnaturally 
young for his position.

So I was thinking maybe Lucius's father (I've named him Malaspina) 
was Tom's school friend and brought him to live at Malfoy Manor while 
in Britain, with use of the library, and financial and other 
assistance for his Dark Arts research and his travels, and gave him 
an alibi for the Riddle murders, and maybe Riddle/Voldemort was 
Lucius's godfather and a major influence on him, which would explain 
both Voldemort's fondness and Lucius's evilness. Or if Malaspina were 
older, maybe he was already a school governor and met the clever boy 
who got the top marks and a special award for saving the school, and 
each saw that the other could be useful to him, and that's another 
way that Riddle/Voldemort could have become a habitue of Malfoy Manor 
and godfather to Lucius. And maybe Voldemort demonstrated how much 
loyalty and gratitude he is capable of by helping Lucius murder 
Malaspina in order to inherit sooner.