[[HPforGrownups] Why Does Lucius Still Have Influence After the Diary!Riddle Incident?]

[gwendolyngrace]

No: HPFGUIDX 42943

Be amazed, for it is da Gwen, and I am... posting to the list! That 
hasn't happened in a while.

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., heidit at n... <heidit at n...> wrote:
> 
> Actually, I think you're making a bit of a leap back from the 
sacking to the
> connection to the diary. It's entirely possible that Dumbledore and 
a few
> others know the truth but that Lucius had enough influence, even at 
that
> point, to allow himself to be thrown off the board under a pretense 
- perhaps
> a false accusation of Hagrid combined with the force pressed 
against the other
> governers on that paper to force Dumbledore down as headmaster.
> 

Not surprisingly, I'm agreeing with Heidi. In addition, I think that 
there's a clue in Dumbledore's statement to Fudge in GoF that he has 
"always placed too much emphasis on the purity of blood" (quote from 
memory, "Parting of the Ways," which is chapter 33, IIRC). Thus Fudge 
himself may be more willing to believe Lucius's story--whatever it 
is--both at the time of his resignation from the Board of Governors 
and during the Buckbeak trial.

Another factor is that someone who's willing to blackmail, bully, or 
threaten the governors into demanding Dumbledore's resignation is 
likely also to be able to blackmail, bully, or threaten them into 
covering up the reasons behind his own dismissal. 

And of course, money does inevitably talk. And a politician like 
Fudge isn't going to let a little thing like attempted murder stand 
in the way of lining his campaign chests....

But more importantly, Lucius is "slippery." He knows, I think, 
exactly how to ingratiate himself and where and when to do it. In the 
case of CoS, I absolutely don't believe that the truth about the 
diary went public. Assuredly Dumbledore, Harry, Hermione, all the 
Weasleys, and the governors found out, but I believe that's all. 

Sometimes with important and influential people, rather than actually 
firing the person, the board "asks for a resignation," and therefore 
there's an appearance of less turbulent change than there really is. 
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Lucius was "asked" for his 
resignation, and it's through the rumour mill that everyone hears he 
was actually sacked. Still, merely leaving the board of governors of 
a private school, even if it's a major institution in the wizarding 
world, wouldn't necessarily translate to losing a lot of face in the 
Ministry. And the Buckbeak matter really wasn't handled by the school 
governors, except in terms of Hagrid. You'll notice Lucius did NOT 
have enough influence to arrange for Hagrid's dismissal, even though 
he tried. The realm he manipulated for his revenge was in the 
Ministry, not in the school.

Gwen