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

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 42979

Gwen said:

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 agree with Gwen, except for the suggestion that the Board of Governors knows about the diary.  Dumbledore says that several of the other Board members told him that Lucius threatened to curse their families if they didn't agree to Dumbledore's suspension.  I think that's cause enough for the other governors to ask for Lucius' resignation.  The Board of Governors would not have known about the diary unless Dumbledore told them, and I don't think it's his modus operandi to actively engineer Lucius' removal from the Board.  In fact, when Lucius dares Harry to prove that Lucius gave Ginny the diary, Dumbledore jumps in to state that "no one will be able to do that."  So I think the secret does not go beyond Harry, Dumbledore and Dobby.  I'm not even certain Hermione or the Weasleys were told.

I also have a theory (which I'll recycle here because it would be another reason why Dumbledore would not tell the Board about the diary) under which it doesn't matter anyway who is on the Board of Governors, because neither the MOM nor the Board of Governors really controls Hogwarts.  Notwithstanding Fudge's implicit threat in GoF ("The Parting of the Ways") to sack Dumbledore ("I will be in touch with you tomorrow, Dumbledore, to discuss the running of this school."), I just don't believe the Founders, after putting their own brains in the Sorting Hat, would have set up a Board of Governors under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Magic to oversee the running of the school.  I think the MOM asserted jurisdiction at some later time.  However, the *real* Board of Governors, in my theory, continues to be the Sorting Hat itself, assisted by Fawkes.  If the Sorting Hat chose Dumbledore as Headmaster, the Board can try to sack Dumbledore, as it did in CoS, but Dumbledore will remain the true headmaster.
As he says, "I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me."  

Debbie


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