Lucius and the Diary

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 46623

Rich states;

<< How can the underlying plot of CoS make sense? I say this after a few 
assumptions, but reasonable ones, the main one being that Voldemort would not 
share power. Ever. With anyone. He's not the sort of evil overlord that would 
even want another version of himself taking over, I recon, unless he was an 
integral part of that person... >>

This being the week for wild ideas... I think I've finally hit on a valid 
reading (not, mind you, necessarity the correct one, but, still, valid) for 
just what the hell was going on in year 2.

What if Lucius intended to suplant Voldemort in his absence? Once the 
revenant was released, he intended to contact Diary!Tom (he was certainly 
keeping a close enough eye on the school during second year to know whether 
the revenant had been released or not) and feed him the glorious story of 
what he had done over the past 50 years. Then regroup the DEs in Voldemort's 
name and under the revenant's titular leadership. But in actuallity, Lucius 
thought that he would to be able to keep a 16-year-old Riddle under his own 
influence and be the real guiding spirit behind the DE movement. 

Since the real Voldemort had tried for the Philosephers' stone and missed, 
and the stone was now destroyed, Lucius may have thought that there was no 
way that the real Voldemort could make it back, and that the way was now 
clear for him to set up as the new Dark Lord. Everything in his behavior 
since would certainly tend toward that reading.

Which would make the rather cool rebuke LV gave him in the graveyard 
particularly mystifying.

In the meantime,  the plots that Dobby overheard would have been Kucius and 
whoever he was planning to stage this coup with. Because he certainly was 
aiming to make use of Voldemort's network and would likely have had partners 
in the endeavor.

I rather think the Basilisk took him by surprise, but he grabbed the ball and 
ran with it.

-JOdel