TBAY: WildCard!Lucius

[r f]

No: HPFGUIDX 45653

Out on the waters of Theory Bay, the First Memory Friend continues on near 
the Safe house, oblivious to the Hurricane watch flags snapping in the 
breeze. The ship's fearless Captain has survived many hurricanes and knows 
that they are mostly hype. She stretches out on the aft deck, a pile of 
binders and books stretched out in front of her. Hearing her name in the 
breeze, she perks up her ears. It appears that Grey Wolf and Melody are 
talking about her. She quicky conjures a long range microphone to hear the 
conversation. It appears that Grey Wolf is discussing something Meg sent 
him.

Meg hears him say: "Anyway, pressing on, I have also examined this other
tidbit:" continues Grey Wolf while turning a wheel and throwing a switch.
>Lucius is making great strides through the WW as seen in CoS, PoA and
>the beginning of GoF. I maintain that he's not in the least bit
>interested in having Lord Voldemort back in the picture and will
>undermine him now that he is.
"This was actually explained in detail in post #45245, the Lucius Factor. I 
expect that Frankie will want to pick this up personally, so she might just 
come around to pick both of the acronyms, or maybe the Captain will feel 
it's her duty. Anyway, before I ramble off, here you go"

This time, Melody is almost sure that Grey Wolf has produced the paper out 
of thin air. At any rate, she accepts the paper and reads:

"I LUV' SAILING OPS: Intelligent Lucius Undermines Voldemort: Secret Agenda 
Improves Lucius' Intense & Neverending Grasp Of Power & Superiority"

"There you go", says Wolf, "And now, I have to get going. Thanks for taking 
care of the safe house in my abscense, Melody. And tell Pip, if you see 
her,that I droped by. See you"

As the wolf runs off, back to the north, Meg watches as Melody crunches this 
second piece of paper and tosses it out the window and into the bay.

Convinced that Grey Wolf would have stopped by if it was important, Meg goes 
back to studying and sunning herself. As she turns a page of transcript, she 
glances at her fingernails and frowns.

"Meg! Hey MEG!" a voice shouts.

Meg, captain of the FIRST MEMORY FRIEND, casts a scouring charm and looks up 
from her sparkling clean fingernails. In the sparkling waters of Theory Bay, 
an arm waves frantically above the surface, just off the port bow.

"Hey captain!! I found something, I found it, and it's totally under the
radar, but I FOUND it! Chuck me a rope or something!!" shouts Frankie,
treading water.

Meg tosses a coil of rope over the side and shakes her head. God only knew 
what wild tangent her new crewmember would try to haul aboard the Cal 20.

"This isn't strong enough," says Frankie reproachfully.

"What exactly have you found?" Meg asks with a sense of foreboding.

"Lucius Malfoy,"

"What, underwater?"

"More or less, yeah. Help me get the canon aboard and I'll explain!"

A short time later the two women stand on the deck looking over the latest 
style of covert operations high-caliber artillery. Wrapped in a fluffy white 
towel embroidered with a Hogwarts crest and hopping from foot to foot, 
Frankie launches into her explanation.

"OKAY. First of all, I've never liked the idea that Lucius Malfoy put Lord 
Voldemort's old diary into Ginny Weasley's Transfiguration book because Lord 
Voldemort told him to.  I think Lucius was acting of his own volition, and 
that he was perfectly happy with Lord Voldemort's defeat at Hogwarts earlier 
that spring.  I think Lucius was furthering his own ends by using the diary 
and isn't too pleased about having to kiss Lord Voldemort's robe hem again. 
Here's why:

The first real conversation Lucius has in Chamber of Secrets (after telling 
Draco to shut-up) is with Mr. Borgin of Borgin & Burkes on page 51 of the 
U.S. hardback edition. The subject of this conversation is the current 
wizarding world political situation.

In this conversation we learn that Lucius owns several items, a number of 
which are poisons (potions, perhaps?) that the current Ministry would not 
approve of. We also learn that the Ministry, as inquisitive as they are what 
with all the raids, has not yet targeted the Malfoy residence." Meg pulls 
out the ship's worn copy of CoS and opens it to page 51 for Frankie. "See, 
it's right here"

***************
"The Ministry wouldn't presume to trouble you, sir, surely?"

Mr. Malfoy's lip curled.

"I have not been visited yet. The name Malfoy still commands a certain
respect, yet the Ministry grows ever more meddlesome. There are rumors about 
a new Muggle protection act- no doubt that flea-bitten, Muggle -loving fool 
Arthur Weasley is behind it-"
***********

Meg nods in agreement. Frankie continues, "On page 52, we learn that Lucius 
is disgusted that a Muggle-born student got better grades than his pureblood 
son. When Mr. Borgin observes, "wizard blood is counting less and less." Mr. 
Malfoy replies, "Not with me."

>From this conversation, we can safely conclude that the Malfoy family has 
been a prominent and influential part of WW society for some time, and that 
Mr. Malfoy is currently an influential member of WW society with political 
views opposite Mr. Weasley.

For further support, let's jump all the way to the Quidditch World Cup in 
Goblet of Fire. On page 101 (U.S. hardback edition), we find out that Lucius 
is charming the Ministry through good works, such as his philanthropy to St. 
Mungo's Hospital, and that the Minister or Magic has personally invited the 
Malfoys into the top box at the QWC. At the end of GoF on page 706, Fudge is 
"visibly affronted" when Harry names Lucius as one of the Death Eaters 
present at Lord Voldemort's rebirth.

How influential is Lucius? After Knockturn and Diagon Alleys, the next time 
we see him is on page 262 of CoS in Hagrid's hut. Here, Lucius over-rules 
Minister of Magic himself." Frankie turns to the corresponding page and 
reads aloud:

**********
".At this rate, there'll be no more Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts and we all 
know what an awful loss that would be to the school."

"Oh now, see here, Lucius," said Fudge, looking alarmed, "Dumbledore
suspended-no, no-last thing we want just now-"

"The appointment-or suspension-of the headmaster is a matter for the
governors, Fudge," said Mr. Malfoy smoothly.
***********

Snapping the book shut, Frankie looks over at Meg. "Wake up captain, just a 
little bit more." Meg opens her eyes and mumbles something incoherent about 
medical school, gross anatomy and histology. Satisfied that her captain is 
awake, Frankie continues, "At this point in CoS, Lucius has control of the 
Hogwarts Board of Governors, and is using the system to gain complete 
control of Hogwarts. Through Draco's big mouth on page 267, we learn that 
Lucius will soon replace Professor McGonagall with a headmaster of his own 
choosing. And, that Draco's vote is for Snape. As Hagrid points out, Lucius 
is using blackmail and threats (we find out for sure on page 335) to achieve 
this, but on paper, Lucius is acting in a legally defendable, upright and 
moral manner."

"Moral manner?" splutters Meg, fully awake now.
"Just on paper, the manipulative sneak" Frankie says. She fiddles with the 
firing pin and then announces:

"I HEREBY PUT FORTH that the entire point of Lord Voldemort's diary being 
given to Ginny Weasley was to ruin Arthur Weasley and his political agenda.

On page 312 of CoS, we have from Riddle's own mouth that the diary contains 
the memory of his sixteen-year-old self, pre-Lord Voldemort, preserved "so 
that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, 
and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work." (Of removing students of impure 
blood from Hogwarts.)

There is nothing here about providing the bodiless Lord Voldemort a new way 
back to corporeal existence. Riddle is using Ginny's life force to leave the 
pages of the diary and solidify his sixteen-year-old self, not the current 
Lord Voldemort.

Later on page 335, Dumbledore calls Lucius on giving the diary to Ginny. He 
then points out that if Harry and Ron hadn't figured the secret of the 
diary, there would have been no proof that Ginny did not act of her own free 
will.  Dumbledore continues on page 336 where he says, ". The Weasleys are 
one of our most prominent pureblood families. Imagine the effect on Arthur 
Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered 
attacking and killing Muggle-borns.

By employing the diary, Lucius nearly succeeded in removing a political
adversary." Frankie looks over at Meg to find her nodding in agreement.

Frankie contiues, still playing with the firing pin, "I ALSO HEREBY PUT
FORTH that Lucius, Lord Voldemort's former right hand man, is enjoying his 
current reign as the leader of the Death Eaters who are still at large.

The most telling bit of evidence that Lucius has always acted in his own
interest and never Lord Voldemort's after Voldemort's demise, is the
conversation in the graveyard at the end of GoF on page 650. See, here."
Frankie puts away the ship's CoS and opens GoF for the captain. Reading
aloud, she begins:

************
"I am told you have not renounced the old ways, thought to the world you
present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot 
of Muggle-torture, I believe? Yet you never tried to find me, Lucius. Your 
exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun I daresay.but might not your 
energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master?"

"My Lord, I was constantly on the alert," came Lucius Malfoy's voice swiftly 
from beneath the hood. "Had there been any sign from you, any whisper of 
your whereabouts, I would have been at your side immediately, nothing could 
have prevented me-"

"And yet you ran from my Mark, when a faithful Death Eater sent it into the 
sky last summer?" said Lord Voldemort lazily, and Mr. Malfoy stopped talking 
abruptly. "Yes, I know all about that Lucius."
*************

Closing the book, Frankie explains "Here Lord Voldemort plainly states he 
has had no contact with Lucius from the time of his demise to the time of 
his rebirth. While he rubs Lucius's face in it for running from the Mark, he 
does not say anything about diary. On page 656, when Lord Voldemort tells 
the assembled Death Eaters about his quest to regain a body (before pursuing 
immortality), he jumps from using Quirrel and unicorn blood to Nagini and 
Wormtail's bumbling care. If he had instructed Lucius to set the diary in 
motion, he would have bragged about his ingeniousness of preserving a 
portion of himself in the diary and probably punished Lucius for screwing up 
that avenue of reincarnation."

Completely hoarse from talking, Frankie sits down on the deck. Meg waves her 
scalpel/wand and conjures Frankie a glass of water. "You know, technically 
you've made two points," Meg says. "But, I can see where you're going. You 
think Lucius Malfoy's own ambitions will get in Lord Voldemort's way, 
possibly contributing to his downfall."

Frankie nods. "Where on earth are we going to put this?" Meg asks herself, 
idly drumming her clean fingernails on the canon barrel. "Tell you what, 
let's put the Lucius Factor where it belongs. It can stand guard over the 
toilet."

Frankie nods again. A tangled mess of flotsam catches her eye and she leaps 
overboard with an excited squeak. Meg sighs, waves her wand and transfigures 
the wet cannon into a small brass plaque with Lucius' picture on it. Below 
the picture, the words 'I LUV' SAILING OPS (Intelligent Lucius Undermines 
Voldemort: Secret Agenda Improves Lucius' Intense & Neverending Grasp Of 
Power & Superiority)' gleam on the shiny brass. Waving her scalpel/wand 
again, she banishes the canon/plaque from the deck to the head. "God forbid 
any guy leave the seat up," she mumbles to herself. Satisfied that her 
captainly duties are complete for the moment, she returns to studying for 
her medical school classes and sunning herself on the deck of the Bay's most 
heavily armed sailboat.



Frankie Lee

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