The diary (Was: Snape as a Spy and Spy!Lucius, too!)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 86466

-Carol wrote:
> 
>  BTW, I still don't understand how Lucius got hold of the diary, which
>  couldn't have been left in the Riddle house at the time of the
>  murders. The police would have found it and realized that Tom Marvolo
>  Riddle, the name on the binding, was not the name of the Tom Riddle
>  who died. A little investigation would lead them to the older Tom's
>  divorce, an unacknowledged son in an orphanage, and a certain teenage
>  murderer. Maybe Voldemort told Lucius that it was at Hogwarts and
>  Lucius forced Dobby to find it and bring it to him?
> 
> Constance Vigilance:
> 
> I think LV gave it to him during VWI. Lucius was a trusted lieutenant 
> at that time, probably the highest-ranking one. I think LV gave him 
> many personal belongings for safe keeping. My guess is that these 
> things are being stored below the floorboards in the Malfoy parlor. I 
> think Lucius was also given the control of the Riddle house to manage 
> under the guise of the Rich Owner Who Needs Tax Advantages, but I do 
> not think that the diary would have been stored in the Riddle House.
> 
> The diary was always a worst-case backup plan. And while I love the 
> theory that Lucius is a spy, I really think that Lucius did know that 
> the diary contained the essence of LV. But he thought that Diary!Tom 
> would be content to kill Muggles.

Carol:
I'm glad we agree that Voldemort didn't leave the diary at the Riddle
House, but that still doesn't explain how Lucius got hold of it to
give it to Ginny or was able to keep it under his floorboards all
those years. Here's my attempt to fit your LV1 theory as opposed to
the Dobby alternative. Tell me if it makes sense.

TR wrote the diary in 1943 and left Hogwarts in 1945. It's highly
improbable that he carried it around during his travels from 1945-1970
while he was busy transforming himself and trying to become immortal.
I think it's much more likely that he left it at Hogwarts in some
secure place just before he graduated in 1945, nine years before
Lucius was born. TR returned as Lord Voldemort in 1970 when Lucius was
about sixteen. If Lucius precociously became a Death Eater as a sixth-
or seventh-year student in 1970 or 1971, LV could have informed him
where the diary was hidden and asked him to find it and keep it for
him. That's the only way I can see Lucius receiving it during LV1.
That seems to be the only window of opportunity unless LV kept it in
his own possession, where it couldn[t be found or used, for 25 years.
Or if it was at Hogwarts but he give Lucius instructions to find it,
we're left with Dobby retrieving it after LV's second return, just in
time for Lucius to give it to Ginny Weasley. (I say Dobby because I
very much doubt that Lucius would have left the job to Draco, who
seems to have been almost as much in the dark about the Heir of
Slytherin as Harry.) So I think Lucius finding it in 1970 or 1971 is
the most plausible alternative.

Does that make sense? It's the only way I can fit your time line.

Carol