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

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 86513

> Jen R: I definitely agree that Lucius is the owner of the Riddle 
> House and is in possession of LV's things, but not because LV 
> trusted him or gave them to him. 

Carol:
I don't see how he or anyone else could have come into possession of
the Riddle House. The house had, as far as we know, been bought by
muggles after the Riddles were murdered. Remember that Lucius wasn't
even born yet when the murders were committed in 1944 and was only
sixteen when Voldemort returned in 1970. Anyway, as I've argued in
other posts, it's much more likely that Lucius found the diary at
school, probably while he was a Slytherin school boy.

Jen R: 
> LV's biggest secret is that he is Tom Riddle the half-blood and he's 
> not going to willingly give this information to a DE who could turn 
> on him, and certainly not someone like Lucius with money, power and 
> pureblood status.

Carol:
I only half agree with this. I'm sure that Lucius knows, either
because Voldemort told him or because he wrote in the diary as Harry
and Ginny did and communicated with the memory of Young Tom, that
Voldemort was formerly a Slytherin named Tom Riddle. That knowledge
does not necessitate his knowing that Tom Riddle was a half-blood.
Certainly neither Voldemort nor Diary!Tom would have trusted Lucius
Malfoy or any other Slytherin with that information.
> 
> Somehow, and I tend toward a connection with the seedy underworld of 
> Knockturn Alley and lots of galleons, Lucius came by the diary and 
> learned of the connection between LV and Tom Riddle. 

Carol:

Lucius would have discovered nothing in the diary's blank pages and
the name Tom Marvolo Riddle on the binding would not have suggested
that the owner was a Muggle or Muggle-born. Marvolo would, in fact,
suggest that the owner was a wizard. And if Lucius wrote in the diary
to find out what it was about, that suspicion would of course have
been confirmed. Tom Riddle would have told him only as much as he
thought Lucius ought to know, and then only after finding out who
Lucius was himself. It would make much more sense for Lucius to have
had an experience like Ginny's as a schoolboy. He would know what
would happen if she started writing in it. I don't see any connection
between the diary and the Riddle House, or any need for Malfoy to buy
the diary. I also don't see any necessity of his discovering through
the diary that Voldemort was Tom Riddle unless Tom himself told him
about the "I AM LORD VOLDEMORT" anagram or Voldemort sent young Lucius
to find the diary.

> 
> When the circumstances were right, i.e. he's on the Board of 
> Governors at Hogwarts, the Muggle Protection act is cramping his 
> style, and Fudge is turning to him as often as DD for advice, Lucius 
> decides to hatch his plan. He know's *only* that Tom Riddle can 
> possess people through the diary and open the COS, possibly killing 
> the person in the process, but not necessarily bringing Riddle to 
> life (sort of like when LV is possessing Quirrell). Finding out the 
> extent of the diary's power is shocking to him and he realizes there 
> may be other ways for LV to return.
> 
> So Lucius covers his bases, he does some research, locates the 
> Riddle House and purchases it--LV wouldn't know of that. Perhaps he 
> obtains some other possessions of LV's. He's prepared for LV's 
> return and ultimate downfall. 


Carol:
Young Tom Riddle would not have left any of his possessions in the
Riddle House, which was never his and was the site of his family's
murder. He had no home but the orphanage. When he sits in the dark,
dust-filled room discussing future murders with Wormtail, it is only
as a convenient place to hide, not because it is in any sense his
home. The ownership is completely irrelevant. Nor would it give Lucius
any advantage to own the Riddle House, which belonged to rich Muggles,
not the unacknowledged son and grandson who was also their murderer.

While I agree completely that Lucius Malfoy is a scheming slimeball
quite capable of betraying his "Master" especially if he discovered
him to be a half-blood, I don't think he's certain yet that Harry's
claim is true and I don't think that purchasing the Riddle House could
in any way aid him in his objectives. Young Tom would not have left
any belongings there after the murders. He had never lived there, and
any possession, especially a diary with his name on the binding, would
have made it all too easy to identify the identity of the murderer,
who lived in a Muggle orphanage when he wasn't at Hogwarts and
consequently would have been discoverable by Muggle police.

Carol