Lucius fears Voldemort Was: Are Malfoy and Fudge the real masterminds?

[Diana]

No: HPFGUIDX 86904

> > Jen R wrote: 
> > <snip>  Then he would 
> > definitely place himself in a position of power, if he's working 
> > with Fudge in an attempt to overthrow both the Order and LV! He 
may 
> > have even alerted Fudge to the fact LV is back, but been behind 
the 
> > scenes orchestrating the trail of mishaps that the Order members 
> and DE's were both prone to througout OOTP. Lucius led the failed 
> > attempt to obtain the Prophecy, perhaps inadvertently aiding the 
> > Order in luring LV to the MOM?
> 
> Mandy wrote:
> I really like your idea here.  Could Lucius Malfoy be working with 
> Fudge to destroy both the Order and Voldemort.  If could fit.  
> 
> Fudge wants Dumbledore gone and Lucius needs Voldemort off his 
back. 
> I think Lucius has learned as he grew up he doesn't need an Evil 
> Overlord to take control of the WW but a compliant Minister of 
Magic 
> will do just as well. In fact better. As Fudge is aboveboard and 
> legal where Voldemort is living on borrowed time so to speak, no 
bad 
> guy stays in power for long, but a corrupt politician after 
corrupt 
> politician in Malfoy's pocket could be in power for decades.  If 
> Lucius plays his card right he can have as much freedom as he 
wants 
> to create a WW that suits Lucius idea of perfect.  Eventually 
passing 
> law against, mixed-blood wizard/witches, magical-non-humans and 
the 
> like.
<snip>
> The only problem with this theory is it renders Voldemort 
redundant. 
> And if Voldemort is redundant so is Harry Potter and then we have 
no 
> reason for the books in the first place. ;-) Also having Lucius in 
> jail allows Draco to step up to the plate and slip into his 
daddy's shoes. Which I really do want to see.
 
Diana:
Lucius trying to manipulate any situation to his liking would not 
surprise me, but I highly doubt he'd try to double-cross Voldemort.  
The only reason he didn't rush to his Dark Lord's aid before 
Voldemort's return to his body was because Lucius wasn't sure if 
Voldemort was even still alive (if you can call it that) in books 
one through three.  Lucius wouldn't have given up his aristocratic 
lifestyle, status and position for a master that was probably dead 
and gone.  Lucius might well have considered a re-fleshed 16-year-
old Tom Riddle less frightening and eligible for manipulation, but 
we never got to test that theory as Diary!Riddle was destroyed by 
Harry.  

I've posted before my observations that Voldemort seems to make some 
big blunders and I've speculated that Voldemort's many spells that 
transformed him and made him immortal (before Ak'ing baby Harry) 
must have dulled his intelligence somewhat, judging by some of his 
bone-headed actions.  But, even if this were the case, Voldemort is 
still a very scary guy to everyone in the WW.  Dumbledore isn't 
scared of Voldemort for his own sake, but he is frightened for 
Harry's safety and purposely avoided even looking Harry in the eye 
for most of OoP for fear that Voldemort could and would manipulate 
Harry into a position requiring Dumbledore to kill Harry.  

Lucius, OTOH, backed down against Dobby for goodness sake, so I 
honestly can't see Lucius trying to double-cross the most powerful 
wizard in the last 100 years.  I mean, Lucius could have AK'd Dobby 
and then attacked Harry at the end of CoS, but he didn't, did he?  
He intended to attack Harry right under Dumbledore's nose and was 
only stopped by a 'lowly' house elf, which tells me that just becase 
Dumbledore was only a short distance away wouldn't have stopped him 
if Dobby hadn't of been there.  

I would guess that Lucius would not want to incur Voldemort's wrath 
any more than he already did for not coming to Voldemort's aid and 
lying to MoM about being a DE.  Besides Voldemort is quite short of 
DE's at the end of GoF and he didn't AK all the DEs who'd 
disappointed him because he really couldn't spare any more of his 
soldiers right then.  I'm sure Lucius knows exactly what Voldemort 
would do to him and his family if he betrayed him, and as big a jerk 
Lucius may be, Draco and Narcissa do mean something to him.  

At some point in the next two books, Lucius may well express some 
regret at joining up with Voldemort either because of something 
Voldemort does (killing or torturing Draco/Narcissa or even Lucius 
himself) or because he has a change of heart (yeah, right), but 
Lucius is not stupid.  He knows that serving the Dark Lord is a life-
long commitment.  

To me, one of Lucius's biggest weakness that has yet to be used 
against him by either Dumbledore and the Order or Voldemort and the 
DEs is his tendency to give Draco way too much information.  Draco 
knows about their stash of controversial items under the drawing 
room floor, which he then blurts out to Crabbe!Ron and Goyle!Harry.  
Draco also knew, courtesy of his father, that the Chamber of Secrets 
was going to be opened by the heir of Slytherin and that students 
were going to be attacked and/or killed.  I mean, Draco's known 
about a lot of stuff Harry, Ron and Hermione have had to find out 
much later in the books.  I could see Draco getting dear old dad 
into trouble by giving too much away in a future book.  That would 
be so fun to read! <g>

In conclusion, Lucius is indeed an evil git seemingly on par with 
Voldemort at times, but unlike Lucius, Voldemort has no family ties 
and is apparently incapable of love, even despising love in all 
forms. Lucius has very good reasons to fear Voldemort and never 
betray him - his wife and child. 

I'll write about Fudge in another post.

Diana L.