Tom Riddle in CoS

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 106084

Sonya asked:
What did Mr. Malfoy hope to gain from passing on the Diary?  If 
he was hoping to bring Tom back so he could become LV again (and 
the killings) would that make Mr. Malfoy a 'good' DE?
 
Brigitte wrote:
I am not sure that Malfoy had any idea that the book mighy bring 
back LV/TR at all.  He knows that the last time the chamber was 
opened the school was almost closed.  I think that LM just wanted 
to get DD out of the school.  LM might then hope to get someone 
else appointed as headmaster (maybe even himself) that would carry 
on the Slytherin persuasion of not teaching those with Muggle 
blood.
 
SiriuslySnapeySusan wrote:
I think Brigitte is *exactly* right.  I think Lucius simply wanted 
to wreak havoc on Hogwarts--well, on the MUGGLE-borns at Hogwarts--
and get DD in trouble.
 
If Voldy *knew* what Lucius had been up to, don't you think he would 
have held Lucius up in the graveyard at an example of a DEVOTED 
FOLLOWER?  Yet, he didn't.  In fact, he chastised Lucius a bit.  And 
if Malfoy had been doing it FOR Voldy, I think Lucius would have 
protested, "But, look what I tried to do for you, Master."  The fact 
that Malfoy DIDN'T protest makes me think he did this purely on his 
own, for his own play for power.

Carol responds:
But he knew that it was Tom Riddle's diary and knew that Tom Riddle
was the future Lord Voldemort. I won't go into how he got hold of
Voldemort's diary, but he may have written in it himself and
communicated with Diary!Tom, with the two of them creating a kind of
conspiracy. I don't think Lucius just thought--well, Voldemort isn't
coming back, so I'll just toss his old diary into the works and see
what happens. Whether he actually thought it would restore his
"master" in some form, I don't know, but I don't think it was a random
inspiration, either.

As for why Lucius didn't reveal what he'd done--first, he failed to
bring Voldemort back or close the school or get DD fired. All he did
was disgrace himself and (coincidentally) lose his house-elf. Not a
memory Lucius wants to call attention to. Second, if he'd succeeded
and Tom Riddle had returned, we'd have two Voldemorts, one with a
snake's face and one who looked like a sixteen-year-old. Ack! Would
Lucius tell the resurrected Voldemort that he had a youthful clone?
Admittedly, Vapormort and Tom II might somehow have merged, as JKR
seems to imply with her reference to a stronger Voldemort on her site,
but Lucius wouldn't know that. I think silence is his best if not only
strategy here. (It's also possible that LV knows what Malfoy tried and
failed to do but refrains from embarrassing Malfoy by mentioning it,
but I got the impression, as you did, that he doesn't know about it.
And yet Diary!Tom says, "Voldemort is my past, present, and future."
Would he have gone seeking his own future self? And what would have
happened then?)

Carol, confused as usual and trying to see all possibilities