Does Malfoy own the Riddle House?

[kempermentor]

No: HPFGUIDX 112277

> Kemper wrote:

If Malfoy is The Wealthy Man, then he could know of LV's bloodline.
I don't think LV would have been willing to risk that.  I think DD is
the Wealthy Man.
 
> James argued well:
 
I think Malfoy already does know of LV's bloodline, having been in
possession of Tom Riddle's diary for so long. At the very least he
would have noticed that it was a "muggle artifact" and therby not
something a "respectable pureblood wizard" is going to use, and
researching the name would have been easy enough. Lucius doesn't
strike me as the type to care about LV's bloodline - he's not
obsessively worshiping LV like other Death Eaters (Bellatrix, for
example). The theories that Malfoy is trying to set himself up as LV's
successor and such similar ideas make a lot of sense to me - he's not
in this because of LV, he's in it for his own gain, even if it
requires some groveling in the process.
 
I seriously doubt Dumbledore is the Wealthy Man. If DD bought the
house he would have done so because he expected it to be important in
the future - perhaps somewhere LV would go when he needed somewhere to
hide. If that was the case, he would have been keeping some sort of
watch over it, and ought to have realized that LV and Wormtail were
hiding out there. I seriously don't expect that DD would sit by if he
had the opportunity to capture or destory LV nor sit by and let LV
kill Bertha and plot against Harry.
 
As for Dumbledore owning the house and not watching it... Well
Dumbledore's smarter than that, isn't he?
 

Kemper again:

Regarding Tom's Diary:  Where in canon does it mention diaries being 
muggle artifacts?  The diary is sneaky and tells lies.  Why wouldn't 
it lie to LM?

Regarding LM lack of bloodline fanaticism:  I agree that LM is more 
for himself than he is for his Dark Lord.  But as Draco yells 'your 
next Mudbloods!' (or something close to that) to the students 
gathered near Mrs. Norris, it seems as Draco may have picked up a 
little W-Power/W-Pride from his dad.

Regarding the Riddle House:  What if LV placed a fidelius charm on 
himself & Wormtail?  That way they could stay in the Riddle House 
even after the townfolks realized Frank Bryce was missing.  DD would 
also never know that they were still there plotting against Harry. DD 
is "smarter than that", as you say, but DD also describes TR 
as 'probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen.'  I'm 
assuming DD is including himself in that category.
(On a side note, Bertha was killed before they were at the Riddle 
House)
Tom, after killing his muggle father and grandparents, took nothing 
from the house.  He didn't want anything to do with his muggle 
heritage.  In fact, the house was sold to various families until the  
Wealthy Man purchased it and still paid Frank Bryce to do the 
gardening.  Was TR/LV waiting until he was rich enough to make a down 
payment?  I believe that the Riddle house was purchased by DD during 
the first war or afterwards when it was known that LV was actually 
Tom M. Riddle, a fact that very few in the wizrding world know.  Why 
he would do so is open to debate (as is DD purchasing it at all ;p )
But I can't see LM paying for a Muggle gardener.  He would have had 
Doby magic it up a bit every so often. 

Cheers!