What were the Malfoys DOING there?

[zoe0coll]

No: HPFGUIDX 112972

> Antosha:
<snip> Here's my question: HOW THE HECK DOES LUCIUS KNOW THE WEASLEYS 
> ARE GOING TO BE IN DIAGON ALLEY THAT DAY???"
> 
> DuffyPoo:
> Malfoy, Sr, in no way indicates here that his 'important business 
> elsewhere' is running into the Weasleys and slipping Ginny the 
> diary.  He is, after all, planning to buy Draco - and the whole 
> Slytherin team - racing brooms.  (I have always thought that Malfoy 
> was intending to give HP the diary and ended up giving it to Ginny 
> out of spite over the fight with Arthur.) snip  


I've never been sure whether L Malfoy knew the exact power of the 
Diary. In Cos ch 2 Dobby's Warning, Dobby says "If Harry Potter goes 
back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger" .... "there is a 
plot...to make terrible things happen at Hogwarts..."

I've always felt that Malfoy was just looking for a way to give it 
to any Hogwarts student he came across, because whoever he gave it 
to, the outcome - that of taking over someone's soul and eventually 
using their mind and body to set the Basilisk on to the muggle borns 
and mudbloods, is what Malfoy was hoping would happen.

 This would obviously put Harry in mortal danger as he is a half 
blood, but later in COS ch 17 The Heir of Slytherin, Tom says "so 
Ginny poured out her soul to me and her soul happened to be exactly 
what I wanted..."  He wasn't looking for Harry Potter, he had 
preserved himself in the diary to "finish Salazar Slytherin's noble 
work" 

 He also tells Harry "Haven't I already told you,...killing 
mudbloods doesn't matter to me any more?  For many months now, my 
new target has been - you."  This suggests that his original 
target (and by assumption Malfoy's) was just to kill mudbloods.
Finding out about Harry through Ginny was just an added bonus! 

Zoe C