What were the Malfoys DOING there?

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 113015

> > Antosha:
> <snip> Here's my question: HOW THE HECK DOES LUCIUS KNOW THE 
WEASLEYS 
> > ARE GOING TO BE IN DIAGON ALLEY THAT DAY???"

Zoe C. wrote:
> 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! 
> 
Hannah now: The real question here is what Lucius Malfoy was hoping 
to achieve with the diary.  I can think of three possibilities:
1. Restore LV to power through diary Tom
2. Kill off as many mudbloods as possible, and get the school shut 
down.
3. Discredit Arthur Weasley, hopefully killing some mudbloods along 
the way.

If 1 or 2 were his ultimate aims, it wouldn't have mattered which 
student he used.  If 3 was his goal, he had to use Ginny (none of 
the boys would have written in a diary).

I doubt that 1 was his aim.  Lucius doesn't seem to be suffering 
from LV's absence, and if he really wanted him back, he could go and 
find vapour!mort in Albania or wherever he is (Pettigew manages it, 
so I'm sure Lucius could).

2 is a possibility; death's of non-purebloods, removal of 
Dumbledore, chance to get his way and have Draco sent to 
Durmstrang.  OTOH, I doubt that shutting Hogwarts would really have 
meant no school for British wizards ever again - it was really the 
castle that was the problem.  All they need do is set up another 
school elsewhere.  Inconvenient, and might take a year or two, but 
sooner or later, muggle-borns would be setting off to another 
school, without the fear of a monster, and maybe with DD as head 
again.  

I think he was motivated by a combination of 2 and 3.  The timing 
suuggests that killing off muggle-borns was not his only aim - why 
not do it beforehand if so?  But at the start of CoS he has a 
problem; Arthur Weasley's muggle protection act, and this is going 
to affect the one thing that Lucius *really* cares about - himself.  
He realises he has an ideal opportunity to prevent the muggle 
protection act, remove DD, and maybe even kill off some children 
(you can see why it was so appealing).  

Also, he couldn't give the diary to just anyone.  It needed to be 
someone who would be likely to write in a diary (probably female), 
and someone young and vulnerable enough to pour out their heart and 
not be suspicious of the diary, at least until it was too late.  
This did restrict him somewhat.  He either always intended it for 
Ginny, or at least had her on a shortlist of possible candidates to 
be slipped the diary. DD's comments at the end of CoS suggest that 
he believes discrediting Arthur Weasley to have been Lucius' aim.

The problem with motivation 3 is how he intended to let the WW know 
it was Ginny.  Was he planning to set her up, perhaps by tipping off 
a student (probably not Draco), or his favourite staff member, 
Severus Snape?  He was leaving it a bit late, since there'd already 
been 4 attacks by the time Ginny was taken, and they were already 
threatening to shut the school. Maybe Lucius was waiting for DD to 
get thrown out, or for there to actually be a death.  And then Tom 
Riddle spoilt everything by taking matters into his own hands, and 
making Ginny a victim.  I reckon if Riddle hadn't acted 
unpredictably, and Ginny opened the chamber again to attack another 
student, someone would have caught her in the act, or suddenly found 
some evidence to prove it was her.  I've no idea how or what, though.

Hannah