What were the Malfoys DOING there?

[antoshachekhonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 113668

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Hannah" <hannahmarder at y...> wrote:
> > Carolyn wrote:
> <snip>
> > if Diary!Tom had had this conversation with Lucius, surely 
> > > he would have discovered the key facts about Harry that way, and 
> > > would not have had to extract most of the story from Ginny? 
> > <snip>
> > > I agree that Lucius must have had some inkling about the powers 
> of the diary, or there would have been no point in the plot, and 
> part of what he must have been told by Diary!Tom is that giving it 
> to a student would enable a monster to be unleashed once again to 
> kill mudbloods. DD makes it clear that he assumes this was Malfoy's 
> >intent, and Malfoy's reaction confirms it.
> > >
> > Mac replied:
> > Very nice post Carolyn. We must all recall that Ginny spends 
> months with the diary and almost certainly, as Harry did, was taken 
> in, quite literally. Malfoy, on the other hand knew its darkly 
> magical nature and so would handle it with kid (or dragon hide) 
> gloves and, if he wrote in it, would do so as his ONLY means of 
> communication, not allow himself to be taken into its pages as both 
> Harry and Ginny did. 
> > 
> > In such a 'writing only' conversation (as we each have with one 
> > another here in the medium of HPfGU) one can still impart and 
> learn much, exchange ideas, make suggestions, influence etc. 
> > 
> > So, Malfoy tells Diary!Tom about HP and that he has the power to 
> > thwart his future plans/self. Thus Harry should be THE target in 
> the hope that Diary!Tom can succeed where 'physical' LV didn't (at 
> GH). 
> > Lucius knows, hopes or suspects that LV might be back and that 
> > either way Harry is a threat, so let's use DIARY!Tom to see if he 
> > does any better. Nothing lost and many things to be gained, 
> > including all the things people have listed. 
> <snip> 
> 
> Hannah now: I still don't think that Malfoy was trying to get LV 
> reinstated, and that he probably had no idea this could be a 
> consequence.  I don't believe that Malfoy would ever have taken the 
> risk of writing in the diary - he knew it was potentially dangerous 
> and wouldn't have taken a risk.  So here's my version of events.
> 
> I believe that the diary was given to him along with instructions, 
> written or verbal.  It may have come from LV himself, from an elder 
> Malfoy, or from another DE.  The instructions state that the diary 
> holds the power to possess someone who writes in it, and through 
> them open the chamber of secrets.  
> 
> Malfoy being a wiley type, keeps hold of the diary until a time when 
> it is useful to him.  During PS/SS, for whatever reason, Malfoy 
> decides the time is ripe to use it.  Maybe it's because he wants 
> Harry Potter killed/ sent back to muggledom when the school closes 
> (and this isn't necessarily because he's planning the return of LV.  
> He may feel this boy, already an enemy of his son, will be a threat 
> to Malfoy's power).  It could also be because he feels it's time to 
> oust DD and consilidate his own power at Hogwarts.  Or because of 
> the need to discredit Arthur Weasley and prevent the muggle 
> protection act.
> 
> Malfoy then hands out the diary, either deliberately to Ginny 
> because of her father (depending on his motive) or just because she 
> is the first young girl about to start at Hogwarts that he comes 
> across.  Tom finds out all about Harry from Ginny (and she's got a 
> huge crush on him, so she's going to be only too pleased to tell Tom 
> his life story, even without prompting).  He then makes Harry his 
> new target.
> 
> Hannah

Antosha:

Having asked the question that started this conversation, I've been following it with GREAT 
interest--thank you all for the fascinating hashing-out!

I like the idea that Lucius and/or some of the other DEs must have written in the diary--
he's got too much information not to have, if we judge by his reaction in the scene with 
DD at the end of the book.

Something has occurred to me that may have been mentioned already in terms of the 
TIMING of the planting of the diary: at the beginning of CoS, Arthur Weasley and friends 
have been conducting raids, and Lucius seems to be divesting himself of some of his more 
incriminating paraphernalia with what seems to be a sense of real urgency. What more 
perfect way to rid yourself of an incriminating book than to plant it on  the child of one of 
your most annoying enemies?