Who owns the Riddle house...? - Likely Candidates

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 127172


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, chnc1024 at A... wrote:
> ...edited...
>
> But my question is, does anyone think the current owner of the 
> Riddle house is important?  Or have any guesses as to who
> he/she is?  ...edtied...
>  
> Any thoughts?
>  
> Chancie


bboyminn:

As Grey Wolf already pointed out, in previous discussion the most
popular opinions went to Dumbledore and Lucius Malfoy. At various
times I have argued for both; well, one or the other, not both at the
same time.

I even futher speculated the Malfoy might simply be fronting for
Voldemort. That is, Malfoy used his money to purchase the Riddle
Mansion on Tom/Voldemort's behalf.

One of my other arguments is that after Tom Riddle left school, he had
very few resources; he was an orphan. However, there was one available
resource that he could get his hands on and use it to finance his
'transformation' in to Voldemort. That resource was the Riddle Family
Estate. 

When Tom killed his father and grandparents, as far as we know, he
wiped out the House of Riddle. So who inherited the house, land, and
money? It had to go somewhere. Minus a true heir, the estate would
have been dispursed to minor and distant relatives of the Riddle
family, which would have essentially dissolved the fortune. 

Lately, I've been thinking maybe Voldemort came back to Little
Hangleton, or perhaps to the authorities in Greater Hangleton, and
laid his claim to the estate. He waited long enough that there would
be no obvious connection between himself and the deaths. I also,
consider that he may have done this through proxies. By that I mean he
may have sent some lawyers to act on his behalf to give evidence that
there really was a young Tom Riddle Jr who had valid and legal claim
to the estate. By sending lawyers to represent him, Tom could have
avoided any nasty connection between himself and the dark hair teenage
boy that Frank saw lurking about.

At that time, he sold the house and used the money to finance his
research into the Dark Arts and into immortality. Later, after he
returned as Voldemort and started to gain power, I also assume that
along with power and followers, he gained wealth. Using this wealth,
he re-purchased the Riddle Mansion, and continued to pay Frank to be
the caretake. Again, this was not handled by him personally, but by a
solicitors (minor low grade lawyers), he hired to manage his muggle
property and money, and pay the taxes and Frank. My guess is, he
thought it could come in handy as a hide-out, or a quiet country house
when he needed to get away from the daily grind of ruling the world. 

So, I think between this and what Grey Wolf said, you have the most
popular theories...

Dumbledore - knowing that Tom Riddle (alias Voldemort) was a
significant player, he thought it best to control the Riddle Mansion.
My personal extension of this is that Dumbledore will give the house
to Harry after the final battle; a nice quiet place for him to recover
and live out his life.

Malfoy - bought it personally knowing it had a connection to Voldemort.

Malfoy - bought it specifically acting on Tom Riddle/Voldemort's behalf

Tom Riddle/Voldemort - as I have explained above.

Joe Richguy - some random insignificant person who need to stash some
money in a reasonable investment, so he bought an old mansion for 'Tax
Reasons'.

Make of it what you will.

Steve/bboyminn