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

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 127181


>chancie wrote:
> > 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?

> bboyminn wrote:
> <snip>
> 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'.


Hannah:  
I'm going with 'Joe Richguy.'  It's not often I take something in 
canon at face value, but on this, I do.  If Dumbledore owned the 
house, then how come he didn't have more idea about the uses it was 
being put to, especially as the evidence built up over the year that 
LV was gaining in strength - and given that he knew Bryce had been 
killed.

With the Malfoys, I don't see why they'd have employed a Muggle 
gardner, and what purpose owning the house would serve them.  They 
didn't know LV was going to return.  If they bought it before LV's 
downfall on his behalf, again, why did they keep it up and continue 
to pay Frank Bryce?  

I don't believe that Riddle owned it either.  If he owned the house, 
how had he managed to keep paying Frank for the thirteen years he'd 
been Vapour!Mort?  I don't think he'd risk exposure like that.  My 
guess is that he needed somewhere to stay near the graveyard, found 
the house to be empty, and moved on in.  If people had been living 
there/ stumbled upon him, as Frank did, he just killed them.

So unless Dumbledore or Malfoy or Riddle has purchased it since the 
end of GoF (possible for DD, probably not for the others), I'm 
guessing it's insignificant.

Hannah