Lucius & the diary (was: Voldemort's recruitment)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 128936

Carol earlier:
> > <Snip> I think he [Lucius] knew that Tom's diary was full of Dark
Magic and that it was the key to releasing the basilisk again. I also
think he knew that Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort were one and the same.
> > 
> > How could Malfoy know all this? My hypothesis is that Lucius
Malfoy's father, who would have been about Tom Riddle's age and a
Slytherin, was one of the close friends to whom Tom revealed his new
name and his heritage as Heir of Slytherin. These friends would have
known that Tom was releasing the basilisk, and being his devoted 
followers and believers in the pureblood ethic, would have approved 
of what he was doing. Later, before Tom disappeared to consort with
"the worst of our kind" to learn the secrets of immortality, I think
he left his diary (and possibly most of his worldly possessions except
his wand) with his friend Malfoy, the future father of Lucius. <snip>
> 
> 
Tonks replied:
> 
> What you said all makes sense, except Tom was a half-blood. Are you 
> saying that Lucius' father did not know that?  And Lucius does not 
> know that?  And if Lucius and Narcisius both know that LV was Tom, 
> and I thought that almost no one does, don't they know that he was a 
> half-blood.. the very thing they detest?  Because Bella doesn't 
> know. So either Lucius doesn't know, and why wouldn't he 
> because "Riddle" is not an old wizard family name. Something is not 
> making sense. If Lucius knows, why doesn't Bella know. And if Lucius 
> knows why would he ever follow someone who wasn't "pure". Yes I know 
> of the idea that someone here suggested about the speach LV could 
> give, but he didn't. Very few know that Tom and LV are the same. And 
> I think even less know that Tom was a half-blood. But how could they 
> not know?  Riddle, come on that is not an old family name and all 
> the pure bloods must know that.  Explain that one, please. Thanks.


Carol takes a stab at it:

A lot of pureblood wizards have ordinary, Muggle-sounding names:
Potter, Black, and Weasley, for example. It's not all Malfoy,
Lestrange, and Ollivander. Also, the Riddle family is from the north
of England, so they could be an obscure branch of purebloods with few
connections to the better-known families centered in London and its
environs. Little Tom would have kept his mouth shut about his origins
until he found out about Grandfather Marvolo and the Slytherin
connection, and then he would have played that up, never mentioning
the other side of the family. 

Also the anti-Muggleborn bias doesn't seem to extend to half-bloods,
at least to the same degree. Maybe the fact that he was the Heir of
Slytherin (proven by his ability to speak Parseltongue and command the
basilisk) made up for his having the blood of his hated Muggle father
in Malfoy Sr.'s eyes. And Malfoy Sr. could easily have concealed what
he knew about Riddle being a half-blood from his son Lucius and
everyone else out of sheer devotion to Riddle/Voldemort. We do know
that only a few people recognized Voldemort as the handsome, charming
boy he had once been. In my view, those few were his devoted friends
at Hogwarts, the first DE recruits, for whom his exceptional powers
and the Salazar Slytherin connection more than made up for his having
a Muggle father (if they knew about his father at all).

Carol