Owner of Riddle House (was Re: I think I know what one of the horcruxes is.)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 148324

> zgirnius:
> His mother was legally married, in the usual Muggle manner, to Tom
Riddle Sr. A record of this certainly exists in the Muggle legal 
system somewhere. I would guess that Tom Sr. may not have written a 
will at the time of his death, he was pretty young at the time. And he
was probably named heir to his parents' property in their will. I 
think the Muggle legal system would consider his claim a very strong
one. If Voldemort wanted the house, I do not think he would have had
that much trouble getting it. He could have done so before his 
appearance became odd (and even that is probably not a problem for a
wizard, it can probably be altered temporarily when necessary).
>
Carol responds:
I see at least three problems with this assumption. First, I doubt
very much that the Muggle legal system knew of his existence or he'd
have been the primary suspect in the murder of his father. He had a
motive and Frank Bryce reported seeing a teenage boy running from the
scene of the crime. To claim the house as his inheritance at that
time, when he could prove his identity, would have been both foolish
and dangerous for that reason. (The Muggle authorities wouldn't know
that the Aurors had arrested Morfin Gaunt for the crime and sent him
to Azkaban.) Second, there were two Muggle owners before the current
one, meaning that enough time passed for his appearance to change
dramatically. It would be very hard for someone who looks as he does
to prove his identity. If he had any Muggle identification, it would
be for his teenage self. Even if he could magically the proper papers
(or bewitch a paper to look like proper documentation), I seriously
doubt that he could, or would, change his appearance. Third, he has
renounced his Muggle ancestry and doesn't want any connections with
the Riddles (except to use their abandoned house as a hideout when
he's Baby!mort and his father's bone to restore his body). He
certainly would not want to use the Muggle name he hates so much to
buy the house he father refused to let him live in. Fourth, he could
not have used the house as his headquarters in VW1 or for any other
purpose, or Frank would have tried to investigate (as he does in GoF)
and been killed much sooner. And there's no point in LV's paying for a
house (through, say, a Squib go-between) even if he has the money
(galleons converted to pounds) if he's not going to use it.

I'm sure there are other reasons, but those are sufficient to make me
doubt that LV is the legal owner of the Riddle house. He may, however,
be occupying it now illegally, with enchantments placed on it to hide
the DEs' coming and going. But if so, it's odd that Dumbledore would
not have mentioned it to Harry.

Carol