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

[kkersey_austin]

No: HPFGUIDX 148343

Carol presents a compelling argument against the possibility that Tom
Riddle could or would lay claim to the Riddle home as his inheritance.
I'm going to borrow a snippet here to argue against the theory that
Dumbledore is the mysterious owner:

Carol:
> 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. 

Elisabet now:
On the one hand, it would be in character for Dumbledore to provide
for poor Frank Bryce by keeping him on as caretaker... but on the
other, if Dumbledore had really acquired the property so he could keep
an eye on it just in case LV decided to show up there again - well,
anyone could guess what Frank's fate would be the moment LV showed up.
I just can't see Dumbledore using anyone, much less a helpless muggle,
as a canary in a coal mine like that.

Of course, DD could probably assume that any magical alarms would be
detectable by LV, and he wouldn't want LV to know he was watching the
place if he really did think it was important. So that leaves using
Muggles to keep an eye on the place, which perhaps DD is (passively)
doing via the newspapers.

If LV wanted to make sure that the house was empty and available he
could have easily enough gone through a third party - even a rich
muggle looking for a tax shelter - with a confundus charm or two to
get the paperwork in order. Even if he bought it himself (unlikely,
for reasons Carol has noted) - and he'd have to have used an alias, as
there is no way the Riddle name could have passed unnoticed - there's
no reason he'd have to show his face at Little Hangleton or anywhere else.

Elisabet