The Lucius Malfoy/Delores Umbridge connection (Was: Another time line )

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 168732

Dana wrote: 
<snip> Umbridge knew who Harry would be talking to when in need and
who he didn't in relation to an emergency, which means she got this
information from someone. <snip>

Carol responds:

I'm a bit confused. Do you think that umbridge is a Death eater and
that she went after certain people (Hagrid, for example) because they
were Order members or because of their connections with Harry? As I
understand it, she went after Hagrid in part because of his connection
with Dumbledore (same reason she sent the Dementors after Harry), but
also she was a power-hungry tyrant who really wanted to sack somebody.
As for McGonagall, she got in the way (Umbridge's view) when Umbridge
was trying to arrest Hagrid. I'm not sure that Voldemort even knew
about McGonagall's being in the hospital.

Certainly, she didn't learn what she knew about Sirius Black's
fondness for Harry from Snape, who tells Harry to tell no one about
the Occlumency lessons, "least of all Dolores Umbridge" (OoP Am. ed.
519) and gave Umbridge fake Veritaserum to prevent her from learning
about Black's or Dumbledore's whereabouts by questioning Harry. he
thwarts her again by telling her that she has used the last of his
Veritaserum when she wants to question Harry after he uses her
fireplace to communicate with Kreacher. ("You are being deliberately
unhelpful!" she says, and she's right, as his ironic bow shows.)
Clearly, her source of information isn't Snape. 

However, there's one person with a link to both Kreacher (and the MoM
Prophecy plot) on the one hand and Umbridge on the other, someone whom
Umbridge doesn't know to be a Death Eater: Lucius Malfoy. We know that
Umbridge knows Malfoy (she tells Snape that Lucius speaks well of him,
which leads her to expect Snape's cooperation in her Harry
interrogations). We know that Kreacher is reporting either to Narcissa
or to both adult Malfoys, and that Lucius in turn is reporting to
Voldemort. We know that Lucius has close connections with Fudge (and
Fudge with Umbridge). 

We know that Lucius saw Sirius Black in dog form on Platform 9 3/4 and
soon afterwards, the Daily Prophet reported that Black had been seen
in London. Hermione immediately suspects that Lucius Malfoy told Fudge
about seeing Black (which Lucius is cunning enough to do without
revealing that he saw Black in Animagus form and recognized him thanks
to Peter Pettigrew's description). Fudge could then have told
Umbridge, who seems to know more than what's reported in the paper.

At any rate, I think that a Malfoy/Umbridge connection, however
indirect, makes sense, as further evidenced by the privileges she
gives Draco and the Inquisitorial Squad. Not that I think she's a
Death Eater or that she's deliberately targeting people that Voldemort
wants targeted, but Lucius Malfoy would be a perfect go-between for
her and Fudge and for Fudge/Umbridge and Voldemort, to whom she
wouldn't know he was reporting. She gives Fudge information about
Hogwarts, which Fudge shares with his dear friend Lucius and Lucius
passes to Voldemort; Lucius in turn gives Fudge information (such as
seeing Black), which Fudge then passes on to his High Inquisitor.
Draco could be a source of information about Harry and Dumbledore's
loyal staff members for both Umbridge and Lucius.

Just a thought. I'm not arguing that Lucius Malfoy is Umbridge's and
Fudge's informant regarding Black, but he seems to me a more likely
candidate than Snape, and it's clear that before Malfoy's arrest, he
has a good deal of influence on Fudge.

Carol, who also thinks it's suspicious that Macnair, a Ministry
employee as well as a DE, showed up as Voldemort's ambassador to the
giants and wonders whether he was really the *Ministry's* ambassador,
sent by Fudge at Malfoy's suggestion (and, of course, secretly working
for Voldemort)