Lucius, Lucius, Lucius

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 179211

> Pippin:
> Lucius didn't have to bow and scrape to Voldemort in public. 

a_svirn:
I'd say a meeting where a few dozens death eaters are present is 
sufficiently public. Unless you take Voldemort's words about their 
being one big, happy family at their face value. Then of course it 
would be a private affair. Even so, as a part of this extended family 
Lucius had less political clout than he would have had on his own. 

> Pippin:
Nor
> was Voldemort's halfblood status an issue -- Lucius didn't know
> the nature of the connection between the diary and Voldemort.

a_svirn:
What do you mean it wasn't an issue? Some of Voldemort's followers 
were recruited while he was still in Hogwarts. They knew very well 
that he was a half-blood orphan, it wasn't exactly a secret. And the 
graveyard scene took place at the tomb of his Muggle father. And 
there was all that bragging about killing him, and using his bones 
for the resurrection. 

> Pippin:
> A young Lucius, chafing under the restrictions imposed by the
> Ministry, and perhaps by older members of his family such as
> Abraxian, might have thought that playacting subservience to
> Voldemort <snip>

a_svirn:
Where do you get this idea of play-acting? It's like saying that 
Kreacher play-acted at being Sirius's slave. He may have chafed under 
the bondage, he may even have been subversive, but he *was* a slave. 
Whatever Lucius motives might have been, he *was* a servant. He might 
have played at being loyal, while being merely opportunistic or even 
subversive, but he didn't play at being a servant. He was one. 

> Pippin:
was a small price to pay for getting to live out his
> anti-Muggle fantasies. 

a_svirn:
Surely entering into servitude was a high price? And why pay at all? 
They didn't need to grovel before any sham lords to torture muggles 
or to plot a coup d'eta.

> Pippin:
> Anyway, Lucius may have considered Voldemort's title and
> the robe kissing just superstition, meant to scare
> weaker souls than he.

a_svirn:
If you say so. May be this is really no big deal. Maybe it's just me. 
I would have thought that even in politics self-abasement and total 
loss of dignity is an unacceptable gambit for any sane person, let 
alone a proud aristocrat. Especially, when the reward is so much less 
than what has been forfeited. 

> Pippin:
 Lucius was showing off as usual. 

a_svirn:
The question is what exactly did he show off, to whom, and with what 
objective in mind?