Dumbledore and Voldemort's past (was: Alice and Frank/Legilimens and Memories)

[pippin_999]

> Jen:

> > Hokey sounded incredibly old at the time Voldemort murdered 
> Hepzibah- -was it not long after, when Voldemort left B&B, that 
Dumbeldore started his search?
> 
> 
> Eloise:
> That's a good question, Jen, and related to something I was
thinking  about earlier.
> 
> Dumbledore is very good at putting two and two together and asking 
> the right questions. So what about the following evidence?
> 
> -He clearly held doubts about young Tom Riddle right from the
start,  as Diary!Tom himself attests.
> 
> -The MOM immediately recognised the *Riddle* murders as magical.
> 
> -Dumbldedore knew Tom's father's name right from the moment he 
> interviewed Mrs Cole.
> 
> Why did he need to research Voldemort's past at all? Tom was 
> exceptionally able, he was (without wishing to typecast) a
Slytherin  and Dumbledore, the Legilimens, didn't trust him. 
His Muggle family  were suddenly murdered. Dumbledore is 
not one to take evidence at face value, so surely he must have 
doubted Morfin's testimony *at the  time*.

Pippin:
What we're told in HPB is the story as Dumbledore pieced it together.
But Dumbledore at the time of the Riddle murders would have been
preoccupied with World War II and Grindlewald. If he was reading
the Muggle papers in those days, it probably wasn't to follow 
sensational murders.

In any case, DD wouldn't know at that time that Little Hangleton was 
connected with Tom, so he would have no reason to be following the
news there. The Prophet may not have even mentioned the names of 
the Muggles that were killed. 

I think Dumbledore was watching Tom all along, but he didn't start 
investigating, trying to get other people to tell him what they knew
and putting things together, until after Tom returned as LV. It was 
only then that it became clear that LV was a danger to the whole 
wizarding world, not just those who crossed him or had something 
he wanted.

If  DD'd been investigating all along, it seems strange that Tom 
would have been able to disappear so completely.


Pippin