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

[eloise_herisson]

Judy:

> Dumbledore also may not have known just how skillful Tom was.  The 
> Ministry had said that Morfin, a known Muggle-hater who had attacked 
> one of the murdered Muggles previously, was the murderer.  Dumbledore 
> probably didn't suspect that Tom already had the ability to murder 
> three people, frame someone else for the murder, and even make the 
> *framed person* think he had done it.  
> 
> So, even if Dumbledore knew the names of the murdered people, the 
> explanation that Morfin was the murderer seemed far more plausible -- 
> until he found out just what Tom Riddle was. 

Eloise:
I think this is the get out on this one. I'd forgotten that Morfin was 
already known to have attacked one of the victims, which would have 
been sufficient to put doubt into Dumbledore's mind even if he did 
suspect Tom. And until Morfin had been at the mercy of the Dementors 
for some time, I doubt he would have been co-operative in providing a 
memory. 

But Dumbledore did know where Tom's predelictions lay right from his 
first meeting with him: 

"His powers...were surprisingly well-developed - and....he had already 
discovered that he had some measure of control over them and begun to 
use them consciously. And...they were not the random experiments 
typical of young wizards: he was already using them against other 
people, to frighten, to punish to control...*I can make them hurt if I 
want to*."

Dumbledore was immediately uneasy about "his obvious instincts for 
cruelty, secrecy and domination"

Is it such a big step from an untrained 11 year old using magic to hurt 
and control to a trained sixteen year old killing and implanting 
memories? I don't think it would have surprised him to know that young 
Tom, whom he also recognised to think himself separate from and 
superior to the common mass of humanity had committed those murders. 
I'll let him off in the specific case because of Morfin's history, but 
it still seems strange to me if he didn't start investigting what 
really happened until so much later. Yes, he was dealing with 
Grindelwald, but there was an object lesson. Did he not realise that 
another Grindelwald was daily sitting beneath his nose in class?

~Eloise