Unlikely Allies, Chapter Six: The Secret Riddle

[terri_testing]

Q: What do a deceased Pureblood supremacist, a magic-hating Muggle, and the Half-blood Head of Slytherin have in common?
A: No, no, you had the correct answer: nothing at all. Don’t be silly!

Chapter Summary: Muggles help to investigate the Riddle mystery.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Muggle saying.

“Only two things make us

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Blunderbuss!!!! How long will it take Severus to figure that one out?

Wow, the trail of suffering and horror that Tom had left behind him - thanks to Albus' collusion.

And Severus sat for several hours with Betty, if he had to take more Polyjuice several times. He was sweet to her. (Were the chocolates also imbued with some calming draught or the like?)

Does he have any time left till term? Because he should try to get in touch with Horace too.

Great cover stories for our spy-turned-detective. And the closest thing to the truth he could have told Betty.

Of Tom's history that Albus revealed to Harry what is missing? Mostly Hepzibah Smith's story, Tom's job interview and of course Horace's memory.

Timeline

[terri_testing]

Snape's pushing as hard as he can on this; he wrote Petunia Tuesday, 8/7; she contacted the agency 8/13. The first report (just the paperwork officially on file) came in on 8/15. He visited the Prophet morgue and Little Hangleton the next day; Harry's note was the next. Petunia called the agency Saturday and they had the list of fatalities Tuesday, 8/21. They got him the first contact information on a survivor the next day and he went at once

Re: Timeline

[oryx_leucoryx]

I agree with Jodel that Albus started investigating Tom's doings when the Smith family called him in to consult about the items mysteriously missing after Hokey killed her mistress. Albus went: missing heirlooms--Borgin & Burke's, where one of them had come from and both might be fenced--and Tom had been working there and done a bunk. Hmm. The other item missing was what? Slytherin's locket?--from a pregant woman in 1926--OOPS. Then he went off to inteview Morfin, and started agitating for Morfin's release.

Why would the Smith's think Albus could help them?
So in December 1956 Albus interviewed someone he suspected very seriously (more than he did in 1943) as a serial murderer and didn't have Aurors waiting for him?

In my more generous days I am willing to accept that Albus' investigation started when he saw what Tom looked like at only 30. (Hmm. We see Tom at 30, Severus at 30. Was Gellert 30 when he stole the Elder Wand?)

Re: Timeline

[oryx_leucoryx]

I tried to think who else might remember Tom Riddle's school days. Besides Albus and Horace other staff members we know of are DADA prof Galathea Merrythought - Albus describes her as old at her retirement in 1945 so she might no longer be alive. According to Beadle the Bard Kettleburn was teaching Care of Magical Creatures and one Herbert Beery was teaching herbology back when Albus was a young Transfiguration teacher, and we know Kettleburn is still at Hogwarts at this point. (OK, Binns may have been around back then too, but well...) Do you think Tom was interested in this subject? Hooch might be from that generation judging by the model of broom she first learned to fly on, but we don't know when she started teaching at Hogwarts, she may have played Quidditch or done something else before becoming flying instructor

Re: Timeline

[oryx_leucoryx]

I think once he has all the essential pieces (probably after he has the prophecy) Severus needs to sit back a bit and look at the entire picture - and re-evaluate everything he knows about Albus. Phineas will be a good bouncing board.

Re: Timeline

[oryx_leucoryx]

Once Horace opens up he might also comment about Tom's employment at B&B. Unless Severus is too shocked after hearing of the plan for a 7-part-soul to keep the conversation going. What we don't know is whether Burke is still alive, we see the memory of him telling someone (presumably Albus) about how he acquired the locket, but in the two visits at the store that take place in canon years only Borgin is present. Burke's importance is that he knows what the locket looks like, Severus and Phineas will be able to see it in the Pensieve. The characters known to have seen the locket are Bob Ogden, known to be dead by 1996, Hokey, already old in 1947, Burke and Kreacher.

Locket

[terri_testing]

Plot bunny.

I just checked DH--Kreacher says that Master Regulus had ordered him not to tell MISTRESS about the cave and what happened there.

So what if--with all this stuff being dredged up anyhow--Phineas gets curious about the circumstances of his great-great-grandson's supposed defection from the DE's and murder?

Re: Locket

[oryx_leucoryx]

I can certainly see the Alliance learning of the locket by this route, and thus avoiding the cave trip. I agree Kreacher understood Regulus' order to be limited to not letting his mother know - he does tell Harry and his friends after all. (And I suppose Regulus' command suggests that Orion was already dead by the time of his trip to the cave. A bit of a problem for me because I have been playing with the idea that Kreacher's trip was during the Christmas break of 1978-79, after which the war entered its more intensive phase, once Tom felt he had a very well protected Horcrux. But then we do not know exactly how long there was between the two trips.)

Re: Timeline

[oryx_leucoryx]

I couldn't find where we discussed the possibility of recruiting Aberforth to the Alliance. I checked DH and Rita Skeeter says that Aberforth's goat trial was about 15 years before the time of the interview on Albus, so around 1982. Severus was already back at Hogwarts, though probably too busy as a very young teacher and also being investigated by the Ministry, so he may not have paid much attention. But he would have noticed any time Albus brought it up. (Hagrid's acquisition of the dragon egg may bring the topic up later this year.) If Severus contacts him following something he got from Bathilda that would probably wait till Severus is investigating the circumstances around the Potters' time in hiding - maybe around the time of Sirius' escape? (Unless something causes him to investigate Albus' early life - maybe when he finds Albus had the cloak which is one of the Hallows he realizes Albus was a Quester

Re: Timeline

[oryx_leucoryx]

JFYI, Jodel has a new route Albus may have found about the Gaunts, according to The Times are out of Joint,: This is based on Marvolo telling Bob Ogden that he had at least once been offered what must have been an impressive sum for the ring. So she suggests the person who had made the offer had been an agent of Gellert, a few years after the theft of the Elder Wand. If Gellert was thinking of becoming Master of Death while he was building his empire (or whatever that was) then he had agents looking for leads to the other Hallows. The offer to Marvolo was not followed up once he had turned it down because there was no way of knowing this was the actual Resurrection Stone, it could have been some Quester's jewelry. And in 1945 when Albus defeated Gellert he also confiscated the latter's research notes about the Hallows. And found a reference to a familiar name, Marvolo. I don't know what Albus did with the other leads Gellert may have had, but he checked up this Marvolo guy in case he was indeed Tom's grandfather (Jodel says this

Re: Timeline

[terri_testing]

That's a nice one! But in terms of timelines, it's not terribly firm, because Albus could have noticed the relevant information at ANY time after 1945.

But it's an interesting way to get Albus on the track of Tom Marvolo Riddle's ancestry. Only thing is, if Albus had ever thought the Gaunt ring might contain the Hallow stone, wouldn't he have looked for it before? For that matter, why didn't he recognize it when Tom wore the ring at school? Or he did, of course, just think it associated Tom with the Peverells.

But then why did he, in HBP, recognize the ring as a Hallow when he hadn't realized it when Tom was wearing it, and when he hadn't looked for it until he started hunting Horcruces?

Re: Timeline

[oryx_leucoryx]

Jodel goes on to suggest that Albus had attempted to get Morphin released somewhere in 1945-6, and the noise from this (whether through the Prophet or a friend at the Ministry) prompted Tom to get on with his plan regarding Mrs Smith and disappear already. And not come back until he has changed unrecognizably. IOW when he showed up for the job interview Tom knew Albus had not only suspected him of responsibility for Myrtle's death but also for the deaths of the Riddles.

Regarding Tom wearing the ring - wouldn't that depend on how visible that Hallows symbol was from a distance? And on what Tom exactly claimed about the ring? Because that's what both versions come down to right? A ring with the emblem of the Hallows, connected to some Marvolo guy. The question is whether Tom openly claimed a connection to the Peverells themselves (in your version he did). So if he said it was a family heirloom but Albus never saw the emblem itself, then he wouldn't have thought much about it.

But then why did he, in HBP, recognize the ring as a

Re: Timeline

[oryx_leucoryx]

Harry's quite upset, BTW, that he's had to make do with a couple of half-day visits. Friday the 24th is promised to Harry in whole, because Severus returns to Hogwarts to prepare for final preparations for term the following day.

How is Harry's Occlumency coming along? How better prepared is he for Hogwarts compared to book!Harry? I suppose you can show both by showing his performance once he is at school (I'm sure Dumbledore would want to know where Harry stands wrt Severus at some point). I'll be waiting.