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

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 depends on how common the name Marvolo was among wizards). And he learned that Marvolo was long dead but his son was in Azkaban for the murder of three Muggles named Riddle. IOW Albus could have found out about Tom's murders even if the Smiths hadn't sought his assistance regarding the lost treasures.

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 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?
Isn't the same question valid for HBP as it stands? He has Bob Ogden's memory in which Marvolo shows a ring and claims connection to the Peverells. He sees the ring in Morphin's memory - those memories weren't obtained recently in any case, even if he started researching Tom in 1957. Supposedly he wasn't actively searching for the Hallows for their own sake, but when he sees information related to Tom he follows it up.