COS Chapter Eleven: "The Duelling Club"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

 

* Percy’s looking “in far better spirits than last time they’d met”. Wonder if he’s been seeing Penelope in one of the less-used sections of the library?

* Although if we asked JKR, she’d probably say that he’s in a state of sadistic glee after docking points from a first-year, or something like that.

* Percy and Ron both seem quite hung up on the fact that it’s a girls’ toilet. Perhaps Gryffindor wizards are just insecure about their sexuality (cf. Harry), and so compensate by rejecting anything even remotely connected with the feminine sex.

* Harry can’t see why Ron and Hermione would be in the bathroom, but goes in there anyway, proving (as if any more proof were needed) that logic isn’t one of his strongest points.

* Trying to kill someone because you’ve just lost a Quidditch game would be totally IC for a Gryffindor, IMHO. Less so for a Slytherin, though: you’d have thought that a member of a House noted for cunning would be able to put such things into better perspective.

* Or at least they would, if JKR could convincingly write a cunning person.

* Ron immediately assumes it was Lucius Malfoy who opened the Chamber last time round, even though he has absolutely no idea whether Lucius was actually at school when that happened.

* Ron belittles Hermione’s reading, except when he needs her to do his homework for him, in which case he’s glad she knows so much.

* The Twins are giving Ginny nightmares until Percy stops them. This does not stop Percy from being the tactless one with no people skills, obviously.

* Is Neville “almost a Squib”? He’s always having magical accidents, to be sure, but his problem mostly seems to be one of control, rather than actual power. (Cf. Snape’s “we’ll be sending Finch-Fletchley home in a matchbox” comment.)

* Is there any explanation for Draco staying at school? He always goes home during the other years, AFAIK, so why break the pattern now, if not for authorial convenience?

* Or perhaps he’s just started going out with Pansy, and is spending a romantic Christmas Holidays with her…

* On a side note, I’ve never really got all the Pansy-hate that goes around. I can sort of understand it in the books, from a Doylist perspective if not a Watsonian one (Pansy being based on some girls who used to bully JKR at school), but why does fandom seem to hate her, too? Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever read one fic where she’s portrayed in a positive (or even a neutral) light, which is surprising given that (a) she doesn’t do anything that bad in canon, and (b) fandom (or at least parts of it) seems determined to like pretty much every other Slytherin in the books.

* Anyway, let us leave such characterisation conundrums, and return to the actual book…

* Harry has got to think of a way to steal something from Snape’s stores without being seen. *sigh* If only he had some sort of magical garment – a cloak, maybe, or something like that – which could make him invisible…

* As Harry, unfortunately, does not have any such garment until Rowling remembers about his invisibility cloak, he’s instead stuck with disfiguring the Slytherins to create a diversion.

* BTW, Hermione’s “I’d better do the actual stealing, as you’ll get expelled if you get caught” line doesn’t make much sense, given that Harry would surely be in even more trouble if he were found lobbing fireworks into cauldrons full of dangerous potions than if he were found stealing something from Snape’s stores.

* Snape turns a blind eye to Draco flicking puffer-fish eyes at Harry, which obviously counterbalances Harry’s getting the rules bent to help him, receiving free top-of-the-range broomsticks free of charge, being given extra tuition by Dumbledore, having the House Cup rigged so his House always wins…

* Oh, Harry, the things you have to do to save the school. I bet you hated disfiguring Malfoy like that, didn’t you?

* For all that we’re expected to see Snape’s dislike of Harry as an irrational result of his dislike for James, Harry doesn’t really do much to prove him wrong. He is lazy, arrogant, rude and mediocre, and here he’s endangering other pupils’ safety. It’s no wonder Snape doesn’t like him.

* For “he knows a tiny little bit about duelling”, read “he knows enough about duelling to completely wipe the floor with me”. And Harry, too, but unfortunately we’ll have to wait until HBP to enjoy that.

* “‘Wouldn’t it be good if they finished each other off?’ Ron muttered in Harry’s ear.” Note that this is completely different to Draco wishing that Slytherin’s monster would finish Hermione off.

* I’d love to be a Slytherin in this scene. It’s so rare they’re given a chance to shine, watching their Head of House publicly kick arse must be a very enjoyable occasion for them.

* I don’t see why they don’t teach Expelliarmus in the normal curriculum. It seems to me that spells like this are the first thing you’d teach them in DADA (maybe Stupefy and Protego as well).

* Lockhart bounces back from his humiliation as usual.

* Snape’s “splitting up the dream team”, as he put it, makes me wonder why pupils aren’t made to work with their peers from other Houses more often on assignments and suchlike. Having the Gryffindors work with the Slytherins might teach them that their counterparts in other Houses are human being too, not caricatures of evil like most people seem to think.

* So did Malfoy use Expelliarmus on Harry, then? Harry still seems to have his wand, but that could be attributed to Malfoy just learning the spell and, therefore, not being very good at it. If so, then Harry’s the one who actually starts using non-Expelliarmus spells.

* “Whoops – my wand is a little over-excited” must surely win the award for most Freudian sentence in COS.

* So is Snape the one who gave Draco the idea of using the snake spell? If so, why? Using random dark magic (presumably) just for the hell of it doesn’t really seem his style. Is it perhaps because he knows that Harry doesn’t know how to block proper spells, and just wants Draco to cast one which Harry will be able to avoid more easily?

* Also, is Draco’s already knowing the Serpensortia spell a sign that Slytherin has its own duelling club? It wouldn’t actually surprise me to find that Slytherin has the best clubs; given what we’ve seen of inter-House relations, I doubt that Slytherin students would be made to feel very welcome in any school-wide clubs they did join, so they’d probably set up their own.

* I have to admit, that “What, drop my wand?” line is rather funny.

* Better not tell Harry that, in a society as small as the WW, and given that Salazar lived a thousand years ago, everybody’s probably related to him several times over.

* Anyway, the idea of there being one heir of Slytherin doesn’t really seem very likely. Even if there’s only one legitimate heir, all it would take would be for one descendant over the past thousand years to have one illegitimate child, and there could be any number of unknown heirs. It could be anyone. It could even be Dudley Dursley… (Now there’s a fanfic idea if ever I saw one!)

* I like the way everyone assumes that (a) being Slytherin’s heir automatically makes one evil, and (b) all Slytherin’s heirs would get sorted into Slytherin. And people say that blood’s not important in Harry Potter?

* BTW, I wonder what the Slytherins all think of this constant vilification of their House’s founder?

* That’s right, chaps, Salazar spoke Parseltongue, so anyone who speaks Parseltongue must also be evil. Just like Slazar wore clothes, and ate, and got married, so anyone who does any of those things must also be—no, wait…

* Come to think of it, the evidence for Harry being the Heir is much stronger than the evidence against Draco. Not that this’ll give Harry pause for thought when he knocks out two of Draco’s friends to spy on him.

* “‘He always seems so nice, though,’ said Hannah uncertainly.” Don’t worry, Hannah, we’ll stamp that out of him soon enough.

* Harry’s voice is “shaking with anger” now, both foreshadowing CAPSLOCK!Harry and making him look like the dangerous menace the Hufflepuffs all think he is.

* Harry’s really unlucky in that he has a motive for attacking everybody who’s been attacked so far. Maybe Tom’s trying to discredit him, like Lucius is trying to discredit Dumbledore?

* I like the way going to Dumbledore’s office is seen as such a big deal. You can tell he’s got such a close relationship with the student body, can’t you?

 

Comments

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Plus as a governor of the school (1 of 12) shouldn't Lucius be able to go to the school whenever he wanted to check up on things?

And another thing I'm wondering, The 12 governors sound like they have power over the Headmaster in certain respects. Don't forget that Lucius was able to 'make' the other 11 governors agree to removing Dumbledore.

It was said to be that he threatened to curse they're families but HOW would he be allowed to continue as a governor making such threats to the other governors? The fact that these 11 people agreed without complaint to the ministry sounds kind of suspitious to me.

Though I don't remmeber for sure if it was all 11 that agreed, I don't know how many governors you need to remove a Headmaster, do all have to agree or do you just need a majority.

But if Dumbledore had proof that Lucius threatened other governors it seems rather questionable that nobody ever spoke up to the ministry about that. These other 11 governors don't sound like very responsible people - hell I don't think we ever hear who they are - I'd love to know who these people are that get threatened so easily by Lucius malfoy and that then bend to his will without much complaint; I can't see them being just some random nobody in the community that has no power or influence. It just sounds rather suspitious having Lucius threaten to curse their families but then nothing is done about it later or after the fact.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

I don't think he had concrete proof - as far as we know, all he has is the word of the other governors, and they may have been covering their asses in the belief that Dumbledore's absence had exacerbated the crisis. And I can't really imagine Lucius explicitly saying "I will curse your families if you don't vote to fire Dumbledore" - he'd probably have phrased it more ambiguously in case anyone complained to the Ministry. As for their caving so easily, I've always assumed that with the Blacks out of the picture, the Malfoys are either the noblest or one of the noblest wizarding families around, and according to Draco, Abraxas Malfoy had connections to Slughorn's contact network which may have been inherited by Lucius. Up until the end of OotP, Lucius had a lot of social pull.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

I have a theory (no canon support, but it doesn't directly contradict anything we've been told about lucius) that he threatened them with Greyback.

Lucius waas outed during the last part of the war. He got off with an Imperius defense, but his involvement with the DEs was public knowledge. Ergo: Greyback, who had a band of weres to impress and support, knew where to find him. I think he paid Greyback off when he could, but threw a bit of dirty work in his drection when it seemed like a good idea. Intimidation and extortion seems to have been Lucius's specialty, and Greyback may have been useful. Occasionally. Particularly when invoked as a threat, behind his back.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Explicitly bringing up Fenrir doesn't seem like a wise thing for him to do, though - it's public knowledge that he was fired as a governor, so one would assume the reason he was fired wouldn't be too hard to discover, and I find it hard to believe that he'd be so friendly with Fudge and important Ministry officials if it was known he was still in contact with dangerous werewolves. Threatening the governors with magic, while frowned upon, I can see being accepted as "just one of those things the nobility can get away with", like siring bastards and riding down peasants used to be, but for someone who's trying to distance himself from his terrorist past, using Greyback for threats and extortion rather than assassination or attacks specifically intended to be unconnected to Lucius looks rather silly.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

That is a valid point. I suppose a lot depends upon how much inuendo and subtlety were employed. In Rowling's hands it would be a hopeless case.

As to the Ministry campaign the following year, I suspect that he wormed his way into Umbridge's good graces and played the "ain't it awful" card over Greyback extorting money from him for the past dozen years. It wouldn't have even been untrue.

[cured4life.livejournal.com]

I don't think Lucius would employ Fenrir. He wanted power and respectability. If he did that and it got out that would be the end. So while Lucius would not stoop to some levels, I can't see him stooping to that level. So I agree.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Did Lucius continue as governor after the end of this year? I don't think the governors get mentioned again until the end of HBP when obviously Lucius was no longer among them, as he was in Azkaban.

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Did Lucius continue as governor after the end of this year? I don't think the governors get mentioned again until the end of HBP when obviously Lucius was no longer among them, as he was in Azkaban.

I can't remember for sure but I'm thinking he was still Governor up till the OOTP Ministry attack.

[oryx_leucoryx]

OTOH I was always convinced he stopped being governor after COS. In POA Draco says "Father's not very happy about my injury -" ... "- he's complained to the school governors. And to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know. ..."

Lucius complained to the governors, not to the other governors. This looks like he was no longer one of them.

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

OTOH I was always convinced he stopped being governor after COS. In POA Draco says "Father's not very happy about my injury -" ... "- he's complained to the school governors. And to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know. ..."

Lucius complained to the governors, not to the other governors. This looks like he was no longer one of them.

Yea, he could have been removed after COS but the only thing that makes me still question the idea he was officially removed. I would think that if Lucius had been actually 'removed' as a governor, Harry, Hermione, Ron would have made a point in telling us the reader. Harry would have POV commented the narrator would have told us at the beginning of POA somehow I would have thought.

If such a think had happened as far as him being pushed out by other people or officially being taken out of the position I would think Arthur or someone would have mentioned it, or it would have been in the paper, etc. Or just all around we would have known about it. It doesn't seem like a minor thing - it seems more important than some of the frivilous stuff we find out about.

I don't think JKR would have missed the opportunity to allow Harry to tell us Lucius had been removed after COS. It just seems like it would have been pointed out or even Draco would have complained it was 'someones' fault his dad was removed as a Governor.

So thats the only thing that makes me question if he was removed aftet COS - I just feel like that would have been pointed out if people had pushed him out of the governor position.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Lucius was ousted. Which means that all through PoA he was trying to forge another power base. This time in the Ministry. And succeeded, apparantly.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Did Lucius continue as governor after the end of this year?

The narrator mentioned him being fired at the end of CoS:

The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal with only a few, small differences — Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were canceled (“but we’ve had plenty of practice at that anyway,” Ron told a disgruntled Hermione) and Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor. Draco was no longer strutting around the school as though he owned the place. On the contrary, he looked resentful and sulky. On the other hand, Ginny Weasley was perfectly happy again.

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

LOL!

Well at least I was right on thinking we would have been told if he'd got removed as a Governor, I just didn't remember it happening.

So apparently the threat of cursing other Govenors families did lead to either the other governors or the Ministry removing him. I wonder which it is or were they made aware of the diary incident?

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

It was said to be that he threatened to curse they're families but HOW would he be allowed to continue as a governor making such threats to the other governors? The fact that these 11 people agreed without complaint to the ministry sounds kind of suspitious to me.

That's a fair point, but presumably Lucius wouldn't've done if unless he thought he could get away with it. My view, actually, is that it's odd that Lucius got fired if he intimidated the other governors so much he could make them vote to suspend Dumbledore.

Presumably the board of governors is the highest level of authority at the school, so who other than the governors themselves could remove a governor from the board? The Ministry? OotP gives the impression that the Ministry *wasn't* so involved in the school before that point, and Lucius was on good terms with Fudge, anyway.

Also, what was Lucius fired *for*? Everyone agreed there was no *proof* that Lucius gave Ginny the Diary, so what else is there? Lucius' threatening the other governors? Again, that makes no sense; that would mean that the governors fired Lucius for threatening them at the end of the book, when their initial response to being threatened was to do what he told them to do. If he'd threaten to curse their families for not voting as they wished, imagine what he'd do if they challenged him *directly*.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

What's weird is that Dumbles says that after they heard Ginny was killed, they immediately owled him to reinstate him and complained about Lucius. I can't figure out the connection there- is it simply because they thought a kid died, instead of being petrified? But why would Dumbles be able to do anything about it ex post facto?

Did the governors know the theory about Lucius giving Ginny the diary? But surely, hearing that she was supposedly dead would make them even MORE terrified of thwarting Lucius, because now a kid's dead?

And if they didn't know he was involved in anything except trying to oust Dumbles, then what, did they regret falling in line because a life had been taken and grow a collective spine and stand up for themselves in order to protect the other kids? (hey, maybe appointing a new headmaster would've made more sense, rather than reinstating the guy that Lucius threatened them over?)

that would mean that the governors fired Lucius for threatening them at the end of the book, when their initial response to being threatened was to do what he told them to do. If he'd threaten to curse their families for not voting as they wished, imagine what he'd do if they challenged him *directly*.

EXACTLY. People are all 'Lucius is so evil, he threatened to curse their families' without actually looking at the situation and how stupid that seems and how it actually muddies up matters because it makes no sense how he could be so powerful that eleven governors do his bidding yet so powerless that they stage a coup to remove him. Um?

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY. People are all 'Lucius is so evil, he threatened to curse their families' without actually looking at the situation and how stupid that seems and how it actually muddies up matters because it makes no sense how he could be so powerful that eleven governors do his bidding yet so powerless that they stage a coup to remove him. Um?


Yea, I don't get it, shouldn't the other 11 governors be just as powerful or important as he is?

Why would they wimp out at the prospect of Lucius Malfoy cursing their families - as soon as that happened, shouldn't one governor contact another and say, "Hay that pompus ass Lucius Malfoy came over here threatening to curse my family...what, the ass came over to your house to...Thats it, we're calling a meeting of all the governors tomorrow, etc. etc."

I mean, it doesn't sound like these people picked up the phone to call each other when this crap was going on...wait...Excuse me, not the phone, the nearest fireplace...

And hell they could just pop into a fireplace and visit each other and find out what the hell was going on. In fact when Lucius was contacting them they could have all shown up at the school within a few minutes to talk to Dumbledore directly. It looks like they made Lucius they're spokesman to remove him. WTH, he threatened them and now he's they're spokesman to remove the headmaster?

They sure sound like a lazy lot, you'd think they'd have all got on their brooms or apparated to the front gate to find out directly what was going on instead of trusting what a guy that threadened them was telling them.

Sounds like all the governors need to go, they're sloppy and lazy and seem only half interested in doing their job.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

shouldn't the other 11 governors be just as powerful or important as he is?

Right! So maybe Lucius is really scary 'coz he's a DE with Dark magic powers, oooh, spooky, but there's eleven of those guys against one of him. Pretty decent odds! And like you said (I love your hypothetical conversation 'what, the ass came over to your house, too', lmao!), they should be talking to each other about how unstable Lucius is and he's a walking timebomb that needs to be dealt with.

Instead, they let this guy dictate to them in the running of a school where a monster is slithering around, trying to kill students. WOW. Good going, guys! They know he's up to no good- given that he's threatening them, his objective can't be anything that positive- but they'll cower away from him, even while kids are in danger. Nice.

Sounds like all the governors need to go, they're sloppy and lazy and seem only half interested in doing their job

That's basically the case with any and all authority figures/institutions in the books. Jeez, JKR has issues, no? Most of the teachers are incompetent or uncaring of student wellbeing (looking at you, Dumbles), same with the governors, same with the Ministry...

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

I don't know how many were *required*, but it was a unanimous vote:

“Dreadful thing, Dumbledore,” said Malfoy lazily, taking out a long roll of parchment, “but the governors feel it’s time for you to step aside. This is an Order of Suspension — you’ll find all twelve signatures on it. I’m afraid we feel you’re losing your touch.

That doesn't mean that Lucius threatened them *all*, though. Even Dumbledore doesn't say that he'd threatened all of them:

“Well, you see, Lucius,” said Dumbledore, smiling serenely, “the other eleven governors contacted me today. It was something like being caught in a hailstorm of owls, to tell the truth. They’d heard that Arthur Weasleys daughter had been killed and wanted me back here at once. They seemed to think I was the best man for the job after all. Very strange tales they told me, too…Several of them seemed to think that you had threatened to curse their families if they didn’t agree to suspend me in the first place.”

And frankly, Dumbledore could be lying. Maybe Dumbledore isn't as popular a headmaster as his closest friends/fans think. Consider how quickly the WW turned against him (as well as Harry) in OotP.

Yet another thing: Dumbledore apparently wasn't reinstated by any kind of a vote. He got "a hailstorm of owls" -- presumably eleven separate owls. And the first Lucius heard about it was just that Dumbledore was back at the school. So Dumbledore wasn't formally voted back into his position until after he returned... and we only have his word about those owls he received. I could see the governors voting him back in on the grounds that the problem mysteriously disappeared shortly after he unofficially returned. Who are they to argue with success?

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well, they ousted Albus *and* sent his monster-loving groundskeeper to Azkaban on suspicion of being behind whatever was attacking the students. After all, the last time anything like this happened, they expelled the boy for raising monsters in the castle, and everything quieted down.

They hauled the (no longer a boy) suspected perp off to Azkaban, got rid of Albus, who would have stopped them, and everything quieted down. For a while. To all appearances, Lucius had been right.

When --out of the blue-- the death of another student was announced (the last time it had been Myrtle), the rest of the governors decided suddenly that Lucius was *not* right, and went running to Albus, blaming Lucius for everything.

Albus had probably been off trying to get Hagrid out of stir, and the sudden flurry of owls announcing that a student had been killed in his absence, was perfect evidence that, whatever was attacking people, *Hagrid* could have had nothing to do with it.

And since the other governors don't take kindly to being threatened when whoever is making the threats turns out to be *wrong*, Lucius had to eat a nice dish of crow, seasoned with karma, with Albus twinkling at him for good measure.

And, after the fact, he discovers that not only did he lose his elf, but that the Potter boy seems *never to have gotten the Diary* at all. The whole campaign was a total failure.

And 2 years later the other shoe drops, when the Dark Lord wants to deploy the bloody thing himself, and can't, because Lucius *lost* it.

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

Sounds like all the governors need to go, they're sloppy and lazy and seem only half interested in doing their job.

It sounds sort of like typical corporate politiking...you have any number of board members who wouldn't mind seeing the CEO kicked out, but don't have the cajones to actually do something themselves.

Along comes a board member with enough clout to actually do it, someone who perhaps is feared more than liked, and the wimps give him lipservice that they'll support his move to oust the CEO...

But if the attempt fails, the wimps throw the upstart under the bus and put forth all sorts of plausible denials regarding their roles in the attempted coup.

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Also, what was Lucius fired *for*? Everyone agreed there was no *proof* that Lucius gave Ginny the Diary, so what else is there? Lucius' threatening the other governors? Again, that makes no sense; that would mean that the governors fired Lucius for threatening them at the end of the book, when their initial response to being threatened was to do what he told them to do. If he'd threaten to curse their families for not voting as they wished, imagine what he'd do if they challenged him *directly*.

Thats the thing I question about it the other governors actions. Why would the go along with the threats that long and then - but maybe Dumbledore went and spoke with each of them, maybe all the governors didn't know what was going on with the rest of the governors till Dumbledore visited them.

So maybe Dumbledore went about explaining, maybe even near the end of the book Dumbledore told the other governors about the diary and that was what prompted them to remove Lucius.

Have no clue unless they're is somewhere a conversation or explaination as to why they would first agree. And also I think I wondered earlier in another post about, do you have to have all 12 governors agree to remove a headmaster or do you only need a majority. That might make a difference into how many governors Lucius actually threatened.

Odds are Lucius didn't get them all together and threaten them, so each one of the governors may not have realized others were being threatened and it took Dumbledore going to talk to them to find out why they agreed to remove him as headmaster, etc.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

If it was so easy for Dumbledore to convince them to defy Lucius, it's amazing he managed to gain prominence at the Ministry. Wouldn't Dumbledore have been able to drop a word in people's ears about how that fiend Lucius threatened the families of innocent governors and torpedo his reputation?

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

If it was so easy for Dumbledore to convince them to defy Lucius, it's amazing he managed to gain prominence at the Ministry. Wouldn't Dumbledore have been able to drop a word in people's ears about how that fiend Lucius threatened the families of innocent governors and torpedo his reputation?

That depends on how much licence members of the aristocracy are given. It doesn't take much suspension of disbelief to assume that the paterfamilias of a family with as much apparent standing as the Malfoys would be able to get away with using magic like this, what with the respect shown to magical power.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

No. Albus told no one about the Diary. The Diary was Tom Riddle's secret, and if there is nothing else we know, we know that Tom Riddle could always depend upon Albus to keep his secrets for him.

Lucius is a fairly good plotter, but he made two big mistakes. He was plotting with insufficient information, and he forgot that his servant might have an agenda of his own. Between the two the whole thing ended in a shambles, and cost him big time.

Tom gave him the Diary and told him to hold onto it until *he* said otherwise. Tom evidently let it slip that deploying the Diary would open Salazar's Chamber of Secrets, and presumably, get rid of Dumbledore.

Only... Lucius wasn't even born yet when the Chamber had been opened before, so he had no real understanding of what that *meant*. Now, either Abraxis was still alive that summer to be consulted, and Abraxis was either at the school at the time, or he had been a school governor either then, or soon enough after to have been able to tell him about the death of a student, or as a school governor Lucius was able to get at the records himself.

But the records don't actually tell you very much other than that there was a series of attacks on students ending in a death, and resulting in an expulsion. And (Rowling completely dropped the ball here) evidently *no one was openly talking about the Chamber of Secrets having been opened at that time at all*. So how Lucius was to have drawn the conclusion that that must have been what Tom was talking about is unclear -- other than that it seems to have been the *biggest* scandal to have taken place at the school in the 20th century, and he simply cut himself with Occam's razor.

But the fact is that he had no clear idea of what deploying the Diary was going to do, apart from raising a stink which he could use to pry Albus out.

So now the confusion is why Lucius targetted Hagrid -- who he must have known had nothing to do with it. Hagrid was on record as the suspected perp the last time. So getting him off the property was probably necessary in case any of the other governors had been checking the records as well. But since he must have known that Hagrid had nothing to do with opening the Chamber, because deploying the Diary is what opened the Chamber, and, consequently, if a child was going to die (either Harry or any other child) before the end of this, it was all going to unravel if he pinned the blame on Hagrid. And it did.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

So now the confusion is why Lucius targetted Hagrid -- who he must have known had nothing to do with it. Hagrid was on record as the suspected perp the last time. So getting him off the property was probably necessary in case any of the other governors had been checking the records as well. But since he must have known that Hagrid had nothing to do with opening the Chamber, because deploying the Diary is what opened the Chamber, and, consequently, if a child was going to die (either Harry or any other child) before the end of this, it was all going to unravel if he pinned the blame on Hagrid. And it did.

He didn't target Hagrid. Fudge did in the hope that the public would see the Ministry taking steps to stop the attacks. Lucius didn't protest Hagrid's arrest probably because he was telling Dumbledore he'd been suspended, and as far as we know he didn't have any plans after that.