1) If Lucius should happen to have an “accident”, does Draco have any living adult relatives close enough to manage his inheritance until majority? Lucius seems to have no siblings, his mother is dead, he never mentions grand-parents—in fact, I can’t actually recall any living Malfoy being mentioned, and other than Sirius and Belatrix I don’t know any Blacks alive. This tree has a Nymphadora Tonks as a cousin (or maybe aunt?), but I don’t think she qualifies. (Sirius is even less closely-related to Harry and did get temporary guardianship of him in canon IIRC, but he was also his Godfather, and it might have been just Dumbledore’s unilateral decision. Nymphadora’s father was a muggle and her mother was disowned, and she’s an Auror anyway if she’s still alive in MoR.)
2) How come it is Dumbledore specifically that has guardianship of Harry? I don’t remember anything to imply a will or kinship, it seems to be just because he’s Headmaster of Harry’s school. Would he become Draco’s legal gardian, too, if Lucius (and maybe a few other relatives) are taken out of the picture?
1) Andromeda Tonks née Black. There are reasons that might not work, with the disowning and so forth. It’s likely Lucius has a godparent lined up like any responsible parent.
2) As far as I can find, it is not laid out why it is Dumbledore as opposed to anyone else in general. (In specific it is not this person or that person for whatever reasons, but never mind that.) I would wildly speculate that it is because Dumbledore wanted to be the guardian of the Boy-Who-Lived and no one could tell him no.
You’re right, didn’t notice she would still be alive. Well, Andromeda and Nymphadora were both in the Order of the Phoenix, so them getting Draco would be similar to Dumbledore getting him.
And given that pure-blood families seem to be rather “sparse”, at least since the war, and Lucius is about the hardest of that faction to get rid of, then even if Draco has another living relative or a designated guardian that shouldn’t be a huge obstacle, unless there is a very complex guardianship chain set-up.
So it seems like there should be other ways of dealing with the debt than simply paying it. I’m pretty sure Harry wouldn’t do that unless Lucius does something really stupid, but he probably could do it (using a Dementor is the only idea I have; he probably could think of more). But at least Dumbledore and Quirell should be powerful enough to do it, and might conceivable want to.
For example, if Quirell wanted to separate Harry from Draco and Hermione, and this plot doesn’t achieve that (I’m not sure how Draco will feel about Harry and Hermione now), he could try doing it the other way around by framing Harry for an attack on Lucius: Draco would hate Harry and Hermione could at least stop being his friend, if they’re both convinced. He might even convince Harry that Dumbledore is to blame at the same time. Hmm, I wonder if you could fake Dementation by creative abuse of Obliviation.
A couple of questions on HP lore:
1) If Lucius should happen to have an “accident”, does Draco have any living adult relatives close enough to manage his inheritance until majority? Lucius seems to have no siblings, his mother is dead, he never mentions grand-parents—in fact, I can’t actually recall any living Malfoy being mentioned, and other than Sirius and Belatrix I don’t know any Blacks alive. This tree has a Nymphadora Tonks as a cousin (or maybe aunt?), but I don’t think she qualifies. (Sirius is even less closely-related to Harry and did get temporary guardianship of him in canon IIRC, but he was also his Godfather, and it might have been just Dumbledore’s unilateral decision. Nymphadora’s father was a muggle and her mother was disowned, and she’s an Auror anyway if she’s still alive in MoR.)
2) How come it is Dumbledore specifically that has guardianship of Harry? I don’t remember anything to imply a will or kinship, it seems to be just because he’s Headmaster of Harry’s school. Would he become Draco’s legal gardian, too, if Lucius (and maybe a few other relatives) are taken out of the picture?
1) Andromeda Tonks née Black. There are reasons that might not work, with the disowning and so forth. It’s likely Lucius has a godparent lined up like any responsible parent.
2) As far as I can find, it is not laid out why it is Dumbledore as opposed to anyone else in general. (In specific it is not this person or that person for whatever reasons, but never mind that.) I would wildly speculate that it is because Dumbledore wanted to be the guardian of the Boy-Who-Lived and no one could tell him no.
You’re right, didn’t notice she would still be alive. Well, Andromeda and Nymphadora were both in the Order of the Phoenix, so them getting Draco would be similar to Dumbledore getting him.
And given that pure-blood families seem to be rather “sparse”, at least since the war, and Lucius is about the hardest of that faction to get rid of, then even if Draco has another living relative or a designated guardian that shouldn’t be a huge obstacle, unless there is a very complex guardianship chain set-up.
So it seems like there should be other ways of dealing with the debt than simply paying it. I’m pretty sure Harry wouldn’t do that unless Lucius does something really stupid, but he probably could do it (using a Dementor is the only idea I have; he probably could think of more). But at least Dumbledore and Quirell should be powerful enough to do it, and might conceivable want to.
For example, if Quirell wanted to separate Harry from Draco and Hermione, and this plot doesn’t achieve that (I’m not sure how Draco will feel about Harry and Hermione now), he could try doing it the other way around by framing Harry for an attack on Lucius: Draco would hate Harry and Hermione could at least stop being his friend, if they’re both convinced. He might even convince Harry that Dumbledore is to blame at the same time. Hmm, I wonder if you could fake Dementation by creative abuse of Obliviation.