08.13.06
A Clue?
As you’ll know if you’ve read this post (and to understand the following I think you should), I believe there was something important going on in the scene in Half-Blood Prince where Harry catches Mundungus Fletcher selling Black family artefacts. The scene includes an appearance of the Hog’s Head barkeeper, who we know is Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore’s brother.
Well, I was rereading Order of the Phoenix this weekend and came across something that I feel could be related and/or important. In book 5, Sirius is telling Harry, Ron, and Hermione that Mundungus Fletcher had overheard them planning their Defense Against the Dark Arts group in the Hog’s Head bar:
“Who overheard us?” Harry demanded.
“Mundungus, of course,” said Sirius, and when they all looked puzzled, he laughed. “He was the witch under the veil.”
“That was Mundungus?” Harry said, stunned. “What was he doing in the Hog’s Head?”
“What do you think he was doing? said Sirius impatiently. “Keeping an eye on you, of course.”
“I’m still being followed?” asked Harry angrily.
“Yeah, you are,” said Sirius, “and just as well, isn’t it, if the first thing you’re going to do on your weekend off is organize an illegal defense group.”
But he looked neither angry nor worried; on the contrary, he was looking at Harry with distinct pride.
“Why was Dung hiding from us?” asked Ron, sounding disappointed. “We’d've liked to’ve seen him.”
“He was banned from the Hog’s Head twenty years ago,” said Sirius, “and that barman’s got a long memory. We lost Moody’s spare Invisibility cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung’s been dressing as a witch a lot lately…”
So apparently, Aberforth banned Mundungus Fletcher from his bar twenty years ago and hasn’t forgotten about it. And yet, only the next year he’s seen having a clandestine meeting with Aberforth outside the Hog’s Head?
My question is, why did Aberforth ban Mundungus from his bar? And why did he apparently forgive that incident in the sixth book? Also, did we ever find out conclusively what tipped off Umbridge to the secret DADA plans? Is it possible that it was either Aberforth or Mundungus? Was Mundungus really in that bar to look after Harry? You’d think that his failure to do so properly once before would give Dumbledore pause in assigning him such a task again. A couple of possibilities present themselves. Perhaps Mundungus was their to spy on Aberforth instead? Or maybe he was their for his own reasons? At any rate, I think there’s more to this situation than meets the eye, and I’m inclined to think that there’s some sort of double crossing going on. I believe that Aberforth and maybe Mundungus could possibly be untrustworthy, especially Aberforth. Why is it that Albus speaks so little of his brother, especially when he lives so close by? Is it possibly because he doesn’t trust his brother either?
What does everyone else think?
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Deepak said,
August 13, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Your argument cannot be totally ruled out. I don’t have anything to say right now as I forgot those subtle details.
I will post this, however, in the local fan club we have and let you know how the arguments go.
Renee said,
August 13, 2006 at 2:26 pm
Um… ok, i think I’m falling behind. Exactlly how did we figure out that the Bar tender at the hogs head was the other Dumbledoure? Anyway, I see where your going with this, but you also have to see that this could turn a complete 180 and be completely opposite.
Renee said,
August 13, 2006 at 2:40 pm
Ok, just for the heck of not knowing how to send this in to the people who run this site, I’m gonna get completely off topic. I found something interessing that could make a nice blog. I was looking in my book, ‘The Sorcerer’s Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter’, and looked up centaurs. there is a little diagram of stars there. Now, many people believe that the stars and the corrilations of Harry Potter have simalarities. Well, right under the constelation of the centaur (*Centaurus*) is a four star group called… Crux!! Now someone has to see the resembalance in that and a commonly used word… Horcrux! Now i don’t know if there is any history with this constillation, and i don’t know if there have been blogs on it already, but i thought it to be interesting.
Seth said,
August 13, 2006 at 6:30 pm
Awesome detective work and great theories!
It’s no wonder you’re the alpha blogger here and I am merely the Headmaster.
Keep up the good work!
RavenclawWit said,
August 13, 2006 at 6:46 pm
Renee,
J.K. Rowling confirmed in an interview at the Edinburgh Book Festival that the Hog’s Head barkeeper was indeed Aberforth Dumbledore. Before that, many readers already suspected that he was Aberforth Dumbledore because he was always described as looking familiar to Harry, and his physical appearance is similar to Dumbledore. At one point, he was even described as smelling like a goat, which is a reference to his brother’s assertion that his wand was snapped in half for practising “inappropriate charms on a goat”.
Renee said,
August 14, 2006 at 9:38 am
Seth, was that directed to me cause that sounds real sarcastic.
RavenclawWit said,
August 14, 2006 at 7:55 pm
No Renee, he was talking to me. Seth owns the site, but I blog the most. Get it?
Renee said,
August 15, 2006 at 9:21 am
ok
tonks said,
December 21, 2006 at 3:04 pm
Well……… that was a really nice thing you found out and i agree with most of it.
I haven’t read the fifth book for quite along time and I maybe wrong but as I remember there was someone at the bar who had bandages from head to foot and that was the one who told Umbridge.
harry rowling said,
March 14, 2007 at 12:39 pm
JK gives all the clues in the books
jonah said,
July 17, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Wait for the seventh book it’s the last so there’s gotta be something