[HPforGrownups] Mrs Figg (possible spoilers)

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 1472

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<<Mrs Figg is a squib.>>

That fact that Mrs Figg is a squib really surprised me too, especially as
JKR seemed to have been hinting at some pretty big secrets with the other
things she mentioned.  

If we assume that Mrs Figg is the Arabella Figg of Dumbledore's old gang,
perhaps we should now be asking 'who was Mr Figg?'  Presumably, he was a
wizard, as the Figgs would logically have been part of Dumbledore's A-Team
as a couple.  Otherwise, perhaps Arabella - a witch - is the daughter of the
Figgs?  

The next question that springs to mind is 'what was Mrs Figg's name before
she married?' We can speculate wildly about her being someone's sister or
other relative.  Is it possible that Mrs Figg is a distant Potter relative,
for example?  If so, it might explain why Harry is protected when he is at
her house and why she doesn't need her own magic to protect him.  The
Dursleys would know of distant relatives from Lily's family, but perhaps not
from the Potter side. 

Harry believes the Dursleys are his only living relatives, but that may just
be what they have told him.  In CoS, it says Harry "didn't know anything
about his father's family, after all. The Dursleys had always forbidden
questions about his wizarding relatives."  In PS, Dumbledore tells
McGonagall: "I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the
only family he has left now."  Note, he uses the word "family" rather than
"relatives" - a subtle difference.  

Fig-leaf - "A device for concealing something, esp. the genitals" (Oxford
Encyclopedic Dictionary)

Neil

            Flying-Ford-Anglia

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   "Then, dented, scratched and steaming, 
   the car rumbled off into the darkness, 
   its rear lights blazing angrily"

 [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]

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