GoF - A comment and a supposition

[Alix Petty]

No: HPFGUIDX 2092

Stop me if these have been mentioned before, I've not been around for that long but:

Snape and McGonagall are there for Barty Crouch Jr's explanation of events and naturally Pettigrew plays a big part in the narrative.  Crouch always calls him 'Wormtail' and as I was re-reading GoF tonight, I suddenly thought it was weird that they didn't ask who Wormtail was.  I know, I know, compared to Voldemort's return and Cedric's death, the identity of a Death Eater is pretty small potatos, but I just thought they might have asked, as they were getting all the other details and they certainly would have been familiar with the names of suspected and convicted Death Eaters through trials after Voldemort's fall.  Although perhaps Dumbledore might explain to them off-page, so to speak, as Snape certainly has heard that Pettigrew is alive, and as Deputy Head, so might've McGonagall if she heard the circumstances regarding Sirius' capture in PoA, I would've thought this was pretty crucial, especially as it would make Sirius' to-ing and fro-ing from Hogwarts a bit easier.  I know Dumbledore gets Snape and Sirius to meet later on, I just thought it was a bit weird not to let McGonagall in on it, especially as Molly Weasley has seen Sirius now.  Oh well, we may get to book 5 and learn that Dumbledore has filled some people in off-page.

The other thing that occurred to me was that Arabella Figg, who is mentioned as one of the old crowd, may well be related to the Mrs Figg who used to look after Harry.  And this got me thinking, what if Mrs Figg was a witch who had decided to live as a muggle during or after the period when Voldemort was in power.  She's surrounded by cats, traditional familiars of witches, and although we know Harry doesn't like her, it seems that his dislike stems from the fact that she's a bit old and batty and smelly, not because she's actually nasty in anyway.  So Arabella could be her daughter or even grand-daughter, depending on the age gaps, and possibly be keeping discreet tabs on Harry's welfare that way?  Or, possibly Mrs Figg is a genuine muggle (more likely since we know the Dursley's horror of anything remotely magic) and Arabella is a muggle-born witch, or half-blood.  Possibly, if Mrs Figg is a genuine muggle she could have had the same prejudices as the Dursley's and disowned her daughter, which could be another reason why they trust her with Harry.  JKR's normally careful of her details and let's face it, Figg's not exactly a common name, so it is at least likely that this or some other relationship could be the case.  OK, OK, the evidence is slim, I know, but when have we ever let that get in the way of a good hypothesis?

Alix


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