The Old Crowd (was Mrs Figg)

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 16871


> I tend to agree with you, Marianne.  I don't get the feeling that 
the 
> Old Crowd is all the same age, or even necessarily from Hogwarts.  
> What I have noticed is that they are all not quite your average 
wizard 
> or witch.  Aside from probably having special abilities, none of 
them 
> seem to be mainstream:
> -Lupin is a werewolf
> -Dumbledore is often criticized by parents, colleagues and the MOM 
for 
> the way he does things
> -Sirius has been in Azkaban for quite some time
> -the Potters were involved in something so secret that Dumbledore 
> wouldn't even tell them what they did
> -Mundungus Fletcher is a "blimey old codger" (or seems to be)
> 
> Can't wait to find out who they are!

I may have missed a post or three on this topic, so if this has 
already been mentioned, I apologize. But notice that the "old crowd" 
is not capitalized in the book. It isn't necessarily a group in any 
sort of official way. Dumbledore could very well be simply saying "Go 
get, you know, everybody we know are on our side from back in the Bad 
Years." Maybe they were just drinking buddies. 

Oh, heck, I like to think that they're all Dumbledore's Ragtag Army 
of Misfits, AKA The Order of the Phoenix, too. But that isn't 
necessarily so from the simple, lower-case 'old crowd.' 

On a vaguely related note, I wonder sometimes as I write things for 
the Lexcicon if the term Marauders was ever intended by JKR to be a 
name for the foursome of James, Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew, or if 
it's meant as a description of the map only: A Map To Use for 
Marauding, and if you use it for that, you're a Marauder. Not a 
particularly important distinction, since it's just plain convenient 
to have a name for that group (and I wish we had one like that for 
the Harry/Ron/Hermione trio). But since I do try to avoid assumptions 
in the Lexicon...

Steve Vander Ark
(editing at midnight)
The Harry Potter Lexicon
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon