Mrs Figg, and her broken leg....

[kristen at sanderson-web.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26520


Another thing I found interesting is that in SS, Harry mentions that 
Mrs. Figg's house smells like cooked cabbage.  In CoS when they made 
the Polyjuice Potion, it said that it tasted like cooked cabbage.  I 
keep wondering if there's any connection.  Any thoughts?

Mrs. Figg for DADA
Kristen

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., devika261 at a... wrote:
> In a message dated Sat, 22 Sep 2001 11:20:58 AM Eastern Daylight 
Time, vheggie at y... writes:
> 
> > Having spent my Saturday lunchtime listening to PS/SS on audio 
tape, 
> > I've a few questions/suggestions about the mysterious Arabella 
Figg.
> > 
> > Early on in PS/SS, she breaks her leg, supposedly from tripping 
over 
> > one of her cats.  As a consequence of this, Harry gets to go to 
> > London Zoo, and have his first conversation in Parseltoungue.
> > Several weeks later she's still on crutches, since Dudley nearly 
runs 
> > her over with the racing bike he gets for his birthday.
> > Why did she not mend it/have it mended with magic?
> > 
> > I've several ideas, some more likely than others....
> > 1)It wasn't really a broken leg, but something far more serious
> > 
> > 2)She is actually a squib/muggle, but with sympathies for the 
> > wizarding world & therefore couldn't repair it herself.
> > 
> > 3)She is actually a witch, but, as part of her disguise in the 
muggle 
> > world, cannot use any magic, or have contact with the magic world 
> > (perhaps part of the protection around Harry?)
> > 
> > 4)She is a witch, but in order to 'blend in' she's making a real 
> > effort not to use magic or appear different, so she's using 
crutches 
> > for the sake of appearances.
> > 
> > 5)She is a witch, and it was necessary to pretend to have a 
broken 
> > leg, so Harry could go to the Zoo (did Dumbledore have suspicion 
> > about Harry's 'language skills'?) - the crutches were just 'for 
> > appearances sake', as above.
> > 
> > Personally I like option 3 best...any thoughts?
> > 
> 
> 
> Well, I'm supposed to be writing an English paper, but I like this 
question, so I'll take a break to answer it.
> 
> I'd go with a combination of 3 and 5.  I think Arabella Figg is a 
witch who has for some reason been living in a sort of exile from the 
wizarding world--probably self-imposed, and for the sake of Harry's 
safety.  She may or may not have actually broken her leg, but I think 
that she knew it was Harry's last full year with the Dursleys since 
he would be turning 11, and she wanted him to enjoy himself for 
once.  The broken leg was a good way for her to get out of watching 
him, so it was likely that the Dursleys would take him to the zoo.  
And Harry did have a good time until the snake incident.  I don't 
believe that the whole Parseltongue thing was part of any master plan 
on Mrs. Figg's or Dumbledore's part, but you never know.
> Also, IIRC, Harry did have to stay with Mrs. Figg one day when Aunt 
Petunia was shopping with Dudley.  She was then nicer than usual to 
him, not making him look at pictures of her cats and giving him 
chocolate cake.
> 
> Hmmm...I wonder what was in that chocolate cake.  A potion to give 
Harry courage, maybe?  Not that he needed it, though.
> And what's with the cat pictures?  Is it some kind of clue?  Maybe 
Crookshanks once belonged to Mrs. Figg.  Or maybe Mrs. Norris has 
something to do with it.  
> Hmm...the plot thickens...
> 
> Devika, who should be thinking less about Harry Potter and more 
about virgin martyr legends...