Arabella Figg and Polyjuice/Arthur and Molly's past

[corinthum]

No: HPFGUIDX 42768

ARABELLA FIGG

Naama wrote:

> Aside from that, I have a question: why is it necessary for 
Arabella 
> Figg, the attractive young witch, to appear as an old woman in 
order 
> to keep watch over Harry? (I'm sure it's been explained in depth in 
> some TBAY message, but I haven't always been able to follow each 
and 
> every thread.)


Me:

Perhaps she felt an old lady would attract less attention.  An old 
lady who keeps herself cooped up inside her house with cats may seem 
a bit strange, but not that uncommon.  Besides an occasional 
reference to "crazy old Mrs.Figg down the street", I wouldn't think 
neighbors would gossip much about her.  On the other hand, the young, 
attractive girl who just moved in down the street but rarely goes out 
and doesn't seem to have any friends would be cause for gossip. 

Also, I think the Dursleys would be more willing to leave Harry with 
an old woman who cares only for her cats than with someone who may 
actually start showing interest in his life.  What if he told her 
about the strange things he could do?  The horror!  :)

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ARTHUR AND MOLLY'S PAST

I just thought of another bit of support for my "Arthur and Molly are 
not old crowd members" theory.  I was about to ask why we assume 
Arabella is not actually old.  I always have simply so she would be a 
contemporary of Sirius, Lupin, James, and Lily.  Taking this into 
consideration, it seems Dumbledore assembled a very young group to 
fight Voldemort.  Why?  Perhaps he felt that with all the Imperius 
curses going around, he couldn't trust anyone who had previous 
experience.  This would include MoM employee Arthur.  Why assemble a 
group a young, just-graduated wizards, and then throw Arthur and 
Molly into the mix?  They simply don't fit.

-Corinth, who is going to be extremely nitpicky and request that 
people quote me using this name, not my e-mail address or yahoo id, 
to which I added -UM only because Corinth was taken.  Thanks.  :)