Dumbledore had a number of useful spies

[psychic_serpent]

No: HPFGUIDX 55896

galadriel1 at m... writes:
 
In Chapter 10, The Marauder's Map, a number of faculty are 
discussing James and Sirius' relationship in Hogwarts days and the 
secret - keeper that Lily  and James chose.  Fudge 
states, "Dumbledore, who was working tirelessly against You Know 
Who, had a number of useful spies.  One of them tipped him off, and 
he alerted James and Lily at once."  

JessaDrow at a... wrote:

Lupin would be my guess, even though Black didn't trust him, James 
and/or Lily may have. 
 
Rosebeth wrote:

As much as I like Lupin and would want him to have a herioc role.  I 
have to ask, how would Lupin know what LV was planning?  IMHO, Snape 
is the best guess because he would have access to LV's plans.
 
Now me:

In addition, it is clear in PoA that Lupin was in fact out of the 
loop.  I'm still interested in learning what he was really up to 
during that time, as he seems to have become disconnected enough 
from the others (Lily, James, Peter, Sirius) for him to be 
considered a viable suspect for traitor.  Many werewolves were said 
to be turning to Voldemort, and while it could have been Peter who 
put this into the others' heads in order to throw suspicion off 
himself, the other three may also have thought of this themselves, 
without any prompting from Peter, the actual traitor (which would 
have made Peter rub his hands gleefully, no doubt).  Perhaps he was 
working with the originator of the Wolfsbane Potion, to try to 
perfect the concoction?  (You need a guinea pig for these things.)  
Who knows?  

We do know, however, that Snape was in fact working as a spy for 
Dumbledore.  Regardless of his motivation for telling him of the 
plot against the Potters (and whoever it was, they weren't THAT much 
in the know, as the spy didn't know the identity of the traitor), it 
seems most likely to have been Snape, until we find out more about 
these shadowy 'spies.'

Other possibilities are somewhat slim at this point.  There's 
Mundungus Fletcher, spoken of as part of the 'old crowd' (which 
could mean anything, but it does remind one of "Smiley's People"--or 
at least it reminds me of that), plus Arabella Figg.  The 
interesting thing about these people is that what little information 
we have about them means that they are every bit as disreputable as 
Snape, the scourge of non-Slytherins since he took his teaching 
post.  

Fletcher, we find out near the beginning of GoF, was trying to put 
in a ridiculous claim for an elaborate tent damaged during the QWC, 
despite the fact that Arthur saw him sleeping under his cloak 
propped up on sticks.  

JKR said something like "well-spotted!" to someone who asked whether 
Arabella is the same as Mrs. Figg and everything we know about Mrs. 
Figg paints her as an extremely unpleasant person (although how much 
of that was for the Dursleys' benefit, as they certainly wouldn't 
want someone PLEASANT taking care of Harry, remains to be seen).
 
I will rashly predict that each and every one of Dumbledore's spies 
will prove to have either an abrasive personality and/or a checkered 
past, as do the above (Snape, Fletcher, Figg).  It would be entirely 
fitting for people like this to be fighting for the good guys, and 
bring us back to JKR's original message of choices being the 
important thing, which is something I hope SHE doesn't forget.

--Barb

(Who also hopes that Fletcher and/or Figg turn out to have been 
Slytherins--although a Hufflepuff wouldn't come amiss!)



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