Ron is Dumbledore?

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 53396

Oh, I want to play!

REDHEAD ALWAYS? Phoo! I give you;

THROUGH A FIRE LONG A'DYING
(Time-hopping Ron originaly undertakes gargantuan hoax. Assuming false 
identity, Ron exchanges life, of necessity, giving Albus Dumbledore's 
youthful idealism new greatness.)

I'll build from previous suggestions, here;

Albus Dumbledore is a reasonably good, if not extrordinary student, trusted 
enough to be granted the use of a time-turner. He isn't physically strong, 
however. Ron's unintentional time hop lands them together in an inclosed 
place which is ill lit and startles both into a mutual attempt to disarm each 
other. Albus's time-turner is broken. Both get nasty knocks on the head, 
Albus dies after muttering "thought you were me..." or some incoherant 
variation of such. 

Ron, whose brains have also been rattled, isn't thinking clearly, panics, has 
visions of Azkaban, sees that the resemblance between them is uncanily close 
- except for the eye color (Arthur really is decended from Aberforth, Ron 
came by the resemblance quite honestly) and decides to try to take the other 
boy's place until he can get home, whereupon he intends to confess all. He 
somehow conceals/disposes of the body, changes his eye color and stumbles off 
to the Hospital Wing with the broken time-turner saying he thought he met 
himself. He has no idea who the boy was, or where or when he has landed, and 
is appalled to find himself being addressed as "Dumbledore".

The original Albus Dumbledore wasn't all that much better a student than Ron, 
but Ron, unlike Albus, has additional knowlege of spells and methods which 
haven't been developed yet. Aberforth and Albus's parents notice that he is 
"different" but put his slightly strange behavior and memory lapses it down 
to the head injury. He doesn't "look" all that different, and the difference 
is mostly a matter of expression. Ron deliberatly adopts the famed "slightly 
mad" act as a means of glossing this over.

The understanding of spells he could not have learned from anyone in Albus's 
time greatly enhanced his reputation by the time he left Hogwarts, and he was 
able to turn this to good account in managing to convince Flamel to take him 
on as an aprentice and ultimately a partner. His rudimentary practical 
knowlege of Dragons, through Charlie, along with his work with Flamel, gave 
him the start on the discoveries of the 12 uses of their blood.

He watches the beginning and the development of the social dynamics which 
have grown into the pureblood supremecist faction of Harry's day. He speaks 
out against it, and may have slowed it down, but is unable to stop it. He 
makes a strenuous effort to catch Riddle red-handed during Riddle's time at 
Hogwarts, but Riddle is too wily to be caught at anything that could shut him 
down, and after Riddle achieves his disaperarance, is out of Ron/Dumbledore's 
reach. At that point, Ron realizes that he doesn't dare take any action which 
will change what he knows of the events between this time and that of his own 
childhood for fear of sending his own history wildly out of joint, and 
possibly giving Riddle even more of an advantage than he will manage to make 
for himself. His entire term as Headmaster has been spent watching people 
make horrific mistakes and being forced to not only sit by and let them do 
it, but to actively assist them in it. 

The hardest thing he ever did was to resist snatching Scabbers/Pettigrew out 
of first-year Percy's hands and forcing himself to reveal himself as an 
Animagus.

-JOdel (Who doesn't believe a word of it, and agrees that Bill is a better 
candidate, but is having fun)