Aberforth as DADA teacher

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 115874


Dungrollin wrote:
> 
> Erm... About Aberforth being DADA teacher...  Doesn't DD say he's 
> not sure that Aberforth can read?  How's he going to mark homework?  
> And if he can't read, how did he get through Hogwarts?
> 
> Is DD so desperate to fill the post that he'll employ an illiterate 
> and totally unqualified bar-keeper with a record for doing odd 
> things to goats?
> 
> If that happens, I'll buy a hat so I can eat it.


Carol responds:
I don't think you're going to have to eat a hat, but I don't quite
agree with your assessment of Aberforth. Surely, as Albus's brother
and a member of the Order, he *can* read? Even Crabbe and Goyle,
stupid as they are, can read, or they'd never have been able to enter
Hogwarts. And Aberforth, withe his ability to practice "inappropriate
spells on goats" (and, no, I don't want to speculate about about what
that might mean, though it's a kids' book and their minds won't jump
to adult conclusions, I hope) must at least have passed an OWL or two
to have a wand and be able to perform (apparently) complex magic.
(Note that the spells were not so inappropriate that his wand was
taken away, and he's clearly not a Squib.) I think DD is engaging in a
bit of humor at his (absent) brother's expense, not making a
straightforward statement about him to be taken at face value.

As to whether Aberforth might be the new DADA teacher, I think not
simply because he breaks the pattern of a previously unintroduced
character in that post. We'll hear and maybe see more of him, I'm
sure, in connection with the Prophecy if nothing else. (Surely it was
Aberforth who threw out the eavesdropper who overheard the first
part?) I think he's part of DD's network of "useful spies," and both
his slovenliness and his apparent mental slowness are part of his
cover, tricking people into thinking it's safe to talk in his hearing.
The eccentricity, though, I feel sure is real, as it seems to run in
the family. (As an aside, I think Dumbledore may have hidden in one of
those upper rooms in the Hog's Head when he was deposed by Fudge and
Umbridge in OoP.)

I'm not at all sure that Aberforth is "totally unqualified" to teach
DADA (I think there's more to him than meets the eye), but I do think
he has an established role in the Order that relates to what he
overhears in his not so respectable bar, frequented as it is by an
"interesting clientele" including various disreputable types and spies
from both sides. He's far more useful where he is.

Carol, betting that the lionlike man is the new DADA instructor and
hoping he's a good one for a change

P.S. My apologies if this posts twice!