Dumbledore the Phoenix

[lagattalucianese]

No: HPFGUIDX 148846

>
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> 
>  But, do you think it's likely that Dumbledore did indeed turn into a 
> phoenix at his burial? Harry (I haven't got the book to do a direct 
> quote from atm) sees 'for a brief moment' what looks like a phoenix 
> rising from the white flames that burst to life, but then it vanishes.
> 
...
> 
> Lauren
>
>
...
>
>  But, do you think it's likely that Dumbledore did indeed turn into a 
> phoenix at his burial? Harry (I haven't got the book to do a direct 
> quote from atm) sees 'for a brief moment' what looks like a phoenix 
> rising from the white flames that burst to life, but then it vanishes.
>  Do we think that this is just what happens at a wizard burial, are 
> Harry's eyes playing tricks on him, or has Dumbledore evolved and 
> started his next great adventure in the body of a phoenix, 
> and 'flashed' away before he is noticed? Could he have known this 
> before he gave his life?
> 
...
> 
> Lauren
>
La Gatta Lucianese:

I think there is something a lot less "mystical" going on here. I have
been wondering for some time why JKR went to the trouble of showing us
Fawkes on a burning day, bursting into flames and reappearing as a
baby phoenix from the ashes (CoS.12). (This being JKR, I'm willing to
bet she wasn't just filling the gentle reader in on the reproductive
habits of the phoenix.) Here is what we learn (Cos.12):

"[Harry] wasn't alone after all. Standing on a golden perch behind the
door was a decrepit-looking bird that resembled a half-plucked turkey.
Harry stared at it and the bird looked balefully back, making its
gagging noise again. Harry thught it looked very ill. Its eyes were
dull and, even as Harry watched, a couple more feathers fell out of
its tail.

"Harry was just thinking that all he needed was for Dumbledore's pet
bird to die while he was alone with it, when the bird birst into flames.

"Harry yelled in shock and backed away into the desk....the bird,
meanwhile, had become a fireball; it gave one loud shriek and next
second there was nothing but a smoldering pile of ash on the floor....

"'Professor,' Harry gasped. 'Your bird--I couldn't do anything--he
just caught fire--'...

"'Fawkes is a phoenix, Harry. Phoenixes burst into flame when it is
time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes. Watch him...'

"Harry looked down in time to see a tiny, wrinkled, newborn bird poke
its head out of the ashes. It was quite as ugly as the old one.

"'It's a shame you had to see him on a Burning Day," said Dumbledore,
seating himself behind his desk. 'He's realy very handsome most of the
time, wonderful red and gold plumage. Fascinating creatures,
phoenixes. The can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have
healing powers, and they make highly *faithful* pets.'"

This was in December of Harry's second year at Hogwarts. Six months
later, early in the following summer, Fawkes was fully grown and able
to rescue Harry and Co. from the Chamber of Secrets (Cos.17,
HPL.Timelines: Harry Potter). Hold that thought.

Now, we know that Dumbledore's Patronus is a phoenix (confirmed by
JKR, EBF.2004). If he is also an animagus, and it seems likely that
such a powerful wizard would be, odds are that his animagus form is
also a phoenix.

Now, then:

Let us assume for the sake of argument that whatever Snape did on the
Astronomy Tower (HBP.27) and however Dumbledore or Snape got
Dumbledore down from the tower (HBP.28), Dumbledore is alive at the
end of HBP. He is also old enough to be losing his touch (HBP.2), and
he has sustained a serious injury from the ring horcrux that may be
continuing to sap his strength (HBP.3). He is also much the worse for
having drunk the potion in the cave (HBP.27). If he were a phoenix, he
would be ripe and overdue for burning, as he himself must know (CoS.12):

"'About time too,' [Dumbledore] said. 'He's been looking dreadful for
days; I've been telling him to get a move on.'"

Fast forward to Dumbledore's funeral (HBP.30).

Hagrid carries something "wrapped in purple velvet spangled with gold
stars" to the white marble table. His burden is "what Harry knew to be
Dumbledore's body." Well...it may or it may not be Dumbledore's body;
Harry has been known to be wrong before. But let's assume that it
is--only not Dumbledore's *dead* body.

Hagrid places his burden tenderly on the marble table and withdraws.
The "little, tufty-haired man" gets up to speak. At the end of his
eulogy, he resumes his seat, and quite suddenly (enough to startle the
audience), "Bright, white flames...erupted around Dumbledore's body
and the table on which it lay. White smoke spiraled into the air and
made strange shapes: Harry thought, for one heart-stopping moment,
that he saw a phoenix fly joyfully into the blue, but next second the
fire had vanished. In its place was a white marble tomb, encasing
Dumbledore's body and the table on which he had rested."

Everybody gets up and files reverently out...

...and later that night, Snape, alerted by Dumbledore's patronogram
that he sent off in the last instant before he transformed and burned
(the white phoenix Harry saw rising from the smoke), returns,
retrieves Phoenix!Dumbledore from the tomb, and takes him into hiding
until he has matured enough to turn back into Dumbledore and get on
with whatever Plan B is.

It fits. I like it.

Some random related thoughts:

1. The HPL notes that Fawkes is red and gold, "...[which] happen to be
the colors of Gryffindor House, interestingly enough." If Dumbledore's
animagus form is also a phoenix, this could be further evidence that
he was a Gryffindor.

2. Dumbledore "burning", being reborn as an infant phoenix, maturing
in phoenix form, and then restoring himself to a mature human form
neatly parallels Voldemort's immolation at Godric's Hollow, interval
as Baby!mort, and return to an adult body.

3. If we accept my theory about Dumbledore's Spanish "vacation" (HP4GU
#144575), HBP is not the first time Dumbledore has "phoenixed". Which
may explain his exceptionally long life, even for a wizard.

4. I anticipate some arguments on maturity and lifespan of a wizard in
animagus form. Peter Pettigrew doesn't acquire a rat's lifespan when
he transforms into a rat; he lives for twelve years as Scabbers. On
the other hand, he looks considerably older than the thirty-three or
so years he must be when he is transformed back (thin, colorless hair,
going bald, grubby skin, watery eyes), so perhaps his rat-years have
told on him (PoA.19). The phoenix is also a magical creature, so it
may be that when a wizard transforms into one, he becomes more akin to
his animagus than he would if the animagus were a regular animal. Or
perhaps Dumbledore used some heretofore undiscussed charm to allow him
to mature at the phoenix's rate.