Aberforth

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164180

Jeremiah wrote:
<snip>
> You're right. I think that there is a lot to this character that has
yet to be reveald. One could take the stance that Albus got the brains
and all the junk went to Aberforth (and I agree that Aberforth is
illiterate... JKR says so though DD). <snip>

Carol responds:
Actually, Dumbledore says jokingly that he's not even sure that
Aberforth can read, which is hardly the same as a straightforward
assertion that Aberforth is illiterate. We know that he's thin,
grey-haired and grey-bearded (with a slight resemblance to Albus), not
particularly concerned with hygeine, has an affinity for goats, and
was a member of the original Order of the Phoenix. (Mad-eye Moody only
met him once and thought he was strange. No doubt the impression was
mutual.) And, yes, I agree with your snipped comment that Aberforth
the barkeeper at the Hog's Head (another of JKR's puns--a hogshead is
a barrel often used to store liquor.) In HBP, we see Aberforth having
some sort of confrontation with Mundungus, whom we're told was
permanently banned from the Hog's Head some twenty years before (but
appears there disguised as a veiled witch in OoP). We know that he's
the person who (ostensibly) kicked the eavesdropper (young Snape) out
of the Hog's Head halfway through the Prophecy (yet somehow is still
standing there with him when Trelawney comes out of her trance). He
attends Dumbledore's funeral, but Harry still hasn't figured out that
he's Dumbledore's brother. We also learn that Voldemort showed up in
the Hog's Head with about four Death Eaters whose names Dumbledore
knows on the night before Voldemort's DADA interview. Voldemort asks
how DD knows all this, and DD says that he's friendly with the local
barkeepers.

I conclude from all this that Aberforth is one of Dumbledore's "useful
spies" that Fudge refers to in PoA. Since Mundungus and Snape are also
spies for Dumbledore, possibly there's a connection between Aberforth
and one or both of the others. (I've always figured that he supplied
the Bezoars for Snape's Potions classes, and perhaps for Slughorn's as
well. I doubt that Snape and Aberforth were permanently estranged by
the eavesdropping incident; even if they dislike each other, I think
they work together.) The barkeeper's job is ideal for a spy since he
only has to grudgingly serve drinks, take the customers' money, and
stand there wiping the same dusty bottle with a dirty cloth,
especially given the, erm, interesting clientele of the Hog's Head. I
wouldn't be surprised if Aberforth reported to Albus that Hagrid had
won a dragon's egg from a stranger who was asking him questions about
Fluffy--and a great deal of other valuable information.

Yes, indeed. We'll learn more about Aberforth in DH, and I'm betting
that he's much more clever than he appears to be through Harry's eyes.
(Harry's near-sightedness is figurative as well as literal, and he's a
bit slow in putting two and two together in matters that don't
directly concern him, including a scroungy old bartender and
Dumbledore's ostensibly illiterate brother, who performed
"inappropriate" charms on a goat. No, I doubt that we'll learn what
the charm was, and I prefer to think it was related to Bezoars. ;-) )

Carol, looking forward to meeting Aberforth, the Order member we've
already met but don't know much better than Harry does