Aberforth

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164255

finwitch wrote:
> 
> Just a thought -- maybe Aberforth has a difficulty when it comes to
reading? One that would, perhaps, also occur so that he couldn't learn
any *standard* spells, but was all the more creative, doing things
with his wand that none of the professors had seen before? and ONLY
that. <snip>
 
Jeremiah responded:
> 
> I'm assuming everyone knows that Aberforth (DD's goat-loving
brother...) is the bar-keep at the Hog's Head.
> 
> 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). The other way to look at it is
Albus was the go-getter and Aberforth had his own agenda whan it came
to living his life. He's probably happy with his bar and goats, but
I'm sure he has several tricks up his sleeve. What we don't know is is
Aberforth went to Hogwarts just like his brother, or if he was in
Gryffindor. <snip>

Carol responds:
I posted a response yesterday and it showed up on the list but has
mysteriously disappeared, so I'll try again. Unfortunately, I can't
recall everything I wrote, but if anyone who receives the list by
e-mail has a copy of the post, I'd appreciate it if you'd send it to
me. (If it mysteriously shows up again, I'll delete this one.)

At any rate, I think Dumbledore was joking when he said that he wasn't
sure that his brother could read. Certainly, it's not a definitive
canonical assertion that Aberforth is illiterate. As for attending
Hogwarts, acceptance into Hogwarts is based on magical ability, and if
Aberforth can perform "inappropriate" charms on goats, he's no Squib.
Also, if Crabbe and Goyle can be accepted into Hogwarts, surely
Dumbledore's brother could be. (Draco's line, "I didn't know you could
read," addressed to Goyle, appears only in the Cos film. I think that
even Crabbe and Goyle must be able to read at some level, or they'd
fail all their classes. And if they can read, so can Aberforth.)

That aside, we know quite a bit about Aberforth (whose identity as the
barkeeper has been all but confirmed by JKR), considering that Harry
hasn't yet figured out that the person he saw in the photo of the old
Order that Moody showed him is the same as the barkeeper in the Hog's
Head, which smells of goats (surely intended as a clue by JKR). We
know that he slightly resembles Dumbledore, being tall and thin with a
long grey beard (which may indicate that he's younger than the
white-bearded Albus) and that he's oddly unconcerned with hygeine,
serving butterbeer in dusty bottles and wiping the same dirty mug over
and over with a dirtier towel. We're told that he caught the
eavesdropping Snape and (ostensibly) evicted him from the Hog's Head
halfway through the Prophecy, yet he was standing there with young
Snape when Trelawney came out of her trance. We know that the Hog's
Head is a gathering place for all sorts of strange people, from hooded
strangers to hags. We know that Mad-eye Moody has only met him once
and regarded him as odd (no doubt the feeling was mutual), suggesting
that not even Mad-eye knows what his role in the Order is. We see him
having some sort of altercation with another Order member, Mundungus
Fletcher, in HBP, and that Mundungus (who nevertheless shows up in the
Hog's Head disguised as a veiled witch in OoP) was banned from the
Hog's Head (surely by Aberforth himself) some twenty years before.. We
know that Dumbledore had been told about Voldemort showing up in the
Hog's Head with four(?) Death Eaters, whom DD names, the night before
Voldemort's DADA interview. When LV asks the source of DD's
information, he says that he's friendly with the local bartenders,
which makes particular sense if Aberforth is his brother and a member
of both the original and reinstated OoP. In fact, he seems to have
been working with Albus before the Order existed.

My feeling is that Aberforth, posing as an eccentric and rather stupid
old man whose only business is to grudgingly serve drinks, make
change, and wipe glasses with a dirty towel, is part of Dumbledore's
extensive network of spies (referred to by Fudge in PoA). Where better
to overhear useful conversations, under cover of doing his bartending
job, than in a place with such a varied and unusual clientele? I'm
betting that he told Dumbledore about the hooded stranger who sold
Hagrid a dragon's egg and a lot of other information. Also, JKR has
said in an interview that we ought to be asking questions about
Dumbledore's family. Since Albus never married and it's unlikely that
his parents are alive, I think the only family member who can answer
our questions about him is Aberforth. I have a feeling he knows more
than Harry does about Snape, too, and just possibly more about
Mundungus as well. He's certainly our best source (and Harry's) for
information on the eavesdropping incident. 

At any rate, unless the Order member whom we've met and will get to
know better (per another JKR interview) is Dedalus Diggle, which I
doubt, I have a feeling we'll be seeing quite a bit of the other
Dumbledore in DH.

Carol, wondering what happened to her original post and hoping that
she recaptured the gist of it here (given the events of the past week,
I may be suffering from a jinx!)