Aberforth and Hogs Head pub

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 182539

Jayne wrote:
>
> I have a question for all you clever people.
> Had we come across Aberforth prior to DH as propieter of Hogs head
bar? It was such a surprise to me when the Trio came across him
<snip?

Carol responds:

JKR dropped quite a few hints, which those of us who are interested in
such things pieced together.

The first reference to the Hog's Head as a pub with an unusual
clientele is in SS/PS (it's the place where the hooded man who turns
out to be Quirrell sold Hagrid the dragon's egg--and found out
information on Fluffy).

Aberforth himself is mentioned by Albus in PoA as having been arrested
for putting inappropriate charms on goats. Albus also says, rather
unkindly, that he's not even sure that Aberforth can read.

In OoP, Mad-Eye Moody shows Harry a photo of the original Order
members, mentioning that he only met Aberforth once and that he was a
strange man. He's described, IIRC, as tall and thin and bearded. (I
can look up the quote if necessary, but it's in "The Woes of Mrs.
Weasley.")

Later in OoP, the group that will become the DA meets in the Hog's
Head and the proprietor, tall and thin and grey-bearded, is wiping the
same dirty glass, apparently listening to the meeting, and the place
smells like goats. The old man looks vaguely familiar to Harry. (I
think that was the point when we started putting the pieces together.
Either Aberforth resembles Duimbledore in age and build and bright
blue eyes, not yet mentioned, or Harry, whose memory is unfortunately
not very good, has a vague recollection of the photo.) When Sirius
Black informs Harry that the veiled "witch" who was also listening in
on their conversation was Mundungus Fletcher, he says that Mundungus
was banned from the Hog's Head years before and that "That barman has
a long memory." The same barman, we later learn, caught the
eavesdropper who overheard the first part of the Prophecy and evicted
him from the Hog's Head.

In HBP, during Voldemort's interview seeking the DADA position, Albus
DD mentions the names of Voldie's companions who were with him in the
Hog's Head and that they call themselves Death Eaters. When LV asks
how he knows, DD says that he's on friendly terms with the local
bartenders. Even if we haven't figured out that the barman is
Aberforth, it's pretty clear that he's part of DD's network of "useful
spies," mentioned by Fudge in PoA. And if we *have* figured out that
he's Aberforth, we can be pretty sure of what Aberforth does for the
Order. We see Aberforth again, engaged in some sort of deal with
Mundungus outside the Three Broomsticks (IIRC); evidently that's how
he obtained the mirror that he uses to check on Harry in DH.
(Mundungus has been "nicking Sirius's stuff," as Harry puts it.) And,
of course, as Potioncat has mentioned, the barman (not recognized by
Harry as Aberforth) shows up for Albus DD's funeral.

If there are other references to Aberforth as himself or the barman
before DH, I can't recall them, but I'm sure that someone else will
remind me. Auntie Muriel, Elphias Doge, and Rita Skeeter all refer to
him early in DH (and Rita goes into more detail later), and I think
we're supposed to know by that point who he is. Consequently, the old
man with the goat Patronus and bright blue eyes who rescues HRH from
the DEs did not come as a huge surprise to those of us who'd been
watching and waiting for Aberforth to appear in DH. Despite his
strained relations with his brother, he's been working with him for a
very long time, and, in a way, is still doing so after Albus's death.

Carol, who thinks that JKR laid her clues nicely in this instance but
is still a bit confused about how Aberforth's mirror (which used to be
Sirius's) works