A bit on DD

[Barry Arrowsmith]

Don't answer impertinent questions, says Talisman.
A reasonable attitude to take, I think.
This, and a couple of other things she's commented on elsewhere today 
and some ideas I posited over a year ago on the HPfGU board sort of 
came together this morning.

I had a MEGO moment.
Sitting in my accountant's office.
He'd just told me that if I wasn't careful there'd be no way he could 
balance my potential tax liabilities against the expenses and 
allowances I could claim. I heartily approve when anyone tells me that 
I should work less, so I took him at his word - and switched off.

My mind wandered, while with eyes gleaming enthusiastically he itemised 
the IR rules he was going to utilise to ensure that Kneasy made a 
minimal contribution to the next bloody brilliant  economic and 
political fiasco the government was dreaming of perpetrating at the 
public's expense.

And for some reason I started thinking about Dumbledore. Sort of 
appropriate, 'cos DD doesn't quite add up either.

150 year old wizard, some history though much less than one would 
expect from the current No.1 in the rankings. Got a bit of an interest 
in immortality. There's that Stone thing (a partner of old Nick Flamel) 
though why a mere stripling of 150 should be considered a partner for 
someone at 600+ who has obviously done all the work centuries  back, I 
don't know. Add in his pet/familiar - a phoenix, plus Jo's coy remark 
that we should be able to guess his Patronus (let me see - bird? self 
igniting? immortal?) and a picture begins to emerge. (Hell, he could 
even *be* Flamel. In which case, who's his missus?)

It's not the first time that I've been engaged by DD's role in the 
Potter saga; just who and what is he? Resurrection seems a good bet; 
the HP equivalent of Merlin, the wise counselor and leader who returns 
in time of trouble. Makes even more sense if Possession Theory is valid 
and the entity of evil currently inhabiting Voldy originated way back 
when and is given to bouts of recrudescence. Old enemies maybe, in a 
loooong struggle.

Right. Nice idea. I like it. A few loose ends, but with a nudge and a 
squeeze and we might fit it into canon.
Then there was that other thing Talisman said this morning - DD being 
economical with the truth and yeah, he really wanted a pair of socks.
Maybe he did.
But it was put in the text before we realised the significance of the 
words.

The Mirror/Socks scene is in PS/SS - seems facile, a joke answer to a 
possibly impertinent question.
But one book later socks are very important indeed.
They represent freedom from labour, escape from onerous and unpleasant 
duty.
Plus it's not unusual in fantasy, someone given a charge, a mission 
("...this owl will self-destruct in one turn of the egg-timer.") with 
no release until completion.
Alby-baby  has to earn his socks.
The question may have been impertinent, but the answer may have been 
accurate, in a metaphorical sort of way.
Surely somebody has posited this before? What was the outcome?

So I ask  again -  just who and what is Dumbledore?

Amazing what flits across your mind when faced by an accountant.

Kneasy