Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Aberforth Dumbledore
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| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character | |
| Aberforth Dumbledore | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Long, white (original color unknown) |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Related Family | Albus Dumbledore |
| Loyalty | Order of the Phoenix |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Aberforth Dumbledore is Albus Dumbledore's brother, a former member of the Order of the Phoenix.
[edit] Role in the Books
[edit] Goblet of Fire
At one point, Hagrid is hiding in his hut and refusing to teach because of a story that appeared in the Daily Prophet wherein his half-Giant ancestry is exposed. Dumbledore mentions that his brother was once the subject of an attack in the media, apparently for practicing unnatural charms on a goat. Though Dumbledore praises him for keeping his head up, he isn't completely sure whether Aberforth can read.
[edit] Order of the Phoenix
Aberforth is first mentioned by name when Alastor Moody is showing Harry a picture of the original Order. Moody says that was the only time he had ever met Aberforth.
When Harry visits the Hog's Head in that same book, mention is made of a certain odor of goat in the place, and that the proprieter seems to be familiar. Although his name is never explicitly stated, we assume that the proprieter is Aberforth. As proprieter of the inn, Aberforth is called upon to serve Butterbeer to the students making up the initial meeting of the DA.
[edit] Half-Blood Prince
On a Hogsmeade visit before Christmas, Harry recognizes the barman from the Hog's Head talking to Mundungus Fletcher in the street outside the Three Broomsticks. The barman, Aberforth, walks away from Mundungus without saying anything, before they have noticed Harry. It turns out that Mundungus has been attempting to sell stuff that he had liberated from the Headquarters of the Order, and Harry attacks him, ineffectively as it turns out, when he discovers this.
It is mentioned that Harry sees the Barman from the Hog's Head attending Dumbledore's funeral.
[edit] Deathly Hallows
We hear about Aberforth in Elphias Doge's obituary of Albus Dumbledore, where he mentions that Aberforth was Albus' younger brother, and that he generally chose to settle his differences with duel rather than debate, unlike his older brother. He mentions their life in Godric's Hollow, their mother Kendra, and their sister Ariana.
In the interview with Rita Skeeter that appears in the Daily Prophet, Rita mentions that Aberforth had reportedly broken Albus' nose at Ariana's funeral.
While Aberforth is mentioned in passing in the various extracts from Rita's book that we see, we learn very little more of him from them.
Aberforth re-enters our story in person late in this book. When Harry Apparates into Hogsmeade, he sets off an alarm, the Caterwaul, which results in several Death Eaters appearing out of the Three Broomsticks with the intent of catching him. They summon Dementors, and while Harry uses the Patronus charm to dispel them, his Patronus is recognized. As he is retreating from the Death Eaters, a door opens behind him and he (and Hermione and Ron, who are under the Invisibility Cloak with him), are waved into the Hog's Head. From an upper window, they see the bartender confronting the Death Eaters, and summoning his own Patronus, a goat. He manages to convince the Death Eaters that they saw his Patronus, rather than Harry's, before re-entering the pub to speak with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Harry then recognizes him as Aberforth. Aberforth tells them that they should wait until morning, then sneak out of town into the mountains and Disapparate. He tells them that the Order is finished, that Voldemort has won, and that anyone who continues to fight is only deluding himself. Harry says that Albus Dumbledore has given him a job, and Aberforth scoffs, asking if it was a nice, easy job, the sort of thing Harry might actually be expected to do? He also asks if Harry is sure that Albus has told him the whole truth? Harry, by this time, is sure that Albus had been holding things back, and cannot answer. In the silence that ensues, Hermione asks whether a portrait on the wall is of Aberforth's sister Ariana. Aberforth asks if Hermione has been reading Rita Skeeter's book. She says that she had been talking to Elphias Doge, Aberforth responds that Elphias thinks the sun shines out of Albus' every orifice.
The Trio, and especially Harry, have been trying to reconcile their own understanding of Albus Dumbledore with the scurrilous portrait painted by Rita Skeeter in her book, which was reinforced by what Ron's Auntie Muriel had told Harry at the wedding. It takes very little prodding for Aberforth to tell the Trio the true story of their childhood. Ariana, then about six, had been observed by three Muggle youths doing magic. When they demanded that she do it again, and she couldn't or wouldn't, they beat her to the point that she received permanent damage. Aberforth says that her magic turned in on itself, she was never able to control it, and periodically she would have one of her rages and wild, uncontrolled magic would burst out in all directions. Their father, Percival, had hunted down the three Muggles and attacked them; arrested, he had refused to say why he had attacked the Muggles, because to do so he would have had to tell what had happened to Ariana, and felt sure that they would have locked her up in St. Mungo's if her injuries were known. He had been sent to Azkaban, and had died there. Their mother, Kendra, had moved the family to Godric's Hollow, to make a new start, but Ariana had to remain in hiding. Aberforth had become Ariana's favorite, able to control her when nobody else could. Then one day when Aberforth was away, Ariana had had one of her magic outbursts, and Kendra had died. Albus was not happy about having to give up his grand plans to be the head of the family, so when Gellert Grindelwald arrived, he was delighted – he and Gellert could share their dreams. There was a falling out when September approached, however; Aberforth did not want to go back to Hogwarts, he could see that Ariana was only an encumbrance to Albus, and he wanted to stay and take care of her, while Albus thought he should get his education, and Gellert thought that Ariana should be jettisoned as a drag on Albus' plans. It ended up being a three-way duel, and Ariana, frightened, was beginning to have one of her fits, and a curse hit her, and she died. Gellert ran away, of course. Aberforth does not know whose curse it was that killed Ariana, but Albus certainly was responsible.
Harry then states that he is going to do the task that Albus has set for him, with Aberforth's help or without. If Aberforth won't help them get into the school, they will wait until morning and try by themselves. Bowing to the inevitable, Aberforth addresses the portrait of Ariana, who departs, not sideways out of the frame as usual, but down an apparent long tunnel behind her. She returns, accompanied by another figure; the picture swings open like a door, and Neville Longbottom steps out of the passage behind it.
Aberforth is dismayed when Neville tells him that a few others will be showing up. As the last few people come up the tunnel into the Room of Requirement, Aberforth is reported to be quite upset at the traffic. After the younger students and Slytherins have been evacuated from the school, Harry, wandering the halls, meets Aberforth, who tells him that he should not have sent all of those Slytherins away; they'd just go and help Voldemort. Harry says that it's what Albus would do.
We see Aberforth again, briefly, during the battle. He says a few words of encouragement to Ginny when she Jinxes some of the Death Eaters on the grounds of Hogwarts. When Tonks asks him if he has seen Remus, Aberforth says that he had been dueling Dolohov.
In the renewed battle, Harry sees Aberforth Stunning Rookwood as he makes his own way into the Great Hall.
[edit] Strengths
It is said that Aberforth must have had a hard time going to Hogwarts and trying to live in his brother's shadow. Albus had been a prodigiously skilled wizard, yet while Aberforth apparently also displayed an extraordinary magical talent, he seemed to prefer settling arguments with dueling instead of Albus' preferred debate. This may have something to do with his current lack of a high-profile job. Additionally, the accusation that he had been performing illegal charms on a goat could have ruined his chances at more advanced positions. He has made the best of things, however, apparently owning the Hog's Head Inn, and doing a brisk trade even when the Death Eaters are in occupation.
Aberforth is never explicitly seen using magic and is very much a minor character, until the seventh book where he is heard to speak for the first time.
[edit] Weaknesses
Clearly, his unnatural attraction to goats is a weakness, one that has hindered his progression though life.
His brother Albus has suggested that Aberforth may be unable to read.
[edit] Relationships with Other Characters
He is the brother of Albus Dumbledore, as well as Ariana Dumbledore.
[edit] Analysis
[edit] Questions
- Does Aberforth have any of Dumbledore's magical abilities?
- What exactly is meant by "practicing inappropriate charms on a goat"? (Note: Aberforth's Patronus is apparently a goat.)
[edit] Greater Picture
Aberforth seems quite familiar with Mundungus and the quality and provenance of his wares when we see them talking in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and in fact we are told earlier, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that Mundungus had actually been banned from the Hog's Head which implies a fair degree of familiarity. So it is safe to assume that the abortive transaction that we see near the Three Broomsticks in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince s not the only such transaction. We can't say for certain when Aberforth had bought Sirius' magic mirror from Mundungus, though it is certainly a possibility that the one transaction we see is the one where that happened. In any event, as we learn later that Mundungus is hawking his stolen wares to any passer-by in Diagon Alley, it is pure luck that the magic mirror, with its channel of communication that goes back to Harry, was not bought by a Death Eater or a sympathizer, rather ending up in the hands of one of Harry's allies.
