- Battle of the Seven Potters—the aerial battle to get Harry out of Privet Drive in Deathly Hallows
- Battle of Hogwarts—the final battle in Deathly Hallows
The stages of Voldemort. (Please note that “Voldemort” will often be used interchangeably with most of them, unless the context matters.)
- Tom Riddle—when he’s young, up until the murder of Hepzibah Smith, give or take
- Vapormort—when he’s “less than the meanest ghost” after the rebounding Avada Kedavra destroys his body
- Quirrellmort—when he’s possessing Quirrell
- Babymort—when he has a “rudimentary body” in Goblet of Fire
- Voldy—when discussing Peeves’s musical stylings, or when he feels cuddly
The Horcruxes, in order of creation
- Diarycrux—Tom Riddle’s diary, destroyed by Harry in CoS
- Locketcrux—Slytherin’s locket, destroyed by Ron in DH after a very convoluted history
- Ringcrux—Peverell ring (a.k.a. Resurrection Stone), destroyed by Dumbledore between OotP and HBP
- Cupcrux—Hufflepuff’s cup, destroyed by Hermione in DH
- Diademcrux—Ravenclaw’s diadem, destroyed by Crabbe’s Fiendfyre in DH
- Scarcrux—Harry’s lightning-bolt scar, destroyed by Voldemort’s Killing Curse in DH
- Nagini—Voldemort’s pet snake, destroyed by Neville in DH
Referring to events by chapter title
- “The Prince’s Tale” (DH)—the twenty memories of Snape’s that Harry views in the Pensieve
- “Snape’s Worst Memory” (OP)—the memory of Snape’s that Harry views in the Pensieve after an Occlumency lesson, when a teenage Snape called Lily a “Mudblood”
- “King’s Cross” (DH)—Harry’s discussion with Dumbledore in DH after he’s been hit with a Killing Curse
- “The Egg and the Eye” (GF)—the congregation of Snape, Filch, Mrs. Norris, Crouch Jr. masquerading as Moody, and Harry under the Invisibility Cloak after Harry goes bathing with his Triwizard egg
- “Padfoot Returns” (GF)—the Trio’s meeting with Sirius in Hogsmeade after the Second Task, where they discuss all the mysterious goings-on surrounding the Triwizard Tournament
- “The Madness of Mr. Crouch” (GF)—when a crazy Mr. Crouch shows up at Hogwarts, presents himself to Harry and Viktor Krum, asks for Dumbledore, and then mysteriously disappears (murdered by his son)
Online Resources
The following are the Harry Potter websites frequently mentioned in the text as sources for quotes or ideas; below is some context for each.
Jkrowling.com—Jo’s official website from 2004 to 2012, where she would leave puzzles for fans to solve, answer FAQs, dispel rumors, and reveal things like book titles. This was one of the best sources for apocrypha, given that the information came as the books were still being written, and Jo was very meticulous about what she wrote.
MuggleNet.com—Founded in 1999 by Emerson Spartz, MuggleNet was one of the leading HP fansites for the entirety of the Potter fandom. It was most renowned for its editorials, which even Jo mentioned when giving them their fansite award: “. . . wonderful editorials (more insight there than in several companion volumes I shall not name).” Some of the more frequent contributors to the editorial section became regular columnists.
The Leaky Cauldron (the-leaky-cauldron.org, aka Leaky)—The other big fansite of Potter’s heyday, Leaky, was launched in 2000. In 2006, Leaky launched their own essay initiative called Scribbulus, which had monthly “issues” of a handful of essays, often focusing on a particular topic or prompt.
The Harry Potter Lexicon (hp-lexicon.org)—The Lexicon is the supreme online reference tool for Potter canon. Founded in 2000 by Steve Vander Ark, the Lexicon was especially lauded for its painstakingly researched timeline (which was coopted by WB for one of the DVDs). There was also an essay section, which aged well because it was more concerned with parsing the details of the books than with predicting future books.
The Harry Potter Companion (hp-companion.com/)—The HP Companion was launched by a former Lexicon editor, Josie Kearns, in 2009. It is first and foremost a fanart website, presenting fanart for each chapter in the Harry Potter books. However, after all the fanart, Josie Kearns would provide some commentary about each chapter, which spurred very active fan discussions. There’s also a small essay section, all written by Josie Kearns, notable for coming after Deathly Hallows when most book discussion had quieted.
Should you wish to follow any of the online links provided in the text, they are all provided for your convenience on this book’s official website, LifeAndLiesOfDumbledore.com.
Introduction
“There have been about a hundred books written on what Dumbledore knew, how he knew it or why he did what he did.”
—Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, page 263
We in the Muggle world are not privy to all those books, so this is my attempt to write one. There are many incredible characters in the Harry Potter series, but none has fascinated me as much over the years as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. He is, in many ways, a contradiction: the greatest champion of love, yet a ruthless Machiavellian; seemingly omniscient, yet often making mistakes.
Much like Harry, I revered Dumbledore as the embodiment of all that is good for a solid six and a half books. Then, it turned out Dumbledore was using Harry, “raising him like a pig for slaughter.” (DH687) I reread the series half a dozen times after Deathly Hallows came out, and I could never reconcile the two. Every time, I would be suckered into loving Dumbledore and would cry at his death; every time, I felt the sting of betrayal in The Prince’s Tale and grew furious with him. Once the reread was done, I faced a conundrum: do I view Dumbledore as a saint-like father figure or as cold-hearted and calculating?
To make sense of it all, I embarked upon a mission to unravel just what Dumbledore was up to in the last year of his life: what his plans were and where they went awry. It was quite the undertaking, but it allowed me to make my peace with Dumbledore. As a columnist for the fansite MuggleNet, it was not long before I turned to the earlier books and started the same exercise with each. Sorcerer’s Stone. Prisoner of Azkaban. Every book I turned to, every part of the story, had Dumbledore pulling the strings behind the scenes. Every odd coincidence and puzzling decision could be explained logically.
I kept writing essays. I started giving presentations at fan conventions.
