The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore

The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore
Author	Rita Skeeter
Published	July 1997
Book information
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore is a biography written by Rita Skeeter. Skeeter published the book only a few weeks after Dumbledore's death. The book is a work of fiction with a few facts twisted for her narrative. It appears in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Background

When Albus Dumbledore died, many of his friends and writers started to give their reflections on his life. Elphias Doge wrote an obituary in the Daily Prophet to give a favourable but vague review of his friend's life. Rita Skeeter gave an interview in the same edition of the Daily Prophet about a new book which was set to be published in a few days.

She wrote the book quickly so she could be the very first to write a biography about him. It didn't take her very long because she had a Quick-Quotes Quill and many people who were quite happy to talk to her and supposedly tell the truth about him.

Contents

Chapters 9-12

Kendra Dumbledore moved to Godric's Hollow when Percival Dumbledore is sent to Azkaban. Skeeter proposes the reason is to hide Ariana Dumbledore. Kendra wants to be left alone and she refuses to speak to her neighbours. Bathilda Bagshot states that she didn't even known Kendra had a daughter until she noticed her taking Ariana outside at night, strangely keeping a grip on her. Many thought Ariana was a Squib since she was kept hidden from around the age of seven when her magic should have already revealed itself. Her brothers had to tell others who knew about her that Ariana was too sick to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Chapter 16

This chapter explored Albus Dumbledore's achievements in life. Dumbledore found the twleve uses of dragon's blood. However, Skeeter claimed he stole Ivor Dillonsby's research in which he had found eight of those uses when Dumbledore 'borrowed' the papers. It's also implied that Dumbledore didn't truly beat Gellert Grindelwald in their great duel, but that Grindelwald surrendered quietly due to their old friendship.

The Potter-Dumbledore Relationship

Rita Skeeter devoted an entire chapter to the Potter-Dumbledore relationship and how Harry Potter was noticed fleeing the tower where Dumbledore had died only minutes earlier.

The Greater Good

When Ariana was fourteen, her mother died. At the time, Albus had recently graduated Hogwarts and was due to go away with his friend Elphias Doge. He decided to stay at home to help Ariana so Aberforth could continue to attend Hogwarts.

Enid Smeek states that even though he stayed, he did not want to and kept Ariana hidden while doing nothing to stop Aberforth's rebel ways. That same summer, Gellert Grindelwald arrived in Godric's Hollow to stay with his aunt, Bathilda Bagshot. Even though he excelled at Durmstrang, they had expelled him for the extreme experiments with the Dark Arts. He befriended and persuaded Albus to accept the idea of the greater good - to control Muggles for their own good. It contradicted the image Albus built of himself as one who was good and kind to Muggles.

However, only two months into their friendship, Ariana died. Gellert was at the house that day and fled, while Aberforth blamed Albus for her death. Skeeter wonders what happened - why did Aberforth blame Albus? Why did Gellert flee? How did Ariana die? She had a few theories - did Albus and Gellert kill her when she found out about their plans?

Skeeter then wonders if Albus avoided fighting Grindelwald for decades because he still had affection for him, and that a part of him never wanted to hurt his friend.

Other topics

Rita Skeeter covered why she thinks Albus only wanted to be Head of Hogwarts of Hogwarts when he could have been Minister for Magic. She also explored why he really created the Order of the Phoenix and how he supposedly really died in 1997.

Pictures

Several pictures were included in the book:

• One of the Dumbledore family was included in an extract of Kendra's move to Godric's Hollow. It showed Albus next to Percival who was holding newborn Ariana, Kendra and Aberforth.
• A photograph of Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald following Kendra's death.
• A few other unknown photographs were included throughout the book.

Critics

"Another spellbinding triumph from the Queen of the Quill"."

— Daily Prophet

The book was popular and was given five stars from the Daily Prophet. However, it was very controversial and it upset a lot of other people, who felt very annoyed by things they thought or knew to be untruthful.

Elphias Doge stated that her nine-hundred page book had very little fact but Skeeter made out in her interview with the Daily Prophet that Elphias was "completely gaga". Skeeter then remarked that not everyone thought Albus was as wonderful as Elphias did and that she found a better source - meaning Bathilda Bagshot - who was quite happy to talk about the hard truths that Elphias had either given a very vague review of, or left out of the obituary he wrote for Dumbledore.

Harry Potter was upset with the chapter that looked into the Potter-Dumbledore relationship, knowing it was fiction. However, even though he knew the book was fiction, he did think about how little he really knew about Dumbledore and he wondered whether Dumbledore really cared about him. He couldn't accept the truths for a while until Hermione Granger made him see that even though he made mistakes in his youth, he grew up and changed.

The truth

Ariana did have magic. Her family did not hide her due to being a Squib and Kendra did not move to Godric's Hollow to help do so. When she was about six years old, a group of young Muggles saw Ariana practicing magic. They wanted her to show them the magic but she couldn't out of fear. They attacked her and left her mentally scarred with very little control of her magic.

Percival was very upset by what happened and he found and attacked the Muggles. He was sent to Azkaban, never telling anyone why to stop Ariana getting sent to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. They decided to keep her secret and were telling the truth about Ariana being sick. Kendra moved to Godric's Hollow in the hope no-one would know they were related to Percival. When Ariana was fourteen, she was upset and lost control of her magic. She killed her mother by mistake.

Ariana did not die when she found out about Albus and Gellert's plans. Albus and Gellert were planning to leave Godric's Hollow but Albus had a change of heart. Albus and Gellert got into an argument and then a duel in the house which Aberforth intervened in. While they fought each other, Ariana was frightened and upset and got in the middle of them where she was hit by a spell that killed her. They never found out who cast the spell that killed her but Aberforth blamed Albus for it while Gellert run away.

The 1945 duel between Albus and Gellert really did happen but Albus did not delay the confrontation due to affection for Gellert. He was scared that Gellert knew whose spell killed Ariana and didn't want to confront the possibility that he did it.