Mundungus at the Hog’s Head
by Stephanie Rouse
While reading OotP I was struck by several pieces of information regarding Mundugus Fletcher that seemed to stick out. At first I couldn’t figure out why they stuck out in my mind, but now I have a theory about this character.
When Harry asks Sirius about Mundungus during his first meal at Grimmauld place, Sirius tells Harry that Mundungus is a crook who can be trusted because he is very loyal to Dumbldore for getting him out of a very tight spot once. Later on we find that Mundungus was at the Hog’s Head when the DA had its first meeting there. No one recognized him because he was in disguise due to the fact that he was banned from the Hog’s Head twenty years ago.
Later, we hear that Dumbledore first meets Trelawney sixteen years before at the Hog’s Head for a fateful interview in which Trelawney made her prophecy about Harry and Voldermort. Of course there was an eavesdropper to that interview, someone who was detected and thrown from the building before hearing the whole prophecy. This struck me as odd, since the Hog’s Head is not very discriminating about it’s customers. Whoever was thrown out that night must have been one of the very few not allowed in by the management. It also seemed, from Dumbledore’s explanation of the events that night, that having the eavesdropper thrown out was a lucky coincidence unrelated to the significant profecy being given in the next room. Nevertheless, the eavesdropper knew that the information would be useful to Voldemort and rushed to inform the Dark Lord or his people.
It is my theory that the eavesdropper on that night was Mundungus Fletcher. Either willingly or under the influence of the Imperius curse, Mundungus followed Dumbledore in order to report back to the Dark side, most likely Peter Pettigrew. I believe that the “tight spot” that Sirius referred to occured when Voldemort’s supporters found out that the information Mundungus and Peter had provided was faulty.
Consider also the fact that Mundungus was not in the picture of the first Order that Mad-Eye showed Harry. This would be because he was not yet loyal to Dumbledore. Mundungus was banned from the Hog’s Head some four years before the prophecy was given making it likely that he would be thrown out of the Inn if he had been found on the night of the prophecy–so the timing is right.
Rowling is a complex writer that has often made her readers put little bits of scattered information together to understand the history of her characters. I think this Mundungus theory works. What do you think?