So what was Albus doing

   So what was Albus doing, if not comforting his wild young brother? The
answer, it seems, is ensuring the continued imprisonment of his sister. For
though her first jailer had died, there was no change in the pitiful condition of
Ariana Dumbledore. Her very existence continued to be known only to those
few outsiders who, like “Dogbreath” Doge, could be counted upon to believe in
the story of her “ill health.”
   Another such easily satisfied friend of the family was Bathilda Bagshot, the
celebrated magical historian who has lived in Godric’s Hollow for many years.
Kendra, of course, had rebuffed Bathilda when she first attempted to welcome
the family to the village. Several years later, however, the author sent an owl to
Albus at Hogwarts, having been favorably impressed by his paper on trans-
species transformation in Transfiguration Today. This initial contract led to
acquaintance with the entire Dumbledore family. At the time of Kendra’s death,
Bathilda was the only person in Godric’s Hollow who was on speaking terms
with Dumbledore’s mother.
   Unfortunately, the brilliance that Bathilda exhibited earlier in her life has
now dimmed. “The fire’s lit, but the cauldron’s empty,” as Ivor Dillonsby put it
to me, or, in Enid Smeek’s slightly earthier phrase, “She’s nutty as squirrel
poo.” Nevertheless, a combination of tried-and-tested reporting techniques
enabled me to extract enough nuggets of hard fact to string together the whole
scandalous story.
   Like the rest of the Wizarding world, Bathilda puts Kendra’s premature death
down to a backfiring charm, a story repeated by Albus and Aberforth in later
years. Bathilda also parrots the family line on Ariana, calling her “frail” and
“delicate.” On one subject, however, Bathilda is well worth the effort I put into
procuring Veritaserum, for she, and she alone, knows the full story of the best-
kept secret of Albus Dumbledore’s life. Now revealed for the first time, it calls
into question everything that his admirers believed of Dumbledore: his
supposed hatred of the Dark Arts, his opposition into the oppression of Muggles,
even his devotion to his own family.