See, I made my own encyclopedia of sorts. I did it by myself without your site, I promise. But I came across so many things that I wasn't sure of. Like how many Notts there are (Nott Sr. and Theodore Nott as examples) and stuff like the teacher of Muggle Studies, etc. These little things kept popping up.

So do you guys ever just use educated guesses or maybe do you have inside information or something? Just curious

Given that Lexicon states that Aberforth is the current barman I'm going to accuse them of inside information

JKR only said she was proud of the goat clue and 'obviously' she wasn't going to confirm or refute the theory (she never does). So Aberforth = current barman isn't a 'fact' unless you read Lexicon too carefully! The adminstrator said that they were going to change the page to reflect that the barman's identity was an educated guess not a fact, but that was well over a month ago. I'm not holding my breath!

That said, I love HP Lexicon - use it all the time. It is fabulous, but must be treated with care...unless they do have insider information they aren't telling us about!

I thought JK confirmed the fact that Aberforth Dumbledore was the current barman? I'm pretty sure I read it in an interview somewhere.

All the quotes with Aberforth mentioned:

GoF, Rita Skeeter's Scoop

"My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head up high and went about his business as usual! Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery..."

OoP, The Woes of Mrs. Weasley

"That's Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, only time I ever met him, strange bloke..."

OoP, In the Hog's Head

The Hog's Head bar comprised one small, dingy, and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats.

OoP, In the Hog's Head

The barman sidled towards them out of a back room. He was a grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long gray hair and beard. He was tall and thin and looked vaguely familiar to Harry.

OoP, Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four

"Why was Dung hiding from us?" asked Ron, sounding disappointed. "We'd've liked to seen him."
"He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago," said Sirius, "and that barman's got a long memory."

OoP, The Lost Prophecy

"...except that Lord Voldemort's information was incomplete. The Hog's Head Inn, which Sybill chose for it's cheapness, has long attracted, shall we say, a more interesting clientele....My---our---one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building."

HBP, Silver and Opals

The exceptions were two men a little ahead of them, standing just outside the Three Broomsticks. One was very tall and thin; squinting through his rain-washed glasses Harry recognized the barman who worked in the other Hogsmeade pub, the Hog's Head. As Harry, Ron and Hermione drew closer, the barman drew his cloak more tightly around his neck and walked away, leaving the shorter man to fumble with something in his arms. They were barely feet from him when Harry realized who the man was.
"Mundungus!"

HBP, Lord Voldemort's Request

"Then if I were to go to the Hog's Head tonight, I would not find a group of them --- Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov --- awaiting your return?..."
"Your are omniscent as ever, Dumbledore."
"Oh no, merely friendly with the local barmen," said Dumbledore lightly.

HBP, The Seer Overheard

"Yes, there was a commotion outside the door and it flew open, and there was that rather uncouth barman standing with Snape, who was waffling about having come the wrong way up the stairs..."

HBP, The White Tomb

...and some people Harry merely knew by sight, such as the barman of the Hog's Head...

jkrowling.com, EBF

Why is the barman of the Hog’s Head vaguely familiar to Harry? Is he Dumbledore’s brother?
Ooh—you are getting good. Why do you think that it is Aberforth? [Audience member: Various clues. He smells of goats and he looks a bit like Dumbledore]. I was quite proud of that clue. That is all that I am going to say. [Laughter]. Well yes, obviously. I like the goat clue—I sniggered to myself about that one.

Mugglenet/TLC Interview JKR

ES: What on earth was Aberforth Dumbledore doing with those goats?

[Big laughs from all]

JKR: Your guess is as good as mine! [Evil laugh!]

MA: Excellent. And Dumbledore makes a little joke about him in this one, about knowing people in bars.

JKR: Yes, absolutely. Yeah, that's right. And you of course see Aberforth very briefly.

Mugglenet/TLC Interview JKR

ES: Dumbledore is unrivaled in his knowledge of magic –

JKR: Mmhm.

ES: Where did he learn it all?

JKR: I see him primarily as someone who would be self-taught. However, he in his time had access to superb teachers at Hogwarts, so he was educated in the same way that everyone else is educated. Dumbledore's family would be a profitable line of inquiry, more profitable than sweet wrappers.

MA: His family?

JKR: Family, yes.

MA: Should we talk about that a little more?

JKR: No. But you can! [Laughter.]

Notice these two though:

jkrowling.com, EBF

Why is the barman of the Hog’s Head vaguely familiar to Harry? Is he Dumbledore’s brother?
Ooh—you are getting good. Why do you think that it is Aberforth? [Audience member: Various clues. He smells of goats and he looks a bit like Dumbledore]. I was quite proud of that clue. That is all that I am going to say. [Laughter]. Well yes, obviously. I like the goat clue—I sniggered to myself about that one.

Mugglenet/TLC Interview JKR

ES: What on earth was Aberforth Dumbledore doing with those goats?

[Big laughs from all]

JKR: Your guess is as good as mine! [Evil laugh!]

MA: Excellent. And Dumbledore makes a little joke about him in this one, about knowing people in bars.

JKR: Yes, absolutely. Yeah, that's right. And you of course see Aberforth very briefly.

___

So it is sort of inderectly...

Sorry, tried to fix a typo but the special characters in the web quotes cause my post to be cut....hopefully someone can remove this...

Sorry, a second problem with the quotes....

Great list, 62442al_Man! Is that from your own lexicon?

Note that the 'obviously' may well belong with the 'That is all that I am going to say". She did NOT say that Aberforth is the current barman, she only says she is impressed that readers traced Aberforth to the bar and that she is proud of the goat clue. Which works beautifully with Aberforth having been the barman upto the time Voldemort tried to extract the prophecy from him, and turned him into a goat when Aberforth resisted.

This works fine with a goat. A goat's head goes up at nearly 90 degrees from its back - you cannot get higher than that. Dumbledore wouldn't be sure a goat could read. And if the Aberforth's main business was kicking undesirables from his bar he can still do that as a goat...the goat that makes the place smell of goats.

And we do see Aberforth briefly, in the picture of the Order. If he is the current barman we've seen him more than once. And Harry spent some time in his company at the start of Dumbledore's Army.

Particularly if Aberforth heard enough of the prophecy to set the chain of events in motion that caused Snape to give his part of the Prophecy to Voldemort. Snape may have had a choice between giving the prophecy or death if Aberforth referenced the prophecy as he booted him from the bar. Other Voldemort supporters in the bar might have overheard, a frogmarched Snape to Voldemort. An Occlumens cannot hide something if the Legilimens knows from an outside source the the memory exists. It could have been give the memory of enjoy an Avada Kedavra.

Dumbledore is Harry's father figure, although Harry was angry when he was shown the picture of the Order I suspect he would have noted if Aberforth looked just like his brother. The current barman may look familiar because he is Caradoc Dearborn, ANOTHER member of the Order in the picture...the one who is thought to be dead but his body was never found.

And, the most important thing to me, this covers why the current barman is talking to an undisguised Mundungus in the street...that isn't the barman that banned Mundungus. Mundungus only has to wear the disguise in the bar to hide from the bar bouncer, a goat with vicious hooves.

Is the idea right? Probably not, but JKR has left a huge clue that the barman that Mundungus talked to in the street isn't the barman that 'has a long memory'. But I seldom get anywhere with a discussion because HPLexicon says the case is closed. Sigh.

I must say I really am impressed. I agree with the theory, the "goat" clue practically confirms it. [SIZE=1]

Whoohoo! A convert! It will be a nice twist of 99% of on-line fandom is CERTAIN that the Order member that hasn't been properly introduced is Aberforth and it turns out to be Dearborn!