|
== Overview ==
'''''Arabella Doreen Figg''''' is [[..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Harry Potter/]]'s neighbor on [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Privet Drive|Privet Drive]], who often watches him when the Dursleys are on some fun outing or other, such as [[..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Dudley Dursley|Dudley]]'s birthday parties. She is a classic old lady with too many cats.
== Role in the Books ==
{{../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Beginner Spoiler}}
=== [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Philosopher's Stone|Philosopher's Stone]] ===
[[..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Harry Potter|Harry]] dreads [[..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Dudley Dursley|Dudley]]'s birthday because it means he will be sent to Mrs. Figg's, where he will spend the entire day being told, again, about the life histories of the cats in her photo album. As it turns out, however, she has broken her leg and so Harry has to go to the zoo with Dudley, much to Dudley's displeasure. After the events at the zoo, Harry is locked, once again, in the cupboard under the stairs; by the time he has been released, Dudley has knocked over Mrs Figg, on her crutches, with his new racing bike.
When he has to visit her later, she is not quite so keen to tell him about all her cats; it seems that she broke her leg tripping over one of them... so he gets to watch television instead.
=== [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber of Secrets|Chamber of Secrets]] ===
As the book starts the day before Harry is locked in his room, there is no time for us to encounter Mrs. Figg before Harry is spirited away to [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/The Burrow|The Burrow]].
=== [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Prisoner of Azkaban|Prisoner of Azkaban]] ===
Harry spends all his available at Privet Drive time dealing with his Aunt Marge, and as a result we hear nothing about Mrs. Figg in this book.
=== [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Goblet of Fire|Goblet of Fire]] ===
Harry's time at home at the beginning of this book is very limited, and he does not get a chance to speak with Mrs. Figg before the Weasleys arrive to take him to the [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Major Events/Quidditch World Cup|Quidditch World Cup]].
At the very end of the book, when [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Albus Dumbledore|Professor Dumbledore]] is sending people off on missions, he tells [[..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Sirius Black/]] to get in touch with "the old crowd", and explicitly mentions Arabella Figg as one of that group. The reader doesn't notice the name going by, as who would connect batty old Mrs. Figg with her cats to the world of magic?
=== [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix|Order of the Phoenix]] ===
Much to Harry's surprise, it is revealed that Mrs. Figg is a [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Squib|Squib]] and a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Apparently, she was stationed to live next to Harry in order to keep an eye on him and the Dursleys. With the re-creation of the Order of the Phoenix, she was formally brought into that order to assist in guarding Harry; she sees the attack on him and Dudley by [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Dementor|Dementors]]; and she is a witness at the Wizengamot when Harry is tried for using magic on that occasion. Although she does testify that Harry was attacked by Dementors, [http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=19 the author has stated] that she never actually saw the Dementors, but recognized them by their effects.
=== [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Half-Blood Prince|Half-Blood Prince]] ===
Harry spends so little time on Privet Drive in this book that there is no time to mention Mrs. Figg or the other members of the Order who are likely still present and keeping an eye on Harry.
=== [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Deathly Hallows|Deathly Hallows]] ===
Harry is concerned with preparations for his departure, and does not leave the house until the Order is there to take him away. Thus, again we do not get to meet Mrs. Figg in this book.
== Relationships with Other Characters ==
Arabella Figg is a Squib, and as such her relationships with the rest of the Wizarding world are of a very uneven sort; most pity her because she is part of their world, yet unable to partake, being unable to do any sort of magic. [http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=19 The author has said] that Arabella does have a "roaring business" breeding cat-Kneazle hybrids like [[..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Crookshanks/]]; it is possible that Crookshanks came from Mrs. Figg originally, but that cannot be certain.
== Analysis ==
{{Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Intermediate Spoiler}}
A popular theory for why Mrs. Figg is selected as guard for Harry is that no one could detect their magical power because Arabella is a Squib and Harry is underage. Harry's being underage would, of course, be no bar to the detection of his use of magic, as is amply demonstrated when the Ministry for Magic warns him about the use of magic in [[../..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber of Secrets/Chapter 2|''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'']]. Perhaps a better explanation is Dumbledore's sympathy for the non-magical. It is likely Dumbledore who managed to get [[..Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Argus Filch/]] a job as caretaker of the castle at Hogwarts, a job which is one of the few in the Wizarding world of which he is capable; likewise, this watchman job is one suited to Mrs. Figg's lack of Magical ability.
[[Category:Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter]]
| 