Mundungus "Dung" Fletcher
"Mundungus Fletcher’s put in a claim for a twelve-bedroomed tent with en-suite Jacuzzi, but I’ve got his number. I know for a fact he was sleeping under a cloak propped on sticks."
-- Percy Weasley, after the Quidditch World Cup (GF10)
Mundungus Fletcher is a rather dodgy character, a crook whose shady
business dealings are always getting him into trouble. However, he's
also a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Ancestry: half-blood (HBP13).
Age: Unknown.
Skills: Fencing stolen goods, eavesdropping, fraud,
swearing, burglary.
Location of home: Unknown.
Alliances: Order of
the Phoenix (NR2, OP2-8), and who knows what else.
Pipe: Emits greenish smoke that smells like burning
socks (OP5).
Appearance
Hair: Straggly ginger hair (OP2).
Eyes: Bloodshot and baggy (OP2).
Other characteristics: Tattered clothing, unshaven, smells
of stale alcohol and tobacco. Short; shorter than Harry at 17 (OP2,
DH4).
"Mundungus" according to JKR, is the name of a particularly smelly
variety of tobacco (RAH).
"Fletcher" = [English] one who makes arrows (the feathers are
referred to as fletching).
PROFILE
Harry and the Weasley boys think he is a lot of fun to spend time
with, since he can tell stories that will keep his listeners in stitches.
He drinks quite a bit and swears magnificently. Albus Dumbledore seemed
to have the attitude that even though he's a crook, he can be mighty
handy to have around sometimes since he hears things others don't (OP5).
Mundungus, or "Dung" as he's called, smokes a grimy, smelly pipe. Molly Weasley doesn't like him smoking the pipe in the kitchen (OP5). She doesn't like him at all, come to that.
Dung and the Hog's Head
In the 1970s Mundungus was thrown out of the Hog's Head Pub, so when he was
assigned to keep an eye on Harry 20 years later, he was forced to hang around
that pub dressed as a witch (OP16). Fortunately, keeping one's face hidden
is a bit of a fashion in the Hog's Head. Dung may have other Hog's Head connections:
the day Harry caught Dung with peddling Black family heirlooms, he was seen
speaking with Aberforth, the Hog's Head barman
(HBP12). (HBP12).
At the Quidditch World Cup: merely fraud and an attack on Arthur
Weasley
At the Quidditch World Cup, Fletcher was sleeping under a cloak propped up with
sticks. After the Death Eater incident, however, he tried to put in to the Ministry
for compensation for a 12-room tent with en suite jacuzzi (GF10). During a Ministry
raid (presumably searching for misused Muggle artifacts), Mundungus tried
to hex Arthur Weasely when his back was turned (CS3).
Guarding Harry or "business opportunity?"
On August 2, 1995, Mundungus Fletcher was on guard duty, tailing Harry Potter
around the neighborhood of Privet Drive. He got wind of a business deal on
some stolen cauldrons, however, and he abandonded his post. During his absence,
Harry and Dudley were attacked by two Dementors (OP1-2). Dumbledore was furious
with him and Arabella Figg beat him around the head and body with her string
shopping bag full of tins of cat food. He was only somewhat abashed, however,
and later, when he met Harry, he tried to explain along with his half-hearted
apology (OP).
Purple robes and Tentacula seeds
Needless to say, Molly doesn't care for Mundungus at all, especially after
he abandoned his post guarding Harry during the summer. However, during the
cleaning of 12 Grimmauld Place, Dung rescued Ron from some particularly nasty
purple robes, and Molly was somewhat mollified (OP6). It is doubtful, however,
that Molly would have approved when Mundungus sold illegal Venomous Tentacula
seed pods to Fred and George (OP).
Sent to Azkaban
In the early spring of 1997, Dung is arrested and sent to Azkaban for "impersonating
an Inferius during an attempted burglary." (HBP21).
Disgraceful cowardice
During the Battle of Seven Potters, Dung was Polyjuiced into Harry and rode a broomstick behind Mad-Eye Moody. When Voldemort attacked, he Disapparated, leaving Mad-Eye Moody to be killed (DH4).
