Percival Dumbledore

Percival Dumbledore was born in Great Britain around the 1850s and was most likely born in Mould-on-the-Wold, a small village in Britain. He was the father of Albus Dumbledore. He was from the Dumbledore family, which may have been Half-blooded. He later married Kendra Dumbledore, and the two continued to live in the Mould-on-the-Wold. They had three children. The eldest was the future-famed Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. The two younger children were Aberforth Dumbledore and Ariana Dumbledore. 

However, Percival Dumbledore’s reputation was tainted forever due to a tragic incident. When Ariana was six years old, a group of three Muggle children attacked Ariana, causing her a lot of trauma. In retaliation, enraged with the three Muggle boys, Percival attacked them, presumably using magic. This mishap prompted his arrest by the Ministry of Magic for breaking the Statute of Secrecy with the Muggles, and he was imprisoned in Azkaban for the rest of his life, where he eventually breathed his last.

Etymology

Percival was also the name of a knight in Arthurian Legend. Percival was a knight of the Round Table. Percival is derived from the Old French percer val, which translates into “to pierce the valley.”

Early Life

Very little is known about Percival Dumbledore’s early life. He was born in Great Britain into the Dumbledore family, possibly in the Mould-in-the-Wold. He may have had siblings, and his parents may have been both magical or one of them may have been a Muggle. It is believed that when Percival was a relatively young wizard, he was known to be good-looking. As a young man, he met Kendra, and the two got married and stayed at the Mould-in-the-Wold. They would remain there until Percival’s imprisonment in Azkaban.

Schooling

Percival Dumbledore likely studied at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as he had magic powers in his later life and must have studied magic in school. However, he may not have been as popular as his son, Albus Dumbledore, who would later become one of the most popular headmasters of Hogwarts School and Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The Dumbledore Family

Percival Dumbledore married Kendra, a Muggle-born witch, and they stayed together in the Mould-in-the-Wold. They eventually had three children – Albus Dumbledore, Aberforth Dumbledore, and Ariana Dumbledore. Percival and Kendra Dumbledore took special care of Percival’s daughter Ariana, as did her brothers, but at the age of six, she was assaulted by three Muggle boys. Percival could not make peace with this incident and eventually resorted to attacking Ariana’s assailants with magic, breaking the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

Percival’s attack, committed in a fit of vengeful rage, earned him a conviction at Azkaban. He never revealed the reason for his attack as he feared that Ariana would be taken into custody and later put indefinitely in St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

Percival’s eldest son, Albus, would become the Headmaster of Hogwarts and one of his time’s most influential and gifted wizards. His other son, Aberforth, would eventually own the Hog’s Head, the pub in Hogsmeade. Aberforth had a son named Aurelius Dumbledore, who, although estranged, would eventually return to the family. However, sadly, Percival’s daughter Ariana would subsequently die during a duel and disagreement between Albus, Aberforth, and Gellert Grindelwald.

Later Life

Percival Dumbledore spent the rest of his life in Azkaban prison and eventually died there. Percival’s wife, Kendra, and his children moved from the Mould-in-the-Wold to Godric’s Hollow after his arrest and stayed there. His sons studied in Hogwarts, but due to their daughter’s delicate condition, she stayed home. Some people thought she was a Squib, but she was possibly an Obscurial, a powerful magical being with much-repressed magic. 

Percival’s wife Kendra took care of their daughter for the rest of her life until she was accidentally killed by Ariana when she lost control of her magic due to being an Obscurial or Obscurus. The tussle between a young Gellert Grindelwald, Albus Dumbledore, and Albus Dumbledore’s brother, Aberforth Dumbledore, would eventually end up killing Ariana shortly after, possibly due to a Killing Curse from the wand of Gellert Grindelwald.

Appearances and Mentions in the Harry Potter Series

Although Percival Dumbledore never appeared in the Harry Potter series, he was briefly mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows after the death of his 115-year-old son, Albus Dumbledore. Despite the belief that he was a supporter of the notion of blood purity by some misinformed people, also because he may have had Pure-blood ancestry, he was known to be a kind soul and relatively harmless otherwise.

Albus Dumbledore seemed to have not forgiven his father for ending up in Azkaban for attacking the three Muggles. Still, it is believed that he tried bringing back his family, including his father, using the Resurrection Stone he procured from the Peverell ring. 

Furthermore, Percival Dumbledore and the others from the family kept their secrets well, and therefore, nobody knew precisely why Percival had attacked those three Muggle boys. Percival never admitted to what happened as he feared that Ariana would be locked up as a possible hazard to the International Statute to Secrecy or even kept permanently at St Mungo’s Hospital. 

Despite the high regard that people considered Albus Dumbledore, including calling him the greatest wizard of all time, Percival’s image would remain tarnished even after the death of Albus.

The Limitations of the Law – The Case of Percival

Percival Dumbledore was known to be a kind and caring man with no intentions of hurting anyone, let alone Muggles. However, after a group of three Muggle boys assaulted his daughter, Ariana, he lost his temper. He decided to teach them a lesson and attacked them as retaliation, as otherwise, there would be no punishment for their misconduct. Sadly, he could not reveal the true motivation for his attack to the Ministry and the Magical community, and ended up imprisoned in Azkaban. 

Percival Dumbledore intended to protect his daughter from being discovered as an Obscurus and the possibility of her being taken away into custody with no one from her family to care for her. This sad reality is an explicit limitation of the law. Several such limitations of the law exist in the real world, and no matter how hard the bodies in command try to repair and better the laws, there are always loopholes and shortcomings that prevent justice from genuinely being served. However, working towards improving the same at least provides us with the hope needed to achieve the same. It also makes a slow yet assuring improvement as time passes by.

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