Dude, if you ever find me wanking anything for more than 500 words, feel free to smack me upside the head and tell me to go get some fresh air.

Of course, Anne.

Maybe Ron couldn't go back and save Buckbeak, in some part, because then there would have been THREE of him.

And it's interesting that Ron doesn't know about the time travel...

So the theory is that, at some point in the future, Ron goes back to the 19th century and takes the name of Dumbledore, right?

My questions are:

1. Why go back so far? It's odd that Ron/Dumbledore would just bide his time for 140 years or so, especially given the number of things that could go wrong that time. The obvious reason would be in hopes of preventing the Riddle/Voldemort/Death Eater crisis, but if he meant to do that, he failed. (And even then, he wouldn't have had to go back past the '50's.) As for wanting an aged physical appearance -- they're wizards, and there must be a thousand spells and glamours that would achieve that.

2. Who filled Dumbledore's role in Timeline A, the one Ron went back to correct? If there was no one, it seems likely the school would have fallen apart.

2. How was Ron's cover in the 19th century arranged? And on the same note, what have we heard about Dumbledore's boyhood? If Ron posed as an orphan/foundling wizard, as seems easiest, I would want to have heard that about Dumbledore -- that he rose from nothing -- as it would likely be part of his legend (for those who liked him) and something to be used against him (for the Malfoys and co.).

The physical resemblance is striking, though, so I'm not willing to dismiss the idea entirely. What might be possible is that in Timeline A, Dumbledore died at some point during or before that covered by the books, and Ron went back, artificially aged and head crammed with everything Dumbledore knew, to fill his shoes.

What might be possible is that in Timeline A, Dumbledore died at some point during or before that covered by the books, and Ron went back, artificially aged and head crammed with everything Dumbledore knew, to fill his shoes.

Or simply a family connection. It's also been established that the pureblood wizard families intermarry frequently. Therefore, it's probable that any pureblood wizard is at least a distant cousin to any other pureblood wizard.

And on the same note, what have we heard about Dumbledore's boyhood?

He has a brother, and I'm pretty sure someone other than Dumbledore mentions him in OoTP, since Dumbledore barely speaks in OoTP. It might even be when they're talking about the first Order members.

2. Who filled Dumbledore's role in Timeline A, the one Ron went back to correct? If there was no one, it seems likely the school would have fallen apart.

My interpretation is there is no Timeline A, and the story is a self-contained time loop. Dumbledore existed because Ron went back and became him. It happens because it happened.

That doesn't seem to be how time works in the Rowling universe, though. Harry and Hermione have to avoid themselves when they use the Time Turner.

If there was no one, it seems likely the school would have fallen apart.

Maybe it did. Timeline A could have seen the destruction of Hogwarts, the death of Harry Potter, hell maybe not even his birth, basically, anything but the death of Ron. All he had to do was survive and go back in time to set things right...although that would put some kinks in the "Dumbeldore knows everything" point.

But then I'd thinking time travel and flowcharts and soon my head would hurt.

The thing is, in PoA, there is no previous timeline. It always happened exactly as they make it happen (As Harry says, "I knew I could do it because I'd already done it"). So there doesn't need to be a previous timeline, so long as Ron goes back and becomes Dumbledore.

As for the why that far, my guess would be to make sure that Dumbledore was in place/respected/whatever before Tom Riddle went to school, so that the relationship between the two of them would be in place ("Only wizard he ever feared" and all that).