'Out Of Gas'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
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).
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.
But the time travel adventure there is a perfect example of what I mean: the Patronus saves Harry because Harry always went back in time to do it. There was no alteration in the timeline; the timeline existed in an "altered" state.
Um, right. Okay. I think we agree.
Actually, I'm hoping Ron goes bad. He's mad to make money, which leaves him open.
Hmmm. I'm willing to take the point about the previous timeline/inevitability, which may also answer my other questions -- he goes back to 18whatever because he's always gone back to 18whatever -- but it still seems pretty strange to me.