Is it anywhere stated or implied who the Headmaster of Hogwarts was when Dumbledore was at school? This would have been c.1892-99. Could it have been Phineas Nigellus, or do the dates make that impossible?
If HP Lexicon can be relied upon, Phineas Nigellus was born 1847, Dumbledore 1881. 1892 would've been the year Dumbledore enrolled at Hogwarts, and that same year, Phineas Nigellus would've been 45. While not conclusive, this is certainly within the realm of possibility. :)
As the above comment states, it could have been Phineas Nigellus Black. All Phineas's children were born between 1877 and 1889, and since Headmasters seem to live at Hogwarts more or less full-time, he might not have started until after that. He died in 1925, so that would be a good, long run as Headmaster. The other question would be whether he was a professor first.
Hadn't thought about the children aspect -- hmm, maybe he'd wait until they were of Hogwarts age themselves then? I got the impression from his portrait's comments that he was more of a scholar who took on the headship than someone who actually liked teaching.
Unlikely, unless Phineas Nigellus Black was a very young Headmaster, and only held the post for a short time. Dippet was Headmaster right up until Dumbledore took over the post in the 1950's.
Dumbledore didn't take over from Dippet until some time after Lupin was born:
‘Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren’t likely to want their children exposed to me. ‘But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic.
He and Minerva would have been working side by side in Transfiguration (or perhaps he as a head of department and she as a junior) for the period 1956-196[x] when he did become Headmaster.
Yes, Lupin does say this, but it is contradicted elsewhere. In HBP, Ch 20, we learn more or less exactly the year Dumbledore became headmaster by following Voldemort's timeline
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‘Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren’t likely to want their children exposed to me.
‘But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic.
He and Minerva would have been working side by side in Transfiguration (or perhaps he as a head of department and she as a junior) for the period 1956-196[x] when he did become Headmaster.
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