Did Dumbledore go to the Weasleys' house (before book six)?

Question

Order of the Phoenix Ch. 23:

“And Dumbledore — what about Molly?” said Professor McGonagall, pausing at the door. “That will be a job for Fawkes when he has finished keeping a lookout for anybody approaching,” said Dumbledore. “But she may already know . . . that excellent clock of hers . . .” Harry knew Dumbledore was referring to the clock that told, not the time, but the whereabouts and conditions of the various Weasley family members, and with a pang he thought that Mr. Weasley’s hand must, even now, be pointing at “mortal peril.”

How did Dumbledore know about the clock?

Was Dumbledore ever at the Weasleys' house before the events of book 6?

Answer 1

We don’t see Dumbledore visiting before mentioning the clock.

Dumbledore isn’t known to have visited the Weasley house before mentioning the clock to Harry. However, he could have visited them in time the reader doesn’t see (we don’t follow Dumbledore closely enough to account for everything he does). There are some things we can reason out for certain either would or wouldn’t have happened, but this doesn’t have a clear answer. It wouldn’t be odd or out-of-character for him to go to the Burrow, so we can’t eliminate the possibility that he might have visited them at some point. No visits are mentioned or referred to, though, so we can’t say for certain that he did. Even if he didn’t, his knowledge of the Weasley clock is still explainable. He could also know about the clock some other way, like through letters or from someone mentioning it to him. He doesn’t need to have seen it to know about it.