[HPforGrownups] Dursley Questions

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 5132

Jim Flanagan wrote:

> - What do they know about Voldemort?  Surely they would have asked
> questions when the Potters were killed and their house was blown to
> smithereens.  Do they understand who Voldemort was (is), and what his
> return might mean to Harry and his blood relations?

Dumbledore doesn't seem to err on the side of overexplaining things. I'm
betting he just told them that an evil wizard murdered them, and that Harry
was their responsibility, and that they'd be hearing from Hogwarts in ten
years or so regarding Harry's admission there. Presumably the safeguards
Dumbledore set in place around Harry while he's in his blood relations' care
also protect the blood relations.

> - What is the nature of the protection that living with blood
> relatives affords Harry?  Is it akin to having a Secret Keeper?
> Perhaps it is related to the protection that Harry received when his
> mother died to protect him.

I'm certain it is related; both are identified as "ancient magic," and
neither has been very much explained. I think this is something that will
come out in later books.

> - Does anyone in a position to know ever say explicitly that Lily was
> a muggle-born witch?  Could Petunia have been a squib in a wizard
> household instead?  Harry *assumes* that his grandparents were
> muggles, but do we know for sure?

Well, everyone's pretty unanimous in identifying Harry as half-Muggle, but I
don't remember if that "everyone" includes anyone who might know any
different. I've wondered this myself, with my half-baked "Harry is the last
descendant of *all* the other three founders, not just Gryffindor"
theory--he'd have to get it on both sides. But he's probably not.

> - When and how did Lily and Petunia's parents die? They must have
> been comparatively young (50s or 60s) when Harry was born.  Might
> they have been killed by Voldemort?  If so, could that have
> traumatized Petunia into rejecting "the wizarding world" completely?

I kind of got the idea that Petunia didn't get along with her parents too
well. She clearly resented what she perceived as them favoring Lily. That
seems to have been the lasting traumatic effect, not their deaths. I do
think it's pretty clear they're not on this mortal coil anymore, though,
since the Dursleys are the only living relatives. I presume James' parents
were either already dead or were Voldemort fodder, but Lily's? hmmm..

But people do die at that age, of natural and/or unfortunate causes, even
without the help of evil wizards. My mother died at 54, my father at 65,
with no unusual circumstances. Lily's parents could just simply be dead.
Perhaps the strain of parenting Petunia got to them.....

--Amanda