[HPforGrownups] Mrs Figg (possible spoilers)

[Tandy, Heidi]

No: HPFGUIDX 1497

Neil wrote
> 
> >S
> >P
> >O
> >I
> >L
> >E
> >R
> >
> >S
> >P
> >A
> >C
> >E
> >
> >*
> >*
> >*
> >*
> >*
> >*
> >*
> >
> Is it possible that Mrs Figg is a distant 
> Potter relative,
> for example?  If so, it might explain why Harry is protected 
> when he is at
> her house and why she doesn't need her own magic to protect him.  The
> Dursleys would know of distant relatives from Lily's family, 
> but perhaps not
> from the Potter side. 
> 
> Harry believes the Dursleys are his only living relatives, 
> but that may just
> be what they have told him.  In CoS, it says Harry "didn't 
> know anything
> about his father's family, after all. The Dursleys had always 
> forbidden
> questions about his wizarding relatives."  In PS, Dumbledore tells
> McGonagall: "I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. 
> They're the
> only family he has left now."  Note, he uses the word 
> "family" rather than
> "relatives" - a subtle difference.  

It depends on how you define it - on the merriam-webster dictionary site,
FAMILY is defined both as 1 : a group of individuals living under one roof
and usually under one head : HOUSEHOLD AND 2 a : a group of persons of
common ancestry 
RELATIVE is defined as 3 a : a person connected with another by blood or
affinity 

You sort of have to go for the second FAMILY definition for dumbledore's
usage, because to Harry that November day, the Durselys were not yet
"family" under definition 1, but they were under definition 2, and under
"relatives" definition 3a


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