Petunia and Lily

[Chris]

No: HPFGUIDX 17144

My only issue with this is that Petunia and Vernon were already rejecting 
magic before they found out about the Potters' deaths.  I think that there 
is a large undercurrent of sibling jealousy that still exists for 
Petunia.  Maybe she continues to feel this way because she knows Lily is 
gone and can never reconcile these feelings she's had most of her life so 
it's easier to dislike Lily rather than face the truth and guilt that she 
misjudged her own sister and also mistreated her nephew.

Is it possible that Petunia wasn't so turned off my magic until she met 
Vernon and he had some extreme thoughts on the idea which colored her own 
issues from childhood.  I do think that we'll be seeing a huge revelation 
from Petunia at some point in the next book or two. I think there are too 
many loose ends concerning Lily's side of the family.

Maybe Petunia is just upset because the magic gene obviously skipped her 
and her son (that we know of so far) and seeing Harry get the letter brings 
all these old feelings of inadequecy to the surface again.  We know that 
Dudley wants (and gets) everything he asks for, and some things he 
doesn't.  We know that the Durselys can't say no to Dudley, so what if all 
of this 'magic hating' was premeditated to trick  Dudley into not wanting 
the letter if it ever arrived for him.  When it arrived for Harry and not 
Dudley, he was in the boat with his parents regarding his attitude toward 
magic.  He wanted notihng to do with it, therefore saving Vernon and 
Petunia from dealing with giving Dudley something he 'wanted'  I also think 
that Petunia almost sounded put off that Lily was accepted at Hogwarts and 
she wasn't.  As much as she loves Dudley, I can't imagine how she would 
feel if her son were accepted and she wasn't.

I don't know, this sounded much better in my head and now looking at it, I 
don't think it conveys what I wanted it too.  Strike it up to Spring Break.

>I can also easily see Petunia being =frightened= by Lily's
>murder.  If some evil person murders your sister, might they not
>be coming for you next?  Looking at it that way, it's easy to see
>why Petunia rejects magic so violently, since in her view that's
>what killed Lily.
>
>--Margaret Dean
>   <margdean at erols.com>



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