The Dursleys and the Potters

[harry_potter00 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 11670

Naama (?) wrote:
"But - the similarities seem somehow only to make them more eligible 
to function as a negative picture of the Potters. We don't like them 
one bit more because of them, right?  So – why not? Why are we so 
sure that Lily and Petunia (sisters) are completely different 
persons? Is it just because we have only Harry's POV?"

Stacy wrote:
"Hey, everyone. :) My name's Stacy, and I'm on the PoU list and I 
finally joined this one yesterday."

--Welcome to the list! I hope you enjoy it. 

Stacey wrote:
"But I wanted to point out that we don't only have Harry's POV. We 
also have Hagrid, Dumbledore, Sirius, Lupin, Snape, etc. -- everyone 
who actually knew the Potters. Now granted, they probably would not 
say anything bad about them in front of Harry."

--Ah but I must argue this point. The books are told from Harry's 
point of view. They still reveal other characters opinions (including 
their opinons of Harry's  mum and dad) but only through those 
characters reactions with Harry. There are still of course notable 
exceptions to this, like the 1st chapter of PS/SS and GoF but for the 
most part it's Harry's POV. 

The first chapter of PS/SS is quite revealing of Dumbly's and 
Mcgonagall's reactions to the Potter's deaths and thereby their 
feelings for them. It is evident that they had a relationship that 
was much more than just teacher/student. You basically said this in 
your post. It is obvious that the Potter's were in pretty high regard 
in the wizarding community. WHY they were held in that regard is one 
of the great mysteries JKR has not yet revealed to us. 

Stacey wrote:
"What I'm dying to find out is what on Earth happened to all four of 
Harry's grandparents. I suppose it's possible that Petunia got so fed 
up with her parents favoring Lily (at least, in her eyes) that she 
stopped talking to them, thereby cutting off Harry's contact with 
them as well. And I suppose it's highly likely that James's parents 
were both killed in the first war with Voldemort."

--Well it seems obvious to me that Harry's grandparents must be dead 
or Harry would have gone to live with them instead of the Dursely's. 
How they died or what happened to them is anyone's guess. (especially 
Lily's parents as they were muggles were unlikely to have died at a 
DE's hand...)

You have to admit however that Harry's hard life with the Durselys 
works awfully well in terms of plot. His growing up with two 
grandparents who love him dearly wouldn't have been nearly as 
interesting.

Stacey wrote:
"But it's odd -James and Lily seem to have been quite young when they 
married and had Harry (most fics have them pretty young, anyway, and 
since they  met at Hogwarts it sort of follows)...."

--Well I personally don't think that they were as young as everyone 
makes them out to be. I mean granted they most likely were in their 
twenties (even early thirties???), so yes they were young. However 
just because they were young doesn't mean that the two were married 
at 19 or mother and father before they could legally buy a drink (21).

Scott