Is aunt Petunia a witch??

[Jim Flanagan]

No: HPFGUIDX 8312

Maya --

If Petunia is a "crypto-witch", then she has gone to great 
lengths to conceal her powers. She would have started covering 
up since the time she was 11 years old, if not before.  
I can't see any reason for her to have started doing this 
at such an early age. However, I think there is a lot of merit 
in the questions you have raised about Harry's maternal 
grandparents.

Based on what we know from the books, it seems unlikely IMHO
that Lily was fathered by Voldemort; however, I think 
it's entirely possible that she and Petunia could be 
descended from Griffindor (or even Slytherin) whether 
or not their parents were wizards. There's a family tree below 
showing how this could work.

A possible clue in this matter is the unnaturally strong 
hostility that the Durselys display against James and Lily. 
When I say "unnatural hostility" I mean that it seems much 
harsher than can be explained by simple sibling rivalry 
and jealousy 10+ years after her sister's death. This unnatural 
hostility is probably the same thing that you are perceive 
as "overmuggling."  

This behavior may point to something that we don't yet know 
about the situation, such as Petunia blaming Lily for 
their parents' deaths. The hostility/overmuggling might 
also be the result of resentment that she feels because Harry's
presence puts her family in danger.

Petunia's *only* direct statement bearing on the wizarding 
status of her parents was to the effect that they were "so 
proud to have a witch in the family." Harry *assumes* that this 
means they were muggles and that Lily was simply a magical 
"sport" like Hermione.  However, Petunia's statement is also
logically consistent with several other possibilities:

1. Harry's grandparents (and Lily) were magical; Petunia is a squib.
   Petunia feels that the parents were less proud of her than 
   of Lily. [However, this fails to explain the 
   hostility/overmuggling.]

2. Harry's grandparents and Lily were magical; Lily is open 
   about her powers, but Petunia chose to be a crypto-witch and is
   "overmuggling" to maintain the secret. [I consider this 
   unlikely.]

3. Even if their parents were muggles, Lily and Petunia
   might have wizarding ancestors through an intervening
   squib/muggle line. In this way, Harry could still
   be descended from one or more of the Hogwartz Founders 
   through his Muggle-born mother.

Here's a family tree showing how this might work:

                       Founder(s) (Wiz)
                          Wiz
                          Wiz
                          .
                          .
                          .
                          Wiz
                          Squib
                          Muggle
                          Muggle
                          .
                          .
                Harry's Grandparents (Muggle)
                    /           \
               Petunia (M)    Lily (W)
                Dudley (M)    Harry (W)

This is just one possibility.  Lily/Petunia's line may
turn out to be more complicated than we had imagined.

-JF



--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Maya Crabtree" <mayacrab at n...> 
wrote:
> >Am I the only one thinking aunt Petunia could be a witch? I think 
she is
> but wouldn't admit it. That makes her 'overmuggling' it sometimes. 
I think
> she is the person that knows why Harry has to be with the Dursleys.
> 
> you know, that would explain many things. It could mean that in 
fact, Lily's
> parent's could have been wizards, and that we were actually misled 
about the
> muggle-decsent issue (although I am sure that if I reread that 
bit , I wil
> find out that there is no room for error in this matter). 
nevertheless, I'll
> go on with this theory - Assuming this is possible, this means that 
the
> absurd (yet amusing) theory I once had about the "surprising" truly 
Amercian
> style ending of "Voldemort was actually Lily's father / other 
relative" ,
> could actually be possible. I know this is a TERRIBLE idea for an 
ending, or
> a secret hidden behind V's wish to murder harry's father and him, 
and only
> killing Lily because hse defended Harry, but it IS possbile . I 
wonder if
> this list ever discussed such an idea? I presented it to my friend, 
and she
> even went as far as suggesting, that an in the story in the Greek 
Mythology,
> Voldermort might have got a premonition or something of the sort, 
that his
> own grandson (or whatever, they could be related in many different 
ways) is
> going to be the only one who could really bring him down, and 
decided to
> kill him, AND his father in order to prevent it happening. I know 
this is
> hightly unlikely, and I would be very disappointed if JKR decide on
> something even similar to it, but I'd just like your thoughts on 
this, just
> the same. :-)
> 
> Maya