[HPforGrownups] Re: Very interestin tidbit I found while checking the chat archives

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 22113

> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> >
> > Petunia didn't blow up her sister Lily.  I believe she blew up
> > her sister-in-law Aunt Marge because Aunt Marge was running down
> > Harry's mother's family (that is, Petunia's side of the family). 

> > And while she may not have liked Lily, Aunt Marge is making some 
> > very general criticisms of the Evans clan.  And I don't think 
> > Petunia blew Marge up consciously; just like Harry
> > freed the snake in the zoo, it just happened based on strong
> > feelings.
> 
> Hunh?!  What do you base this on? The text has nothing to lead you 
> to believe that Petunia was the cause.  

I never said it did.  In both my posts on the subject, I said that I
believed or thought that Petunia was the culprit (or hero, depending
on your point of view).  Marge was certainly rough on James but had
referred to Lily very unflatteringly in terms usually reserved for
discussions about dog breeding.  And while Petunia does not like
Lily, it's one thing to think these things about your family but
quite another to hear them from something else.  

Yes, Harry was angry and JKR shows it building to a climax thoughout
the chapter.  It certainly looks like it's his fault.  But JKR has
done this before when she had Harry get a stinging pain in his scar
when Snape apparently looked at him from the head table and it turns
out to be Lord V in Quirrel's turban (PS/SS) or for that matter the
whole "Sirius is guilty" subplot.  Whenever a significant incident
comes up in the books and the characters assume that only one
solution is possible or likely, it is a good idea to question that
assumption.  Because it could be JKR setting us up again.

As for the Ministry absolving Harry of doing it to Marge, why
wouldn't they? As far as they know he's the only wizard on the
premises at the time; it's a logical conclusion.  

I also based it on that B&N interview where she says someone will
manifest magic late in life: why not Petunia?  We're not overloaded
with Muggle characters, Lily was a witch, makes sense to me.  JKR
always foreshadows later major events with smaller references first:
Polyjuice Potion, duelling, etc.  

She's a cunning writer that way.




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