Trailer envy, the dreadful Dursleys, Lily- thoughts

[pigwidgeon37 at yahoo.it]

No: HPFGUIDX 21561

First of all: I nearly decided to take a weekend flight to London 
just to see the trailer you lucky US and UK friends can already see 
on the big screen. Here in good old Europe it will take ages until 
I'll be able to see it. BIG sigh!:(

So, to the Dursleys: 
Milz wrote:
„The Dursley's methods were totally wrong. But I think 
deep down in their hearts they thought they were doing the right 
thing 
for Harry and for themselves. As strange as it may sound I think 
Petunia does love Harry in her own way and I think she loved Lily 
too. 
If she didn't love Lily, Petunia wouldn't have been upset that she 
married James, whom she thought was a good-for-nothing. you only get 
upset about people making what you think are bad choices if you care 
for them. However, her fear about magic manifests as anger directed 
toward the two magical people in her family, Lily and Harry, because 
her fear is just too great for her to cope properly."

I don't really agree with you there. IMHO, Petunia has alway been 
extremely jealous of her sister, just think of P. being described as 
horse- faced and bony, and Lily as a beautiful, green-eyed redhead. 

(Which makes me wonder, BTW, if they are *really* sisters?????? 
Couldn't Lily be a stepdaughter? Is it possible that one single witch 
is born into a Muggle family?- The Creevey brothers are Muggle-born, 
too, but BOTH of them are wizards)

Therefore, her resentments about Lily having married James might come 
from jealousy as well (I mean, I would be jealous seeing my sister 
going off with deadly attractive James when I'm having nobody or, 
which is worse, Vernon!)
Which is very much the same as 

Stephanie wrote:
„I get the impression that Petunia was 
jealous of Lily and is quite bitter at the wizarding world -- so she 
wanted to deprive HArry of his legacy as revenge. I think they 
either hid or destroyed the letter, and hoped that would be that. I 
really doubt they know about Mrs. Figg, they were probably just happy 
to have a reliable (maybe even free) sitter, if she's kind of wierd, 
smells like cabbages, and makes Harry uncomfortable, all the better 
in thier opinion. My question is, if Mrs. Figg is the right Figg, 
why didn't she ever let it slip to Harry OR tell Dumbledore the kind 
of abuse HArry is suffering?"

This last question makes me wish even more to know WHAT IS WRITTEN IN 
THAT LETTER!!!! Had Dumbledore *really* wanted Harry to know about 
his wizard identity, he could have asked Mrs. Figg (who, if she is a 
witch, certainly *was* in contact with him) to tell him about it if 
the Dursleys didn't. So, maybe D. preferred Harry suffering instead 
of Harry knowing and putting himself into danger.

Melanie wrote:
„For legal purposes only, I'm assuming that the Dursley's did keep 
the letter. My reasons for believing this are simple: To my knowledge 
the closest thing that the Potters had to a will indicated that if 
anything were to happen to them Sirius would be granted custody. 
Therefore, if they had a letter telling them to keep Harry they 
couldn't get in trouble at all. However, I doubt they were told 
anything about Sirius Black. And part of me also wonders if they were 
lied to about other living relatives. It seems very odd that he would 
have no living relatives..I mean when this is disscussed we seem to 
focus on LIly, however, James had a family too. Where are the other 
Potters?"

I agree with you in doubting the Dursleys knew anything about Sirius, 
the letter presumably being written by Dumbledore and not by J&L. And 
what sense would it have made leaving Harry with them, but informing 
them Harry had a godfather/guardian? They probably would have gone to 
any lengths to find Sirius and dump Harry on him, just to get rid of 
him, which would have been exactly opposed to what Dumbledore wanted.

Jami wrote:
„Whether or not Mrs. Figg turns out to be a witch, it still doesn't 
explain 
why Dumbledore insisted that Harry return to the Dursleys at the end 
of GoF 
before joining the Weasleys. After all, why would one witch offer 
more 
protection than a houseful of wizards and witches ... unless Mrs. 
Figg has 
something she needs to give or tell Harry at this point in the epic."

Don't you think he made Harry return for 2 reasons, 1) security, 2) 
recovery (far away from wizarding world without lots of persons 
unable to resist questioning him about Voldemort &company)?

Susanna