[HPforGrownups] Petunia Dursley ... a question or two

[SALeathem at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 28942

In a message dated 06/11/2001 23:12:30 GMT Standard Time, 
Suki wrote:
<< 
 First, I lately heard a rumor that JKR (repeatedly) said some muggle 
 would discover they could do magic late in life and that most 
 speculation pointed to Petunia. Can anyone point to where/when JKR 
 said this? >>

I remember reading it, and I'm pretty sure it was on the AOL chat she did a 
little while ago. I missed the actual chat, but read the transcript later.
If not AOL, one of the online talks she has done as opposed to an interview.
It was something like, one muggle character from the book does magic late in 
life as a last resort, but in all other cases, you're either born a 
wizard/witch or you're not. So you can't pick it up as you get older like 
some kind of skill.

and somebody else (sorry, couldn't find a name on the post):
<< I have also heard a rumor that something unsuspecting happens to one 
of the dursleys but if Petunia indeed finds out she is a witch, why 
wouldnt she have gotten a letter along with Lily? >>

I think, if it was/is Petunia that JKR referred to, then the above is 
relevant (well, even if it wasn't/isn't Petunia). 

I actually think that maybe Petunia's a squib. Because if Harry was a 
Mudblood (half muggle), surely Master Malfoy would have commented straight 
away rather than trying to get him on side during their first few meetings 
once he realised who Harry was. I would imagine Malfoy would know if Harry 
was pureblood or not. Also, the sorting hat tried to put Harry in Slytherin. 
Are there any hlaf muggles in Slytherin? 
As to why, if Petunia is a Squib, she didn't get a letter from Hogwarts, 
maybe just like the magic quill knows when someone with magical ability is 
being born, it knows when someone without some is being born. So wouldn't 
have included her on the list. Also, why are Petunia & Vernon so against 
magic? Yes, I'd imagine it's a bit weird having a witch for a sister, but 
they don't have to lock their nephew in a cupboard... Oh and theres that line 
in er.. CoS? When Harry claims to be cursing the hedge and says a load of 
nonsense words to scare Dudley. The line says (something like) - 

Aunt Petunia knew he didn't really curse the hedge...

How would she know? Surely if she was a muggle and Lily really was the odd 
one out in the family, and Petunia's so against and scared of magic she 
wouldn't know, she would have reacted like Dudley.

Finally, Mrs Figg. How does Petunia know an old woman who lives a few streets 
away? There could be any number of reasons, but usually, you know the people 
that live on your street well enough to leave your kids with them, not some 
old woman a few streets over (unless they used to live in that street and 
moved...) We now know that Mrs Figg is Arabella Figg and is a witch. I think 
Petunia knows she's a witch and that's her reason for leaving Harry there. If 
Harry unwittingly did something magic, Arabella would know and it wouldn't 
really bother her, whereas someone else would probably either think he was 
possessed or really badly behaved and go off the Dursleys for good. 
Obviously, Petunia hasn't let on to Vernon that Mrs Figg is a witch, or that 
her entire family are.

Sara