Summaries: PS chapters 4 and 5

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No: HPFGUIDX 27582

Re: chapter 4
> Questions:
> 1. Vernon had the foresight to purchase a rifle before
> going to the hut. Was he expecting a wizard to show
> and how did he think a rifle would defend them against
> magic?
I would say, yes, definitely, Vernon had to be expecting a wizard to 
show, given the obvious persistence of whoever was sending the 
letters.  The act of buying a rifle (in fact, the whole escape from 
the house to hotel to rock in the sea) was actually quite significant 
in a few ways.  It shows:
a) the state of paranoia Vernon has reached;
b) the extent to which said paranoia has hampered his ability to 
think rationally (how WOULD a rifle defend them against a wizard? and 
did Vernon really think he'd have the huevos to use them?); and
c) the depth of his mundane-ness (mundanity?  You know what I mean).  
The simple fact that Vernon thought a rifle would defend the Dursleys 
from a wizard shows his complete lack of comprehension of the whole 
magic issue.

> 2. Petunia considered Lily a freak. If there had been
> other wizards in the family somewhere, why would
> Petunia consider Lily's magic such an aberration?
> Wouldn't she have heard of/been familiar with other
> wizarding members of the family?
Was there any suggestion there were other wizards in the family?  As 
far as I understood, Lily was definitely Muggle-born.

> 3. Who do you suppose addresses the Hogwarts letters
> and how did they continue to be able to know exactly
> where Harry was?
Of course, Hagrid delivered the letters, but as Professor McGonagall 
was the person who wrote the Hogwarts letters, and the envelopes were 
addressed in the same green ink as the letters, I'm assuming she 
addressed them too.  The formality and precision of the addresses 
(culminating in the final "Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, 
The Sea") also points to McGonagall, in my opinion.  No clue as to 
how she knew exactly where he was.

> 4. Vernon says that Harry needs all kinds of supplies,
> implying that he is not willing to provide them. Why
> didn't Hagrid say that Lily and James had money and
> that Harry could get his own things?
I assume Hagrid had the good sense to realize (having spent enough 
time with the Dursleys to see what they were like) that if the 
Dursleys had any idea that Harry has money of his own, they'd do 
their best to take it from him.

> 5. Why was Hagrid not willing to tell Harry why he had
> been expelled?
If I'd been expelled from school, I probably wouldn't want to dwell 
on the topic either.