Several questions about the Dursleys, the Fidelius charm and Dumbledore

meira_q mb2910 at hotmail.com
Sun Dec 1 14:16:18 UTC 2002


No: HPFGUIDX 47522

This subject(s) was(were) probably discussed several (billion) times 
in the past here, but I'm hereby asking them (probably) again.

Feel free to sigh and say "Oh, no, not again the question about (fill 
in proper subject)..."
*hides the rotten tomatoes* ^-^

So here is my question:

Dumbledore placed Harry on the doorstep of no. 4 Privet Drive for the 
Dursleys to care for him and raise Harry.

for 11 years, the Dursley's greatest wish was to get rid of Harry, 
and suddenly Harry gets this letter from Hogwarts telling him that he 
has been accepted to study there, and the Dursleys do everything they 
can to prevent him from going there (they don't have much success in 
that endeavor, but that is another matter).

Having a wizard in the house would be a bad thing (from Vernon's and 
Petunia's POV) for a few reasons: It's the most un-normal thing 
possible, and they don't want people handling frog spawn and wands 
under their roof, and it's a *very* bad influence on Dinky Duddydums. 
That is why, when Harry does come back for the summer vacation, that 
they lock his things away and padlock Hedwig's cage.

But... sending Harry to a very far away place should be (for the 
Dursleys) as if 10 years worth of Christmass's, Hannuka's, Birthdays  
have been cramped into a single day.

So, why would they want to prevent Harry from going to Hogwarts?
(for example, in CoS, when Ron and the twins "play" tug-o-war with 
the Dursleys, with Harry as the thing being tugged), or in PS/SS, in 
the hut, that Vernon tells Hagrid that Harry will under no 
circumstances go to Hogwarts and that he will go to Stonewall High 
and be greatful for it). Just to prevent Harry from getting what he 
wants? It doesn't seem to me that the Dursleys would care too much 
about what Harry would become and do in his life, except in the sense 
of keeping him as down-trodden as possible.

My opinion is that the same charms and spells that protect Harry at 
the Dursley's residence, sort of protected Harry from getting thrown 
out the nearest window or something like that, and here's another 
Nice Little Question (several, in fact, but who's counting *g*):
What would have happened if the Dursleys would have decided to move? 
The charms protecting Harry would have moved too? What would Mrs. 
Figg do, since she's there to keep an eye on Harry? Do the charms 
prevent the Dursleys of moving because of Mrs. Figg and the 
logisitical challenge it would be to move the charms with them?

Another opinion that I have (which might not be too original and 
innovative but I like it *g*) is that Dumbledore knew about Harry's 
problematic (putting it nicely) family: "'I never expected this,' he 
[Hagrid] said, in a low, worried voice. 'I had no idea, when 
Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh,...'"
~PS, chapter 4 - "The Keeper of the Keys", p. 44 in the Bloomsbury 
version~

And more questions: Is it possible that Dumbledore knew from the 
start that they were going to be like that? Maybe that is why he 
wanted Harry growing up there, to prepare him mentally or emotionally 
for the future?

Meira.






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