More thoughts on two different subjects...

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 36075

Firstly, thanks to whoever pointed out my mistake earlier---I _meant_ that
Pettigrew would have used the same Tickling charm on Sirius that was used in
the Duelling Club, but put down "Cheering Charm" instead.  I do think that
this is a theory that is, at least, compatible with the known facts and
doesn't require any huge plots on the parts of the wizards who found Sirius
to explain.

Secondly---although I don't think Molly Weasley is a _perfect_ mother, she's
the best mother in the HP series by a long shot, at least that we get to
see.  (I will stipulate that the competition is not exactly
fierce---compared to Petunia Dursley, almost anybody's a good mother)  I
like her largely _because_ she immediately bonds with Harry as soon as she
really gets to meet him---she knows from what she's heard from Ron (and
probably other sources; Harry _is_ famous, after all) that he's in a really
horrid situation at the Dursleys' place, and her warm heart goes out to him.
She knows that even though he's "the Boy who Lived," the famous Harry
Potter, he's still an abused, emotionally-starved child, and she has what he
needs in abundance.

The Weasleys are far more Harry's "family" than the Dursleys ever could be,
IMNSHO.  Even if the Dursleys had a road-to-Damascus experience and started
trying to be nice to him, I don't think he'd ever really trust them or be
willing to bond with them.  If he had the chance to make a choice for
himself, my bet is that he'd want to live with the Weasleys forever...and
that Molly would find a way to make it happen.

I would _so_ love to see a scene where Molly Weasley gives the Dursleys
what-for, maybe even not just for depriving Harry, but for rendering Dudley
all but unable to function in the big outside world.  I can just see
it...Ron, outside, turning to Harry and Hermione in awe and saying "Man
alive, I can't believe my Mum even _knew_ that kind of language!"   She's
tactful enough not to criticize the Dursleys directly in front of
Harry---whether she likes them or hates them, they _are_ his relatives and
caregivers---but I'd bet Galleons to Confederate dollars that, over a cuppa
with her best girlfriends, she is devastatingly frank:  "I absolutely can't
believe it, Vi!  I mean, he's one of the sweetest, most polite boys I've
ever seen, and those dreadful Dursley people treat him like some sort of bug
that's infested their lives!  Their own son is spoilt beyond belief, and
they haven't so much as a bone to throw to poor Harry!"