[HPforGrownups] end of Dursleys

[Barb]

No: HPFGUIDX 46024


energizermummy <dwalker96 at aol.com> wrote:
Anyone ever theorize re: the end of the Dursleys? After all, LV and followers are not the only villians in HP. I can imagine a possible scene in year 7, where a miserable Dudley acknowledges to Harry the same jealousy he has of him as Petunia had of Lily. Although Petunia self describes it as hatred, it really is jealousy- how proud her parents were of the witch in the family.
 

Me:  I don't know about that.  The Dursleys are complex.  On the surface, JKR seems to have been inspired by such Roald Dahl undesirables as the nasty aunts in "James and the Giant Peach" (who were run over by said giant peach) and the Wormwood parents in "Matilda" (who wind up running from the law).  However, JKR has done something far more complicated than create people we love to hate; the Dursleys also serve a purpose.  They are the source of Harry's protection, an ironic twist when you consider that the most anti-Muggle wizard there is, Voldemort, can't touch Harry because he's in the care of the most anti-magic Muggles there are.

 

Consider also the fact that Snape was at first considered to be a viable villain by Harry and Ron, who later learned that he had saved Harry's life and that he was a spy for Dumbledore.  Despite this, he hates Harry, purportedly because James Potter saved his life.  Just as JKR seems to have deliberately drawn parallels between Dudley and Draco Malfoy, she may also be drawing parallels between Snape, an unlikable character who nonetheless protects Harry, and the Dursleys, equally unlikable folks who also serve to protect Harry.  While James saving Snape's life occurred in the past, it may be that Harry will have occasion to save the Dursleys some time in the future.  

 

I find this far more likely than their getting some kind of comeuppance for making him live under the stairs, as satisfying as that would be, in some ways.  After all, although we know that Harry is safe because of being with the Dursleys, are the Dursleys themselves, sans Harry, completely safe?  Or could Vernon, say, be targeted by Death Eaters while at the drill factory?  Or some other setting?  Could Harry wind up saving his abusive relatives with magic some time in the seventh book, turning their expectation (and ours) of a vindictive, vengeful Harry on its ear?  We've already seen Harry spare Wormtail, who betrayed his parents.  I can see JKR being capable of the kind of ironic twist that would result if the Dursleys owed their lives to Harry and magic.

 

--Barb

 


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