[HPforGrownups] Re: Magical protection

[Barb P]

No: HPFGUIDX 44935

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "marephraim" <htfulcher at c...> wrote:
<snip> I would rather consider the role played by the Dursleys this way. Being so adamantly unmagical, Dumbledore can be certain that Without any further prompting they'll do everything in their power to prevent Harry from manifesting any magical abilities until he's ready for Hogwarts.  Their outrage at "any funny business" and open condemnation of anything unusual being because Harry is 'incurably criminal' would have a tendencey to put onlookers off the scent, if you will.
><snip>

Me:
Dumbledore can be certain of no such thing.  He knows nothing about them.  In fact, he makes the groundless assumption that they will be honest with him about who he is (he tells McGonagall that the Dursleys will tell Harry what he needs to know when he is older).  He has no way of knowing that they are magi-phobes who will hide the truth from Harry, just as he has no way of knowing that they may be caring guardians who will cherish Harry like their own son.  He also assumes that they will keep him sheltered from the magical world, the only assumption that turns out to be true, and it's purely accidental, when you think about it.  
 
Plenty of times, people walking up to him and shaking his hand could have spilled everything to him about who he was.  While he may have been protected from people with bad intentions by being with his relatives, he wasn't completely sheltered from the wizarding world, as people who meant well were easily able to access him (we can assume, for instance, that Dobby was well-meaning from the fact that he was able to get to Harry at Privet Drive).  Also, the fact that he was regularly abused by all three of the Dursleys (plus Aunt Marge and Dudley's gang), mentally and physically, seems to point to his only being under protection from magical attacks.  He wasn't protected from ill-intentioned people in general, just magical ones, it seems.
 
--Barb
 
  


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