How much do the Dursleys know?

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 44014

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "williaka44" <williaka44 at a...> wrote:
Karla writes:
<Snip>
  In chapter 2 [PS/SS], 
> the Dursleys are debating about whether to take Harry to the zoo 
> and he offers that they could just leave him home.  Petunia  
> 
> replies,"'And come back and find the house in ruins?' she          
> snarled."  <snip> 
> (after Petunia suggests that they leave him in the car, Vernon 
> replies)"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone." 
> 
> What I'm wondering about is what the letter that Dumbledore wrote 
> to the Dursleys said exactly.  Obviously Petunia knows that the 
> Potters' house was destroyed(she comments about it at a later 
> point, but I can't remember where), but do they know why? 

It's later in PS/SS, in the scene on the Island (Chapter 4)that 
Petunia lets slip they know how Harry's parents died - or at least 
that they know that the house at Godric's Hollow blew up.

 Might they know about 
> Voldemort and be afraid of the WW because he may come after Harry 
> while Harry is in their care?  

Possibly. But it's also possible that Lily Potter (nee Evans), who 
after all had a muggle background, had her body identified in the 
normal muggle way. In which case the UK procedure would have been for 
a policeman to come round to the next of kin to break the sad news. 

Muggles would have assumed the house blew up because of a gas 
explosion, and that the Potters died in the explosion. The fact that 
Harry was already at the Dursley's could have been explained by a few 
simple lies: for example that Petunia had agreed to look after him 
for a few days to give Lily a break.

Or Dumbledore could have explained the whole thing in his letter - 
but Petunia specifically says Lily was 'blown up', whereas Lily was 
actually AK'd *before* the house blew up. To me, this suggests she 
doesn't know the exact details.

> Is that the reason that they hate 
> Harry so much?  I know this is a lot, but I noticed this for the 
> first time this afternoon and I started to wonder.  It certainly 
> seems to support the idea of the secret-keeper charm having been at 
> least conceived at the time of SS if the Dursleys are afraid to 
> leave Harry alone.  If anyone has any other thoughts, I'd love to 
hear them!
> 

I think they're scared to leave Harry alone because it's dangerous 
*for them*. Funny things happen around Harry Potter. The kids at his 
primary school think he's 'weird', his hair grows back overnight, 
glass vanishes at the zoo, his teachers wig turns blue - who knows 
what Dursley possessions have ended up mysteriously vanishing, 
changing or being suddenly unworkable.

Unless Petunia has a hitherto undisclosed soft spot for her sister's 
only child, I would have thought that discovering Harry is the prime 
target of an insane Dark Lord would have resulted in an instant trip 
to Social Services with the explanation that unfortunately they 
cannot control their nephew's strange behaviour and that he'd be 
better off in the care of the local council. [grin] Or them informing 
Hogwarts that they can darn well take care of Harry over the summer, 
too. [EBG]

Me, I think Petunia is jealous of Harry, in the same way she was 
jealous of Lily. He's displaying exactly the same strange abilities 
as Lily throughout his early childhood - in her heart I think she's 
always known that one day the letter would arrive from Hogwarts and 
Harry, like his mother before him, would leave for a world she wasn't 
allowed to enter. 

Her parents obviously made Petunia feel that Lily was 'better' than 
she was: in a way, she's trying to make sure that Dudley *doesn't* 
suffer by feeling inferior to a magical relative.

Vernon, on the other hand, simply hates anyone who 
is 'different'. 'Different', to Vernon, is effectively the same 
as 'criminal'. Vernon could have truthfully explained Harry's absence 
by saying he's also (like Dudley) gone to boarding school; instead he 
talks about St Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys.

So, no - I don't think the Dursley's know any details about 
Voldemort. They may well have been told in the original letter that 
it's important that Harry stays with them.

Quite possibly their attitude to Harry is not dissimilar to what 
Quirrel says of Snape - to paraphrase; the Dursley's hate Harry, but 
they don't want him *dead*.

That being said - I don't think they'd risk their lives for Harry.

Pipsqueak.

(Yup, I'm back. In between revising for exams, that is. I dunno, 
swore I'd never take another exam when I graduated fifteen years ago, 
and here I am, studying again, honestly, you think I'd learn - err, 
oh yeah, that's exactly what I'm supposed to be *doing*!)