Harry and the Dursleys

[Anne]

No: HPFGUIDX 54689

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, happydogue at a... wrote:
> I think the only way they would like him just a tiny bit is if they 
got money 
> from he social services department for the care of him as a foster 
child.  He 
> would have to become a ward of the state (crown?) for that to 
happen.
> 
> J

Unfortunately for Harry, he's not a foster child - he's their blood 
relative (Petunia's nephew). I actually think the Dursleys might have 
treated him better *if* they had been getting some "financial 
assistance" from the British social service system; perhaps they 
would have given him more to eat, if not a better "room" in which to 
live. But since Vernon and Petunia were moreorless forced to take 
Harry in, and they aren't getting any public assistance, and he's the 
son of Petunia's "freak" sister and that awful wizard she hooked up 
with, AND they are absolutely phobic about all things magical, they 
have always viewed Harry as a freakish burden they are forced to 
bear. Of course, as we've discovered, living with his blood relatives 
is part of what protected him from Voldemort (and possibly the DEs) 
during the decade before Harry discovered he was a wizard. So, while 
he *might* have had somewhat better living conditions as a foster 
child than living with the Dursleys, he would have lost that "blood 
protection" - not to mention that children in foster care often don't 
stay with the same family for long periods of time. IMO this might 
have been a logistical nightmare, protectionwise, even for someone as 
clever and powerful as Dumbledore. So *perhaps*, overall, all things 
considered [am I actually saying this??!], growing up with the 
Dursleys was the least bad of all possibilities...

Hoping I don't need an asbestos suit now,

Anne U
("When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade")