Petunia reading the Daily Prophet? (Was Petunia/"That Boy")

[n_longbottom01]

No: HPFGUIDX 78189

snip 
 
> Now Jen: That's a really good theory and one that fits in with 
> Petunia's character. There's more support in OOTP for your 
> theory,too: The scene where she and Vernon are watching the news 
and 
> Petunia says: "as if we're interested in their sordid affairs" 
about 
> the celebrity divorce, when really Petunia has "followed the case 
> obssessively in every magazine she can lay her bony hands on." 
She's 
> definitely portrayed as a snoop and gossip throughout the series.
> 
> Why now, though? Is she just pretending an abhorrence for all 
things 
> magic and her curiousity caught up with her? Petunia doesn't find 
out 
> until later in the Azkaban conversation that LV is back, so she 
can't 
> be looking for information on his return in the Daily Prophet.
> 
> I wonder if it's some change in Harry she sees that reminds her of 
> Lily. Certainly he is acting different, constantly trying to watch 
> the news, getting the newspaper by owl post.  Maybe Petunia saw a 
> change in Lily when Voldemort took power.
>
snip 
> 
> I'm suddenly very interested in knowing more about Petunia--Jen

now me (n_longbottom01):

As a possible answer to the "Why would Petunia now be possibly 
snooping through Harry's copies of the Daily Prophet, when she 
wouldn't have anything to do with anything magical in the past?" 
question:

If Petunia is as nosy as she is made out to be, I think she would be 
tempted to start reading (secretly, of course) Harry's copies of the 
Daily Prophet as soon as she first realized Harry had started taking 
the paper.  I think her apparent hatred of all things magical might 
keep her from snooping through Harry's other things, but I think her 
nosiness would get the better of her when it comes to the newspaper.  
I think she is just too big of a gossip and a snoop to stay away from 
those copies of the Daily Prophet, regardless of what her feelings 
about magic may be.  

In the summer before Harry's fifth year, the Dursleys do know that 
Harry has begun taking the paper.  So, for the first time, the 
temptation would be there for Petunia.  If you believe Petunia would 
have read those papers, then Petunia doesn't have to be a witch or a 
squib to know what she knows about dementors, and she wouldn't had to 
have gotten the information Lilly or James (or anyone else).

I don't think there was necessarily anything that prompted her to 
suddenly become interested in the Wizarding world, such as fears of 
Voldemort's return; I think she started learning about the wizarding 
world because the Daily Prophet was right there in her house, and she 
couldn't help herself.

n_longbottom01