Evans a Wizarding Family? (Was: Vernon a squib??)

[Aisling <irishash@eircom.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52734

Fred Waldrop wrote:
> Now IMHO, it was Petunia that was a squib.
> I mean,  The Dursleys were good friends with Mrs. Figgs, she was 
the 
> one who always "babysitted" Harry when the Dursleys took Dudley 
out. 
> And we know she, Mrs. Figgs was a witch ... 
<snip>
> So, how did the Dursleys know Mrs. Figgs? 
> Was she an "Old Family Friend" of the Evans?


If she was an "old family friend" of the Evans, and the Evans were a 
magical family, then surely Petunia would know that Mrs. Figgs was a 
witch. Given the Dursley's reaction to all things magical, if they 
did know she was a witch, they would be highly unlikely to associate 
with her.  I think it's more likely that they knew her only because 
she was their neighbour. The Dursleys are shown throughout the books 
to be a family which is very conscious of what their neighbours think 
of them and always trying to impress. 
"Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley had gone out in the front 
garden to admire Uncle Vernon's new company car (in very loud voices, 
so the rest of the street would notice it too)" [PoA, Ch. 1] 


Fred also pointed out that Petunia says: 
> "I was the only one who 
> saw her for what she was - a freak! But for my mother and father, 
oh 
> no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a 
witch 
> in the family!" 
> No where in here so far is there anything about all the Evans 
> being "muggles"

Although there's no *proof* there that they're definitely not a 
wizarding family, Petunia attitude towards witches and wizards is 
very bigoted rather than resentful - Filch is bitter because he's a 
squib, Petunia thinks that Wizards are some sort of freaks of nature, 
suggesting she has not been raised in an environment where they were 
the norm.
As well as this, she says "they were proud of having *a* witch in the 
family", which gives the impression her parents hadn't expected to 
have any witches, and surely would have if they were magical - Ron 
tells us in CoS Ch. 9 that squibs are quite unusual, more so than 
Muggle-born wizards.


You could always argue that one parent was magical and the other was 
not, like in the case of Seamus Finnigan, but again I think that 
Petunia would have had a different attitude towards magical people if 
that had been the case. 

Aisling.