OOP: Petunia

[GKJPO]

No: HPFGUIDX 67810

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Ann-Marie" <zenchela at y...> 
wrote:
> She may very well have known that Harry wasn't allowed to use magic 
> during the holidays, but to admit that she knew would be to let 
> Vernon know that she was more aware of the WW than she ever wanted 
> to let on.
> 
> I think Petunia is tremendously conflicted, whether she's a denied!
> witch, a squib or a muggle -- if magic skips around in a family, 
> there's a very good chance that Dudley may have wizard potential, 
> however deeply buried.  And that would shatter Petunia's tight 
> little world, costing her Dudley, Vernon, and possibly her own 
> sanity, too.  So the only possible answer for her is to deny, deny, 
> deny ANY knowledge of the WW, and control every single aspect of 
her 
> world with an iron hand.  Which she does.
> 
> Zen

I mark Petunia's behavior down to something much simpler - pride and 
bitterness.  I believe, from what was written in OOP, that Petunia 
was not always as against magic as she is now.  It could be that she 
was jealous of her sister being a witch.  This made her listen in on 
all the information she could about the magic world - because she 
wanted to be a part of it.  However, her frustration at not being the 
chosen one in the family compounded by her family's delight in having 
a witch in the family could have driven her to declare that she 
didn't like magic at all.  Going even further, she would then chose 
Vernon to marry since there was no way he would like magic or like 
her sister better. With Vernon at her side, she did her best for many 
years to deny and forget any knowledge she has of that world.

Kristen