Petunia's Perspective

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 70390

Lupinwolf:

> We know that her (and Lily's) parents were both proud that Lily had 
>a magical background. There is no mention if Lily and Petunia's 
>parents themselves (one or both) were of the WW. We did find out 
>that Petunia knows quite a bit about the WW, and even about 
Voldemort.

Lily is referred to by Hagrid, Snape as a teen, Voldemort, in Riddle 
form and in V-Mort form, as a Muggle-born (or mudblood, as V-Mort and 
Snape put it.)

Petunia's use of the words "they were so thrilled to have a witch in 
the family" really indicates to me that this was not something 
expected, as it would have been had the Evans' been wizards.

Now, it is still possible that the Evans' were wizards and witches 
and just hid it, but I am very skeptical that they were. 

And though it was surprising coming from Petunia, it is not 
altogether surprising to hear that Muggle relations of wizards would 
know about V-Mort, especially since their wizard and witch family 
members would be the first targets.


> While most would subscribe to the notion that Lily's heritage 
> includes Slytherin's bloodline (green eyes etc.) that would mean 
that Petunia was too. 

Most would subscribe? I guess I must be among the not most. 

It is certainly not out of the realm of possibility, but I need more 
than eye color before I make Salazar Lily's great-times-15-grandpappy.

I just thumbed through CoS and then double-checked the Lexicon under 
Salazar, Lily and Voldemort and Tom Riddle. I find no reference to 
Salazar or Riddle having green eyes.

Simply having eyes the same color as the traditional Slytherin color 
hardly seems worthy of subscription to a notion of a family 
connection.

> From that perspective, wouldn't YOU consider wizarding folks 
>FREAKS?  Wouldn't you fear magic if your family came from that 
>background? 

If one was raised entirely in a house of magic, watching parents do 
magic spells all the time, fully expecting to be magic, then no, I'm 
afraid not.

A child raised in a magic house sees magic all the time, from the 
methods Molly uses to cook, to house elves Draco and Sirius grew up 
with, to finding daddy's wand and being able to make a slug grow.

Again, if Petunia is lying through her horsey teeth, then fine, all 
must be re-evaluated when the truth is finally known. But, I just 
don't see how someone who was raised in a magic family would think to 
call a magic sister a freak.

> Can we really blame them for seeing Harry as dangerous when it 
comes to that?

Yes. Petunia, if she is truly in the know, knows that her sister died 
fighting an evil wizard. Whatever dark magic her parents used, Lily 
got past it -- and I'm not for one iota agreeing with the "Evans were 
magic" premise, just using it for the argument -- so it seems foolish 
to assume that Harry would be the same way, just on principle.

And if she truly is in the know, why on earth would she think she 
could "stamp out" whatever magic was in the kid, all the while 
knowing that the day would come when Harry would be whisked off to 
school?

Darrin