Chapter Discussions - Chapter Two Questions, "A Peck of Owls"

[Kelley]

No: HPFGUIDX 72010

Discussion Questions and Topics: 

Side Note:
Mrs. Figg mentions that luckily she'd thought to have one of 
her "cats", Mr. Tibbles keep watch outside Harry's home, and that Mr. 
Tibbles "came and warned her" that Mundungus had left his post. We 
know from Book One that in the past Harry had spent quite a bit of 
time at Mrs. Figg's, forced to look at pictures of her "cats", Mr. 
Tibbles (though he's just Tibbles in SS), Snowy, Mr. Paws and Tufty. 

"Fantastic Beasts" tells us that Kneazles are "sufficiently unusual 
in appearance to attract Muggle interest" but they "can interbreed 
with cats". One of my pet speculations has been that Arabella is a 
Kneazle-breeder -- breeding them with ordinary cats (though it's just 
as likely that she's just a 'cat person'). So far it seems we've yet 
to see a pure Kneazle in canon; JKR confirmed in an online chat that 
Crookshanks is part-Kneazle. 

Q1: As Arabella's "cats" do not seem to attract interest by having an 
unusual appearance, are they only part-Kneazle as well? Will Harry 
now be able to identify Mrs. Figg's cats if he needs to? Any ideas 
how the Kneazle's ability to "guide its owner safely home if they are 
lost" will come into play in canon? Mrs. Figg and Filch are the only 
Squibs we've met (that we know of); does Mrs. Norris fall into the 
part-Kneazle category, too? Or is she a transfigured person unable 
to change back? (Was that why Filch was taking the Kwik Spell 
course?)

Q2: What ways does the Ministry have of detecting underage magic? 
House Elves or portraits? This doesn't seem likely, so what could it 
be?

Q3: Mundungus is holding an invisibility cloak; as these are rare 
and valuable, how does he happen to have one? Is it his own, is it 
borrowed, or is it "borrowed"? Who else might we suspect has one?

Q4: What *does* "spoiled, pampered Dudley" hear when attacked by 
Dementors? 

Q5: Petunia says that she overheard James telling Lily about 
Dementors years ago -- do we believe this? What might the 
circumstances have been that Petunia was able to overhear this; were 
they at Lily and Petunia's home where they lived with their parents? 
Why was James telling Lily about Dementors and Azkaban? Harry 
assumes Petunia just happens to remember this scrap of info from 
years ago, but how likely is it that Petunia only knows "scraps" of 
information about the Wizarding World?

Q6: When Harry explains about the Dementor's Kiss, Petunia utters 
a "soft scream". Does she know someone who received the Dementor's 
Kiss? Is this what happened to her and Lily's parents? If so, did 
Petunia only know that they were killed due to Lily's connection to 
the Wizarding World, but never knew how (or why)? Could the victims 
of the Dementor's Kiss have been someone other than their parents? 
Who?

Q7: Vernon says "Why we ever kept you in the first place I don't 
know..." Is this just a figure of speech, or does he *really not 
know*? Did Petunia just insist that Harry stay without telling 
Vernon the real reasons why? 

Q8: We now know this "awful" voice is Dumbledore's; when he says "my 
last", is it the letter he left for the Dursleys when delivering baby 
Harry to them the night of November 1st, 1981? Or has there been 
further contact between them? Perhaps regular ongoing contact all 
this time?

Q9: When Vernon rails against the magical world, Petunia never 
demurs; but while he rants and raves, she stays in the background. 
The concern has always been that they want to live a normal life, 
that they maintain a proper and respectable appearance among the 
neighbors, among family, in Vernon's career; this is probably true 
for Vernon, and maybe to some degree for Petunia as well. But does 
Petunia have another reason for keeping their connection to the 
Wizarding World a secret? Is her behavior all this time is just a 
facade? Is she just playing a role?

Q10: We're told in Book One that the refrain "Don't ask questions" is 
the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys. The first 
question Harry could remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he'd 
gotten his scar; her response was "In the car crash when your parents 
died. And don't ask questions." By bringing it up again now, is JKR 
giving us another clue that Petunia knows so much more than she's let 
on?

Extra Petunia questions:

She's often described as 'nosy', keen to know what the neighbors are 
up to. We learn this from Harry's perspective; is this actually JKR 
derailing us? Is Petunia really not watching the neighbors, but 
keeping watch for something or someone else?

Dudley has his father's temper; when Vernon blows his top, Petunia 
doesn't seem overly concerned. However, when Dudley had his childish 
tantrums, Petunia scrambled to placate and soothe him. Is she 
worried he might exhibit some magical tendencies? If this is so, who 
might she most want to hide that from -- Vernon? The neighbors? The 
magical world? Could she be fearful that she may lose her son the 
way she lost her sister (and possibly her parents)? 

*Is* Petunia the person who will exhibit/discover magical ability 
later in life?

--Kelley