was Harry's rescue from Dursleys/now "too clean" Dursley's

[mkaliz]

No: HPFGUIDX 73466

Re. the idea that the Dursleys' home seems "too clean"...

Ash leigh said:

> > Yes Cindy, I too have been thinking about this line
> > since I read the book. My first thought was Petunia is
> > almost trying to cleanse herself of her "dirty" past
> > connections, making herself clean, almost like she is
> > trying to clean away the past? (I have also had
> > thoughts of her being a squib or perhaps a witch who
> > couldn't quite make the cut. 

Then Cindy said:

> It keeps reminding me of that scene in Macbeth where Lady Macbeth
> keeps washing herhands, it's quite freeky. What has Petunia done? Or
> what does she feel so guilty about?

Here's another, probably wacky possibility (with no shred of evidence
behind it :-)...

...just after Harry witnesses/experiences the snake (Nagini?) biting
Arthur, he feels contaminated, dirty, as if he'll "infect" his friends
if he spends too much time with them. He tries to scrub himself clean,
hides himself away in his room so as to not infect them, etc. 

Perhaps Petunia was similarly "possessed"? (Imperius curse, anyone? ;)
Perhaps her cleanliness impulse is in part due to her need to scrub
herself clean of any "corruption/taint of magic" after witnessing
something horrid, like Harry did. Did Voldemort/a Death Eater perhaps
make a house call to Petunia to try to get her to tell him where the
Potters were hiding?

--kai