Petunia is a *Squib*

[Emily F]

No: HPFGUIDX 58709

LH said:

The Petunia is a squib theory is widely held.

Me (Emily):

I don't mean to play Devil's Advocate here, but why?  I don't understand why 
this theory is so popular.  There are innumerable references in all four 
books to the Dursleys being Muggles.  Many of these references are made by 
Harry, many by the narrator, and some by people who ought to know!

A small sampling of examples:
In the narration, CoS, Chapter 1 "The Worst Birthday":
"The Dursleys were what wizards called Muggles (not a drop of magical blood 
in their veins)..."
In the narration, PoA, Chapter 1 "Owl Post":
"They were Muggles, and they had a very medieval attitude toward magic. 
Harry's dead parents, who had been a witch and wizard themselves, were never 
mentioned under the Dursleys' roof."

By McGonagall and Hagrid, PS/SS, Chapter 1 "The Boy Who Lived":
"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"
"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid ... "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James 
dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles - "

By Harry, to Voldemort, CoS, Chapter 17 "The Heir of Slytherin":
"My common, Muggle-born mother" ...

And, my personal favorite, from GoF, Chapter 33 "The Death Eaters":
"You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father," he hissed 
softly.  "A Muggle and a fool... very like your dear mother."
I think he is indeed calling Lily a Muggle, because if he truely hates 
Muggle-borns so much, it makes sense to me that he would consider them 
Muggles, refusing to recognize their magical abilities.  For example, some 
groups that preach hate denigrate the objects of their hatred to an almost 
animal status.  Of course, they know these people aren't animals, but they 
say it anyway, because it exxagerates the difference between the two groups. 
  Naturally, this is just my opinion.  :-)

The definition of Squib we have thus far is given by Ron in CoS - Chapter 9, 
"The Writing on the Wall": "A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding 
family but hasn't got any magical powers."  Since this is the only 
definition, and therefore the only canon we have to go on, I think it's a 
bit too presumptuous of us to assume that that's incorrect.  (I think this 
also begs the question of how, without any magical powers, Filch would have 
success with a Kwikspell course, but that's another topic.)

Adding this definition to Petunia's statements in PS/SS (see below), I see 
plenty of evidence suggesting that Petunia is a Muggle, and I've seen no 
*canon* suggesting that she is a Squib.
>From Chapter 4, "The Keeper of the Keys": "Knew! Of course we knew!  How 
could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was?  Oh, she got a 
letter just like that and disappeared off to that - that school - and came 
home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups 
into rats.  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 thihs and Lily that, they were 
proud of having a witch in the family!"

Bottom line, if Petunia is a Squib, then Rowling (the real narrator) has 
been lying to us all along.  And while she may be dodgy and she definitely 
leads us on, she hasn't lied to us thus far.  ...Unless this is a massive 
plot hole, but after 3 long years, there better not be any!  :-)

Emily, who wishes we could purchase the HP books on CD ROM, to make 
searching for these passages so much easier

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