Is Dudley adopted?

[scoutmom21113]

No: HPFGUIDX 82482

LPD wrote:
> > That's a fascinating theory. It does say that Petunia is Lily's
> > *only* living relative. Dudley would be Lily's nephew, wouldn't 
he?
> > The only hole I can see is that perhaps (suspected) squib 
Petunia's
> > union with muggle Vernon has diluted the protective blood by one
> > generation and renders Dudley powerless to protect Harry.
> 
> Iggy McSnurd wrote:
> It could also, just as easily, be that Vernon is a widower, with 
Dudley from
> a prior marriage... and he married Petunia when Dudley was only a 
baby as
> well.  Since Vernon and Petunia have the same view of the magical 
world, she
> would be a lot more likely to accept Dudley as her own son (even 
going so
> far
> as to possibly adopt him legally...) and treat him as she does.
> 
> This could explain why Dudley is Petunia's son, but not a blood 
relative of
> Harry's.

On page 1 (book 1, chapter 1...) it says "The Dursleys had a small 
son named Dudley..."  On page 7, Vernon verifies with Petunia that 
the Potter's son was about the same age as Dudley.  By my 
calculations, Dudley is about three months older than Harry, so was 
only 18 months old when Harry came to live with them.  For purposes 
of guardianship, an infant nephew wouldn't count when looking for 
somone in Lily's family.

They way the introduction to the Dursleys is written, I think that 
it would have been mentioned of Petunia were Dudley's step-mother 
instead of his biological mother.  It's always possible JKR had been 
hiding something (else <g>) from us, but I don't think so in this 
case.

Ravenclaw Bookworm