[HPforGrownups] Re: questions about HP (Evans?)

[Robert Shaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 82689

Kagome Shikon Seeker wrote:
>
> Well, my personal belief (and I know this is an odd one) is that
> Petunia has untrained magical ability.  I know this may be an odd
> thing to believe, but it stems from a line in OoP:
>
> "Funny place," she (Tonks) said, "it's a bit ~too~ clean, d'you know
> what I mean?  Bit unnatural."

That's a very thin argument.

Obsessive cleanliness is often associated with mild mental disorders.
Tonks was suggesting that Petunia might be not quite right in the head.

>
> That, combined with the fact that Petunia ~does~ remember what James
> told Lily about the dementors and Azkaban, makes me believe that it's
> quite possible that Petunia had gotten a letter for Hogwarts first
> So perhaps she
> had ignored it, or ripped it up, or whatever, and that had been taken
> by the magical world as a refusal.

Is there any canonical evidence that you can refuse an Hogwarts
invitation?
>
> That's the only thing that to ~me~ makes sense that she would have
> remembered the things her sister had said after all those years,
> despite supposedly 'hating' magic and anything to do with that.  Can
> we say jealousy, anyone?

I wouldn't trust anything Petunia says about her youth, not because
I think she'd deliberately lie, but because I suspect that (like so many
others) she's edited her memories to make herself look better.

If she was ever thrilled by Lily's magic she wouldn't admit now, not
even to herself.

Nor is Lily is not Petunia's only possible source of magical
information.
Any of the scenarios I suggested would be highly memorable, and leave
her adequately informed.

If, to consider just one of the many possibilities, Petunia saw her
parents
killed by death eaters then was rescued by Aurors, that is not an
experience
she would forget. She would learn something of magic during that ordeal,
though with memories that unpleasant she'd probably be reluctant to
admit how she'd learnt it, or to even think about those events.

>
> I just think she has some minor magical abilities she uses on
> occasion, and doesn't necessarily know she's doing it.  And I think
> she subconsciously knows about it, even though consciously she denies
> it.
>
If she had enough to get a Hogwarts letter she'd be doing the kind of
accidental magic Harry did, which would get noticed.

--
Robert