Speaking up for Petunia

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 83317

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Eric Oppen" <oppen at m...> 
wrote:
<snipping>
> Now, out of the blue, blue sky, they get _another_ fifteen-month-
old.  Now
> Petunia's workload is about doubled (somehow, I "hae me doots" 
that Vernon
> helps around the house---if he knows _how_ to wash dishes or where 
the
> washing machine/dryer are, I'd be very surprised) and it's for a 
child that
> may be bringing all sorts of disasters down on their home.  She 
may well
> have seen spontaneous magic from her sister before Lily got her 
Hogwarts
> letter, and been thoroughly frightened by it, particularly if it 
was at all
> destructive.


Jen: The still waters of Petunia's resentment run very deep, 
methinks! I'm sure getting dumped with a toddler she was *persuaded* 
to keep was part of it. 

Especially a toddler with Lily's eyes, who reminds Petunia 
constantly of the conflicted relationship she shared with her 
sister. And a toddler who also looks "remarkably" like his father, a 
man Petunia despised. (Shades of Snape here?)

And the final blow is the fear she must feel for her own family, a 
fear we finally glimpse in OOTP. She's accepting a child from a 
*freaky* (i.e. scary) world, a child who was the victim of attempted 
murder by a very evil soul who murders people without compunction. 

No matter what assurances she received from Dumbledore to the 
contrary (and surely the letter left on the doorstep was not enough 
to make up Petunia's mind!), she must never feel truly safe after 
accepting Harry.

So adding up all the variables--the extra work, the spontaneous 
magic, the resentment toward Lily and James for being magical 
and "getting themselves killed", fear for her own family, pressure 
from Dumbledore--whew! And she has no one to talk to about all this 
besides Vernon? 

I'm actually less surprised she's so ugly to Harry and more 
surprised she hasn't offed someone by now ;).  Vernon gets to toddle 
off to work every day and pretend Harry doesn't exist, but Petunia 
is stuck with a constant reminder of the wide gulf between the life 
she wanted and the life she got. Recipe for disaster.