Speaking up for Petunia

[susanmcgee48176]

No: HPFGUIDX 83576

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jen Reese" <stevejjen at e...> 
wrote:
> --- 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.



Well, I have been so angry at the way the Dursleys have treated Harry 
that it took me a long time to have ANY sympathy for them.

But I will tell you (as the mother of two) that the time between 
about 12 months and 2 years is the MOST difficult. The kids are 
mobile, and NOT rational. You canNOT reason with an 18 month year old.
Some kids are real easy; some kids can create havoc in an eye blink. 
I've had one of each. You'd think two adults with help from other 
adults could easily deal with one child..well, let me tell you, I was 
totally exhausted for a good two years. So....we can have sympathy 
for Petunia.

Second, the Dursleys ARE absolutely terrified and ashamed of their 
wizarding relatives. And, then let's review what's happened..there's 
the incident with Dudley and the snake, Hagrid arrives and gives 
Dudley a pig's tail, their business associates have cake dumped on 
them...Aunt Marge is blown up.....Arthur blows their fireplace into 
their living room, and then Dudley's tongue swells to gargantuan 
size..then Dudley is attacked by Dementors...what have I missed?

On the one hand, people who abuse kids deserve what they get, and I 
can't get too upset about what happens to bullies.....

So, has someone figured out why Petunia agreed (and continues to 
agree) to shelter Harry?

Susan McGee