The case for Dudley, the Latent Wizard

[corinthum]

No: HPFGUIDX 83750

ALi wrote:

<snip a very nice post discussing the possibility that Dudley may be 
the one to develop magical ability later in life>

Sorry to snip your entire post, but I'm not really responding to any 
one part, but rather the entire idea of Dudley possessing some 
unknown magical abilities.

My argument against Dudley-the-wizard comes from the Dementor in the 
alley scene.  Harry quite clearly hears the dementors, and is able to 
ascertain their positions, even though he is unable to see in the 
darkness.  Dudley, however, runs straight into one of them.  This 
implies to me that Dudley was unable to see or hear the dementors, 
only sense them, which agrees with our previous knowledge that 
Muggles cannot see dementors but sense their presence.

However, this makes me wonder about the concept of developing magical 
abilities later in life.  Does it mean that some character will 
suddenly be able to make use of previously unknown or suppressed 
abilities?  Or will the person actually gain abilities that they had 
not previously had at all (i.e. a Muggle getting affected by a spell 
or potion that gives or transfers magical powers)?  I never 
considered the latter possibility before, but if it were true Dudley 
would still be a candidate.  And it would be an interesting parallel 
to the Voldemort-to-Harry power tranfer.

-Corinth