Awful Boy/What isn't Petunia telling?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 83817

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kirstini" <kirst_inn at y...> 
wrote:
> Is it plausible that Petunia would hear the word "Dementor", 
> and trot out a sentence like "They guard the wizard prison, 
> Azakaban", if she had only overheard this information once, from a 
> source she distrusted, twenty-ish years earlier? "Azkaban" is quite 
a 
> tricky word, especially in these conditions, and yet Petunia uses 
it 
> with a certain familiarity. 

Geoff:
Actually, this hadn't occurred to me. But it's especially interesting 
when you begin to look at the verbal tangle Vernon gets into, 
compared to the way Petunia handles it with great aplomb:

"A couple of - what's this codswallop"
"they actually exist, do they - er - Dementy-whatsits"
"But what ARE Dementoids?"
"If it was Demenders who hurt Dudley...."
"And now he's sending Dismembers after you?"

Also interesting is that, in at least a couple of these cases, 
Petunia takes the initiative in giving Vernon a reply or response of 
some sort. Certanly seems to strengthen the argument that Petunia is 
NOT your standard issue Muggle.

Geoff