Petunia, Dudley and WW - Hatred? Cover-up? Latent Ability?

[Bex]

No: HPFGUIDX 109467

macfotuk wrote:
> 1. Petunia knows about Dementors. She knows from 'that boy' 
> telling 'her' about them. On first reading I naturally thought, 
like 
> Harry and most readers I suspect, that she is referring to James 
and 
> Lily. I know there are theories that these two in fact are NOT Lily 
> or James but when I first read them (located a few pages before 
this 
> post - sorry for not being able to quote/specify them) I thought 
they 
> were stretching the imagination at best. However, although 
dementors 
> have clearly existed in the WW forever I'm sure I've read in the 
> books (probably PoA) that it was Fudge who first went into league 
> with them to use them as guards at Azkaban, much against DD's 
> inclinations. Fudge didn't become MoM until well after James and 
> Lily's demise (GoF and Barty Crouch Sr backstory), so has JKR made 
> another mistake (deliberate or otherwise)? 

Yb responds:
I wnet over that section again after I finished the book, and I came 
up with a different idea: Petunia knows more than she's telling about 
the WW. I can see two reasons for her explanation: She is 
unconsciously melding two memories together, one of James and Lily 
and one of someone else telling her about the Dementors at 
Azkaban, /OR/ she is covering. She says "They guard the wizard 
prison, Azkaban." Then she says she overheard it from "her and that 
awful boy." I think she learned it from someone from the WW that 
she's been in contact with. Vernon wouldn't be thrilled if he found 
out she was having any contact with "that kind," so she comes up with 
a lie, fast. She probably knows much more than she's letting on.

macfotuk also wrote:
> Also, JKR has said someone finds (or reveals) their magical powers 
> late in life - might this be Petunia?

Yb:
This has been a pretty common thought, though several other possible 
or admitted Squibs could be the case as well. I like the thought of 
Petunia being a Squib, but just barely, and if the Red Hen is right 
about the inheritance of magic, it isn't surprising that the Evans' 
had a magical daughter and a not-quite-so-magical one.

Red Hen theory:
http://www.redhen-publications.com/Magic%26Wizards.html

macfotuk:
> 2. Dudley was almost kissed by a dementor - at least the way JKR 
> wrote the scene in the alleyway. Why? why? why! What has Dudley 
> ever done to a dementor? I know Dementors exist to suck all the 
> happiness out of wizards and even muggles and that these two were 
> probably rogue dementors (even by normal ESE dementor standards), 
> but why would they go so far as to resort to the worst possible 
> punishment in the wizard world (WW)? They can normally be 'trusted' 
> simply to terrorise and subdue (yes to the point of madness after 
> prolonged contact), but not normally to kill, otherwise nobody in 
> Azkaban would ever survive the experience. To answer my own 
> question it may be that Umbridge had authorised them to kill Harry 
> (with a kiss) to shut him up and that therefore any witness would 
> need taking out too. Even so, the scene leaves it open that Dudley 
> may have been targeted for some other, as yet unrevealed, reason.

Yb for one last time:
First, let me make one little point: the Dementor's Kiss is not 
intended to kill, just suck out your soul. But IMO, yes, the primary 
intent was to shut Harry up, or at least make sure he couldn't get 
back into Hogwarts (if he chased the dementors off, he's be expelled 
for using his wand). Note how conniving the MoM is in trying to keep 
DD away from the hearing: they want to make /sure/ Harry stays out of 
Hogwarts and gets his wand snapped. He's less trouble to them that 
way. Dudley may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The 
dementors go after anyone with a soul, muggle or wizard, and they 
seem to feed off emotions, like how Dudley was feeling after hanging 
out with his gang and then ruffling Harry's feathers. The reason for 
2 dementors instead of one? Someone may have known that Harry can 
produce a Patronus. Of course, doing so with one dementor is hard, 
but with 2, it is probably much harder. Plus, the spare may have been 
for any unfortunate witnesses that were non-muggles. Dudley just 
happened to be there, and the other dementor needed something to do, 
sooo...

some random thoughts,
~Yb