Aunt Petunia (was Re: Theoretical boundaries)

[imamommy at sbcglobal.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 120413


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "barbara_mbowen" 
<barbara_mbowen at y...> wrote:
> 
> Marmelade Mom snipping away:
> > > imamommy wrote:
> > > > Aunt Petunia's behavior .....<snip> could she be a witch who
> > > > *refused* to learn magic?  
> > > >
> > > > (snip quote from the World Book Day Chat)
> > > > 
> > > > According to this, Petunia is a muggle, but is it possible 
that she 
> > > > *chose* to be a muggle?  Could she have been born into a 
> > > > part-wizarding family and decided not to go to Hogwarts? 
> > > What is the 
> > > > "more" to her? <snip>
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Ms. Luna here:
> > > 
> > > I find this theory very interesting.  It would explain why 
> > > the Dursleys are trying so hard to be perceived as "normal", 
> > > why their house is so abnormally clean, why their son is so 
> > > abnormally spoiled...Petunia is seriously overcompensating 
> > > for being a witch!  It would also explain their 
> > > overindulgence of Duddums...they/she wants to keep him calm 
> > > so, if he were magical, magic would not accidently seep out 
> > > if he were upset. 
> > > This puts a new and more interesting twist on the Dursleys.   I 
truly 
> > > hope you are correct in this imamommy....I love it when story 
> > > lines spin 
> > > in new directions.   
> > 
> > Vivamus:
> > I, too, like this.  In addition to what you have said here, it 
also puts a
> > more believable basis on her knowledge of the dementors and 
Azkaban.  
> Given
> > her almost hysterical effort to suppress, repress and ignore any 
connection
> > with the magical world, the thought that she would even retain 
that bit of
> > information for all those years suggests she had a much deeper 
connection
> > with the WW than might first appear.
> 
> Add to this JKR's assertion on her website that DD and Aunt Petunia 
had had 
> correspondence *before* baby Harry was dropped on her door.  I can 
think of 
> only two possibilities:  that DD wrote to a reluctant witch Petunia 
to encourage 
> her to join the WW, or that DD wrote to her to explain why a bunch 
of bad 
> wizards killed her (and Lily's ) parents.  Both could have 
happened.  And 
> someone on this list once theorized that Petunia goes around 
whispering 
> cleaning charms like "scourgify!" whenever Dudley and Vernon aren't 
> looking.....
> 
> I like Petunia as a reluctant witch very much!
> 
> Marmelade's mom

imamommy (who's pleased to have a theory you all like!):

Inactive Witch!Petunia could have simply refused to go to Hogwarts, 
but I like the idea that she actually went, and had a bad experience 
so she left the school.  Maybe some of you who are gifted with fanfic 
could write the story of Petunia's year at Hogwarts :)
> 
> >