Come out Petunia (long)

[charme]

No: HPFGUIDX 120840

I have, like many of  you, a list of questions I keep in mind when I re-read 
the books or research quotes, interviews and other editorials online and one 
of them is about Petunia. I keep asking myself what the deal is with 
Petunia: there's a bit more to Petunia, JKR says, but she's a Muggle?  The 
question of Petunia's relationship to Lily has been called into question on 
this list many times:  is Petunia *really* Lily's sister?  Is she really a 
Muggle? Is she a latent Witch? Is she just a cruel twit who was jealous of 
her sister and displaces all her anger and fears of magic on Harry?

Notice most of these questions come after it's been revealed in CoS what 
Lily "looks like," as there are no pictures of the Potters in the Dursley 
household when the septology starts. (PS/SS)  There are then references to 
the Petunia's facial characteristics: blonde hair, long horsey face, and 
pale eyes which almost lead the reader wonder how in hell Lily & Petunia 
could be sisters, such as:

OoP/US/pg 38:  "Her large pale eyes (so unlike her sister's) were not 
narrowed in dislike or anger:...."

So unlike her sister's, huh? Well, I have a theory:  perhaps Petunia is a 
Metamorphmagus.  Some of you probably think that might be too far farfected, 
however I believe Tonks' explanation in OoP and her clumsiness are a clues 
we shouldn't ignore:

OoP/US/pg 52: "Well, you'll have to learn the hard way, I'm afraid," said 
Tonks. "Metamorphmagi are really rare, they're born, not made."

As Tonks is admittedly dead clumsy and her spell and charmwork appears not 
overwhelmingly terrific; this might lead one to believe as a Metamorphmagus, 
her other magical capabilities might be quite diminished compared to other 
wizards who were not born Metamorphmagi.  Perhaps the only thing Petunia can 
or could do is change some of her appearance, not to the level Tonks can, 
but enough to avoid drawing attention to herself as Lily's sister - why, you 
say, would she do that? Would you want the DE's to easily be able to spot 
you as Lily's sister before and after LV's demise at GH if you knew how 
dangerous LV was in his heyday? Petunia appears to know more about the WW 
and the implications of LV's return in OoP that we previously knew prior as 
evident in her revelation about what Dementors are and her reaction to 
Harry's explanation that he saw LV return. We could surmise that Petunia 
could still be a Muggle if the only ability she has (at present, maybe) is a 
Metamorphmagus capability on a limited scale.

One other footnote to this theory exists in PS/SS, US, pg 24:

"Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had 
been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. He had been given a week in his 
cupboard for this, even though he tried to explain how he couldn't explain 
how it had grown back so quickly."

Interestingly, there's another passage earlier in PS/SS that states about 
once a week, Vernon would say Harry needed a haircut and when Harry did go 
to the barber, it wouldn't help - his hair just stood up all over the place 
and that's the way it grew. Then Petunia takes matters into her own hands? I 
think Petunia believed Harry could control his hair growing back - why else 
would *she* (individually without Vernon) specifically banish him to his 
cupboard for it afterwards unless she believed he could control his 
Metamorphmagus abilities as she did herself? I can think of only 2 times 
where Petunia alone banishes Harry to the cupboard or his room: once for his 
hair growing back, and then again in OoP.  If what we're seeing here is 
true, Petunia may have *first hand knowledge* of Metamorphmagus abilities.

Only JKR knows and it's apparent we don't have the full story about Petunia 
yet. :)  I can't wait til we do....

charme