What does Aunt Marge know? (was Colonel Fubster)

[a_reader2003]

No: HPFGUIDX 90434

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Berit Jakobsen" 
<belijako at o...> wrote:
> Many of us believe we're going to meet Mark Evans again in book 6, 
> revealed as a wizard and enrolled at Hogwarts. -Anyone ever 
wondered whether old Colonel Fubster is going to pop up again? 
Colonel Fubster is the old neighbour of aunt Marge who takes care of 
her dogs when she is visiting her brother Vernon. This is what we 
know about him:
> (snip)
> 
> I hope you agree with me that it is clear from the text that it was 
> Harry's anger who made the wine glass shatter in Aunt Marge's hand. 
> That's why I find it very interesting that the exact same thing 
> happened in the presence of old Colonel Fubster... 
(snip)

Carolyn:
It seems that JKR has confirmed in an interview that Colonel Fubster 
is a muggle (see down thread), but I have always wondered whether 
Aunt Marge knows more about Lily Evans than it seems. In the chapter 
where the wine glass shatters (POA, Ch. 2) she says:

'You mustn't blame yourself for the way the boy's turned out, 
Vernon'...'If there's something rotten on the INSIDE, there's nothing 
anyone can do about it'. (Caps here indicate JKR's own italics in the 
UK version).

Then there's her nasty dog remark: 'If there's something wrong with 
the bitch, there'll be something wrong with the pup -'

And a page or so later: '..but your sister was a bad egg. They turn 
up in the best families. Then she ran off with a wastrel and here's 
the result right in front of us.'

It seems that she has some strong basis for disliking Lily, over and 
beyond Lily going off to marry James, who it seems from the 
subsequent conversation, she does not know much about ('This 
Potter....you never told me what he did?').

We don't know if Petunia married Vernon before or after Lily married 
James, but it seems possible from the text that Petunia might have 
been married first, and therefore Marge, as newly-related family 
might have become aware that Lily was magical, and that her parents 
were proud of it (Vernon certainly knows). 

Petunia's and Lily's parents also appear to be dead (or Harry surely 
would have been put in his grandparents' care), and if, as we all 
suspect, they died in a Voldy-related WW incident, Marge might be 
aware of some of the details of this, as Petunia might have found it 
difficult to cover up the death of her parents completely. 

So, what might be the result of Marge knowing something ? Would she 
try to use the knowledge to 'deal with' Harry in some way ? Vernon 
must be pretty tense about Harry returning to Little Whinging after 
the events at the beginning of OoP, Dudley also. If Marge has been to 
visit whilst Harry was away at Hogwarts, she might have picked 
something up - easy to imagine Vernon trumpeting on in a row with 
Petunia in the bedroom, that 'the boy's got to go', and her 
overhearing. She's forceful and ruthless (she has puppies drowned) - 
she could gang up with Vernon to insist Petunia gets rid of Harry, 
and then his blood protection is no more.

Although the Order are on the look out for Harry this time round, to 
make sure he is not so isolated, the Dursleys might still try to deal 
with the situation in some way that places Harry in danger.

Finally, is it just me that sees the similarity in personality types 
between Fudge, Umbridge and the Dursleys ? All unpleasant, stupid 
individuals, dedicated to maintaining the status quo, even by the use 
of torture, abuse and cruelty ?