Aunt Petunia & Hogwarts

[Diana]

No: HPFGUIDX 88064

> sleepingdragonzz allysmom at w... wrote:
> I was looking through my copy of the 5th book, and I'm wondering 
if 
> Aunt Petunia may have been invited to attend Hogwarts with Lily, 
but 
> refused. She does seem to know a great deal about the magical 
world, 
> even though she would rather pretend that it didn't exist. 
Wouldn't 
> it be interesting if Aunt Petunia had some magical powers that she 
> has tried to "squash" out through the years?  As we all know, you 
> can't "squash" out the magical power of someone, even though Uncle 
> Vernon and Aunt Petunia had tried to do so with Harry. Anyone have 
> any thoughts??
> 
> vmonte responded:
> In an interview with Rowling, the author said that someone would 
gain 
> magical powers late in life and that it was something that is very 
> rare in the wizard world. It would be very interesting if it was 
> Petunia.
> Would she try to hide her power or will she be forced to use it in 
> order to save herself or her family???

Diana L.
This seems like an interesting scenario to me, and it would be fun 
to read.  Wouldn't that rock Harry's world?  LOL  I could see 
Petunia NOT being happy about and Vernon would be apoplectic!  
Petunia would be a rather dangerous witch in my opinion - her 
nosiness would be even more extraordinary.  Would she be ashamed or 
triumphant that she finally got something that Lily had?

vmonte wrote:
> Do you think that Dudley was meant to be a target of the Dementors 
> (along with Harry) at the begining of OOTP?  If so, Dudley's brush 
> with a dementor may have released forgotten memories from his 
> infancy. He may have remembered something important that will come 
> out in book 6 or 7. What if the encounter with the Dementors 
released 
> a vision having to do with Voldemort, his mother, or even the 
death 
> of Potter's parents or Grand parents. Could Dudley's worst fear be 
> that he was previously attacked by a Dementor as an infant? 
(Dudley 
> and Harry are the same age--it's possible he saw something that he 
> shouldn't have.)

Diana L. writes:
I would have liked to have heard what Dudley heard when he was near 
the dementors.  To me, Dudley is just not used to not getting his 
way when he wants something, so his horrible memories probably have 
to do with the few times he didn't get his way - like when his dad 
hit him about the head in PS/SS for holding the family up when 
Vernon was trying leave the house to avoid Harry's Hogwarts 
letters.  
I think Dudley might have been even more upset if the memories 
recalled around the dementors involved memories of events with magic 
in them.  I think the dementors only wanted Dudley because he was 
with Harry at the time and they wanted to leave no witnesses.  The 
dementors would have enjoyed doing Umbridge's dirty work because it 
also dovetailed nicely with their affiliation with Voldemort.  
Besides, the dementors probably enjoy sucking out people's souls and 
wouldn't pass up a freebie like Dudley.    
 
vmonte wrote:
> Did Voldemort get to Petunia before he got word from Wormtail 
about 
> James and Lily Potter? Did he threaten her family?
> 
> Do you think Petunia sold out her parents in order to protect her 
own 
> family???
> 
> The only reason Harry wasn't thrown out of the house in the 
begining 
> of OOTP was because Petunia received a Howler. As soon as the 
Howler 
> came she completely changed her attitude and stated that Harry 
must 
> stay. 

Diana L. writes:
Before reading OoP, the idea of Petunia being willing to sell out 
her sister or parents for the sake of her own family would have 
seemed more likely, but after this book, I don't see it as a 
possibility.  However loathsome Petunia is toward Harry, I know from 
OoP that she lets Harry live with them because she knows it keeps 
him alive. Also, Petunia knows that Voldemort being back is a very 
scary prospect.  How she knows that Voldemort is something to be 
quite frightened of, we can only speculate so far.  Seeing as Lily 
and James would still have been at Hogwarts during part of 
Voldemort's first rise to power, it's quite possible Petunia 
overheard them discussing Voldemort while Lily was still living at 
home.  
    I believe that if Voldemort had met or even knew about Petunia 
and her family, he would have killed them long before Harry ever 
came to live with them.  Judging by her reaction in the quote below, 
Petunia knows Voldemort is a very bad guy and I honestly can't see 
her throwing her own nephew to him to be murdered despite her long-
repressed anger and jealousy toward her sister.  Petunia is awful - 
but not THAT awful.  
   I also want to add that it was Vernon that flipped out about 
Harry being a danger to Dudley and wanting to kick Harry out of the 
house - Petunia was not heard from during his tirade against Harry.  
The Howler sent by Dumbledore reminded Petunia to stand up to her 
husband and keep Harry but I honestly wonder if Petunia would have 
been reluctant to kick Harry out even without the reminder from 
Dumbledore.  According to Dumbledore's statements [quoted below] to 
Harry, Petunia KNEW that Harry was in danger and that his only 
chance of survival was to stay with her family.  That gave me a very 
different perception of Petunia...she does care, even if just a 
little, about Harry, even though she diligently pretends not to.  
 

QUOTE:
[Harry's just said that Voldemort is back.]
"Back?" whispered Aunt Petunia.
She was looking at Harry as she had never looked at him before.  And 
all of a sudden, for the very first time in his life, Harry fully 
appreciated that Aunt Petunia was his mother's sister.  He could not 
have said why this hit him so very powerfully at this moment.  All 
he knew was that he was not the only person in the room who had an 
inkling of what Lord Voldemort being back might mean.  Aunt Petunia 
had never in her life looked at him like that before.  Her large, 
pale eyes (so unlike her sister's) were not narrowed in dislike or 
anger.  They were wide and fearful.  The furious pretense that Aunt 
Petunia had maintained all Harry's life - that there was no magic 
and no world other than the world she inhabited with Uncle Vernon -
seemed to have fallen away.  
UNQUOTE
 
QUOTE [OoP, Chapter 37]
"She doesn't love me," said Harry at once.  "She doesn't give a damn-
"
"But she took you," Dumbledore cut across him.  "she may have taken 
you grudgingly, furiously, unwilling, bitterly, yet still she took 
you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I place upon you.  your 
mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shiled I 
could give you."
"I still don't-"
"While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood 
dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort.  He shed 
her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister.  Her blood became 
your refuge.  You need return there only once a year, but as long as 
you can still call it home, there he cannot hurt you.  Your aunt 
knows this.  I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with 
you, on her doorstep.  She knows that allowing you houseroom may 
well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years."
<snip>
"I thought," said Dumbledore, inclining his head slightly, "that she 
might need reminding of the pact she had sealed by taking you.  I 
suspected the dementor attack might have awoken her to the dangers 
of having you as a surrogate son."
"It did," said Harry quietly, "Well - my uncle more than her.  He 
wanted to chuck me out, but after the Howler came she - she said I 
had to stay."
UNQUOTE

vmonte wrote:
>The fact that Petunia 
> was the one who said that Harry must stay (after the howler came) 
> means that someone must have reminded her of something. I find it 
> hard to believe that she would agree to protect Harry, so, DD must 
> have made a deal to protect her family as well...as long as Harry 
was 
> welcome in her house. 
> Are Dudley's magical powers being restrained by DD? 
 
Diana L. writes:
I don't find it that hard to believe that Petunia agreed to protect 
Harry.  Because Petunia is obviously frightened of Voldemort.  Did 
Dumbledore tell Petunia about the prophecy?  I can't see him doing 
so when he's so anxious to keep Voldemort from knowing the full 
prophecy.  After all, if Voldmort got hold of Petunia, Vernon or 
Dudley, he could easily extract whatever info he wants from them 
with just a small amount of torture, including the full prophecy if 
Petunia knows it.  Yet Dumbledore must have told Petunia something 
important because she knew Harry's life was in danger and that by 
letting him live with his mother's sister he would be protected from 
that danger.  While I feel some small love for her sister or her 
parents must have surfaced when she was struggling NOT to take on 
baby Harry, it's also possible that Dumbledore might have given her 
some hint to Harry's importance to the world, whether wizarding or 
muggle.  Maybe the protection offered to Petunia's family by taking 
Harry is simply the same general protection offered to the rest of 
the world by providence of Harry's prophecied destiny as the 
vanquisher of the Dark Lord?  
If Dudley ever develops magical abilities, I would be even more 
upset than Harry!  Dudley doesn't deserve magical powers.  

Diana L.