Harry's summer in the 6th book

[a_reader2003]

No: HPFGUIDX 102174

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "alice_loves_cats" 
<hypercolor99 at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "a_reader2003" 
> <carolynwhite2 at a...> wrote:
> [about a possible attack on Privet Drive in the opening of Book Six]
> > Thirdly, it would be the final straw for Vernon, but I don't 
think she'll kill him off. It would be much worse for him to have to 
live with the destruction of his property and the possible revelation 
> that his wife and son were magical. 
> 
> Alice:
> The reason I don't like this idea is that in a strange way it would 
> prove Vernon right in some of his misgivings about Harry: had Harry 
> never been dumped on his doorstep, Vernon would have been able to 
> live a nice, comfortable and prosperous life with his wife and son, 
> exactly as he wished. The attack on Dudley is bad enough - I must 
say Vernon's anxiety is justified: his son has been attacked, for 
reasons he cannot control, and which are plainly linked to the nephew 
he's bringing up. It doesn't exuse any of his abuse of Harry, but by 
Book Five I became convinced that he damn well has a point: having 
Harry around is no laughing matter any more, even though of course 
this isn't actually Harry's fault. 

> And I would NOT like to see Vernon proven right. It's bad enough as 
> it is. 
> Love, Alice
> (never imagined she'd actually state that Vernon has a point)

Carolyn:
Mmm, I'd worry about empathising with Vernon too. Just what our 
esteemed author enjoys. Nothing she likes better than stirring up a 
bit of confused PC indignation, IMO.

I think the Dursley story is one of JKR's more clumsy plot devices 
myself, or possibly a prototype for more sophisticated ones later. 
First we get the wicked family, thankyouverymuch, and our sympathies 
are all with Harry. Then, subtly, it morphs as the books go on. We 
find they are much less in control than it first appears, in fact 
down-right scared of the WW. Harry gets a bigger room, and he's 
always allowed back, heck, they even send him very curious and 
pointless Christmas presents. 

He's collected from Kings Cross every year, by the *whole* Dursley 
family. Is this weird behaviour by Vernon, or what? He hates the kid 
doesn't he? Why not let him get murdered or abducted in the muggle 
world between Kings Cross and Privet Drive? [And remember, Hagrid 
thought nothing of sending Harry back to Privet Drive by himself on 
the train when he was only 11, accompanied by an owl and all sorts of 
odd packages].  If Petunia is under some obligation to DD, surely it 
would be enough for her just to meet him, and take him back on the 
train? If she knows Harry might be dangerous, and wants Vernon with 
her for protection, why on earth bring precious Dudders with them ? 
What if he accidentally sees more strange people? What if they used 
Magic?

There is obviously more to it. Numerous hours have been expended on 
this site discussing Petunia and Lily's relationship, what Petunia 
might have known, what she might have told Vernon, even what Marge 
might have guessed. And just who is Colonel Fubster? Snape was very 
curious about Harry's bulldog memory wasn't he? Since our tiresome 
hero never asks anything useful, even from close friends in the WW, 
we have to fill in the gaps ourselves. The Dursley family history is 
clearly far from simple, and, like Snape, there could be a range of 
reasons for Vernon's constant anger and mistreatment of Harry. In a 
funny way they are in similar positions, both apparently forced 
against their will to be saving the kid's life when they would really 
like to see him strung up. Definitely bad for their blood pressure in 
both cases.

Our collective suspicions are realised in OotP. JKR stops the comedy 
routine with fatso Duds, and turns him into an alarmingly fit boxing 
champ; he's attacked, and has a mini-personality makeover; suddenly 
he's growing up and might have feelings, and we are expected to 
become engaged with him as a character. Petunia's cover is blown; and 
we all go berserk trying to figure out who Mark Evans is. The WW and 
real world converge, much to Harry's astonishment, but not really to 
ours if we have been reading between the lines. As I speculated in 
the post you are replying to, the Privet Drive scenario may be 
dispensed with altogether from Book 6 onwards, as no longer necessary 
to the plot. She might even have some fun actually blowing it up, as 
a metaphor for the destruction of dullness.

For all these reasons, I think sympathy with Vernon is entirely 
misplaced. He's been portrayed throughout as a nasty bit of work that 
deserves some come-uppance, and it supports the development of this 
sub-plot that he gets it. I don't really mind if Petunia and Dudley 
get blown up too, but I think they won't because Petunia has got some 
more story to tell. And remember, they are Muggles, so Vernon can 
have a great time putting in insurance claims, so he's not going to 
lose out (!). And if the Dursley family survives this attack, no 
doubt they will have been rescued in some way by Harry or other 
wizards, so the ugly git can sit there in a very confused state, 
pondering on the ethics of hating the person (s) who have just saved 
your life, and your nearest and dearest. Just like Harry's confusion 
over Snape.

It really seems a bit unlikely that Harry would lose much sleep over 
their demise, unless I suppose Petunia turns out to be polyjuiced!
Lily or some such nonsense. He's likely to be aching over people that 
matter far more to him by the end of Book 6. 

I think this Dursley triangle was one of JKR's first starting points 
with the books, and she has since repeated the motif in much more 
complex ways with more interesting characters. I would save your 
concern for more deserving causes!

Carolyn
(somewhat startled to get a response to this old post, but since its 
appeared twice, courtesy of Yahoo, I guess I'd better reply)