Dursleys abuse

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 117590


Renee wrote:
> What I would suggest is that we don't treat Petunia too much like a 
> separate entity. There's Vernon, too. He resents being saddled with 
> his wife's baby nephew - the boy is in no way related to him, so he 
> doesn't feel a shred of obligation there. 
> 
> Quite possibly - gasp - Petunia actually loves Vernon, or at least 
> did so when Harry entered their household. Vernon hates the boy, and 
> she's simply not prepared to turn against him on Harry's behalf. I 
> never get the impression she's the dominant partner; does she put 
> her foot down more than once?  
>
Carol notes:
In the very first chapter of PS/SS, we see that Vernon is afraid to
tell Petunia that he's overheard strangely dressed people discussing
the Potters in the street. And as Alla indicates elsewhere, it's
Petunia's decision, not Vernon's to take Harry in. Presumably she
overrides his desire to give the baby to an orphanage. Later in SS/PS,
the dominance switches to Vernon, as he madly attempts to hide from
the deluge of letters, but it's Petunia who lets out all her bottled
up frustration and lets Harry hear a bit of the truth (as she
perceives it) about Harry's parents and their death. In OoP, it's of
course Petunia who understands the references to Dementors and
Voldemort and determines that Harry must stay.

As I said over a year ago, Vernon is the arch-Muggle and has
anti-wizard prejudices that mirror the anti-Muggle prejudices of the
purebloods. He fears magic and anything "abnormal" and doesn't want to
be associated with it. His desire in the early books is to stamp it
out of Harry. Petunia, although she shares his fear of what the
neighbors will think, has a much clearer idea of what the magical
world actually is from having had a sister who was a witch. She knows,
for example, that the Potters' house "blew up," although she seems to
(irrationally) consider Harry responsible. ("We can't leave him alone
in the house! He'll blow it up!") And we know she's received a Howler
from Dumbledore, implying previous communication with him--or at least
from him, before the letter that was clutched in Harry's hand. She
knew, too, what was in Harry's Hogwarts letter and, unlike Vernon,
seemed to know it was futile to fight it.

I don't think we can consider the Dursleys as a unit. Yes, Petunia is
a Muggle, but she's a Muggle with WW connections. No, I don't think
we'll see her perform magic (as some people on this list have
suggested), but I do think she has more secrets that she's kept even
from Vernon, and that we'll learn what they are in Book 6 or 7.

And for what it's worth, I do think the Dursleys love each other, or
at least Vernon loves Petunia. Maybe she's been holding onto her
secrets for fear of losing that love.

Carol