JKRs comments on Petunia

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112321

Bonny wrote:
> > 
> <Snip>
> > But then, I suppose her eventual reaction could be taken
> > two ways: 
> > 
> > "Aunt Petunia, who was bony and horse faced, whipped around and 
> peered
> > intently out of the kitchen window."
> >           - pg 19, PoA, softcover Canadian edition
> > 
> > Is Petunia just nosy, or does she have a legitimate reason for 
> peering
> > so intently out of the window? And, if she does have a legitimate
> > reason, how composed would she have to be to hide such an intense
> > reaction as would likely occur from her husband and nephew?
> > 
> Karen responded:
> 
> What better way to hide a reaction - look out the window?  I sit near 
> the window at work and many times when people need to compose 
> themselves they come over and stare at the parking lot.  I have 
> learned that if someone is standing in the middle of the aisle 
> looking out the window not to disturb them because they are usually 
> trying to calm down or compose themselves.

Carol adds:
I initially took Petunia's reaction to mean that she was searching for
the killer in her neighborhood, but I think you're right that she
recognizes Sirius's name and is hiding her reaction from Vernon (and
Harry). I don't however think that Sirius was "that awful boy." I
doubt that James took any of his friends with him when he visited
Lily, particularly the arrogant Sirius, who probably would have had
nothing to say to Muggles. (OTOH, Petunia certainly *would* have
regarded him as "awful" had he deigned to visit the Evanses with James.)

We know for sure that Petunia is a Muggle, not a witch (JKR's website)
and the possibility that she might have had a romance with Sirius is
extremely remote, if not out of the question. (He seems the Narcissus
type, in any case, in love with himself with no interest whatever in
the girls who stare adoringly after him in the Pensieve scene).

That said, I do think Bonny's quote is more significant than I had
previously realized. We should probably reexamine her actions and
reactions in every book. She clearly has more connections with the WW
than we previously supposed (even though she's not a witch or a Squib,
just a witch's sister). Maybe she's even secretly aware of Mrs. Figg's
connection to Dumbledore.

In any case, nosy as she is, she certainly would have known the name
of James Potter's best man even if she didn't attend the wedding. I
wonder if she also knew that Sirius Black supposedly betrayed Lily and
James to Voldemort. That would be sufficient reason to hide her
emotions by looking intently out the window when she heard he was at
large, don't you think? And for being afraid that he was in her
neighborhood or even her own yard?

Carol