Dumbledore & Dursleys-What DD Knew

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 123796


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich
<mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
<SNIP>
> 
> 
> The key to the protection that Harry had at the Dursleys was that
> Petunia took him in willingly.  Had Dumbledore had to threaten her,
> then the protective spell would not have worked.
> 
> OOTP, Chapter 37:
> 
> "...I put my trust therefore in your mother's blood.  I delivered you
> to her sister, her only remaining relative."
> 
> "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, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took
> you, and in doing so she sealed the charm I placed upon you..."
> 
> There are other points Dumbledore makes in the next few paragraphs
> about how Petunia took Harry in as a "surrogate son".  They all point
> to the same thing: Petunia had to be willing to accept Harry.  Had he
> threatened her or bribed her, the spell would not have worked.
> 
> I mentioned in another thread that the Dursleys had leverage that
> Dumbledore had to acknowledge; this willingness to accept Harry was
> part of that leverage.  They could have called in the social services
> people and claimed they didn't know him; they weren't completely
> helpless in negotiations.
> 
> Magda
> 


And yet in your own quote, Magda, Dumbledore says, "she may
have....UNWILLINGLY...."

Do you think DD is using the word "willing" in a different sense than
what you mean?  Not being sarcastic, just asking.

Lupinlore

> 
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