Leaning on the Dursleys was Hogwarts Teachers -

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 126288


Pippin:
 The point of the letter campaign was for Harry to get his 
Hogwarts letter, and at that,  it  failed.  Interfering with the 
Dursleys does not have predictable  results.

Lupinlore:
> Which in no way means it should not have been tried.  Sorry, 
but I can't buy the "it was too risky" defense.  Ignoring child abuse 
is NEVER justified.<

Pippin:
Consider what the outcome of the letter campaign was. Not only 
did Harry not get his letter, he ended up on  an island out at sea 
on a stormy night in  a hut with gaps in its walls, no fuel, 
provisions consisting of one bag of chips and a banana, and a 
blanket too thin to keep him warm. If Hagrid hadn't arrived and 
the storm had lasted through morning, who knows if any of them 
would have survived, especially if Vernon decided to try to get 
back to land during the storm when the food ran out. I wouldn't 
put it past him.

 Vernon doesn't strike me as terribly stable. I wonder if Petunia's 
insistence on keeping everything as normal as possible isn't 
"magical" thinking -- maybe she thinks as long as everything 
seems normal, Vernon will be normal too. 

As it was, Hagrid's arrival resulted in an unplanned illegal use of 
magic against a Muggle. In fact, many of the wizard/Muggle 
interactions we've seen have ended up that way...the Statute of 
Secrecy bids fair to be the Potterverse equivalent of the Prime 
Directive.  Willing suspension of disbelief is required in order to 
suppose that violation is  the exception rather than the rule. 

Be that as it may, it's clear that even a wizard as trustworthy and 
generally Muggle-friendly as Hagrid can't be trusted to keep his 
wand in his pocket (or his umbrella).  The idea that 
Dumbledore could have someone  lean on the Dursleys for long 
enough to change their engrained behavior without getting 
caught isn't credible to me. Vernon has an abusive personality 
and threatening him once or twice isn't going to change it. I'd 
think it was highly unrealistic and sloppy writing on JKR's part if
it did. 

Lupinlore:
 
> But, most of all, I think we need a LOT better discussion of 
these issues on JKR's part.<

Pippin:
Nothing would justify bombarding a child with radiation and 
feeding him poison  till he was constantly nauseous and his hair 
fell out --unless you were trying to stop a cancer from coming 
back. I think we just need to be convinced that Voldemort 
returned is as lethal as Dumbledore says he is. 

If Trelawney's second prophecy is to come true, there shouldn't 
be a problem. 

Pippin