Leaning on the Dursleys was Hogwarts Teachers -

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 126323


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> Personally I need to be convinced that Dumbledore was SURE 
that  Voldemort is coming back one day - MAYBE is not good 
enough for me, I  am afraid.<

Pippin:
He says he was sure, he only didn't know when it would happen.

Alla:
> I also need to be convinced that Harry could not be touched by 
DE on  Privet Drive and I am not entirely convinced on that matter 
either.<

Pippin:
The protection against DE's does not need to be absolute to be 
stronger than it is any where else. Making it absolute would 
make things far too easy for Dumbledore, since that would allow 
him to use Privet Drive as a litmus test. My personal take is that a 
Death Eater with evil intent would be barred, but there would be 
nothing to stop one from, um, shaking Harry's hand, for example. 
:

Alla:
> I definitely need to be convinced that Dumbledore's 
interference with  Dursleys would have been lethal for Harry  and 
for Harry only.

Pippin:
We have evidence of that already. Consider the upshot of the 
letter campaign.Harry was stranded on an island  out at sea in 
the midst of a storm, with no shelter but a leaky hut and a thin 
blanket, nothing to eat once the chips and the banana were 
gone, no fuel, an armed and increasingly hysterical Uncle 
Vernon , and no escape except a rowboat. I wouldn't give long 
odds on any of the party surviving if the storm had kept up past 
morning and Hagrid hadn't arrived.

But Hagrid's arrival brought its own problems. Hagrid is as 
Muggle-friendly a wizard as we've come across and Dumbledore 
would trust him with his life, but he still couldn't keep  himself 
from using illegal magic on a Muggle. Luckily he got away with it 
that time, but too much magical interference would bring the 
Ministry into it for sure, riddled with DE's as it is. What do you 
want to bet Harry would've been situated with the Malfoys, if 
they'd been allowed to decide? And there would have to be a 
*lot* of interference to get Vernon to change.

It's not like  Vernon is a well-meaning parent who suffers from 
occasional lapses in judgement.  He's an abusive personality 
through and through and it would take more than a few threats to 
make him  change his ways--or at least I wouldn't think much of 
JKR's take on reality if it didn't.

Pippin