"That awful boy" (Was: Comparing Lupin and Harry )

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 142823

> Ceridwen: I'd love to think it was Snape. Could you imagine?
> Petunia meeting Snape again after many years: "You!"
> Snape: "You!"  Both go screaming into the night...

Jen: Hehe, you made my day with this thought, Ceridwen. The image is 
right up there with Darqali's wish to see the Dursleys hiding out at 
Grimmauld Place and Petunia meeting Sirius' mum....*snort*.

> Carol responds:
> Why not go with the obvious: *James* as the "awful boy"? We know
> that he was "an arrogant little berk" (Sirius Black's description
> of himself and his friend James in OoP, with the Pensieve scene as
> evidence for the accuracy of the description), and he may well have
> been somewhat contemptuous of poor Muggle Petunia--which would
> explain her hatred of him, including an unwillingness to speak his
> name. 

Jen: Well there *is* James, but unfortunately the straightforward 
reading is often not the most exciting one to write about on the 
list. :) You make a good canon case for James, if he's the one, we 
can't say JKR didn't put all her ducks in a row.

Carol:
> Yes, I know that Harry is often wrong, but why automatically assume
> that James can't possibly be the "awful boy," especially given
> Petunia's known dislike of him? 

Jen: That is a good point, but not the reason I'm temporarily 
rejecting James as the 'awful boy'. Reading that JKR quote 
hickengruendler posted reminded me why I suspected Snape in the 
first place: Since JKR won't tell us who it is, she's suggesting the 
answer will be a surprise to Harry. Who would be more surprising to 
Harry than Snape? But there are other good suspects, here's a list 
and why they might be interesting choices, what they could bring to 
the table (Snape's been sufficiently analyzed for this role, so I'm 
leaving him out):

1) Peter--For plot purposes, Peter going home with Lily could 
explain a few things. We still don't know the reason why Dumbledore 
suspected a spy among the Potter's friends.  If DD learned Voldemort 
had knowledge of the Dursleys, that would certainly narrow down the 
field of who was passing secrets about the Potters. In addition, it 
could explain why Dumbledore wrote to Petunia prior to asking for 
Harry to live with them, if he had reason to warn her of possible 
danger.

(Plus, I can't get the creepy symbolism out of my mind of Peter  
sitting between James and Lily in the Order photo. So suggestive of 
the type of person he was, to insinuate himself into their lives to 
such a degree they never suspected his duplicity).

2) Sirius (colebiancardi's suggestion)--Hmm, never considered 
Sirius. He probably *would* qualify as completely 'awful' to 
Petunia! Now the question is would he try to charm her or tease her 
for being so priggish? The downside of Sirius is he was so closely 
tied with James, it's hard to picture him going home with Lily 
without James attached at the hip. And if James was there, we have 
no need for mystery, right?!?

3) Remus--He seems the most likely Marauder to have been friends 
with Lily, especially if they were Gryffindor prefects together. 
Plus he was naturally more serious than the others and it's in-
character for him to discuss the intricacies of Azkaban and 
dementors (already getting started on his knowledge of dark 
creatures). A reason for the plot is harder to come by, why would 
Harry be surprised to find out Petunia knew Lupin? If it's Lupin, 
more likely the surprise will come about in the opposite direction, 
Harry's shock that Petunia actually had contact with people other 
than Lily and James. 

Carol:
> Obviously Petunia knows more about the magical world than she lets
> on and she has been suppressing both her feelings and her
> knowledge all this time (we'll undoubtedly hear more from her in
> Book 7--I'm hoping that she'll show Harry the letter tha DD left
> on the doorstep) but I see no reason to suspect that her
> resentment of Lily and her dislike of "that Potter" are anything 
> other than real--in which case, "that awful boy" is at least as
> likely to be James as to be one of his friends--or Severus Snape,
> who probably had no desire to step into a Muggle house--and would
> have been about as welcome there as Kreacher in the Dursleys'
> sitting room.

Jen: I'm with you on the letter, I have quite a few hopes pinned on 
that letter! As for Snape, the risk seemed too high for him to 
openly befriend a Muggle-born, no matter what his own philosophies. 
By that time Voldemort was gaining power, and Snape's particular 
connections at Hogwarts make it unlikely he was in an open 
friendship with Lily. A clandestine one perhaps. Ewww. 


> Carol, who thinks that Petunia, despite some knowledge of the WW
> and Voldemort and what happened to Harry's parents, is just a
> jealous and resentful Muggle who fears magic in general
> and "abnormality" in particular.

Jen: Maybe it was Remus and Petunia knew about his 'abnormality' or 
simply thought something was wrong with him given his pale skin, 
shabby robes, etc.?

Jen, hoping hickengruendler will add to the list with his suggestion 
of Regulus, as he would be a never-before-analyzed possbility.