[HPforGrownups] Re: Dumbledore's Magnaminity

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 142999

Nora:

> Actually, Dumbledore strikes me as being the guarantor in this whole
> setup.  Dumbledore is sealing a charm, but Petunia's co-operation and
> free agreement in such (she may have done it grudgingly, but she did
> do it of her own free will) is what seals the charm--which ties baby
> Harry to her, not to Dumbledore.  He has to stay at the Dursley's,
> not where Dumbledore is.  [This may have something to do with
> Dumbledore's non-interference up to a certain point, but I'm
> guessing.]

Magpie:

Yes, I definitely think the bone such as it is is between Harry and Petunia, 
since it's the two of them together (or their blood together) that creates 
the charm.  Petunia has allowed herself to be part of a magical thing.  I 
think Petunia's whole relationship with Harry after OotP speaks to someone 
who is a bundle of conflicted feelings: she knows she's treated him badly, 
she hates the wizarding world for putting her in that position, I think she 
both loves her sister and hates her sister as well.

The one good thing Petunia did is agree to put herself in danger and give 
her nephew a home if that reading of the note is correct, which I think it 
is.  This is pretty much obscured by the many bad things she's done, 
treating Harry badly.

But still, she has kept the spell going.  She once almost threw Harry out 
when Dementors came for her son along with Harry, and Dumbledore sent her an 
angry letter saying to remember his last letter, appealing to her fear of 
Dumbledore and the WW or to what originally prompted her to take Harry in.

So in terms of the contract, except for the one time when Petunia almost 
threw Harry out because of the Demtors, she's kept the spell going.  Her 
treatment of Harry is separate from that, something Dumbledore had hoped she 
would handle a certain way.  She didn't, and he didn't like the way she 
handled it and is telling her so (though actually he really didn't want her 
to treat him as her own son, because he thinks the way she treated her own 
is worse--at least Harry's not a pampered prince)..  She doesn't seem to be 
thinking of breaking it now, either.  In fact, I guess Dumbledore is asking 
to extend the contract by asking her to let Harry come back next summer.

MClifford:

Asa much as they say they want nothing to do with it, the fact remains
they have taken plenty upon themselves

Magpie:

It seems a bit odd to trap them this way.  Leaving aside that they're 
terrible people, Harry is their nephew.  Why should they relate to him as a 
Wizard and not family?  Couldn't Petunia be agreeing to protect her nephew 
as her nephew instead of as a Wizard?  Are the parents of Muggleborns 
meddling in the affairs of Wizards by allowing their kids to go to Hogwarts? 
Petunia seems to have been stuck with Wizards against her will since her 
sister turned out to be a Witch.  It makes it sound like they sought wizards 
out and have tried to get involved with them instead of having Wizards come 
to them.

-m