Obviously Petunia? (Was: Retrospective -- Snape's Worst Memory)

[deborahhbbrd]

No: HPFGUIDX 143044


truthbeauty1 <rh64643 at appstate.edu> wrote:

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "hpfan_mom" <rdsilverstein at y...>
wrote:
>(snip)

> It would also be a nice parallel if the magic Petunia performs is in 
> the Battle of Privet Drive to protect her son.
> 
> Hpfan_mom
>
I completely agree. The only way I can see Petunia using magic is in
defense of her family.(or her clean kitchen haha)I can really see some
dementors or deatheaters coming at Dudders and Petunia going "Carrie"
on their butts. I wonder how Vernon will react?

Deborah, now:

I'm not so sure! Yes, it does make a certain sense that a little of
the magical potential that Lily showed should also lurk in Petunia's
bony bosom, but isn't it a bit bland, frankly? The plot device, not
the bosom.

My bet has long been - and now emerges confidently from the closet for
the first time - that our late-magicker is none other than Vernon.

Consider Petunia's love-hate relationship with Lily. Apparently they
got on just fine until their parents blew it by favouring magic Lil
over nonmagic Pet. What is magic, if not a way of controlling the
otherwise uncontrollable? And Pet is a control freak of note. She is
also abnormally inquisitive, even by bored-suburban-housewife
standards. If there is anything to know, she'll know it. If there is
anything to recognise, she'll spot it from afar.

Now consider Vernon. Not a man to whom one instinctively warms; but
his one redeeming feature seems to be his love for Petunia, based on
the fact that she actually runs the show. When the chips are down,
Vernon tells Harry to, of all things, listen to his aunt. Pet is in
control. And wouldn't she just love being in control of someone with
latent magical abilities? A subtle revenge on Sister Dear, and as long
as Dudders didn't inherit the dubious talent she would have won all
the way. (Perhaps the spoiling of Dudders was intended to make or keep
him passive, dependent, and lacking in initiative and enterprise?)

Vernon also loves his son, and is proud of him. Kinky, but what can
you expect? So, if anything is going to stimulate his latent talent,
real or perceived danger to Ickle Diddykins would do it; and now he
knows about Dementors for instance. The last time they showed up, he
was absent and wouldn't have understood anyway. The Battle of Privet
Drive, if it happens, might just show Pet a thing or two about her
semi-detached, suburban Mr Most; and if Harry is a fascinated
observer, so much the better.

You heard it here first!

Deborah, dusting her manicure modestly on her lapel and trying to
remember the rest of that darn Sixties song; wondering also how to go
"Carrie" on someone's butt. One feels so foreign sometimes ...