Dumbledore's Magnaminity

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 143091

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "a_svirn" <a_svirn at y...> wrote:
>
> Geoff:
> > '"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," 
> said 
> > Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"
> > "You /knew/? said Harry. "You /knew/ I'm a - a wizard?"
> > "Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "/Knew/! Of course we 
> > knew!..."'
> > 
> > (ibid. pp.43-44)
> > 
> > QED.
> 
> a_svirn:
> I don't think it demonstrates what you want it to demonstrate, 
> actually. The full quote goes as follows: "Knew! Of course we knew! 
> How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she 
> got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-
> and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, 
> turning teacups into rats." It would appear that Petunia didn't 
know 
> for sure from the beginning, but realized soon enough, by making 
> comparisons with her sister. You will have noticed that she didn't 
> refer to the letter, when she said she knew. 

Geoff:
In your reply,you seem to have overlooked the fact that I quoted this 
exact piece of canon at the beginning of my post 143063, prior to the 
section you quoted above.

I would feel that, with Harry on the doorstep and Dumbeldore's letter 
tucked into the blankets, if she didn't realise this immediately, her 
wheels were turning rather slowly.....

It is possible that she may not have referred to the letter because 
it didn't cross her mind at that precise moment as she was giving an 
off-the-cuff answer in response to a comment made by Harry.