Dumbledore's Magnaminity

[rklarreich]

No: HPFGUIDX 143121

> Geoff:
> But PJ's comment isn't considering the question of Harry and 
> Hogwarts, rather the question of whether Petunia knew that Harry 
> was a wizard or not.
>
> I've already quoted canon for that, but here goes again....
> 
> '"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!"'
> 
> (PS "The Keeper of the Keys" pp.43-44 UK edition)
> 
> I think that makes it as plain as possible that the Dursleys knew 
> what Harry was.

Roberta:

To reinforce what a_svirn wrote in reply to this quote, all this 
proves is that Petunia and Vernon made an educated guess, based on 
Harry's parentage.  They could only have known *for sure* that he was 
a wizard if Dumbledore specifically told them so in his letter, and 
as we do not know the contents of the letter, we cannot assume that 
he did so.  If he didn't, then the Dursleys guessed that Harry had 
probably inherited his parents' abilities and decided to try 
to "stamp it out of him" preemptively.

> Geoff:
> But someone has already quoted a piece of canon I overlooked:
<SNIP of the quote which could be read UPTHREAD>
> (PS "The Boy Who Lived" p.15 UK edition)
> 
> What is he going to explain in the letter if it isn't about Harry's 
> background and who he is? How to cook an omelette? 

Roberta:

Well, Harry's parents have just been killed by Voldemort, who tried 
to kill Harry too but got vaporized instead, and in order to protect 
Harry from further attempts on his life by remaining Death Eaters, 
Dumbledore would like Petunia to take him in order to seal a charm 
Dumbledore has cast involving Harry's mother's sacrifice.  That all 
seems like reasonable background information to put in the letter.

Beyond that, we can speculate that Dumbledore also told the Dursleys 
that Harry has definitely inherited his parents' magical ability 
(which Dumbledore would know, having privileged access to the 
Hogwarts Quill) and that when he is eleven he will be offered a place 
at Hogwarts.  It is certainly reasonable to expect that Dumbledore 
would place this information at the Dursleys' disposal from the 
beginning, as a courtesy, but until we see the actual letter, this is 
all speculation, NOT canon.

Geoff: 
> Enough people have presented enough canon surely for even the most 
> pernickety questioner of the Dursley's knowledge to stop, scratch 
his 
> or her head and wonder whether there is something there....
> 
> Or would it need an affadavit, signed by JKR herself?
> :-))

Roberta:

The text of the letter would do nicely.  In the meantime, the canon 
that has been presented simply shows that the Dursleys had good 
reason to suspect that Harry was a wizard at the time they took him 
in.  Not that they knew it for a fact.  They could only know it for a 
fact at the time they took him in (before any displays of accidental 
magic on Harry's part) if Dumbledore told them in the letter, and we 
haven't seen that letter.

Roberta