Who will perform magic "late in life"? (Was: Theory on Petunia)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156483

Brothergib wrote: 
> The following Q&A appears on JKR's site;
> 
> 'Aunt Petunia will start exhibiting magical tendencies.'
> 'No, she won't. Aunt Petunia has never performed magic, nor will she 
> ever be able to do so.'
> 
> I have to be honest, I think this rather puts an end to the 
> possibility that it might be Dudley as well. The obvious candidate 
> appears to be Filch. We even have evidence that he has taken a
course to help bring out his magical qualities. I can imagine a
situation where Voldemort & co enter Hogwarts (I'm still convinced the
final confrontation will take place there) and Filch uses some magic
to thwart them in some way - maybe even to get Harry out of a sticky 
> situation.
> 
> It is also possible that it could be Mrs. Figg. Maybe Voldemort will 
> descend on the Dursley's as Harry turns 17 (and the magical 
> protection is lost) and 'Figgy' will help out.
> 
> I'd still bet my money on Filch though!

Carol responds:
I agree with you that it's not Petunia or Dudley (who hardly qualifies
for the "quite late in life" part of the prediction, anyway), but I'll
take you up on your bet if you'll settle for a stale ginger newt
rather than money--not a single bronze knut to my name and I wouldn't
bet real money for fear that I might be wrong! My candidate is and
always has been Mrs. Figg.

While we have Filch's mail-order magic course as evidence that he's
tried and failed to do magic, we also have Mrs. Figg's repeated
assertions to Harry, "Haven't I told you I can't do magic?" and "I
can't so much as Transfigure a tea bag" to indicate that she, too, has
attempted magic and failed. Both of them know how a wand is used and
probably know some spells, but Mrs. Figg also has courage and
determination (shown throughout the aftermath of the Dementor attack)
and will be in "desperate circumstances" indeed if she's at 4 Privet
Drive when the DEs attack (as I predict they will) at midnight on July
30/31, the point when the protective magic expires. Much as I would
love to see Mrs. Figg battering Bellatrix Lestrange or Antonin Dolohov
with a sackful of catfood cans, I don't believe she'd survive the
encounter. But if she grabbed a dropped wand and screamed a simple
spell--"Stupefy!" or "Petrificus Totalus!" she might just get
results--rather like a woman lifting a car out of a ditch as the
result of an adrenaline rush in RL--I really did that when I was
twenty and alone in a pine forest, where I didn't want to starve or
freeze to death, thank you.

Both Filch and Mrs. Figg seem to have a magical connection to cats
that sets them apart from Muggles (along with a knowledge of the WW
that no Muggle can have, even one whose sister was a witch), so I
agree that the person who performs magic late in life will be one of
them. The respective ages also fit the prediction better than they fit
Petunia, who is probably somewhere near forty. (They could even be
sister and brother since they have the same initials--compare Amycus
and Alecto--and Mrs. Figg's tartan slippers match the tartan scarf or
whatever it was that Filch wore when he had a headcold. I'm not
betting on that connection, though, as the "evidence" is so trivial
and has nothing to do with the prediction.) The chief difference is
that Filch is ashamed of being a Squib and tries to hide it whereas
Mrs. Figg states it openly and almost flaunts it: "Haven't I told you
I'm a Squib, boy?" And of course, Mrs. Figg is an Order member and
unequivocally a "good guy," whereas Filch is perhaps pitiable but has
yet to show any admirable qualities other than affection for his cat.
(He supported Umbridge and seems to have no opinion one way or the
other on Voldemort.)

IMO, Mrs. Figg doth protest too much. Her words strike me in the same
way that the narrator's "He [Harry] would never forgive Snape. Never!"
does--i.e., an overly strong assertion likely to be disproven in later
books. Also, I think that most young readers would get more
satisfaction from seeing magic performed by the batty old cat lady who
was snubbed at Harry's hearing than seeing it performed by the mean
old caretaker who wanted to flog the Twins and kept chains in his
office in hopes that the old punishments would be restored.

Carol, wondering whether Apollyon Pringle, the caretaker before Filch,
was also a Squib and that's what made him so cruel (Arthur Weasley
still has the scars from the whipping Pringle gave him)