Theory on Petunia

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156510

laurawkids wrote:
>
> To begin, I am so frustrated with my posts disappearing! I have
> lost 3 now! I have also been dumb and did not do anything to save
> them on my side, so when they are lost, they are gone. Blehhhhh )
> >( <snip>

Carol responds:
Hi, Laura. Your posts *are* posting. Yahoo is just taking its time to
post them.

Laura:
> I acknowledge that JKR said Petunia is not going to exhibit magic
> ever.
>
> I am going on the new comment that when a Muggle gets her hands on a
> wand, something violent occurs. From the transcript on QQQ of the
> first reading:
>
> "She also stated that if a muggle were to get their hands on a wand
> then she would expect something 'accidental and violent' to be the
> result of that, in a similar way as when a wizard uses someone
> else's wand. She also went on to tease us slightly in saying that
> there would be more in book 7 about the wizard's personal connection
> to his/her wand." JKR in NYC
<snip Petunia/house-elf theory, which I'm afraid has been thoroughly
nixed by JKR's repeated assertions both in the books and in interviews
that Petunia is a Muggle>

Carol responds:
IMO, what we learn about Petunia's knowledge of the magical world,
which clearly is more extensive than she lets on to Vernon even in
Book 1, will relate to Lily and Harry (and the "awful boy"). I do
think that DD sent her a message by owl before she found Harry on her
doorstep, possibly informing her that her sister was in grave danger
(or dead) but that she must say nothing to Vernon. (Maybe she'll show
Harry the letter or letters that DD sent her and even beg for his
protection from LV?) But whatever we learn about her has to be more
important to the Harry/Voldemort conflict than an explanation of
Petunia's "magical" cleaning abilities. Technology and OCD might be
closer to the truth. (Any "Monk" fans out there?)

Laura:
<snip>
> This was asked of JKR in 1999:
>
> "I want to know what Dudley does with his life.
> That is a question I would love to answer, but it will ruin some
> surprises. I will only say that Dudley's privileged existence starts
> to change for the worse in Book 4. "
> http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/0399-
> barnesandnoble.html
> I don't think becoming as wide as he is tall is a surprise, nor
> getting in to boxing. There has to be something more to qualify as
> a surprise she'd like to protect. She has also said there is
> nothing to him, but that could be more about his past than his
> future. Who knows? <snip>

Carol responds:
Spoiled Dudley had his tongue swollen and nearly choked on it in GoF.
He was nearly soul-sucked by a Dementor in OoP and, IMO, relived the
toffee memory, surely his most terrible moment, as the Dementor came
near him. In HBP, he was merely knocked on the head by a glass of mead
and possibly terrified by the sight of a filthy house-elf, but his
"privileged existence" may be threatened again in Book 7. Nothing to
do with his having magical abilities. The point JKR has been making in
these scenes is that he *doesn't* have them and, bully or not, is
powerless against magic.

As for a Muggle picking up a wand and the wand doing unexpected
things, I think that Dudley will pick up Harry's wand and
try to use it against Harry as revenge for everything from the pig's
tail to the ton-tongue toffee and will shout some pseudomagical
nonsense phrase like "hocus pocus" (or, heaven forfend, "abracadabra")
only to have the wand go off like a firecracker in his hand and
scare the pants off him. It wouldn't, of course, hurt Harry, since
it's his wand and has an affinity to him (suggested by JKR's comments
in her answer to the question about Muggles and wands). I don't think
Dudley will die--that would be a bit too much even for JKR--but he'll
certainly learn his lesson about not touching magic wands!

Carol, imagining Harry's reaction to Dudley's little object lesson