Arthur right or not? /Dudley bullies Harry at the time of GoF or not?

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 155873

> Alla:
> 
<snip>Dudley's 
> bullying IMO does not exist in vacuum, but tied to his parents' 
> abuse 
> of Harry. All that Dudley has to do if he feels that, I don't know 
> Harry is scaring him too much is to complain to his parents and 
> Harry would be dealt with. I mean, you are not arguing that Harry 
> has any power over Dudleys after PS/SS?
> Like in GoF for example, Harry is starved **because** Aunt 
> Petunia wants to keep Dudley morale high by making sure that he 
eats 
> more than Harry, etc.
>

a_svirn:
That's stretching the definition of bullying along with the notion 
of responsibility too far. Dudley did not *ask* for his diet. Quite 
the contrary. Also we have nothing whatsoever in canon to assume 
that *starving* Harry was his idea. On the contrary, the narrator 
states quite clearly that it was Petunia who came up with the 
notion. Of course, narrators are unreliable lot, but I just don't 
see the point of lying about the whole thing. Moreover, Harry is not 
the only one who are being *starved*. Vernon is in the same leaky 
boat. Do you think he is being *starved*, because Dudley wanted to 
bully his Daddy?