More to Petunia than meets the eye

[Peggy Wilkins]

No: HPFGUIDX 159173

Here is some speculation about Petunia that fits a few things we know about her.

She's a Muggle and according to JKR has never performed magic.
She's nosy, so she imposes herself where she doesn't belong.
She seems envious of her parents' fawning over Lily, the witch in the family.
She seems to be irrationally afraid of magic.
She is acquainted with Dumbledore, and has corresponded with him.
Dumbledore has some unknown thing he leverages to get her cooperation.

It seems likely that we'll find out in Book 7 what circumstances
account for all of these things.  For your entertainment, here is a
wacky proposal... quite wacky, but interesting, I think.

What if ... as a girl, when she and Lily were at home, Petunia somehow
got ahold of or was given Polyjuice Potion to take on Lily's
appearance.  The idea here is that she could then go back to Hogwarts
in Lily's place.  This little deception would have required the
deliberate assistance of another witch or wizard in order to keep her
supplied with Potion; it would have also required the real Lily to be
stashed away somewhere, just like Crabbe/Goyle and Moody had to be
stashed away when they were Polyjuiced.

Of course the deception would have been doomed to eventual failure
since Petunia would have been unable to practice magic in the
classroom.  Without further assistance from someone in her classes,
she would be very rapidly found out.

What if, like Hermione in COS, Petunia eventually got some bad
Polyjuice which transformed her into a partial something-or-other,
perhaps a cat like Hermione, or some other Hogwarts pet.  As we saw
with Hermione, it was quite difficult to undo.  Imagine how mortified
Petunia would have been; and her deception would certainly be
uncovered to the point that it would become a disciplinary matter for
the school, involving headmaster Dumbledore.  If word got out, it
would be a big scandal.

So the idea is this: Petunia and the student colluding with her to
carry out the deception would both be in BIG trouble.  Petunia herself
could have needed some enchantment to return her normal appearance if
she couldn't otherwise be "cured".  The student should have been
expelled; but perhaps with Dumbledore's generous nature he or she was
given a second chance.

If Dumbledore's enchantment were ever lifted--or maybe it needs to be
performed regularly--or maybe she needs to take a potion
regularly--Petunia could return to her unpleasantly morphed state
(thus--more to her than meets the eye).  Imagine Vernon's dismay,
especially after he found out that it was due to Petunia's own
actions.  This could give Dumbledore a very useful bargaining chip
with Petunia: if she didn't choose to help him, her "cure" could be
withdrawn.

What an interesting idea, because it could explain Petunia's terror
about magic, why she resented Lily so much, and also her
correspondence with Dumbledore and the hold he could have over her.
And there is also the interesting matter of which student was
supplying the Polyjuice, and why.  It would have to be someone in
Lily's class.  Snape?  James?

-- 
Peggy Wilkins
"We Kingly Pigs"
enlil65 at gmail.com