Sirius, Sirus, and more Sirius/ Blood protection/ Dumbledore and Harry

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 158570

Alla:
> I am not sure what is wrong with sweetness and hugs, but there is 
> pretty big road IMO between sweetness and light all the time and 
> locking a kid in  the room with locks and starve him and try to
 hit him with the  frying pan.

Pippin:
This is a selective reading of canon, IMO. In PS/SS Harry has never
yet been starved and is not afraid to be handled by Vernon, even
roughly. He makes more effort to stay out of Dudley's clutches
than Vernon's. In the course of chapter 3, Vernon grabs Harry 
and Dudley by the scruff of their necks, Harry grabs Vernon 
around the neck from behind, and Vernon seizes Harry by the 
waist and throws him out of a room. In all of this Vernon is
often angry with Harry but never tries to hit him, nor does Harry
appear to fear being hurt.

However it is undeniable that the Dursleys do starve Harry in 
CoS and by HBP Harry has learned that he should stay out
of Vernon's reach. If those forms of abuse are the worst that
Harry endured, and they only occurred between 
 the end of PS/SS and the beginning of HBP,
how can we conclude that increased contact between the
WW and the Dursleys made things better for Harry at
Privet Drive?

I think we have seen the blood protection in action, we just
don't realize it yet. Harry, in the house where he and  his mother
lived, and she died to save him, survived an explosion that
ripped Voldemort from his body and destroyed the entire
building. Was it because that was where his mother's blood
dwelt? 

If so, then even if Petunia were killed, even if number 4 were
torn down brick by brick, Harry could not be harmed by Voldemort
while he was there, as long as he was able to return there once
a year.  Neither Sirius nor Dumbledore himself could do anything 
close to that. 

Of course it's possible to think of compromises that
would have maintained the protection and yet allowed Harry
more comfort. But the problem with compromises is not
usually thinking of them, it's getting the warring parties to
agree. Sure, it would be rational for the Dursleys to make
whatever concessions Dumbledore asked, but
who ever said the Dursleys were rational? 

We have also seen that choice made the magic of Lily's
sacrifice more powerful. That could well apply to Petunia's
choice as well -- if she is coerced into providing protection
for Harry, that might weaken the protection itself.

Pippin