The Dursleys:

[quick_silver71]

No: HPFGUIDX 167510

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Bart Lidofsky <bartl at ...> wrote:
>
> From: finwitch <finwitch at ...>
> >> I agree here with Bart ... there is something that has yet to be
> >> revealed about Petunia. After all, what was her motivation to 
make an
> >> agreement with Dumbledore. Why would she take "magic" in to her 
house
> >> .. . What did she fear if she didn't? Let's just say it ... what 
is
> >> Petunia hiding???
> 
> >Indeed - very interesting. She took Harry in then - when he was so 
> >*very* young child. What ever else, NOT doing so would be 
criminal. 
> >(and not "normal" either). AND the neighbours would notice a 
crying 
> >child on a known housewife's doorstep... that could explain why 
she 
> >took him.
> 
> Finally, especially in PS/SS, it seems that the Dursleys aren't 
trying to keep Harry away from his birthright as much as they are 
trying to SHIELD him from magic. That is the reason why I think that 
the Dursleys, as conceived, had some other factor going, which did 
not show up in print.
> 
> Bart

Quick_Silver:
I agree that there's more to Petunia then meets the eye. 

As to the Dursley's as a whole I think part of the reason there 
exists a slight disconnect is that there's a shift in their purpose 
especially between the first book and the rest of the series. In 
PS/SS there's a lot of emphasis on the difference between 
the "normal" world and the "magic" world with Uncle Vernon calling 
the Potters weirdoes and mixing with the wrong crowd. This divide is 
further highlighted by Hermione stating that many a great wizard was 
terrible at logic. 

In comparison the rest of the series doesn't really play up the 
uniqueness of the magic world over the mundane one. In fact it goes 
the opposite rout...the magic world becomes increasingly mundane and 
populated by paper pushing bureaucrats. 

Quick_Silver