The Dursleys

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 167652

 
> Kenny adds:
> 
> I don't think Petunia's a witch.  I think too many people have
> assumed that Petunia didn't know/want to know much about the
> WW. I pose the theory that maybe she did.  Maybe she was quite
> involved with her sister and her magical self.  Maybe a resentment
> grew over time, but I think that at one point she knew what was
> going on in the WW and was close with Lily.  Maybe it was the war
> that pushed them apart.

Pippin:
Try this --

She's not a witch, nor a squib. Petunia is ex-Phoenix.

No, seriously, wipe the coffee off your keyboard and think about it.

We know you don't have to be magical to be in the Order, because
there's Mrs. Figg.  Petunia reads the newspapers and the magazines, 
listens to the news, always has her eye on what the neighbors
are up to. She'd make a very good spy.  And it would be helpful 
to Dumbledore  to have a Muggle's view of things-- he can
follow the Muggle media, but not with a Muggle's eyes. He
doesn't have the intuitive knowledge to separate tabloid stuff
about water-skiing budgies from what might be an actual
report of wizard interference, but  Petunia does. 

I've always thought there was a parallel between her and Snape.
Both driven by jealousy, yet both seeming to have at their core
not so much envy as outrage that life's gifts are distributed 
so unfairly. Lupin says James was what Snape always
wanted to be -- I can certainly see that between Lily and Petunia.
It would certainly extend the parallel further if they
were both spies. 

I can't see Lily recruiting Petunia, but maybe
Dumbledore did. Maybe young Petunia nursed a  hope,
like Filch, that she could somehow learn enough to become a
witch. And then, when she grew up enough to realize how vain
that hope was, she quit. She got involved with Vernon and
hoped she had left the WW behind. 

Sirius says you can't quit the Death Eaters. That implies that
you can leave the Order if you choose. 

Having released Petunia from his orders, Dumbledore could
issue no commands or threats, he could only hold her to a
bargain. Perhaps the bargain Dumbledore made with his 
ex-spy was this: if you will take your sister's child into the 
house on Privet Drive until he comes of age, the 
Order will keep your secret, you'll never see them at Privet
Drive and no Muggle will ever have to know that you once 
worked with us. 

 That is why no Order member (except Dumbledore
himself) ever came to Privet Drive to visit when the Dursleys
were there. It explains why Petunia trusted Mrs. Figg to babysit
Harry but wouldn't let anyone else do it, even when it caused
her massive inconvenience. She knew that Mrs. Figg was a
Squib, and wouldn't be alarmed if Harry did any childish magic.

It would also explain why Hagrid expected Petunia would 
have told Harry everything, even though the general wizard
assumption is that Muggles know absolutely nothing.
It would explain why Petunia hustles Harry away from the 
oddly dressed strangers who seem to know who they are
even though Harry's never seen them before.

It would explain  why the Order can accost Vernon and Petunia
at Kings Cross, but doesn't seem able to follow up on Moody's
threat to send someone along if they haven't heard from Harry
in three days. I note that Petunia reacts very differently from 
Vernon in this scene. Vernon blusters angrily, but Petunia is 
immediately terrified.

And of course it explains why Dumbledore can presume to be
so familiar with Petunia when he's polite even to the gang of
DE's that's trying to murder him. It's why he can leave a baby
on her doorstep with only a letter of explanation, send her
a Howler, or barge into her house with only the pretense of
an invitation. They're old acquaintances, and Petunia is
desperate that Vernon never, ever finds this out. That's why
"Remember my last" is such a threat.

Thoughts?

Pippin