The Dursleys

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 167656

  
> 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. 
 
<snip>
 
> 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
>

Hickengruendler:

I really like this theory. I still think the most likely explanation 
is, that Petunia has a witch as sister and has her knowledge from 
either being part of a conversation or overhearing them, and that she 
has really just average knowledge for anyone, who is related to a 
Muggleborn. And further, I thought that the real mystery about 
Petunia is not what exactly she *is*, but what exactly she *knows*.

But your theory is really the first Petunia theory, that I liked. (I 
always hate dthe Petunia is a witch one and it's just impossible that 
she's a Squib, since Squib is nothing more than a technical term for 
a muggle, who is born to wizards). It seems possible.

One slight problem, though:

In HBP, when Dumbledore visits the Dursleys, while admitting that 
they corresponded, he acts, as if he saw Petunia for the first time. 
("You must be Petunia.")

Hickengruendler