Blame Fryffindor for everything (wasRe: good and bad slytherins)

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 175199

va32h:

Okay, now I think you are stretching things too far. Lily developed 
her aesthetic appreciation of vases in Gryffindor house too? She 
didn't like Petunia's Christmas gift because Gryffindors poisoned her 
mind with thoughts about what an attractive vase ought to look like?

Ceridwen:
The comment was unnecessary.  "...he smashed a horrible vase Petunia 
sent me for Christmas (no complaint there)."  Page 180.  She could 
just have said Harry had smashed a vase, or even a vase Petunia had 
sent.  To me, the "horrible" and "(no complaint there)" smacked of 
attitude, a wink and a nudge to Sirius against Petunia.  She might 
have hated the vase.  Petunia might have bought it because it was 
Christmas and she thought she ought to send a gift, without putting 
any thought into what Lily might like.  It may have been the most 
hideous vase on earth, and I've seen plenty of hideous vases.

There is a world of undercurrent in the adjective and parenthetical 
comment.  We've seen a lot of it in "The Prince's Tale".  Lily didn't 
have much to do with Petunia's disappointment and shifting to think 
of witches as "freaks" since she couldn't be one.  But Lily could 
react negatively to being called a freak, at the same time adopting 
her new world's attitude toward the inferior, magicless Muggles.  
Petunia's belittling wouldn't help matters.  Lily's a nice girl, it 
seems, but she is not immune to influences all around her.  The vase, 
its looks, a personal matter.  But why make the wink and nudge to 
Sirius about it?

va32h:
Because it's completely impossible that a woman could dislike a gift 
given to her by a relative just because it's not her taste or she 
finds it ugly. You've never been given a gift you didn't like?

Ceridwen:
Plenty of them.  My sister thinks less of me than Petunia ever hoped 
to think of Lily.  I haven't made fun of the ugly gifts, the 
inappropriate gifts, I've gotten, though.  I haven't complained about 
the gifts I haven't gotten at all, either, which is my sister's more 
recent habit.  I haven't heard from my sister since 1989.  Maybe one 
of these days she'll return the messages I left on her machine.

I will admit to rolling my eyes at some presents from other relations 
who bought something just because it was time to give gifts.  I still 
don't make fun of them and elbow my friends with droll remarks.  In 
the end, though, the fact that someone went out of their way to give 
me a gift matters more than how ugly it is.

va32h:
I would think that the very fact that Petunia and Lily exchange 
Christmas gifts is evidence that Lily has not been "enticed" away 
from her family. Petunia knows how to communicate with her sister, 
knows who her sister is married to, knows that she has a nephew and 
this nephews age and name.

Ceridwen:
We know that Petunia sent Lily a gift.  We assume that Lily sent her 
one, based on what is shown and said about her in canon.  To me, she 
obviously sees Petunia as being outside of her group.  The "hideous" 
statement, and implication that she's glad the vase was broken, 
implies to me that she thinks very little of Petunia's taste.  She 
may think little of Petunia, too.  Again, baggage from childhood, the 
effects of being this different from each other.

va32h:
Lily's parents both died sometime between Lily's first year (when 
they are at King's Cross with her) and Lily's own death (since 
Petunia is Harry's only living relative at that time.) If Lily is 
closer to James and Sirius than she is to her own family, perhaps it 
is because her parents (who found her magical abilities delightful) 
are dead and she has only a sister who calls her a freak.

Ceridwen:
I don't doubt that Lily and Petunia are estranged.  Lily has a new 
world, a new life.  Petunia has her bitterness born of 
disappointment.  I was surprised that Petunia sent her a vase in the 
first place.  I'm surprised Lily displayed it, since she thought it 
was ugly.

This whole thing goes back to the Elect and... unelect, I guess, with 
Petunia "begging" to go to Hogwarts, then, understanding that she 
never can, becoming bitter.  And, had this whole idea of certain 
people being better from conception than others not been implied in 
canon, I probably wouldn't have looked at the vase remark as anything 
other than sibling rivalry.  But it bothers me on that level, the 
same as Harry zooming around the house and breaking objects and 
nearly killing the cat bothers me on that level, too.  The Elect can 
do anything and get away with it.

That's my basic problem with the outcome of the series.  Good can do 
whatever it wants, without repercussion.  Bad can do all sorts of 
good and maybe, just maybe, scrape an honorable mention.  The vase, 
as a vase, is just a vase.  As part of the greater series, it's just 
another symbol that bothers me.

**********************************************************************
va32h:
But wait, let me guess - Sirius and James murdered the Evanses, 
right?  So they could further entice Lily down the path of evil 
Gryffindorness.

Ceridwen:
ZOMG!  I think you're right!  Call the Aurors!  Notify the Daily 
Prophet!  We've got the goods on those Gryffindors at last!  Rita 
Skeeter might pen a new expose about all of this, once we're 
finished!  Think she'll dedicate the book to us? ;)  (You do know I'm 
just kidding here, right?  Playing along, not being sarcastic?  I 
think too serious a post should have something funny in it.)

Ceridwen, pressing the button with the joke still attached and 
waiting for fallout.