Petunia's Secret and Dudley Demented

[sgahagen]

No: HPFGUIDX 172108

I was reading the first few chapters of Order of the Phoenix the other
night, and I began (once again) pondering just what Aunt Petunia
knows, why she knows it, and why she has never told Harry any of it.
As I was reading and thinking, a new theory (at least to me) occurred
to me.  What if Peter had not been the Potter's secret keeper after
all?  What if Petunia was the secret keeper?

I did a couple of searches through past posts to this list, and I
couldn't find any other discussion of this particular theory.

Reading through the scene in the shrieking shack at the end of
Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius tells Harry and Lupin that the Potters
switched secret keepers at the last minute, and he tells them that he
(Sirius) encouraged them to use Peter.  Peter, however, never actually
confirms (or denies) this.  JKR leads the reader to believe that what
Sirius tells us is true, but we don't really know this is true.

We know the Potters knew Voldemort was after them, and we know they
suspected a spy amongst their friends.  They would, therefore, not
have told their friends who was the secret keeper.  We know this
because even Dumbledore believed Sirius had been secret keeper (as he
says at the end of PoA).

Petunia would have been a great choice for secret keeper as she was as
far removed from the wizarding world as it is possible to be while
still knowing about it.  The only way Voldemort could have found her
is if one of the Potters friends let him to her.  This is where Peter
comes in.  He would most likely have known that Sirius suggested using
 Peter as secret keeper.  So Peter knew the Potters still trusted
Sirius, and, most likely, Peter himself.  This means they all
suspected Lupin of being the spy.  So if Peter was not the secret
keeper, and he knew that neither Sirius or Lupin was either, he could
have figured out that the Potters may have turned to Lily's muggle
sister as secret keeper.  She would have been a particularly good
choice as we know that she liked to pretend her sister and the
Potter's didn't exist.

Peter could then have led Lord Voldemort to Privet Drive, where they
attempted to force Petunia to reveal the Potter's hiding place.  When
she refused, they probably tortured either her or Dudley (or both)
with the crucio curse.  Aunt Petunia buckles under the pressure and
pain and reveals the Potters hiding place.

This explains the Dursley's intense fear and hatred of magic, Dudley's
 experience with dementers (re-living the crucio curse), the Dursley's
spoiling and coddling of Dudley, and their willingness to take Harry
in (guilt over his parents' murder).

sgahagen