Petunia's Eyes

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 169927

TKJ wrote:
> 
> I think that she does have magical ability but absolutely REFUSES to
use it. I think she keeps her house so clean by muggle means despite
magic. 
> 
> I know everyone says she doesn't have magical abilities based on a
quote from JKR, but my question is how old is said quote and what's to
say things didn't change as she was writing the new book. SHe did
declare that she had killed people that weren't originally slated to
be killed. <snip>

Carol responds: In addition to the statement s in every book that the
Dursleys are Muggles ("not a drop of magical blood in their veins,"
per CoS and the cited quote about Petunia being a Muggle that people
are arguing against because of the "but," JKR made a statement in the
Rumours section of her website that should put an end to any
speculation that Petunia is a witch who rejected her magic (as opposed
to the Muggle sister of a witch of whom she's jealous, which is what
canon tells us):

[Rumour:] Aunt Petunia will start exhibiting magical tendencies

[JKR's answer:] No, she won't. Aunt Petunia has never performed magic,
nor will she ever be able to do so.

Carol again:

I really don't see how JKR can get any plainer than that. Now, she
*has* said that "there's more to Petunia than meets the eye" and that
it has to do with a conversation Petunia overheard between Lily and
"that awful boy" (whom Harry assumes is James, but many readers
believe that he's mistaken). But I think we're going to learn (along
with Harry) what Petunia *knows* about Lily (and Voldemort and other
aspects of the WW, maybe beyond that one conversation), not what
Petunia is--canonically, Lily's Muggle sister. Almost certainly, we'll
learn the contents of Dumbledore's "last," the note that was tucked
into Harry's blankets when he was left on her doorstep, and maybe the
rest of the correspondence (DD's part, anyway).

And JKR has also said that the blood protection is real: "Harry
receives magical protection from his mother's sacrifice as long as he
remains close to her blood. In other words, Aunt Petunia. That
protection won't continue to hold once he is a man, once he turns 17 -
he is no longer given that protective aura by his mother, so
Dumbledore wants him to go back one more time to ensure the protection
continues to his 17th birthday and after that he really is on his own."

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2005/0705-edinburgh-ITVcubreporters.htm

So it seems pointless to speculate about one of the sisters being
adopted or whatever. The blood connection is real, and JKR has never
dropped the tiniest hint that they're not really sisters.

However, I've always considered it interesting that the first part of
the first chapter of SS/PS, is from the arch-Muggle, Vernon's, pov
rather than from Petunia's. She reminds me of Lupin in PoA, very
touchy and obviously hiding something. Vernon's explanation for
Petunia's becoming upset every time her sister is mentioned, given to
us by the limited omniscient narrator, is simple embarrassment at
being connected with abnormal people: "He didn't blame her--if *he'd*
had a sister like that" (5). He wonders about the people in cloaks and
the name "Harry Potter" that he's overheard, but is afraid to approach
Petunia about it. When he tentatively asks her if she's heard from her
sister lately, she says sharply, "No. why?"--very similar to Lupin's
reaction when Harry wonders if Lupin knew Sirius Black. when he
mentions the people in cloaks and wonders whether it has anything to
do with "*her* crowd," Petunia purses her lips and sips her tea. To me
it's obvious that she knows something that she's concealing from
Vernon. Maybe she hasn't heard from her sister directly, but I think
she may have heard from Dumbledore, who has only recently suggested
the Fidelius Charm to the Potters. Maybe he's mentioned it to Petunia,
along with the name of the supposed Secret Keeper? And *somebody* has
told them both that the Potters have a son named Harry only a month
younger than Dudley.

At any rate, there's more to learn from Petunia. Maybe terror for her
family, fear that they'll no longer be protected when the blood
protection expires on Harry's seventeenth birthday (she clearly
assumed that it would last till he was eighteen) will prompt her to
disclose her secrets in exchange for protection.

Carol, expecting Mrs. Figg rather than Petunia to perform a feat of
magic in the Battle of Privet Drive