Dumbledore's letters to Petunia (Re: Petunia's Eyes)

[littleleahstill]

No: HPFGUIDX 170066

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Cassy Ferris" <xellina at ...> 
wrote:
>
>> Cassy:
> 
> I really like your analysis, and just want to add, that there 
could be
> another reason behind Petunia's words about the house. She might 
know
> that it was Voldemort who destroy Potters house and might think it
> unsafe to leave Harry all along, so someone (that is DEs) can come
> after him. Although she is not particularly fond of Harry, she 
hardly
> wants him dead, does she? And although it's obvious, that being a
> Muggle she wouldn't be able to stop a DE, there must be some 
parental
> instinct for an adult to protect a child. However, I might as well 
be
> giving Petunia too much credit. By the way, isn't it against the 
law
> to live an underage child at home on his/her own in Britain?


This may be possible depending on what DD has told her.  But this 
post is really to answer your question about the law and under-age 
children in England/Wales ( I don't know about Scotland, Ireland the 
law is often slightly different there).  There is no specific law 
that says that you must not leave a child alone under a certain age, 
but it is an offence to 'neglect or abandon' a child under the age 
of 16.  The law does not define neglect or abandon, but looks at the 
particular treatment, the age of the child, the child's level of 
maturity, the situation where it was left etc.  Leaving a self-
reliant 11 alone while you popped down to the local shops would 
almost certainly not be prosecuted- leaving the same 11 year old 
alone for a day might, but something would have had to have gone 
wrong.  So Petunia might fear being proesecuted if she left Harry 
alone for the zoo trip and something did happen, but she might be 
equally worried about the neighbours' reactions.  Often prosecution 
might not result, unless the child had actually been badly injured, 
but the family might be referred to social services for help with 
parenting.  It is a situation by situation thing.  Parents tend to 
be a lot more wary these days, and we are talking 20 years ago for 
Harry's upbringing.  When I was eleven, rather more years ago than 
that, I would probably not have been left at home all day but was 
certainly free to be out all day on my own.    

Leah