Question re: muggles and dementors

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 187960

Rick wrote:
> So explain Petunia's sister Lily and Hg, who were from non-magical folks as well.  <snip>
> 
> Since the same muggle parent produced both Lily (who had extraordinary powers as a child) and Petunia, plus we also know because there are squibs that there is a continuum of magical powers from DD/LV to squibs (Filch/Figg) to muggles--indeed not all fully qualified wizarding people are endowed equally with magic, as JKR makes clear throughout the canon--so it is not inconceivable that Petunia was some sort of very low level squib, particularly since her parents had produced a witch.
<snip>
> 
> Regarding Dudley, I'd contend some small amount of wizarding blood--the ability to sense an unknown and unseen world--that might have allowed Duds to be more "tuned" to the dementors.  <snip>

>Carol responds:

Possibly you're thinking of a Squib as a person with very weak magical powers regardless of parentage. But a Squib is the nonmagical child of at least one Wizarding parent. (Whether a Squib's magic is just very weak, as in, say, the ability to communicate with cats but not much else, or missing altogether is unclear.) but the point is, a Squib is in a sense the opposite of a Muggle-born Witch or Wizard like Lily, who has two Muggle parents but is nevertheless magical.

If two Muggles have a magical child, it's a Muggle-born.
If two Muggles have a nonmagical child, it's a Muggle.
If two magical parents or one magical and one Muggle parent have a magical child, it's a Pure-blood or Half-Blood Witch or Wizard.
If two magical parents or one magical and one Muggle parent have a nonmagical child, it's a Squib.

Petunia can't be a Squib because both her parents are Muggles. She's just a Muggle like them.

As for Dudley (also just a Muggle), as someone pointed out, the Dementor was so close to him that it was trying to suck out his soul. (Luckily, on Harry's advice, he had both hands pressed tightly over his mouth.) Of course, in that position, he was forced to relive his worst memories. (The same thing happened to Hagrid in Azkaban and to Harry even with a Boggart Dementor.) Dudley, being a Muggle, couldn't actually see the Dementor, but he could not only sense its presence, possibly hear its rasping breath, he could probably feel its horrible bony hands on his wrists trying to pry his hands away from his mouth.

Carol, hoping that this post clarifies the matter