Lily, Sev and Toony (was Re: CHAPTER DISCUSSION: PS/SS 2, The Vanishing Glass

[zfshiruba]

No: HPFGUIDX 187786

> Potioncat:
> I think there is a complicated dynamic between Petunia and Lily. <SNIP> We also know she expresses disgust at magic now, but wanted to go to Hogwarts so badly she sent a letter to DD. She is truly conflicted.
>
> Enter magical Harry. I would think all of Petunia's unhappy memories of Sev and Lily must have come back. She was the odd one in that group, the victim of their magic. Lily was performing intentional, wandless magic--so I'm not sure if Petunia understands that wizarding children cannot always control magic. Though I still don't understand the intensity of Petunia's treatment of Harry.
>

Zfshiruba: I have never thought jealousy was Petunia's only motivation certainly her strongest, but what happened to her parents? I think the way Harry turns up on her doorstep, and her sister's violent death remind her that the wizarding world is just as ugly as the muggle one. I think that that reminder, her guilt over feeling jealous of a dead woman, her grief and the extremely conflicted emotions she must be feeling when she finds him would lead her mind to label the wizarding world and anything that might bring her family into contact with it a threat. I think her main motivation for her treatment is still petty transfered jealousy, but I think one of her self-justifications would be that he was/is a threat to her family.