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

[zfshiruba]

No: HPFGUIDX 187789

> Geoff:
> I feel there's something of an illogicality here.
> 
> If, as you suggest, Petunia justifies her treatment by thinking that 
> Harry's presence is a threat to the family, how does abusing him, 
> starving him, neglecting him and demeaning him make him any 
> less of a threat?
>

Zfshiruba: Psychological motivations are seldom logical. But you're right, I worded that poorly. First off, I don't she consciously thought that. I think it was playing somewhere in the back of her subconscious. When something is dangerous, you want to keep it away from kids. Petunia can't keep Harry away from her family; re: blood protection; so she tries to keep "magic" away from contaminating her family by separating Harry from them as much as she can. Also, the fact that its a threat she has to live with converts into resentment for the threat. And like I meant to say before all this threat thinking is a secondary or tertiary motive for her resentment, with jealousy being the primary.