OOP: The tragedy of Petunia Dursley

[Ali]

(Also posted on HPfGU, where I'm still failing hopelessly to keep up)

I've just finished my third reading of OoP. The Dursleys interest me 
in a way that I can't fathom, but I feel the need to explain Petunia 
Dursley.

OoP opens our minds and Harry's to the idea that Petunia had had 
more contact with, and understanding of the WW then she had hitherto 
pretended. From the small glimpse we are given, I feel that a quite 
different Petunia emerges.

I think it probable that Petunia Evans was probably very jealous of 
her [younger] sister. Whilst Petunia  was "horse-faced and bony" (p. 
9 CoS), Lily "had thick, dark red hair that fell to her shoulders, 
and startling green almond-shaped eyes" (p.570 OoP). Petunia, I 
suspect was always a conformist, and Lily, well Lily turned out to 
be a witch.

I've read suggestions that Petunia went to Hogwarts and was 
expelled; I think it's unlikely. The way Petunia talked about Lily 
in PS (p.44): "My dratted sister being what she was? 
disappeared 
off to that – that – school -
 I was the only one who saw her for 
what she was – a freak!" That really gives little wriggle room for 
suggesting that Petunia went to Hogwarts but wasn't good enough.

I do think though that Petunia never felt good enough for her 
parents and in her knowledge that she could never be like Lily, she 
came to reject everything that Lily ever stood for. If Lily stood 
out in a crowd and could perform the unexplainable, then everything 
Petunia would have to do, would be normal, and explainable. However, 
somewhere along the lines, things must have gone badly wrong. She 
must have lost her parents at a relatively young age – or certainly 
when Lily was young as they appear to have been dead before Lily was 
murdered. Petunia's reaction to Harry's Dementor Kiss explanation in 
OoP suggests an understanding of it far greater than overhearing a 
conversation 20 years previously. I would suggest that she has 
perhaps had more interaction with the WW than she cares to 
acknowledge.

It is possible that Petunia's rejection of Lily could be because 
they had lost their parents as a result of Lily's position in the 
WW. Lily and James defied Voldemort three times before they were 
murdered. Lily's parents might not have been so lucky. Petunia might 
therefore have lost the parents who she felt always favoured Lily 
because of Lily. Grounds for bitterness indeed.

I can imagine that Petunia would then shut herself off from, and 
hate everything involving Lily. Her marriage to Vernon would cement 
her attachment to the world of mundaneness that she so craved. 
Anything that stood out was naturally anathema to Vernon, so a 
relationship with him would not only be the refuge that Petunia felt 
she needed, but it would also fuel the feelings of bitterness and 
estrangement towards Lily.

I think two things served to destroy Petunia's refuge, the second 
being Harry's arrival on her doorstep. Petunia took 
Harry "grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly" (P. 737 OoP). 
But, this does not seem to be the action of an Aunt acting only from 
her desire to save her nephew's life or be seen to do the right 
thing. I think Dumbledore rules this out by his howler as "she might 
need reminding of the pact she had sealed by taking you. [He] 
suspected the Dementor attack might have awoken her to the dangers 
of having you as a surrogate son". No, this pact means that Petunia 
gained something in return for taking Harry in, to counteract the 
first assault on her non-magical refuge.

If Petunia craved respectability and normality above all else, then 
I would suspect that the only thing important enough for her to take 
in her despised nephew, was to stop something that was a threat to 
that way of life. I believe that either Petunia or Dudley had shown 
some sign of magical power, and Petunia's pact with Dumbledore was 
to prevent it from being taken any further. 

I have chosen to think that it was Dudley who at a young age had 
shown some magical prowess, Petunia's reaction to it was Dudley's 
worst memory. What would be worse for Petunia than her own beloved 
son showing signs of the very thing that she despises most? Petunia 
dealt with this "problem" by smothering Dudley, in an effort to 
protect him from himself. Perhaps the pact with Dumbledore was to 
stop Dudley getting a Hogwarts letter. If Petunia then threw Harry 
out, Dumbledore would make Dudley aware of his magical inheritance. 
Thus, Petunia deals with Harry's magical abilities by trying to 
squash them out, without success, but by pampering her son, she 
proves successful.

Petunia's tragedy is of course, that by failing to cope with the 
abilities of her sister, nephew or son, she has condemned herself to 
an existence where she can never relax, lest she be found out. She 
lives in a cocoon of bitterness and resentment against family that 
she can't stand, but hasn't been able to escape from. Petunia's 
tragedy is Harry's tragedy and Dudley's. Whilst it is possible to 
explain her behaviour, there can be no justification in the abuse 
which she meted out to Harry and that which she failed to prevent 
against him. Dudley is also a victim, although not one it's possible 
to have much sympathy for, bully that he is.

Petunia's tragedy is unlikely to stop at the end of OoP, and I now 
wait to see how her relationship with Harry will develop. Can 
Petunia learn to accept Harry yet keep the props she has needed to 
maintain her small world? Would she lose Vernon and her aura of 
respectability that she has so craved? She has tough choices ahead, 
but for Harry's sake and hers, I hope that they can come to accept 
each other.

Ali