Petunia's Secret

[pippin_999]

Excerpt from something I posted on TOL today with a few changes:

Pippin:
Try this --

She's not a witch, nor a squib. Petunia is ex-Phoenix (the Order,
that is, not the bird.)

No, seriously, wipe the coffee off your keyboard and think about it.

We know you don't have to be magical to be in the Order, because
there's Mrs. Figg. Petunia reads the newspapers and the magazines,
listens to the news, always has her eye on what the neighbors
are up to. She'd make a very good spy. And it would be helpful
to Dumbledore to have a Muggle's view of things-- he can
follow the Muggle media, but not with a Muggle's eyes. He
doesn't have the intuitive knowledge to separate tabloid stuff
about water-skiing budgies from possible reports of wizard 
interference, but Petunia does.

I've always thought there was a parallel between her and Snape.
Both driven by jealousy, yet both seeming to have at their core
not so much envy as outrage that life's gifts are distributed
so unfairly. Lupin says James was what Snape always
wanted to be -- I can certainly see that between Lily and Petunia.
It would certainly extend the parallel further if they
were both spies.

I can't see Lily recruiting Petunia, but maybe
Dumbledore did. Maybe young Petunia nursed a hope,
like Filch, that she could somehow learn enough to become a
witch. And then, when she grew up enough to realize how vain
that hope was, she quit. She got involved with Vernon and
hoped she had left the WW behind.

Sirius says you can't quit the Death Eaters. That implies that
you can leave the Order if you choose.

Having released Petunia from his orders, Dumbledore could
issue no commands or threats, he could only hold her to a
bargain. Perhaps the bargain Dumbledore made with his
ex-spy was this: if you will take your sister's child into the
house on Privet Drive until he comes of age, the
Order will keep your secret, you'll never see them at Privet
Drive and no Muggle will ever have to know that you once
worked with us.

That is why no Order member (except Dumbledore
himself) ever came to Privet Drive to visit when the Dursleys
were there. It explains why Petunia trusted Mrs. Figg to babysit
Harry but wouldn't let anyone else do it, even when it caused
her massive inconvenience. She knew that Mrs. Figg was a
Squib, and wouldn't be alarmed if Harry did any childish magic.

It would also explain why Hagrid expected Petunia would
have told Harry everything, even though the general wizard
assumption is that Muggles know absolutely nothing.
It would explain why Petunia hustles Harry away from the
oddly dressed strangers who seem to know who they are
even though Harry's never seen them before.

It would explain why the Order can accost Vernon and Petunia
at Kings Cross, but doesn't seem able to follow up on Moody's
threat to send someone along if they haven't heard from Harry
in three days. I note that Petunia reacts very differently from
Vernon in this scene. Vernon blusters angrily, but Petunia is
immediately terrified.

And of course it explains why Dumbledore can presume to be
so familiar with Petunia when he's polite even to the gang of
DE's that's trying to murder him. It's why he can leave a baby
on her doorstep with only a letter of explanation, send her
a Howler, or barge into her house with only the pretense of
an invitation. They're old acquaintances, and Petunia is
desperate that Vernon never, ever finds this out. That's why
"Remember my last" is such a threat.

Naturally when Dumbledore shows up in HBP, he makes
like they've never met. But "You must be Petunia"
is the sort of equivocal language we've heard before.

Thoughts?

Pippin