What will we learn about Petunia in Deathly Hallows? v.2

[crookshanksfan]

Originally Posted by winkysmajic

OK I am soooo going to contradict myself now! I just got back from another thread where the Mirror of Erisad was mentioned. Harry looks into the mirror and not only sees his parents but all these other family members and he recognizes their green eyes, but while he is noticing all these different aspects of his family and looking at each face does he ever see Petunia or Veron or Dudley. All which are family from his mother's side supposedly! Does the revelation Petunia spills have something to do with her not being in the mirror?

The mirror shows the desires of your heart. Seeing the Dursleys was not something Harry desired... My guess is that his deepest desire is to be a part of a family who loves him. And the people in the mirror were all family members who loved him, but they are dead now. Do the Dursleys love Harry? I'm afraid the answer is fairly obvious...

[Schlubalybub]

I really believe that Petunia likes Harry, and she only was horrible to him because she was scared of losing Vernon. I do think that she was jealous of Lily more than anything. I think that the thing we will find out about her is that she obviously knows more than she is letting on about Harry's parents, and also I think that she will volunteer to go to Godric's Hollow with her, I mean she's never been to see her sister's grave, which must be sad. I also think that she adored Lily...

[Bryant_C]

How would Petunia overhear it being said to Lily?

*** I thought they (the Dursleys) didn't want to have anything to do with magic. ***

Not unless Petunia was indeed closer with her sister than she lets on.

[LoveWeasleys]

Originally Posted by Bryant_C

How would Petunia overhear it being said to Lily?

*** I thought they (the Dursleys) didn't want to have anything to do with magic. ***

Not unless Petunia was indeed closer with her sister than she lets on.

You are right when you say that the Dursleys don't want anything to do with magic, however Petunia wasn't always a Dursley...
We all know that Petunia is quite the little "peeping Tom". She spies on the neighbors and gossips about them daily as if it were her job. It is the general belief that if she has infomation it was at a time that she was honing her spying skills and listening in on her sister and "someone else". I believe that it was durring a hoilday from school and Lily would have brought "that awful boy" (I believe is James) home and she overheard them talking aboud Dementors at Azkaban. There could possibly other times that she was listening on converstaions between Lily and others about the magical world as well. Because of this, I really think that we will learn that Petunia has some information that may help Harry.

[momeve]

Petunia overheard a conversation between Lily and "that awful boy". This conversation was about dementors. Petunia has never had a problem calling James "Potter" so the thought is that the boy is someone else. So, heres our first clue: dementors are mentioned. Then we find out from a scene where Harry receives back a report he did on dementors and learns that Professor Snape disagrees with his method of repeling them, which is the patronus charm. So my theory is that "that awful boy" was Snape, Petunia now has important information about another method of getting rid of demenors and will be able to help Harry. This theory then makes sense of JKR's statement that Petunia was not a squib but something close. In discussing what Petunia overheard, JKR also said that it was important to book 7- again, this theory fits that statement.

[beccaroo]

Originally Posted by thoth200

Could Petunia or Lilly Be adopted? I say this because lily's green eyes seem to be important and when harry looks into the mirror of reised he saw a lot of people with those same green eyes like his and his mothers. But petunia does not have them. i know you can have two children with the same parent have diffrent color eyes but JKR goes out of her way to always talk about lily's eye color.It could explain why she hated lily so much if lily was the one adopted and she turned out to be a witch and her adopted parents loved it and there real child is not a witch could make her bitter about it.

Side note to this....why did harry only seem to see his parents and lily's family in the mirror and not james family? cause she says everyone in the mirror had those same color eyes

I would like to point out that not everyone in the mirror had eyes like his:

They just looked at him, smiling. And slowly, Harry looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror and saw other pairs of green eyes like his, other noses like his, even a little old man who looked as though he had Harry's knobbly knees

JKR, PS, p.153 (UK edition)

Which means only that there were features that he could pick out in other faces that were like his, that make him realise they are his family. The eyes stand out because he has aleady noticed his mother's eyes - also we don't know James' eye colour, and she didn't want (or need) to go into the tedious detail of finding all the features that were just like Harry's. I am also sure you will agree that as Harry looks just like his father (except for he eyes) then those with similar noses are probably from the Potter side of the family.

I agree that Petunia's absence is suspicious, though it is perhaps just that her presence is not noted (it would ruin the scene and the sentiment somewhat). Vernon Dursley would of course not be present as he is not a blood relation, but Petunia is (as has been pointed out on many occasions). I have sometimes wondered if the family that Harry sees in the mirror is in fact only his direct ancestry, which would explain Petunia's absence.

[MAGICicalMUggle]

There seems to be alot of interesting ideas,Like the "awful boy" being Snape.. I do think we will learn that Petunia knows more about the wizarding world that she lets on...I had a theory that Lily and Petunia became orphans at one point and had to move in with another family...My guess is that it was Snape's because maybe his muggle father could of been somehow related to the Evans...(like a godfather).


I think that Petunia could of been refering to Snape as the "awful boy" because if she would of ment it to be james she would of said "I heard that"Potter" talking to her about them years ago"..And even Harry shouts at her saying why she wouldn't use his father's name if she is taking about him but she just ignores him...This could be a hint that it could of been Snape who was the "awful boy" and Vernon would of known who she was talking about because if Petunia lived with the Snape family then Vernon would have to visit her over there and she could of introduced him to Snape who was the "awful boy" that she overheard talking to Lily about dementors.

[winkysmajic]

Originally Posted by crookshanksfan

The mirror shows the desires of your heart. Seeing the Dursleys was not something Harry desired... My guess is that his deepest desire is to be a part of a family who loves him. And the people in the mirror were all family members who loved him, but they are dead now. Do the Dursleys love Harry? I'm afraid the answer is fairly obvious...

Yes, but after all those yrs in the Dursley house, don't you believe that part of that deepest desire is to have his aunt and uncle truely love him as well? The question is in respect of an 11yr old Harry not a 17 yr old who probably no longer really cares what they think.

Originally Posted by Schlubalybub

I really believe that Petunia likes Harry, and she only was horrible to him because she was scared of losing Vernon. I do think that she was jealous of Lily more than anything. I think that the thing we will find out about her is that she obviously knows more than she is letting on about Harry's parents, and also I think that she will volunteer to go to Godric's Hollow with her, I mean she's never been to see her sister's grave, which must be sad. I also think that she adored Lily...

I can not really say, because these are fictional characters, but if it is the thought that sisters or a sister could truely hate one another. Yes I believe it is possible and probable that Petunia could have cared less whether her sister and Harry for that matter lived or died. Lily and Petunia remind me greatly of my relationship with my sister and I can say right now if she were to pass I would not even feel the desire to see the grave. Sorry if it is harsh, but some wounds go much deeper than imaginable.

Originally Posted by momeve

Petunia overheard a conversation between Lily and "that awful boy". This conversation was about dementors. Petunia has never had a problem calling James "Potter" so the thought is that the boy is someone else. So, heres our first clue: dementors are mentioned. Then we find out from a scene where Harry receives back a report he did on dementors and learns that Professor Snape disagrees with his method of repeling them, which is the patronus charm. So my theory is that "that awful boy" was Snape, Petunia now has important information about another method of getting rid of demenors and will be able to help Harry. This theory then makes sense of JKR's statement that Petunia was not a squib but something close. In discussing what Petunia overheard, JKR also said that it was important to book 7- again, this theory fits that statement.

This is a very good possiblity! I always wondered what Snape thought was a better way, I assumed he just did not like that Harry was so good at the Patronus and did not want to aknowledge his talent in the area.

[beccaroo]

Yes, but after all those yrs in the Dursley house, don't you believe that part of that deepest desire is to have his aunt and uncle truely love him as well? The question is in respect of an 11yr old Harry not a 17 yr old who probably no longer really cares what they think.

I think that yes, what Harry truly wants is to be loved and accepted, but at the age of 11 he is still engaged with the idea of the fantasy perfect parents, who (being at a removed distance) love him more than those present possibly could. This is inline with an apparently common childhood fantasy/stage in childhood development, in which true parents are imagined not to be the true parents because they do not live up to the child's expectation of the love they should give. Of course Harry knows that the Dursley's are not the true parents and so it is those true parents that are his desire, because he feels that they are the only ones who can give the love and acceptance he needs.

Apologies for going so far off topic... am going to go and hunt down a Mirror of Erised post in History of Magic

[SeverusLovesUs]

Originally Posted by winkysmajic

Yes, but after all those yrs in the Dursley house, don't you believe that part of that deepest desire is to have his aunt and uncle truely love him as well? The question is in respect of an 11yr old Harry not a 17 yr old who probably no longer really cares what they think.

I think the only Dursley capable of loving Harry at all would be Petunia- and it probably comes out of remorse for her bad relationship with her sister.

Originally Posted by winkysmajic

This is a very good possiblity! I always wondered what Snape thought was a better way, I assumed he just did not like that Harry was so good at the Patronus and did not want to aknowledge his talent in the area.

I think there must be a different method. If Snape said only a really powerful wizard could have conjured a patronus to make those hundred dementors go away in POA, that must mean that a patronus isn't the most commonly used method in that situation. Whatever other method there could be (conjuring an inanimate object that can think for itself or an object like a pensieve that holds thoughts they could feed on instead of you?), Harry didn't seem interested in it. I'm sure after his own accomplishment he couldn't see any better way! Maybe Snape was jealous because he couldn't have conjured it. Maybe he doesn't have a happy enough memory.

[eviljim13]

Hi everybody!
I;ve just had a bit of a re-think on this based on an Editorial I just read.It's the most current ED and involves Petunia/Lilly.To sum-for the very first I have become fully convinced that Petunia had a good to excellent relationship with Lilly prior to Hogworts and that the relationship between the 2 of them DID NOT end suddenly because Lilly was a witch.No sadly it fell apart becuase Lilly was a teen-age girl who went to an AWAY school.and as her life at Hogworts gradually became her focus,she began to loose interest in the life of her sister!!!!It happens but does not neccessarly lead to a life time of astrangement.I think that might have been able to make up someday-but then Lilly was dead.So she "begrudgingly,etc"took Harry in-but objectified Harry as her(dangerous)link to her(actualy beloved)sister!!!Many years of abuse should not be surprising.Ah-but now the jig is up-Harry is soon to leave-Petunia has to make up her mind about a number of things-letters,thoughts,impressions,gossipy memories-what to give Harry?If she REALLY loved her sister the way I think she did-Harry just might get more than he bargained for.The Lilly/Snape people have thought a nice scenerio out but have any of you really thought out exactly how Harry might be expected to process this information especialy if it should come from PETUNIA!

[torrik]

we all know that petunia is about to reveal something she's kept hidden from harry and that it isnt that she is a squib which might've explained her all consuming jealousy to harry's mother lily. JK says no so i shall accept this.

but where does she get her knowledge of the wizarding world from. for a world she is said to despise and refers to as abnormal she knows alot about it.

a thought i had the other night was that maybe she had been involved with a wizard before lily had her letter and he broke her heart. which could go a long way to explaining her behaviour. sounds far fetched but its a possibility isnt it?

[dantares]

I think it is kind of obvious that Petunia loves Lily. She was extremely frightened (and almost sad) when she heard that LV is back. This shows that she felt awful that her sister's killer had not get the punishment he deserved and instead is coming back to kill her nephew.

What we will learnt about Petunia is more likely that she misses her sister a lot and when Harry reached of age and leave the Dursley, she will reveal her true feelings and perhaps share some information with Harry that will proved to be useful when he is fighting LV.

[eviljim13]

Petunia knows full well that when Harry leaves he really is gone for good.Outwardly,she can't wait to see the back of Harry.Inwardly,however,I see Petunia as a mess of conflicting feelings.If she ever had feelings for Lily,that last link to her is walking out the door,never to return.So she has got to make her mind up and hopefuly reconcile her feelings for Lily by doing something right by Harry.At the very least show Harry the letter(s)!!!!

[caharing]

I have a theory...this may sound completely absurd, but when Jo said that there is more to Aunt Petunia than meets the eye it makes me wonder, what if aunt Petunia isn't aunt Petunia? Could "Aunt Petunia" be someone using polyjuice or some other sort of spell or charm that is stationed in the Dursley's house to help protect Harry, perhaps stationed there by Dumbledore or the Order?

[DeplorableWord]

Originally Posted by caharing

I have a theory...this may sound completely absurd, but when Jo said that there is more to Aunt Petunia than meets the eye it makes me wonder, what if aunt Petunia isn't aunt Petunia? Could "Aunt Petunia" be someone using polyjuice or some other sort of spell or charm that is stationed in the Dursley's house to help protect Harry, perhaps stationed there by Dumbledore or the Order?

I always wondered that myself, especially after reading OOTP chapter 3. In this chapter Tonks twice makes a remarke about the Dursley home being unnatural clean. What evidence is she polishing away? Spoiled Potion? And then there's the last chapter of OOTP in which Aunt Petunia seems to avoid eye contact with Tonks.
...'Tonks, whose pink hair seemed to offend Aunt Petunia more than all the rest put together, for she closed her eyes rather than to look at her'... This in combination with Aunt Petunias pale eyes "so unlike Harry's" might be a clue.
Who knows, Caharing. Intrigueing question!

[godricsword]

Originally Posted by DeplorableWord

I always wondered that myself, especially after reading OOTP chapter 3. In this chapter Tonks twice makes a remarke about the Dursley home being unnatural clean. What evidence is she polishing away? Spoiled Potion? And then there's the last chapter of OOTP in which Aunt Petunia seems to avoid eye contact with Tonks.
...'Tonks, whose pink hair seemed to offend Aunt Petunia more than all the rest put together, for she closed her eyes rather than to look at her'... This in combination with Aunt Petunias pale eyes "so unlike Harry's" might be a clue.
Who knows, Caharing. Intrigueing question!

Ah but what then of the protection?? If Petunia, Lily's sister, weren't Petunia, then it wouldn't have been possible for the protective magic around Harry to have been in Effect for the last 15 years. According to Dumbledore, Petunia's taking Harry in sealed the charm he placed on him and on Privet Drive. So I think Petunia has to be herself and not, say, an Order member impersonating her by using polyjuice

[Hallowed]

Hopefully whether there is anything actually under that creaking stair.

[caharing]

Originally Posted by godricsword

Ah but what then of the protection?? If Petunia, Lily's sister, weren't Petunia, then it wouldn't have been possible for the protective magic around Harry to have been in Effect for the last 15 years. According to Dumbledore, Petunia's taking Harry in sealed the charm he placed on him and on Privet Drive. So I think Petunia has to be herself and not, say, an Order member impersonating her by using polyjuice

You are right, Petunia's taking Harry in sealed the charm on the house on Privet Drive. Once the charm was sealed then Petunia could be replaced at a later time. I believe once the charm was placed it would remain even if Petunia left.

[dill]

Originally Posted by caharing

You are right, Petunia's taking Harry in sealed the charm on the house on Privet Drive. Once the charm was sealed then Petunia could be replaced at a later time. I believe once the charm was placed it would remain even if Petunia left.

I disagree. I think petunia has to be herself, lilly's biological sister and either her or dudley have to be there. Sorry that i am paraphrasing but the charm was that so long as harry calls home the place where his blood dwells then the protection that lilly's mother gave harry with her death stays in place. While there may be extra security measures on #4 privett drive, I think the fact petunia/dudley are there is more important than the address per se.