Could Petunia be a witch that got expelled from Hogwarts?

[HermioneLuna]

Originally Posted by codswallop

She knows alot about frog spawn, teacups and rats considering the Underage Wizard Decree.

J.K. Rowling said that though Petunia was in a hysterical state, Lily did get notices for using Underage Magic. That explains how Petunia knew about that stuff. Also, if Petunia had gone to Hogwarts, wouldn't she know about the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Magic? In Chamber of Secrets, she, Vernon and Dudley were terrified of Harry using magic. Had she been a witch, Petunia should have known that he couldn't.

[ComicBookWorm]

Originally Posted by HermioneLuna

Also, if Petunia had gone to Hogwarts, wouldn't she know about the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Magic? In Chamber of Secrets, she, Vernon and Dudley were terrified of Harry using magic. Had she been a witch, Petunia should have known that.

That's a great argument.

[catkin]

I will not be surprised at all if it does turn out that Petunia was born with magical ability but has chosen to suppress it and live as a Muggle.

Imagine Petunia and Lily Evans, sisters from a Muggle family who are both born with magical ability (like the Creevey brothers). Strange things will have been happening around them since they were very little. Lily may have been a more confident, adventurous child who delighted in all these funny happenings, while Petunia may have been more insecure and worried about people's opinion, and anything out of the ordinary might have horrified and embarrassed her. I can imagine that from childhood, she went out of her way to be the most perfectly normal and proper person around, in an attempt to distance herself from the magic that erupted around her from time to time. A child like this would probably be highly upset to receive an invitation to Hogwarts and would refuse to go.

We don't know much at all about the Evans parents, but given that they were proud to have a witch in the family I imagine they were different sorts of characters to Petunia. My guess is that Petunia resented Lily for not only making the choice that she, Petunia, had rejected, but also for gaining her parents' approval for that choice.

I don't think Petunia went to Hogwarts, it creates too many complications in terms of things she would have known and doesn't seem to, and people who would have known her and don't. At this point we don't know how much she does know about the wizarding world. It could be that representatives from the wizarding world tried to talk to her about her decision not to attend Hogwarts, or that she picked things up by spying on Lily.

We'll probably have to wait until Book 7 to find out, but at this point I think the theory of Petunia being a Muggle who chose to suppress magical ability fits best with her character, the themes of the book series, and with JKR's quotes.

[Snuffles4627]

Definetly not! I'm pretty sure I remember J.K. saying that she wasn't, but don't quote me on saying that. If she was expelled from Hogwarts, wouldn't she at least been able to do something to Aunt Marge when Harry blew her up? Although it is very suspicious, considering in OotP she did know what a dementor was which makes me wonder, how much does Aunt Petunia know about the wizarding world?

[synyan]

here is my theory on how she knew about the dementors. it could be from dumbledore's letter with a full explanation about it or she might have been to azkaban before for some unknown reason

[Mia_Potter]

Maybe the Evans family has house elf blood in them somewhere down the line? Petunia could be part house elf. She does love to clean after all. j/k but it makes as much sense as anything it seems.

[teo]

Originally Posted by Mia_Potter

Maybe the Evans family has house elf blood in them somewhere down the line? Petunia could be part house elf. She does love to clean after all. j/k but it makes as much sense as anything it seems.

I like it! "Petunia is a Muggle, but...if Vernon ever makes the mistake of buying her a pair of socks for a birthday present, she will be forced to leave Privet Drive forever and take a job as a housekeeper at the Leaky Cauldron in order to pay the bills."

Originally Posted by catkin

I will not be surprised at all if it does turn out that Petunia was born with magical ability but has chosen to suppress it and live as a Muggle.

I get what you're saying, but isn't there a difference between choosing to live as a Muggle, and actually being one? There are some things you can simply not choose to change (your gender, your age, etc.), and magical ability, or "witchiness", would seem to me to be one of them.

[amylynn121]

Originally Posted by Mia_Potter
Maybe the Evans family has house elf blood in them somewhere down the line? Petunia could be part house elf. She does love to clean after all. j/k but it makes as much sense as anything it seems.

I had considered the possiblilty of her being part house elf. its different and unexpected, yet theres little hints like her house being abnormaly clean. The thing that made me think of that, was a fan-fiction i read along time ago, where she was an elf, but was hiding it with magic. i dont think shes full elf, but part house elf, maybe, but then again, wouldnt harry be part elf then too? hes never had the urge to cook or clean has he? hmm I dont know, i guess we'll find out.

[anotherpotter]

I think saurjusa is definitely on to something here. I also read that interview with Jo. What could be a bigger hint than "there is more to meets the eye" when it comes to Petunia. It may be jealousy or envy of Lily; perhaps Petunia also wanted to go but her level of ability kept her back.

OotP tells us that her knowledge of dementors came from overhearing that Potter boy talking to Lily about them. The only other communication we know for certain that she had from Dumbledore was the letter he left with Harry on her doorstep. We have never heard what was in that letter, but it must have explained the circumstances of Harry's arrival, and his need to be with them for his protection.

It is very possible that Petunia's struggle to suppress her talent would explain her treatment of Harry- trying all those years to squash it out of him. She might believe they could do it if she had done so herself. But if Petunia is something between muggle and witch, what does that make Dudley? A half blood?????

[samilovesfred]

Originally Posted by HedwigOwl

Petunia's not a squib, either. JKR answered that question directly.

Sorry I don't listen to interviews.

[ComicBookWorm]

Originally Posted by samilovesfred

Sorry I don't listen to interviews.

It's on her website. I don't listen to interview either, but I do read her website and use the sources listed below in my signature for quotes.

Madam Scoops, the Quick Quotes Quill, and HP Lexicon are excellent resources for quotes. Also Mugglenet has an excellent selection of key quotes and JKR interviews.

[rockonhp]

Petunia isn't a squib oh I always thought she might be but now that I think about it Lily was muggleborne and squibs are people from magical families who can't do magic well idk maybe she felt like she was always in lilly's shadow I mean isn't petunia older than Lilly and don't the older siblings usually have more authority maybe she felt overlooked or something

[BCs_Boadicea]

I'm wondering what kind of age difference there was between Petunia and Lily. Would it be possible that Lily was the elder sister and Petunia was supposed to go to Hogwarts but then lost Lily and as a result turned against the wizarding world? I know a lot of people unconsciously blame their deceased loved ones for getting themselves killed, as well as the 'bad influences' that led them down that path.

[ComicBookWorm]

Originally Posted by BCs_Boadicea

I'm wondering what kind of age difference there was between Petunia and Lily. Would it be possible that Lily was the elder sister and Petunia was supposed to go to Hogwarts but then lost Lily and as a result turned against the wizarding world? I know a lot of people unconsciously blame their deceased loved ones for getting themselves killed, as well as the 'bad influences' that led them down that path.

You have to do the math here. Petunia has a son that is the same age as Harry. Lily had Harry when she was 21. If Petunia hadn't been old enough to attend Hogwarts by the time Lily was killed at age 22, then Petunia would have to be at least 11 years younger than Lily to not have not yet attended Hogwarts. That would have made her 11 when she gave birth to Dudley and possibly 10 when she conceived him.

Of course that's ignoring the fact that being a muggle is just not the same things as being an untrained witch. A muggle is a non-magical being. A witch that was expelled or untrained would be still be a witch but with poor use of magic. The magic doesn't go away, it just isn't well-developed.

This kind of has to go with *Darth Voldemort*'s first post i made a topic of this but it was already discussed but i never got a good answer but here it is:

Ok at Harry Potters hearing at the ministry of magic in order of the phoenix why would harry be tried with doing magic in front a muggle when isnt Dudley Harrys cousinso wouldnt Dudley have a bit of magic in his blood or to be concidered a muggle do you have to have Not gone to a school for Whitchcraft And Wizardry by the age of 12?(since harry went to Hogwarts at the age of 11)

And here is a nother question that goes along with my first question:

i think there might be a error in the book becouse he(harry) should be able to do magic infront of dudley but than i remember somewhere it saying that Aunt Petunia wasnt a witch but would that make her a muggle if she is related to a witch and a wizard(her sister and brother in law)
so Dudley is related to a witch so is he a muggle too?

[Rockysoap]

I've always kind of shrugged off the ideas of Petunia having magic powers. It's made clear in book five that she plays a bigger role than she first seemed to, but I carried JKR's assurances that Dudley is no more than he seems to over to Petunia as well. It wasn't until I was rereading OotP this morning that I thought perhaps I was wrong.

It wasn't the part about Petunia knowing about dementors, although that was clearly shocking. (Oh, I could kick myself for leaving my book at home right now!)

There's a part in that same scene... I believe it's the part where Vernon is questioning Harry about Voldy. Harry mentions something horrible about Voldy... two things happen right about the same time. 1) Petunia grabs Dudley's shoulders and pulls him closer. and 2) Harry realizes fro the first time that someone in the room besides him has an inkling as to what it means that Voldemort's back.

The first point... Dudley, according to JKR, really is the big dolt that he appears to be. But Petunia's reaction to that news makes me think that somehow, he's a bigger part of the story, and I think it's probably just a segue into bringing Petunia more deeply into the plot. Lily and Harry, Petunia and Dudley... there's something going on there, and I have no idea what.

The second point... how would Petunia really know waht this means? In the beginning of the books, the Dursleys clearly have absolutely no contact with the wizarding world at all. Did Petunia sever all ties with the wizarding world when she married Vernon? Or did she become more educated about the wizarding world after Harry arrived, perhaps through correspondence with Dumbledore?

Petunia's closer to all this than she wishes to appear...

Oh, I wish it was Saturday so book six could answer all (or some) of these questions!

[Coutor_deNovo]

Although JK says theres something we dont know about Petunia-
I dont think it leads up to that she was a witch that was expelled
from Hogwarts.

It sounds a bit....

[RowenaLuvgood]

That makes total sense! I'll bet she was a witch when she was younger. However, I doubt that she did something so bad that she was not only expelled, but arrested (that's just a little far fetched). Also, when you think about it, I'm sure that there are many muggle-born students who have siblings that go to Hogwarts (take the Creevey brothers for an example). I wouldn't be at all surprised if you're theory was true, great job!

[Stayce]

I hope... I hope.... I hope..... Totally cool if that's it.

[SiRbLaCk85]

Originally Posted by samwitch

I really think that Petunia is a Squib. There's a lot of evidence that siblings are always either all Muggle, or all magical. Because Lily was a Muggle-born witch I have a feeling that Petunia should have been a witch too. Part of the reason for her anger because she knew she should be a witch. Obviously Lily will start telling her everything about the wizarding world and she's bound to remember the stuff her sister tells her.

I hope that made sense. But that's my theory.

there is one problem with her being a squib like some of you are saying. maybe I am wrong so please correct if I misunderstood this.. Filch is a squib because he was born into a wizarding family but he has no powers. Lilly is Muggleborn because her parents are muggles (no magic powers) but she is a witch. so if Lily is muggleborn how can her sister be a squib? since their parents are muggles..?? that just confuses me.. I think Petunia problem is that she is just jealous. But I do agree that there is more to Petunia's story then JK is letting on at the moment so hopefully we learn more in the next books.