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Sweet Petunia, What Secrets Hath Thou?
by Cooper
October 18, 2004
Is Snape a vampire? What did Dumbledore's Howler to Petunia mean? What has Peter Pettigrew been up to?
These were the questions that thousands of Harry Potter fans chose between these last weeks - the winner would be answered by Ms. Rowling herself on her fabulous website. Frankly, I voted for the third one, thinking that the second had already been sufficiently answered in the books, and that the first was written by The National Enquirer.
I must say, however, that I am very pleased with Ms. Rowling's response to #2. For those of you who don't know, here is JKR's response:
"Dumbledore is referring to his last letter...the letter he left upon the Dursleys' doorstep when Harry was one year old....Why did he say my last letter? Why, obviously because there were letters before that..."
To me, this demonstrates JKR's masterful control of the English language. Not one single reader (to my knowledge) grasped the significance of the word 'last.'
So we find ourselves in a problem again. I was pondering this in detention, and I decided to break Petunia's life up into the critical events which we know about.
Petunia Evans, Part I: Birth until Lily is sent to Hogwarts.
Petunia Evans, Part II: Lily is sent to Hogwarts until Petunia marries Vernon Dursley and Lily marries James Potter.
Petunia Evans, Part III: Lily marries Vernon Dursley until the death of Lily and subsequent adoption of Harry Potter.
Petunia Evans, Part IV: Raising Harry Potter until she receives another Howler.
But there are at least two events that I think are also very important.
Petunia Evans, Mystery I: The correspondence between Dumbledore and Petunia.
Petunia Evans, Mystery II: The death of Mr. and Mrs. Evans (Petunia's parents).
Let's tie a few knots together (or die trying): It's safe to say that the letters in question were received in Part II, Part III, or both. OK, I'll just say my theory. Here's what I think:
Remember how Voldemort would sometimes seek out his enemies' families? Suppose that Voldemort killed Lily's parents. (Deeper theorizers would suggest that this may have been one of the three instances in which the James and Lily Potter narrowly escaped Lord Voldemort.) Now, if Petunia Evans blamed the Wizarding World (or Lily) for the death of her parents, this would add emotional depth to Petunia's hatred of Harry and wizards. Dumbledore would have also attempted to educate Petunia about the dangers facing her (maybe this is how she knew about Dementors?). This is my theory and I'm sticking to it.
Back to the Sugar Quill
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