foxmonkey | Maybe someone knows the answer...

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Maybe someone knows the answer...

I've been thinking about this since the first book, and with every beginning and ending since of the four books in the series that I've read.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia seem to hate Harry Potter with every fiber of their being, with the intense, burning hatred of a thousand fiery suns.

Why are they so hell-bent on keeping him around?

I don't get this. They don't want him to come home for holidays during the school year, but they refuse to let him visit Ron over the summer. Weh? Shouldn't they be *glad* to get rid of him? If he's gone over the summer as well, they'd practically never have to see him at all.

Enlighten me, o great thinkers of Pottermania.

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Have you read Order of the Phoenix yet?

Have you read Order of the Phoenix yet?

Not yet! I think I'm going to get it this week. Is the answer to my question in OotP?

In my little fangirl head Uncle Vernon knows that Harry and Ron are soinlove and wants to keep them apart during summer because he can.

Am I close? :-D

Hee. Unfortunately, no, but yes, it is explained in there. =)

I wrote a little essay on this subject, pre-OotP.

I wrote a little essay on this subject, pre-OotP.

OK, that makes sense, a little. Kind of reminds me of parents who kill their children to keep them from Satan. Aiii...

There was also a passing reference in one of the books (I think it might have been the fourth) about how Harry is protected when he's among blood family (Aunt Petunia) and Voldemort can't harm him when he's there. It was literally, like, one line and the only reason I caught it is because I've read the first four books about 10 times each, at least. :)

I think it might have been the fourth) about how Harry is protected when he's among blood family (Aunt Petunia) and Voldemort can't harm him when he's there.

Ahhh, that sounds familiar. I'll try to find that. Thanks!

I just know I'm going to end up rereading these books, taking notes along the way.

I've been rereading the books over and over again since the fourth one came out to tide me over until the fifth one. And now I'm re-reading the fifth one!

I really love these books and I love how JK Rowling has it all planned out. I watched a few interviews with her, and she's got a freakin' map of Hogwarts! She has biographies of all her major characters. And if you reread, you'll see there's stuff mentioned in the first book that shows up later. It's fabulous.

Heh, that's in OoTP, actually. =)

Nope, there's a mention of it in one of the first four books, I'm certain of it. It's just a line, but it's there. Something about an old spell that offers Harry protection while he's with his family. The fifth book elaborated on it, but I remember reading it before.

So if neither of us is crazy and it's in one of the first four...that *really* sounds familiar. I'll be skimming the books tonight, I know it!

Hm. I'll have to go back and look, because I just got done reading through them all before OoTP came out, and I don't remember seeing it anywhere.

Found it, because I'm psychotic and wouldn't be able to rest until I did. At the end of the fourth book, when Voldemort is restored to his body, he says to the Death Eaters who have gathered:

"But how to get at Harry Potter? For he has been better protected than I think even he knows, protected in ways devised by Dumbledore long ago, when it fell to him to arrange the boy's future. Dumbledore invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy's protection as long as he is in his relation's care. Not even I can touch him there..."

Ahh. Cool.

Hmmm, probably saw it on a spoiler site before I closed my eyes and ran away. ;-)

Nope! I found it because I'm that psychotic and I couldn't rest until I did. At the end of the fourth book, when Voldemort is restored to his body, he says to the Death Eaters who have gathered:

"But how to get at Harry Potter? For he has been better protected than I think even he knows, protected in ways devised by Dumbledore long agoe, when it fell to him to arrange the boy's future. Dumbledore invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy's protection as long as he is in his relation's care. Not even I can touch him there..."

It's on page 657 (I have the hardcover copy, I don't know if you have it or if the page numbers are different for paperback). :)

Yay, now I can rest.

At the end of the fourth book, when Voldemort is restored to his body, he says to the Death Eaters who have gathered:

Yay, I'm not crazy! And no wonder it sounded familiar, I just read it! I've got the hardcover, and I found it on that page. Thanks.

And again, that settles why Dumbledore keeps sending Harry back, though not necessarily why the Dursleys don't keep sending him away. ;-)

Do we know if Aunt Petunia is a Squib? She mentions in the first book that her parents are proud to have a witch in the family. Lily was younger, right? So if Petunia's parents were wizarding folk, they'd have been pleased that the second child showed magical leanings...or am I reaching?

And was it fanfic, or it is mentioned in the books that Aunt Petunia had to nurse her sickly/injured mother??? My brain's in a tizzy.

Right, it's explained more in the fifth book. :) But I knew that the protection spell had been mentioned earlier (because when I read that part, I went, "Ahh, so that's why Harry has to keep going back to the Dursley's!") because, really, I'd much rather Harry go and have fun with the Weasleys.

And I think it was fanfic that you read that about Petunia and Lily's mother because I don't read fanfic at all and that's not ringing a bell. That's why I don't read HP fanfic, actually. It's too easy to get confused. :)

That's why I don't read HP fanfic, actually. It's too easy to get confused. :)

It is, isn't it? Maybe I'll lay off the HP fic for a while. At least until I've finished OotP.

I was thinking about the Squib thing when I read Goblet of Fire. It would explain, if her parents were wizards too, that Petunia's probably just psychotically, maniacally jealous that her sister was a witch and she isn't.

Then again, until I've read each of the books at lest one more time, I'm probably talking out of my asshat. ;-)

Hrm, were Lily's parents wizards? I thought they were Muggles... If they are Muggles, then Petunia isn't a Squib, she's just a Muggle, too.

Damn it, I hate being a Muggle! How come I didn't get an Owl when I was 11? :(

Hrm, were Lily's parents wizards? I thought they were Muggles... If they are Muggles, then Petunia isn't a Squib, she's just a Muggle, too.

That's why I was wondering. I assumed they were Muggles too, when I first read the book, but now I wonder. Don't know why it took me four books to wonder, but it did. ;-)

If they'd been wizards though, she probably wouldn't have mentioned it, because then *she'd* be the freak in the family, not Lily, not Harry.

If Petunia came from wizard stock, would Uncle Vernon have married her? It's one thing for your wife's sister to be a black sheep, and yet another for your wife to have been born of magical parents.

That'd actually be a neat little psychological twist.

Actually, I think Lily's parents ARE Muggles. At the end of the fourth book, Harry is telling Voldemort why he can't touch Harry, and he says something like, "It's because my mother died for me, my common, Muggle-born mother."

"It's because my mother died for me, my common, Muggle-born mother."

Good Lord, woman, you're a walking HP encyclopedia! I'm impressed. :-)

Dude... I. Am. OBSESSED. :)

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