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The many faces of Petunia Dursley

July 27, 2009, 05:30 AM

"Where there is no jealousy there is no love." - German Proverb

This is going to be a rather short blog – on the delightful Petunia Dursley, who I can’t claim is one of my all time favourite characters (to say the least), she’s obnoxious and cruel aswell as quite bitter and spiteful. However today I’m going to be talking about the many faces of Petunia. I know we get a description of her in the books but it is strange the amount of different portrayals we have of her;

“Tall, very thin blond with a long neck and an angular face.”

But her physical description is not what has always fascinated me about Petunia, a while back – before Deathly Hallows – JK said that there was going to be some small form of endearment towards Harry on Petunia’s part. I actually believe that there have been moments before the seventh book when this has happened.

For instance, in OOTP when she hears of the Dementors, she is utterly shocked, and betrays a long since suppressed connection with the wizarding world. That conversation, overheard by Petunia, between Lily and Severus seems to have been something that has stuck with her. I believe that she was unhealthily jealous towards her sister, but there is a bond between sisters that no amount of jealousy could truly break. That conversation seems to have extremely fascinated Petunia for her to notice the word “Dementor” automatically, 30 years later.

I’ve always questioned Petunia’s absolute hatred of the Magical world, as I am sure she has had numerous conversations with Dumbledore, and never totally cut ties with her sister, even when she left home:

“He smashed the horrible vase Petunia sent me (no complaints there).”Lily Evans, “Kreacher’s Tale” Page 149 (UK edition)

This line really stuck with me, as before the Deathly Hallows I truly believed that Petunia was a jealous, bitter woman who stopped caring for her sister after she left to Hogwarts, but now I think she is a much deeper character than before. <br>

So I want to know your thought on Petunia.

1. Did your views on her change after DH?

2. Do you pity her? Why/why not?

3. Do you think her views on the wizarding world are influenced by Vernon?

Peace Out!

-Aggi. Xxx

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Blogger Bio

Name: Aggi
LeakyName: VoodooPadfoot
House: Ravenclaw

Aggi is a 16 year old British girl from old York. She hasn't really got much of a memory of her life before Harry Potter came into her life, as her dad read the first one to her when she was four. She read Prisoner of Azkaban by herself when she was seven, it has stayed her favourite book and the Marauders have always fascinated her. She has an obsessive love for The Clash and Led Zepplen and has been brought up on a diet of rock music, Indy films and Whitby Fish and Chips!

In this blog she hopes to relieve you of some of your questions on this Era in Harry Potter history. If you would like to request a blog or have a question about the blog please email Aggi at socksrok@hotmail.com with a subject title which will convince her that it's not junk... Aggi is ruthless to random emails but replies quickly to valid ones!