Petunia’s animosity against Harry was probably a result of her long-standing envy of Lily, her magical sister. Remember my last,” read a Howler from Dumbledore addressed to Petunia. He was likely referring to the letter he left with baby Harry on Privet Drive’s front step. Albus had another motivation to write, though, and this one had far-reaching repercussions.
When Petunia wrote to the headmaster of Hogwarts as a young girl pleading to be admitted, he sent her a sympathetic reply. Dumbledore’s tactful rejection caused “Tuney” to start calling her sister a “weird.”
Petunia was disappointed and resentful, so she watched Lily and Snape as they become close friends and learned bits and pieces about the wizarding world she would never be able to enter.
Harry was more shocked than Uncle Vernon to hear Petunia mention “Azkaban” as she spat out a competent description of a Dementor. Even Petunia, who was so determined to despise the magic she never experienced, was horrified to learn of Voldemort’s reappearance; this was the one time Harry genuinely realized she was her mother’s sister.
Although she may have given Harry a place to grow up, it was obvious that Petunia’s unfulfilled magical aspirations were likely what made her the person she was—someone who was more concerned with the surgical cleanliness of her counters than the welfare of her sister’s son.
She paused briefly as she bid Harry farewell, as if to say something. Of course, she never did, but that shaky second revealed a lot about her character.
Aunt Petunia, was she a dud?
“Good question,” Rowling responded when the reader inquired if Aunt Petunia was a Squib, a non-magical person born to at least one magical parent. She is not a Squib, so no, she is not. She is a Muggle.
What did Petunia make Dumbledore promise?
The pledge Petunia Dursley made to Albus Dumbledore was one of her most important secrets. There was a letter with Harry when he was left off at 4 Privet Drive after Voldemort had killed James and Lily and before he was killed himself. In the note, Dumbledore stated that Lily had sacrificed her life for her son and done so by calling upon an old very potent magic. If Petunia were to take Harry in, it would seal the charm and give him protection from Voldemort since she is the last living blood relative of Lily. This would continue for as long as he could name the location of his mother’s blood “home.” Harry was able to call Privet Drive home—albeit very sad one—until his seventeenth birthday because to Petunia, who welcomed him in despite her dislike for her sister. Albus Dumbledore’s letter contained information that Petunia never appeared to reveal to anyone, thus she kept the one good deed she had committed to herself. Even if it took Dumbledore howling “Remember my last” to remind her, she did keep her word.
Was Petunia ever in love with Harry?
Harry was never given any love or affection by Petunia because he made her think about Lily and the wizarding world.
[4] She frequently treated him like a waste of space, gave him the cupboard under the stairs to start with, and had him do all the chores.
She and Vernon neglected the most of Harry’s birthdays.
[11]
[13]
She refused to accept Harry as a second son and never showed him the warmth and love he yearned for from her. In an effort to hide Harry from others, she kept him completely uninformed of the wizarding world and made her family appear as normal as she could. In 1997, when Harry left to look for Horcruxes, Petunia was on the verge of saying goodbye to him and wishing him success while also acknowledging that her mistreatment of him was motivated by envy, but she pulled back at the last minute. [26]
After Severus Snape was killed by Nagini’s fangs during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry was given access to various memories of Snape’s past and allegiances. Inadvertently explaining to Harry the reasons for his future aunt Petunia’s hate of him and magic in general, such as their falling out as children, Petunia’s jealousy of Lily’s magical powers, and her childhood animosity with Snape, was one of Harry’s first memories. However, Harry was more interested in learning Snape’s roots and allegiances than he was in unlocking Petunia’s animosity toward him.
Petunia would subsequently become Ginevra Weasley’s aunt-in-law and the great-aunt to James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna, the three children of Harry and Ginny. It is uncertain if Petunia herself ever got in touch with Harry again, despite the fact that Harry and Dudley were still on “Christmas card terms” and occasionally visited. Despite everything, Harry loved her enough to insist that they hide for their safety. Although it is unknown if Petunia got in touch with Harry once more after the war, it is very likely that she made up with her nephew and was exchanging Christmas cards with him as well. Harry developed a new appreciation for his aunt as a result of how he discovered what sparked the conflict between his mother and her sister. After she passed away, Dudley gave Harry the blanket that Petunia had been holding onto ever since he arrived at Privet Drive.
Severus Snape
“I heard that nasty boy telling her about them years ago,” said Petunia Dursley.
After Dementors attacked Dudley Dursley, Harry and Petunia talked about Snape[src].
Severus Snape and Petunia originally became friends when they were little. She was Lily Evans’ sister, but unlike Lily, Petunia was a Muggle. From the minute they met, Snape and Petunia had a profound disdain for one another. He was such an eccentric, and Petunia, who was dismissive of anything out of the ordinary, looked upon him with contempt because of his low economic standing. The fact that she was a Muggle and that she made derogatory remarks about his clothing, on the other hand, caused Snape to look at her with disdain. The issue of Snape, like with everything relating to magic, was never brought up under the Dursley’s roof until Dudley Dursley was attacked by dementors and he was implicitly addressed by Petunia as “that dreadful boy” when talking about dementors, possibly as a result of this early hate.
Ironically, Snape and Petunia’s unpleasant interactions contributed to the development of their individual adult personas. Snape’s experiences with Petunia probably contributed to his increasing contempt for the Muggle community and led him to dabble with pure-blood supremacy and the Dark Arts in his adolescence. Similarly, Petunia’s interactions with Snape probably made her less tolerant of anything or anyone associated with the wizarding community. In a tragic twist of irony, Lily, Petunia’s sister, died as a result of Snape’s pursuit of the Dark Arts.
Mrs. Figg, was she a dud?
The Order of the Phoenix member Mrs. Arabella Doreen Figg was a Squib who sold hybrid cats and kneazles[3]. She had at least four part-kneazle cats named Mr. Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty that she owned and extensively documented. She resided on Wisteria Walk in Little Whinging in a home that smelled strongly of cabbage. [4] She used to babysit Harry Potter in the 1980s and early 1990s because she lived close by and Albus Dumbledore needed someone to watch out for him. Mrs. Figg kept her true identity a secret for the majority of Harry’s childhood because Dumbledore thought he was too young to understand his place in the wizarding world. Harry didn’t learn of Mrs. Figg’s connection to the wizarding world until 1995, when he and Dudley Dursley were attacked by dementors. Mrs. Figg did her best to encourage the Order, although it’s unlikely that she took part in the Battle of Hogwarts. She most likely made it through the conflict and carried on reproducing and exchanging part-kneazle cats.
Petunia, did you want to be a witch?
4. Petunia aspired to become a witch, according to Rowling: “Petunia had some hidden sentiments of guilt about the way she had severed her relationship with Lily, whom she knew, in her heart of hearts, had always loved her. She also claims that Petunia had a secret wish that she would exhibit magical abilities and be whisked away to Hogwarts.
Vernon, on the other hand, shares a detest of Harry with a Hogwarts student. Harry’s likeness to the father Uncle Vernon and Severus Snape both detested is a contributing factor in Uncle Vernon’s disdain of him, according to Rowling.
5. J.K. Rowling explains how she came to choose the names of the Dursley family: “‘Vernon’ is just a name I never much liked, she says, adding that she always meant for them to be their names, even if she spent time exploring various names for other characters.
“When my sister Di and I were very little, I usually called terrible female characters that we would play make-believe games with the name “Petunia.
6. Hagrid and Dumble are named very specifically: Rubeus Hagrid and Albus Dumbledore were taken from the words “red and “white, two hues frequently connected with alchemy, whereas Petunia and Vernon may have been given names based on instinct. While Dumbledore is white, which is majestic and intelligent, Hagrid is red, which is warm and wild.
Is Lily’s cat named Crookshanks?
- When the group is in Grimmauld Place in The Deathly Hallows, Harry reads a letter that Lily wrote by hand. She writes in the letter that Harry nearly ran their cat over with his toy broomstick. Harry even questions whether it was still alive after Voldemort’s attack.
- In Prisoner of Azkaban, the proprietor of the Magical Menagerie told Hermione that she had owned Crookshanks for “quite a while” and that no one had ever wanted him. This might fit with our earlier chronology where the cat vanished following Voldemort’s assault on the Potters’ home.
- Soon after Hermione purchases Crookshanks, he recognizes Scabbers and the shaggy dog as being Peter and Sirius, respectively. They would have frequently visited Lily and James while he was with them, according to the fan theory, which explains why Crookshanks recognized them both.
- Another well-liked idea holds that Nagini, who turns into Voldemort’s final horcrux, is actually the Boa Constrictor that Harry assisted in escaping in The Sorcerer’s Stone. This theory was probably born on Tumblr.
The fact that Nagini’s type of snake is not specified anywhere in the text is likely what gave rise to this fan idea. But that is unquestionably incorrect. just because Arthur Weasley’s attack is a blatant example of Nagini’s poisonous nature. This effectively disproves the notion because boa constrictors are not venomous. So the Boa Constrictor and Nagini are different.
Is there a supernatural child born to Dudley?
5 J.K. ROWLING COULD HAVE GIVEN HIM A MUGGINOUS CHILD Rowling mentioned that she came very close to giving Dudley a magical child. He might have been present at Platform 9 3/4 for the epilogue, she thought. She chose not to, nevertheless, believing that Vernon’s DNA would have eradicated all traces of supernatural blood.
A Squib can have a magical child, right?
Even if it’s all fiction, we can still get to some solid scientific findings! Photo by Scott Smith found on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Have you ever wondered how magical talent is handed down in the Harry Potter universe? Science truly has the solution, so stop searching! Why did Harry acquire magical abilities but not me? If Filch had children, what would happen? Would they also be squibs? Is it conceivable for one of the Weasley twins to be born with magical abilities while the other is not? Why in the world am I thinking about this when I should be working? We can now put an end to our grumbling about not receiving a Hogwarts letter all those years ago because your questions regarding the inheritance of magical ability have finally been addressed.
According to the literature, only a small portion of people have magical abilities, and those who do frequently have magical offspring. Rarely, non-magical parents (muggles) can give birth to magical children known as muggle-borns. Rarer still, some magical parents might produce squibs, or children that lack the ability to use magic. Squibs are capable of interacting with the magical world, suggesting that they possess a tad bit more magical prowess than muggles. Finally, and most importantly, children born to a witch or wizard and a muggle (i.e., half-bloods) almost invariably acquire magical prowess. The inheritance of magic is becoming increasingly complicated because the theory must take into account all of these phenomena!
You could have believed that magic is transmitted, well, magically. However, teams of researchers have examined each of the seven volumes, looking at as many as seven generations (in the case of the Black family), and have hypothesized that magical ability is probably caused by genetic elements 1. We can see magic as a quality with varied degrees of aptitude, ranging from Neville’s terrible attempts at potions to Dumbledore’s infamous powers, to further complicate matters. Given the wide range, it may be a quantitative feature. Meaning that there is some variation in how well you can do magic, not just whether you have it or not. Comparable to height, which is a quantitative property that naturally varies from person to person, the ability to roll one’s tongue is a discrete trait.
According to current theory, only 1 in 750,000 muggles would have received a Hogwards admission letter. via Flickr, an image by Vanessa Bazzano (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Since a casual conversation with his genetics class 2, Eric Spana of Duke University has been refining his own idea regarding the magical inheritance. He contends that the dominant allele for wizardry. Each gene in humans has two different variations known as alleles. This indicates that the dominant allele will always manifest as a trait in people who have one dominant and one recessive allele. In this instance, unless they inherit two recessive (muggle) copies of the gene, children of at least one magical parent or more are quite likely to manifest with magical abilities. All well and good, but without proof, theories are worthless. Half-bloods are used by Spana as evidence for this. As long as the other parent is a witch or wizard, even those who have one parent who has absolutely no magical background—like Hagrid’s giantess mother—seem capable of giving birth to magical children.
He suggests that muggle-borns are the result of de novo mutation when it comes to them. To put it another way, the new mutation in the muggles’ “they inherited a magical gene that their parents did not, giving them magical abilities. The issue of squibs is now resolved, but what about pure, half, and muggle born witches and wizards? Well, according to Spana, squibs are produced by a substance known as a second-site transcription factor (no, me neither). Proteins called transcription factors bind to genes and either activate or inactivate them. In this instance, a mutation may have given a squib a special transcription factor (which their parents lacked) that blocks the’magic’ gene, robbing them of their magical skills. According to this theory, if a squib passes on the transcription factor but not the magical gene, the result might be magical offspring.
In addition to this, there are three more characteristics in the Harry Potter series worth reflecting on. The first is Harry’s “parseltongue,” or ability to communicate with snakes. He and You-Know-Who both possess this extremely uncommon quality, which is passed down via the Slytherin line. The second is the ability to predict the future, which Sybil Trelawney occasionally exhibits (even though we know she’s a bit of a fraud), and which she received from her grandmother. Third is Tonk’s metamorphmagus ability to alter her appearance at will, which she handed on to her son Teddy. These are more likely to be passed down through particular alleles. What is the real purpose of all this? There are a lot of additional hypotheses regarding the genetics of the wizarding world, and the literature on the subject is fairly common.
In response to this project, Eric Spana commented “Whether it’s Harry Potter, Marvel, Shakespeare, or sports, we all have a little nerdiness. Everyone has a few things they like a little bit too much. It has become a terrific technique to interest more people in genetics and science in general to combine popular culture and science. Spana currently speaks at occasions like ComicCon, encouraging attendees to consider how realistic the science in their preferred books and movies is.
According to Sirius Black’s family tree, magic may run in families. Photo by Karen Roe found on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
So why aren’t we all gathered in the Great Hall of Hogwarts playing chess and drinking hot chocolate while the snow falls outside? The quick explanation is that our genes acted naturally and did not undergo the proper mutations. More statistics are included in the full response. The likelihood of being a muggle-born witch or wizard is approximately 1 in 750,000 if mutation rates are calculated (as Eric Spana did) using births in the UK and muggle-born students at Hogwarts. In comparison, it is less likely than both being struck by lightning and winning an Olympic medal. Despite this justification, I remain upset.
Emma Briggs, a professional editor, and Nicole Nayar, a copy editor, both worked on this piece.