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deathtocapslockMany readers have wondered why none of the adults who care about Harry confronted the Dursleys during his first five years at Hogwarts. What suddenly made them take action in 1996 when they hadn’t seen a need before?
A close reading suggests that no one realized how badly the Dursleys treated Harry until 1996. With the possible exception of Mrs. Figg, who thought that they Dursleys wouldn’t let her watch Harry even once a year if he enjoyed the visit — a pretty big clue that all is not well. But she seems not to have been on contact with anyone in the wizarding world but Dumbledore, so the Weasleys, Lupin, and the rest wouldn’t know this until the Order got back together in the summer 1995 at the earliest.
McGonagall says you couldn’t find people “less like us” than the Dursleys and disapproves of sixteen-month-old Dudley’s (perfectly normal — has McGonagall ever met a toddler?) tantrum, or perhaps of Petunia for not punishing him. But mostly she sees things like Petunia gossiping with the neighbor and the Dursleys eating dinner and watching TV. Nothing which would lead her to believe the Dursleys would mistreat a child. If anything, she probably expects them to spoil Harry. If she shares her impressions with anyone, this would color their interpretation of everything they hear later. Maybe they think Harry is surprisingly polite given how much they believe his guardians indulged him and that he complains because he doesn’t think they spoil him enough.
Hagrid knows the Dursleys tried to keep Harry from going to Hogwarts, that they didn’t tell him about his parents, and that they disapprove of magic in general and Dumbledore in particular. But it isn’t clear what he makes of this. He might reasonably believe Petunia blamed the entire magical world for her sister’s murder and wanted to protect Harry from it, even if she did a terrible job of showing she cared. Hagrid might dismiss her as foolish and wrong (he obviously doesn’t like or respect the Dursleys), but not think they’re deliberately cruel.
The summer before second year, the Weasleys realize the Dursleys are angry about Ron’s inept phone call and that the Dursleys won’t let Harry reply to letters. But they, too, might chalk this up to the Dursleys being misguidedly protective of Harry. Molly and Arthur don’t know about Dobby’s visit and probably believe Harry cast that charm himself, perhaps accidentally. Wouldn’t that frighten poor, helpless Muggles, who might foolishly think they could put a stop to such dangers if they keep Harry away from Hogwarts and wizards? Plus, like Hagrid, they might think Petunia’s terrified of the magical world because of Lily’s murder and don’t want their nephew to suffer the same fate.
George tells Molly that the Dursleys were starving Harry, but she might take this as hyperbole, not an accurate report that they cut his food intake to dangerously low levels. They rescue Harry from a normal bedroom and might reasonably think the bars are meant to protect Harry from a magical “kidnapping” like the one the boys in fact perpetrated. They may not have noticed the dog door, or thought it was a well-meant, if foolish, modification for Hedwig’s sake. When Harry tells Mrs. Weasley the Dursleys would be pleased if he got lost in the Floo network, she might think he sounds like every other tween whose family doesn’t understaaaand him. That is, the Dursleys lack imagination and are unreasonable about magic but ultimately have Harry’s best interests at heart, and Harry feels oppressed because he’s twelve.
Harry probably says something else at some point that indicates unhappiness at home — later that year, Ernie Macmillan says that “everyone knows” Harry hates the Muggles he lives with, so he must make enough comments that “everyone” notices — but again, he might sound like a kid with strict but well-meaning guardians, not a kid who correctly understands that his guardians think he’s a freak.
When Harry blows up Aunt Marge, assume the Obliviators tell Arthur everything they learn. What is that, exactly? The Weasleys might think whatever the Dursleys said was a panicked outburst over what they honestly believe was a deliberate attack – a reaction to extreme stress, not their normal attitude, and nothing to worry about. After all, Molly and Arthur sometimes shout at their children, don’t ask for explanations before assuming culpability, publicly humiliate them, and at least once spanked them hard enough that Fred can joke about his buttock never being the same. They evidently don’t see that as wrong or inconsistent with loving their kids. Nor would the Dursleys inviting Marge to stay in the first place necessarily alarm the Weasleys. They invite Aunt Muriel to Bill and Fleur’s wedding, and the first thing we hear out of her is a disapproving comment about “the Muggle-born’s” skinny ankles. They treat prejudiced relatives as one of those things that simply must be endured. In fact, if they know Marge only visits one a year, they might think the Dursleys are protecting Harry from Marge by minimizing contact while maintaining the obligatory (in their view) family connection.
The next summer, Ron’s comment that they’ll pick Harry up whether the Dursleys approve or not is consistent with the Weasleys thinking the Dursleys want to keep Harry away from magic out of concern for him. (Ron himself may take Harry’s word that they’re awful people, but his parents might reasonably think the kids don’t understand the Dursleys’ motives.) Arthur doesn’t seem to grasp why the Dursleys are frightened when a bunch of wizards burst out of their fireplace. Evidently even after the Marge incident he doesn’t know the Dursleys hate everything to do with magic, including their nephew – more support for the idea that the older Weasleys think the Dursleys are trying to protect Harry and that any outbursts are harmless reactions to stress, as the Weasleys consider their own shouting episodes. Once Dudley’s tongue starts swelling thanks to Fred and George’s candies, he does get why they’re upset, but acts as if he thinks they’ll calm down once they understand he'll fix it. Which he wouldn’t if he knew much about the Dursleys.
When the Order comes to fetch Harry the summer after that, they arrange for the Dursleys to be away from home to avoid exposing them to any more magic. They’ve already had enough of a scare with the dementors and Harry’s Patronus Charm (which, being ignorant Muggles, they wouldn’t understand), so it’s best to avoid frightening them more for the time being. Explanations can come later, once they’ve calmed down. This may be a sign of the wizards being considerate, in a somewhat patronizing way, not them thinking the Dursleys can’t be trusted to cooperate to protect Harry.
There doesn’t seem to be anything in the house to tip off the Order that the Dursleys are both legitimately frightened and treat Harry terribly. Again, his stuff is in a normal bedroom by then, we never hear Harry tell anyone about the cupboard, and if anyone notices the cat flap, they might think it’s meant for Hedwig. Silly Muggles obviously don’t understand owls, but at least they’re trying, poor dears.
Yet at the end of the year, the adults suddenly have a much better grasp of what Harry’s home life is really like. What changed? Did Harry open up during Christmas break? Not likely — we should have heard about that, and anyway Harry had other things on his mind. Did Sirius talk about how excited Harry had been when he thought he could leave the Dursleys to move in with an escaped convict he’d just met, and they realized that was a bit odd? Did Dumbledore finally mention it? Did they have an Order meeting that included Mrs. Figg, and she told them?
Or maybe we don’t have to invent an incident. There is one thing we definitely know happened: the Occlumency lessons.
Snape sees a lot of Harry’s memories, many involving “humiliations Dudley and his gang had inflicted upon him in primary school.” We don’t know how many involve Vernon and Petunia, but as Harry points out, Snape knows how to put two and two together. He’d work out that they didn’t stop their son from tormenting Harry. After seeing the memory of Ripper treeing Harry, Snape asks whose dog it was. That is, he wants to know whether it was a random neighborhood dog, in which case, maybe the Dursleys were worried when Harry didn’t come home. But no, Harry tells him it was Aunt Marge’s dog. Snape, like just about every other adult in the Potterverse, doesn’t worry about children’s emotional states, but he’s much more vigilant than average about protecting kids from physical harm. He would realize this memory means the Dursleys knew Marge was a physical danger to Harry and kept inviting her over anyway. What other dangers might they knowingly inflict on their nephew? Snape’s secret mission is to protect Harry; he’d want to intervene without tipping off the general public or Harry himself that he was doing so.
So that’s how the Order suddenly realized the Dursleys weren’t just stern people who panicked about magic, but actually cruel to Harry. Snape found out and told them.
A close reading suggests that no one realized how badly the Dursleys treated Harry until 1996. With the possible exception of Mrs. Figg, who thought that they Dursleys wouldn’t let her watch Harry even once a year if he enjoyed the visit — a pretty big clue that all is not well. But she seems not to have been on contact with anyone in the wizarding world but Dumbledore, so the Weasleys, Lupin, and the rest wouldn’t know this until the Order got back together in the summer 1995 at the earliest.
McGonagall says you couldn’t find people “less like us” than the Dursleys and disapproves of sixteen-month-old Dudley’s (perfectly normal — has McGonagall ever met a toddler?) tantrum, or perhaps of Petunia for not punishing him. But mostly she sees things like Petunia gossiping with the neighbor and the Dursleys eating dinner and watching TV. Nothing which would lead her to believe the Dursleys would mistreat a child. If anything, she probably expects them to spoil Harry. If she shares her impressions with anyone, this would color their interpretation of everything they hear later. Maybe they think Harry is surprisingly polite given how much they believe his guardians indulged him and that he complains because he doesn’t think they spoil him enough.
Hagrid knows the Dursleys tried to keep Harry from going to Hogwarts, that they didn’t tell him about his parents, and that they disapprove of magic in general and Dumbledore in particular. But it isn’t clear what he makes of this. He might reasonably believe Petunia blamed the entire magical world for her sister’s murder and wanted to protect Harry from it, even if she did a terrible job of showing she cared. Hagrid might dismiss her as foolish and wrong (he obviously doesn’t like or respect the Dursleys), but not think they’re deliberately cruel.
The summer before second year, the Weasleys realize the Dursleys are angry about Ron’s inept phone call and that the Dursleys won’t let Harry reply to letters. But they, too, might chalk this up to the Dursleys being misguidedly protective of Harry. Molly and Arthur don’t know about Dobby’s visit and probably believe Harry cast that charm himself, perhaps accidentally. Wouldn’t that frighten poor, helpless Muggles, who might foolishly think they could put a stop to such dangers if they keep Harry away from Hogwarts and wizards? Plus, like Hagrid, they might think Petunia’s terrified of the magical world because of Lily’s murder and don’t want their nephew to suffer the same fate.
George tells Molly that the Dursleys were starving Harry, but she might take this as hyperbole, not an accurate report that they cut his food intake to dangerously low levels. They rescue Harry from a normal bedroom and might reasonably think the bars are meant to protect Harry from a magical “kidnapping” like the one the boys in fact perpetrated. They may not have noticed the dog door, or thought it was a well-meant, if foolish, modification for Hedwig’s sake. When Harry tells Mrs. Weasley the Dursleys would be pleased if he got lost in the Floo network, she might think he sounds like every other tween whose family doesn’t understaaaand him. That is, the Dursleys lack imagination and are unreasonable about magic but ultimately have Harry’s best interests at heart, and Harry feels oppressed because he’s twelve.
Harry probably says something else at some point that indicates unhappiness at home — later that year, Ernie Macmillan says that “everyone knows” Harry hates the Muggles he lives with, so he must make enough comments that “everyone” notices — but again, he might sound like a kid with strict but well-meaning guardians, not a kid who correctly understands that his guardians think he’s a freak.
When Harry blows up Aunt Marge, assume the Obliviators tell Arthur everything they learn. What is that, exactly? The Weasleys might think whatever the Dursleys said was a panicked outburst over what they honestly believe was a deliberate attack – a reaction to extreme stress, not their normal attitude, and nothing to worry about. After all, Molly and Arthur sometimes shout at their children, don’t ask for explanations before assuming culpability, publicly humiliate them, and at least once spanked them hard enough that Fred can joke about his buttock never being the same. They evidently don’t see that as wrong or inconsistent with loving their kids. Nor would the Dursleys inviting Marge to stay in the first place necessarily alarm the Weasleys. They invite Aunt Muriel to Bill and Fleur’s wedding, and the first thing we hear out of her is a disapproving comment about “the Muggle-born’s” skinny ankles. They treat prejudiced relatives as one of those things that simply must be endured. In fact, if they know Marge only visits one a year, they might think the Dursleys are protecting Harry from Marge by minimizing contact while maintaining the obligatory (in their view) family connection.
The next summer, Ron’s comment that they’ll pick Harry up whether the Dursleys approve or not is consistent with the Weasleys thinking the Dursleys want to keep Harry away from magic out of concern for him. (Ron himself may take Harry’s word that they’re awful people, but his parents might reasonably think the kids don’t understand the Dursleys’ motives.) Arthur doesn’t seem to grasp why the Dursleys are frightened when a bunch of wizards burst out of their fireplace. Evidently even after the Marge incident he doesn’t know the Dursleys hate everything to do with magic, including their nephew – more support for the idea that the older Weasleys think the Dursleys are trying to protect Harry and that any outbursts are harmless reactions to stress, as the Weasleys consider their own shouting episodes. Once Dudley’s tongue starts swelling thanks to Fred and George’s candies, he does get why they’re upset, but acts as if he thinks they’ll calm down once they understand he'll fix it. Which he wouldn’t if he knew much about the Dursleys.
When the Order comes to fetch Harry the summer after that, they arrange for the Dursleys to be away from home to avoid exposing them to any more magic. They’ve already had enough of a scare with the dementors and Harry’s Patronus Charm (which, being ignorant Muggles, they wouldn’t understand), so it’s best to avoid frightening them more for the time being. Explanations can come later, once they’ve calmed down. This may be a sign of the wizards being considerate, in a somewhat patronizing way, not them thinking the Dursleys can’t be trusted to cooperate to protect Harry.
There doesn’t seem to be anything in the house to tip off the Order that the Dursleys are both legitimately frightened and treat Harry terribly. Again, his stuff is in a normal bedroom by then, we never hear Harry tell anyone about the cupboard, and if anyone notices the cat flap, they might think it’s meant for Hedwig. Silly Muggles obviously don’t understand owls, but at least they’re trying, poor dears.
Yet at the end of the year, the adults suddenly have a much better grasp of what Harry’s home life is really like. What changed? Did Harry open up during Christmas break? Not likely — we should have heard about that, and anyway Harry had other things on his mind. Did Sirius talk about how excited Harry had been when he thought he could leave the Dursleys to move in with an escaped convict he’d just met, and they realized that was a bit odd? Did Dumbledore finally mention it? Did they have an Order meeting that included Mrs. Figg, and she told them?
Or maybe we don’t have to invent an incident. There is one thing we definitely know happened: the Occlumency lessons.
Snape sees a lot of Harry’s memories, many involving “humiliations Dudley and his gang had inflicted upon him in primary school.” We don’t know how many involve Vernon and Petunia, but as Harry points out, Snape knows how to put two and two together. He’d work out that they didn’t stop their son from tormenting Harry. After seeing the memory of Ripper treeing Harry, Snape asks whose dog it was. That is, he wants to know whether it was a random neighborhood dog, in which case, maybe the Dursleys were worried when Harry didn’t come home. But no, Harry tells him it was Aunt Marge’s dog. Snape, like just about every other adult in the Potterverse, doesn’t worry about children’s emotional states, but he’s much more vigilant than average about protecting kids from physical harm. He would realize this memory means the Dursleys knew Marge was a physical danger to Harry and kept inviting her over anyway. What other dangers might they knowingly inflict on their nephew? Snape’s secret mission is to protect Harry; he’d want to intervene without tipping off the general public or Harry himself that he was doing so.
So that’s how the Order suddenly realized the Dursleys weren’t just stern people who panicked about magic, but actually cruel to Harry. Snape found out and told them.
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Date: 2025-03-14 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-15 06:41 pm (UTC)