eve05 wrote:
Patz12gal: Sorry to be slow in answering your post... My life keeps intruding into the time I would love to use in musing on/solving(?) the HP puzzles.
Yes, obviously Vernon could not tell from an envelope the contents of Harry's letter, though he might have had a sneaky suspicion of its importance since he snatched it out of Harry's hand.
He just "glanced" at it, and "His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. ... Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge". (HBPp35) This is not the reaction of a man who thinks that Magic is simply a delusion. He's genuinely frightened. Why? .... his skin is drained of color. He's seen a letter like this before. He turns to Petunia for direction, she reads the first line, & "clutched her throat and made a choking noise."
************SPOILER************
They get rid of the kids to talk.
"But what should we do,Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want---" (which is exactly what I suspect Petunia had done the previous month when Dudley received a similar letter. She wrote saying they didn't want to send Dudley to Hogwarts. However, Dumbledore may have replied with a letter of reprimand stating that "appalling damage" HBPpg55 would be inflicted upon Dudley by preventing him from developing his magical abilities. In addition, I believe, that it could have been this stern letter Dumbledore later referred to in the 'Howler' "REMEMBER MY LAST, PETUNIA." OoPpg40)
They decide to not to answer (perhaps hoping, among other things, to avoid another reproving letter). "...we'll ignore it. Yes, that's best, ... we won't do anything. ..." So they bury their heads in the sand, but of course that doesn't work (never does). They are barraged with an avalanche of letters. Finally, they panic, and just cut and run.
I don't expect that this will convince you that Dudley is our 'latent' wizard. It's not proof, it just fits the facts as I see them. But perhaps you will understand why I think Dudley is my choice for the mystery wizard.
While I can understand your position Dudley's our mystery wizrd, I still stick with my theory he's not
I don't think Vernon's "an man who thinks that Magic is simply a delusion," in fact I think he is fully-aware is exists-he's just has a hard time accpeting it.I'm drawing this conclusion from SS pg53: "We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish...swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!" and pg 56 where he plainly says: "Now you listen hear boy...I accpet there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured..."
So Vernon and Petunia are past the point of thinking Magic is just a delusion-Petunia especially, since she's grown up with Lily. Both of them understand it's a part of the world, they're just prejudice against it and anything that has to do with it, ie. the letter from Hogwarts and Howarts in general.
That's why Vernon's face goes free of color when he first reads Harry's initial acceptance letter-not because he's "genuinly frightened" from having seen a letter, for Dudley, before, but simply because his own prejudice against anything Wizardly caused that reaction. In other words, I don't think he reacted that way out of fear-it was out of ingorance and unacceptance of his nephew's ablilities...and not because his son's our mystery wizard.
But, I certainly do enjoy this back-and-forth we've got going here...I'd be curious to hear other people thoughts on Dudley's magical-if any-abilities?
