Before DH confirmed it, I'd suspected that Petunia's seemingly irrational hatred of magic/apparent hatred of Harry actually stemmed from her belief that magic had taken a once-beloved sister away from her
I had long suspected something similar, but I think that's because I tend to see characters' actions through the prism of their family relationships -- so I always saw Petunia's behavior toward magic in general and Harry in particular as driven by her memory of and confused feelings toward Lily. But I am aware that this is a somewhat ideosyncratic reaction, so I was pleasantly surprised when JKR actually did make Lily the center of both Petunia's and Snape's motivations. (Also, I had long thought Petunia and Snape made an interesting parallel in some ways, so I was really tickled when JKR went there, too.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-07-26 06:29 pm (UTC)Before DH confirmed it, I'd suspected that Petunia's seemingly irrational hatred of magic/apparent hatred of Harry actually stemmed from her belief that magic had taken a once-beloved sister away from her
I had long suspected something similar, but I think that's because I tend to see characters' actions through the prism of their family relationships -- so I always saw Petunia's behavior toward magic in general and Harry in particular as driven by her memory of and confused feelings toward Lily. But I am aware that this is a somewhat ideosyncratic reaction, so I was pleasantly surprised when JKR actually did make Lily the center of both Petunia's and Snape's motivations. (Also, I had long thought Petunia and Snape made an interesting parallel in some ways, so I was really tickled when JKR went there, too.)