Harry's revenge on the Dursleys.

[Lone_Buck]

I just have a question. An invisibility cloak isn't considered as using magic is it. It's a magical item. Just like a broomstick, and we read in GOF, i think, that the Weasleys all played quidditch in the yard. So why hasn't harry screwed with the Dursleys using his invisibility cloak. That's what i would do, and also in OotP when he's trying to watch the news.

[paintballdecoy]

I was so surprised by your post Paintballdecoy that I'm going to refute it point by point.

And I shall do the same

An inconvenience? You make Harry sound like an ingrowing toenail? He's their flesh and blood. Yes it was tough on the Dursley's to have another infant unexpectedly thrust upon them, but it was not Harry's fault that this happened and they should not have treated him this way. Moreover, its not as if they don't have the money to treat him much better than this. They showered Dudley with so many gifts that he needed a second room to keep them all in. As Alice I has already pointed out, Harry did a lot of work for the Dursleys and got no thanks for it in return

Yes, it wasn't Harry's fault, but your forgetting the fact that they were terrified on his parents, him and the company they keep. They had a little kid forced apon them, a person who they have to feed him, cloth him, and send him to school. Did they have a choice? No, they were too afraid of wizards who use magic. MAGIC!!!! Can you blame them for not wanting him. Who knows what he could do? Or what other wizards would do to them.

As if not feeding him properly is not terrible abuse in itself, the Dursleys have treated him much worse than that. How would you like it if you had to sleep under the stairs in a cupboard, you were treated as if you were a disease? How would you like to be critised for every tiny thing you did?

But wait. We haven't heard anything about the ten years before the books. Was he malnourished? No, he might have been skinny, but he was alive. Yes, living under that stairs was bad, but at least he had a place to sleep. He had a bed, a dresser, all of the essiantals. Yeah a tiny room, but at least he has roof. He should be greatful he is not in a shed out in the yard.

On more than one occasion have the Dursleys attempted to or succeeded in physically abusing Harry. In CoS, aunt Petunia tried to hit him in the head with a frying pan. In OotP, uncle Vernon strangled Harry. In PS we learnt that Harry had been constantly bullied in school by Dudley. Aunt Petunia had taken a pair of scissors and had shorn off all of his hair.
After this comes the years of emotional abuse. On many an occasion it has been said that the Dursleys enjoyed seeing Harry in pain. In PS they left him at Kings Cross station by himself. His birthday and Christmas gifts have always been to dampen his spirits. They would constantly ignore him for weeks on end to make him feel as if he didn't exist. The constant chides about his parents, was that for his benefit? In OotP Mrs.Figg had said she had to be mean to Harry in the past or the Dursleys wouldn't have let him come round any more.

But did she? She never hit him. Did he die when Dursley strangled him? No, did they ever send him to the hospital? Are you foegetting that when ever his hair was cut, it grew back? Always. Many kids in school get bullied. Obviously Harry wasn't too effected. Or Child Protective Services would have intervined.

Yeah the Dursleys were horrible, but they took him in. They even took him to the zoo. and you say they abused him...the zoo!!!!

The kind of revenge I meant was what the Dragon master put down. Perhaps a better word than revenge would be retribution. Perhaps a week of the Dursleys being treated like Harry has been only without the more severe aspects( I too would hate to see Harry go mad and savage the Dursleys) would be enough. I don't think it would be in his nature to go any further than that, he's too good a person. In fact, considering the amount of abuse that Harry has had to put up with its a wonder he turned out so well at all.

So obviously it wasn't too bad, if he turned out to be so well rounded. Still though, I don't think he is all up there...

[Gower]

Remember though, that he would have preferred to live in an orphanage than with the Dursleys.

[pallas artemis]

Although I think the Dursley's deserving of whatever they might get , I voted no. I don't think that Harry would seek revenge on the Dursley's, he didn't even let Sirius and Remus kill Pettigrew in PoA, granted he was going to turn him over to the dementors but that was justice not revenge.

The only way that I can see Harry attacking the Dursley's is if they do something to him and he retaliates. then in the heat of the moment revenge might be sweet but then he would eventually regret it because he is a good person. I thnk that even if he should kill LV and live on, Harry would have remorse for killing a human being but he would move on knowing that it had to be done.

Personally I'd get them so fast they wouldn't know what hit 'em

[Alice I]

Yeah the Dursleys were horrible, but they took him in. They even took him to the zoo. and you say they abused him...the zoo!!!!

Sorry paintballdecoy I have to point out something here.
The Dursleys did not want to take Harry to the zoo, but Mrs. Figg broke her leg tripping over one of her cats, Marge wouldn’t take him because she hates him and Petunia's friend Yvonne was on vacation in Majorca.
Then Petunia suggested taking him and leaving him in the car but Vernon had a problem with that because it was a new car. It even says that it was the first time in Harry's life that he had gone to the zoo and it was only because the Dursley's could not think of what else to do with him.

I'm sorry to disagree with you but the Dursleys are truly horrible and deserve to be turned into child protective services. (do they have that in England?)
There sadly are thousands of abused children that live their entire lives with that kind of abuse and are never noticed by the system.
Vernon so casually used the threat of imprisoning him in the cupboard from now until Christmas that it is not much of a stretch to believe that they punished him with this sort of solitary confinement regularly.
Here is a quote from chapter one of PSS

It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.

Having personally witnessed this level of abuse both mental (forced imprisonment in a small space with spiders and dust, and the continual reminders that you are worthless) and physical (starvation and throttling even if not sever enough to kill) I can assure you that it is every bit as devastating to a child as being severely beaten regularly.

I would be most gratified to see the Dursleys get their comeuppance but I simply do not see that coming from Harry. I will try an find a few examples of him showing the kind of character trait to support this point of view about Harry's character and post them later.

[paintballdecoy]

Yeah the Dursleys were horrible, but they took him in. They even took him to the zoo. and you say they abused him...the zoo!!!!

Sorry paintballdecoy I have to point out something here.
The Dursleys did not want to take Harry to the zoo, but Mrs. Figg broke her leg tripping over one of her cats, Marge wouldn’t take him because she hates him and Petunia's friend Yvonne was on vacation in Majorca.

I know Alice, I was joking. They were horrible, but i just don't think Harry will seek vengance on them, whether they deserve it or not.

[Athena Appleton]

Paintball, sweetheart, I really think you're defending some pretty horrible things...

According to Dumbledore, Harry was not very well nourished at all. No, he wasn't starved, persay, but he certainly wasn't well taken care of, either. (Dumbledore says he's not well nourished in OotP)

The Dursleys, by keeping silent, really encouraged violence against Harry. They never once, apparently, told their son not to beat up on Harry. They laughed when a dog named Ripper chased him up a tree.

Whether Petunia actually hit him with the frying pan, or Harry wasn't hurt when Vernon tried to strangle him, is completely beside the point.

I agree, there are worse things they could have done than made him sleep in a small closet under the stairs, where they would occasionally lock him in for days at a time (ummm... trying to remember when they did this, I know they did though... they also locked him in his room when he got an actual bedroom...), but that certainly doesn't mean that Harry has to "be grateful" for them not killing him.

I would like to think that Harry will be able to think outside of himself by the time the books are over, and be the bigger man and forgive the Dursleys, but I certainly don't think that a "Thank you for everything you've done for me" card will be played... EVER.

Please, please tell me you're just playing devil's advocate here, and you don't really believe that the Dursleys "didn't do anything that bad," because, frankly, I have to wonder about the character of anyone who would say that the Dursleys didn't "technically" abuse Harry.

Lots and lots of kinds of abuse out there in the world... What the Dursleys did would most certainly send the child protective services people running if they knew it was going on. It was abuse on an even more emotional level, and that has the possibility of scarring a child for life. Hopefully, because this is a work of fiction, Harry will be able to look past that, he kind of seems to already, but in real life, if a child were treated that way, it would ruin that child for the rest of his or her life, in most cases.

[TDM]

well, like Lupin and Moody and Tonks said at the end of OotP: "If you mistreat him any more, we'll know." or something to that effect. so, i think that they will treat him better. if not out of respect, out of fear, because i'm sure that they now know that 17 is the age limit.

[Eol]

I do think that Paintballdecoy is playing the devil's advocate here as surely nobody can sincerely believe that its ok to strangle somebody as long as they aren't killed in the process .

As for Petunia not actually hitting Harry with the frying pan, it wasn't for the want of trying. Harry ducked the swing and then got out of arms reach.

Yes it was very lucky, as we now know, that the Dursley's agreed to "look after" (in the loosest sense of the phrase) Harry, because of the magical protection they new it would give him. But to treat Harry as if he's a danger to himself and everybody around him, and point blank refuse to learn anything about his world and stick with their misconceptions is both ridiculous and disgusting.

They would have better been able to "reform" Harry if they had treated him as they did Dudley. He would have accepted their value system and probably refused to go to Hogwarts.

As it is most of you are saying that Harry is too noble to try and get any payback on the Dursleys when he's able to leave them. I have to say that I am surprised by this, I thought the poll would be a resounding YES. I would love to see Harry at least toy with them a little after his birthday while he's still there. He won't hurt them of course, but just scare and annoy them a little . He could just constantly use magic in front of them, that should scare them quite a bit.

[Alice I]

As it is most of you are saying that Harry is too noble to try and get any payback on the Dursleys when he's able to leave them. I have to say that I am surprised by this, I thought the poll would be a resounding YES. I would love to see Harry at least toy with them a little after his birthday while he's still there. He won't hurt them of course, but just scare and annoy them a little . He could just constantly use magic in front of them, that should scare them quite a bit.

Eol I am not sure noble is the right word, at least for my part.
I just don't see exacting revenge on the Dursleys to be in Harry's nature. That is not to say that he doesn't feel anger, resentment and maybe even a little hatered toward them. However when Harry was describing Draco he said that he made Dudley look like a nice guy (can't remember the exact quote) so he doen't harbor as much resentment as I would think someone whith Harry's background to have.
This however is not that unusual for a victim of sustained abuse over a period of many years. JKR's potrayal of Harry is somewhat unrealistic in that he seems very well adjusted and has a strong sense of self after being beaten down all the years of his childhood by his primary care givers. JKR even described it as "keeping him downtrodden enough to squash the magic out of him."
A real child who had grown up like this would have sever trust and insecurity issues. Harry does not seem to have these problems. So possabily you are right Eol he will "toy" with them.

Now when he turns 17, and that won't happen until the summer before his 7th and last year at Hogwarts, I might be able to see him preforming magic around the Dursley's just to upset them but then again I am not sure it would be allowed.

In OotP at Harry's trial it was clearly stated that he broke the law about preforming magic in front of a muggle.
Well Dudley was the muggle and he knows all about Harry being a wizard so he might get into trouble preforming magic in front of the Dursleys because they are muggles regardless of their prior knowledge of the Wizarding world.

[Gower]

Deppends how strict the law is on that point. I think that Dumbledore or one of the teachers will know that Harry wants to do magic against the Dursleys, and warn him against it. That would be a real test of his resolve though.

[Eol]

One argument for why Harry has turned out so well despite the Dursleys best efforts is that he doesn't identify with them as his family. He ridicules their beliefs (in private) and keeps his own beliefs to himself. They can only get to him if he lets them in other words. He doesn't value their opinions enough to listen to them.

[Gower]

It's possible, though it would take a lot of self belief, to stop that affecting you for 10 years.

[paintballdecoy]

I was playing devil's advocate. I wasn't seriously defending there actions, but rather posting an opposing view. Still I do not believe Harry would do anything to them, it wouldn't be in his character.

[Phinea Rogue]

Harry is a good kid, I mean that he seems really kind-hearted and not a vengeful type of person. The way that the Dursleys treated him was surely horrible, but I don't think he will give it back to them. He won't lower himself to their level and besides, has other worries than planning something on Durleys. Maybe little pranks on Dudley, but nothing more.