How about Petunia running off with Snape? They have lots in common...

yeah... sorry about that

I'd pick Snape over Uncle Vernon, but I'd make him wash his hair.

Yeah, but Petunia seems to have blind spots about those she loves, so maybe she'll overlook it, or Snape could take up regular bathing as a sign of his devotion...
Regarding the Dumbledore thing I just remembered that in book 5 of HP, Dumbledore's actions/plans had unintended consequences on Harry which almost ruined the whole thing, also he spoke of letting his love for Harry overcome his common sense, somewhat how Deth's actions affected Morgon in unexpected ways, and in the deep bond between the two characters. Also Dumbledore and Voldemort are set up as almost foils for each other (the whole good wizard/evil wizard), and Dumbledore's powers the only ones V is said to fear and are possibly what kept Voldemort and his followers from total power. Harry is, like Morgon, prophecied to bring the end to the "war" and is somewhat to be considered Dumbledore's heir, as Morgon was heir to the High One. Also the parallels between Morgon and Harry's journey in that each has found powers that they did not realize they had, powers which will in the end make the difference in the battle... Also Morgon's parents were killed by the ancient ones and Harry's by V. Sorry... that went a little beyond what I was intending, but once I got started, the parallels between the two series and their characters just kept jumping out at me...
sorry... spelling check

I also love Rosemary Sutcliffe's books. I'll have to look for The Thief.

I also enjoyed an Arthurian Trilogy by somebody who I cannot remember but the books are Gillian Bradshaw's: Hawk of May, Kingdom of Summer, and In Winter's Shadow.

I'll definitely have to read Sutcliff now. My reading list grows ever longer, alas. I also loved the Dark is Rising books, although a recent reread left me a little less enchanted than when I read them as a kid. I think I just got tired of all the high magic.

I've been seeing another Arthurian trilogy in the stores lately, which I thought was by Sutcliff, but now I think I'm wrong about that. One is something like Queen of the Summer Country, possibly. (Ah, and Amazon informs me that I'm thinking of Rosalind Miles.) Are they any good?

That new King Arthur movie looks... um... Keira Knightly in blue woad is pretty cool, but... um... yeah, I was underwhelmed by the previews. Maybe if they dropped all that "This is a totally historically accurate retelling of the really true story of the really real King Arthur" bullshit I'd feel less conflicted.

As to the Wizards: I think A Wizard Alone might be the worst of the six books I've read, but I thought it was still very good. It's a YA fantasy, they tend to conveniently interlock.

Wow, Amazon tells me there's a seventh one out. Dang.

Wow. Speaking of Harry Potter. Hope I'm not last in the class, here, but...

Avada Kedavra sounds VERY similar to Abracadabra, doesn't it?

Weird...and maybe creepy.

I never thought of that Nova... mostly I just identified the "kedavra" with cadavre... wow, that jk rowling is genius!- two references in one!- maybe one the kiddies would understand and one her more "mature" audience would appreciate (I put mature in quotes, 'cause personally... who'm I kidding?!)

For the Harry Potter books, I am still clinging to the idea that when (in OotP) Aunt Petunia refers to "... that horrible boy" when she admits she knows about Azkaban, that she's not talking about James, but Snape.