I too always thought Petunia is a Squib, and that her jealousy/frustration over being non-magical is what led to her rejection of the wizarding world and marrying someone who's so wholly against it.

And, refresh my memory...what's a veela?

I thought that Petunia and her family, except for her sister, were muggles. And that there was an, "Ooooh, a magical daughter -- cool!" factor in her family that made her hate her sister and other magic users. Admittedly, most of this is probably just assumptions on my part. But she seems to have a level of fear for things magical that I don't think she'd have had if she'd grown up in a magic-oriented household.

I'm with Calli, but I think Petunia's fear of magic is more a fear of all things that aren't exactly the way the neighbors do things. The Dursleys seem militantly average.

The Veela are the blonde siren-type creatures that show up in Book 4.

So, how does a wizarding family know that a child is magical or not? By if the child gets the letter from Hogwarts?

Serial:

And Lily's family being a wizarding family makes a lot of sense. Harry Poter or no, Buttmonkey would NEVER pass up an opportunity to call Harry a Mudblood, like he does Hermione.

I think a wizarding family assumes a kid is magical until proven otherwise. There are probably tests and such. Or, if you're a Malfoy, it's probably, "Hex the maid, Draco. That's my boy!"

edit: no, that'd be "Hex the house elf" most likely.

Apparently. I think Hermione describes getting the letter in the first book. So yeah, I imagine that's kind of a paradigm shift for Muggle families.

Plus, how does it work with the different schools? Do some people get acceptance letters from Hogwarts and Durmstrang and Beaubaxtons?

Her world sometimes makes my head hurt.

"Hex the maid, Draco. That's my boy!"

"Wait! *That's* not hexing!!! That's humping. Stoopid buttmonkey."

With my edit, Aimee's mind is even more disturbing.