Harry was never given any love or affection by Petunia because he made her think about Lily and the wizarding world. She initially gave him the cupboard under the stairs and made him do all the chores because she thought he was a waste of space. Most of Harry’s birthdays were ignored by her and Vernon.
She refused to accept Harry as a second son and never showed him the warmth and love he yearned for from her. In an effort to hide Harry from others, she kept him completely uninformed of the wizarding world and made her family appear as normal as she could. In 1997, when Harry departed to look for Horcruxes, Petunia was on the verge of wishing him luck and confessing that her mistreatment of him was motivated by jealously, but she pulled back at the last minute and left silent[8].
After Severus Snape was killed by Nagini’s fangs during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry learned several suppressed memories about Snape’s past and allegiances. Inadvertently revealing to Harry the reasons for his future aunt Petunia’s hate of him and magic in general, such as their falling out as children, Petunia’s jealousy of Lily’s magical prowess, and her early animosity with Snape, were many of the first memories he had ever seen. However, Harry was more interested in learning Snape’s roots and allegiances than he was in unlocking Petunia’s animosity toward him.
Petunia would subsequently become Ginny Weasley’s aunt-in-law and the great-aunt to James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna, the three children of Harry and Ginny. It is uncertain if Petunia herself ever got in touch with Harry again, despite the fact that Harry and Dudley were still on “Christmas card terms” and occasionally visited. Despite everything, Harry loved her enough to insist that they hide for their safety. If Petunia kept in touch with Harry after the war, it is unknown.
Severus Snape
“I heard that nasty boy telling her about them years ago,” said Petunia Dursley.
Severus Snape and Petunia originally became friends when they were little. She was Lily Evans’ sister, but unlike Lily, Petunia was a Muggle. From the minute they met, Snape and Petunia had a profound disdain for one another. Due to his low socioeconomic standing and his eccentric nature, Petunia, who was intolerant of anything out of the ordinary, treated him with scorn. The fact that she was a Muggle and that she made derogatory remarks about his clothing, on the other hand, caused Snape to look at her with disdain. Perhaps as a result of their early antipathy, the Dursleys never discussed Snape or anything else connected to magic until Dudley Dursley was attacked by dementors and Petunia made a veiled reference to him as “that dreadful boy” when discussing dementors.
Ironically, Snape and Petunia’s unpleasant interactions contributed to the development of their individual adult personas. Snape’s contacts with Petunia probably contributed to his developing contempt for the Muggle community and led him to engage in Pure-blood supremacy and the Dark Arts in his adolescence and early adulthood. Similarly, Petunia’s interactions with Snape probably made her less tolerant of anything or anyone associated with the wizarding community. In a tragic twist of irony, Lily, Petunia’s sister, died as a result of Snape’s pursuit of the Dark Arts.
Did Petunia attend Harry’s nuptials?
“Large and neckless, this young businessman seemed to young Petunia a picture of manliness.”
“Petunia accepted right away when Vernon Dursley quite appropriately proposed marriage in his mother’s sitting room at the appropriate time.”
He solemnly assured Petunia that he would never hold that fact against her for having a weirdo for a sister.
Petunia had also long had the wish—which she never confided to Vernon—that one day, she too would exhibit magical abilities and be whisked away to Hogwarts.
The Dursleys’ names were chosen by J.K. Rowling because she believed they had an unpleasant sound.
“Vernon” is just a name I’ve never given much thought to, wrote Rowling. In make-believe games I played with my sister, I always called disagreeable female characters “Petunia.”
“Although some readers desired more from Aunt Petunia during [Harry’s departure], I still believe that I had her act in a manner that is most consistent with her thoughts and sentiments throughout the previous seven volumes,” the author said.
Uncle Vernon never seemed to live up to expectations, so people weren’t upset.
Petunias kept Harry, so why?
The pledge Petunia Dursley made to Albus Dumbledore was one of her most important secrets. There was a letter with Harry when he was left off at 4 Privet Drive after Voldemort had killed James and Lily and before he was killed himself. In the note, Dumbledore stated that Lily had sacrificed her life for her son and done so by calling upon an old very potent magic. If Petunia were to take Harry in, it would seal the charm and give him protection from Voldemort since she is the last living blood relative of Lily. This would continue for as long as he could name the location of his mother’s blood “home.” Harry was able to call Privet Drive home—albeit very sad one—until his seventeenth birthday because to Petunia, who welcomed him in despite her dislike for her sister. Albus Dumbledore’s letter contained information that Petunia never appeared to reveal to anyone, thus she kept the one good deed she had committed to herself. Even if it took Dumbledore howling “Remember my last” to remind her, she did keep her word.
How did Lily’s passing affect Petunia?
When Petunia and Lily married, to put it mildly, extremely different men, their schism got further. James Potter had a bad first impression of Vernon Dursley, thus the two couples didn’t interact much. Meanwhile, Vernon would have fostered Petunia’s worst personality traits, making her spiteful, judgmental, and intensely resentful of anything or anybody who was “different.”
Petunia would have undoubtedly been heartbroken to learn of Lily’s passing, but her conflicting feelings—grief, sorrow, and unresolved jealousy—were likely hidden in the distractions of cleaning, gossip, and caving to her son Dudley’s every whim.
Petunia was disturbed and nervous in Harry’s presence because he made her think of things she had tried all her life to forget. His sight Lily’s eyes recalled the sibling she had lost and the irreparably damaged relationship. Petunia’s knowledge that her nephew was destined for the magical realm she had once so dearly desired brought up old sentiments of inferiority and jealousy. Petunia appeared to have concluded that magic was terrible in order to cope with the fact that she was not magical.
Additionally, Petunia was aware that Harry’s world was dangerous and endangered her own family, especially the priceless Ickle Dudleykins. Yes, we all laughed at Dudley’s curly tail and his exploits with Ton-Tongue Toffee, but those events were horrifying from a mother’s perspective. Not to mention Lord Voldemort and the Dementors, which Petunia is well aware are very real threats.
Aunt Petunia had never before in her life observed him with such an expression. Unlike her sister, who had huge, pale eyes that were narrowed in disapproval or wrath, she had large, terrified eyes. The vehement delusion Aunt Petunia had upheld during Harry’s entire life—that there was no magic and no other world save the one she shared with Uncle Vernon—seemed to have crumbled. Order of the Phoenix: Harry Potter
Did Harry ever win the Dursleys’ love?
The Dursley family was an important part of the life of the titular wizard even if they were relatively minor characters in the overall scheme of Harry Potter.
Despite the fact that Harry’s evil aunt and uncle made his life miserable for the first few years of his childhood, J.K. Rowling has provided an explanation.
According to a post on Pottermore, Lily Potter’s sister was captivated to the “deliciously average” Vernon when she first met Petunia Dursley in an office.
Petunia was more sucked into her husband’s boring existence and loathed her “weird” sister for being a witch.
Vernon found it difficult to believe that such people could exist in his world of order and that conflicts could start as soon as people met.
The relationship “nosedived from there,” according to Rowling, after Lily, her boyfriend James Potter, and the engaged couple met for the first time.
Rowling writes that Vernon detested Harry because, like Snape, he recognized his father James in him.
After Lily and James died, Petunia, who had severed ties with her sister out of remorse, grudgingly took in Harry after he showed up at number 4 Privet Drive.
Rowling explains, “She did so reluctantly and spent the rest of Harry’s youth punishing him for her own choice.
She continued by saying that their dread of Lord Voldemort was a major factor in the lie they told Harry for the first few years of his life—that his parents had perished in a car accident.
In addition, Rowling explained the origins of the characters’ names, stating that she never liked them and linked them with unhappiness.
The Dursleys were said to have despised Harry because he was one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes and the enchantment around him had altered their perceptions.
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Why is Harry so despised by Vernon Petunia?
Harry’s uncle and aunt met at work. Petunia Evans permanently departed Cokeworth to enroll in a typing course in London after being infuriated by the fact that her parents appeared to value her witch sister more than they did. This led to her getting a work in an office, where she ran into the very unmagical, egotistical, and materialistic Vernon Dursley. Large and neckless, this young businessman struck young Petunia as the epitome of masculinity. He was beautifully normal and not just interested in her romantically. By the time he had taken her on a string of uninteresting dates, during which he talked mostly about himself and his typical opinions on the world, Petunia was dreaming of the moment when he would lay a ring on her finger. He had an absolutely correct car and wanted to do completely routine things.
When Vernon Dursley eventually got down on one knee in his mother’s living room to propose marriage, Petunia accepted right away. The one thorn in her otherwise perfect plan was her worry about her sister, who was now in her final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and what her new fianc would think of her. What Vernon would think of a young woman who spent most of her time wearing lengthy robes and casting spells, Petunia could not bear to imagine. Vernon was known to dislike even persons who wore brown shoes with black clothes.
She broke down in tears on a date with Vernon in his dark car as they sat staring out at the chip store where he had just bought them a post-movie snack. Vernon was as astonished as Petunia had anticipated, but he assured her firmly that he would never be angry with her for having a freak for a sister. Petunia then threw herself on him in such a violent show of thanks that he dropped his mangled sausage.
When Lily and her boyfriend James Potter first met the engaged pair, things didn’t go well, and the relationship deteriorated from there. James made the error of letting Vernon see how amused he made him. James was the target of Vernon’s patronizing question about his vehicle. James talked about his race broom. Vernon mused aloud that wizards were reliant on unemployment compensation. James talked about Gringotts and the gold-encased money his parents had stored there. Vernon became irate because he was unable to determine if he was being made fun of or not. Vernon and Petunia stormed out of the restaurant as the night came to a conclusion, Lily sobbed, and James—a bit ashamed of himself—promised to make amends with Vernon as soon as possible.
This never took place. Lily was upset that Petunia didn’t want her to be a bridesmaid since she was sick of being the center of attention. At the reception, Vernon avoided speaking to James but referred to him as “some sort of amateur magician” in James’ direct line of hearing. Petunia resembled Vernon more and more after they got married. She admired their tidy square home at 4 Privet Drive. She no longer had to worry about seeing unusual artifacts, teapots that started playing music as she passed, or lengthy debates about concepts she did not understand that had names like “Quidditch” and “Transfiguration.” She and Vernon made the decision to skip James and Lily’s wedding. The birth announcement for Harry was the final letter Lily and James sent her, and after giving it one disdainful glance, Petunia discarded it in the trash.
So it came as a huge shock when their orphaned nephew was discovered on their doorstep a little over a year later. His letter urged the Dursleys to take him in and described how his parents had been killed. It said that Harry would be protected from Lord Voldemort’s retribution as long as he could name the area where her blood still existed home, because Lily gave up her life for her son. This indicated that his only haven was at 4 Privet Drive.
Petunia had been, if anything, the Dursleys’ most determined to stop talking about her sister before Harry got there. Despite having a lot of anger and resentment, Petunia was hiding some latent remorse over how she had excluded Lily from her life, even though she knew in her heart that Lily had always loved her. Petunia had also long harbored the wish—which she never confided in Vernon—that she would exhibit magical prowess and be whisked away to Hogwarts.
She felt forced to take Harry in and raise him alongside her own beloved son, Dudley, after reading the horrifying details of Dumbledore’s letter, which described how valiantly Lily had died. She reluctantly agreed to it, and for the remainder of Harry’s youth, she punished him for her decision. Harry’s likeness to the father Uncle Vernon and Severus Snape both detested is a contributing factor in Uncle Vernon’s and Severus Snape’s disdain of Harry.
Their worries were a major factor in the tales they told Harry about how his parents had passed away. They were too terrified to think about a Dark wizard with Lord Voldemort’s level of power, so they pushed it to the back of their minds, just like they do with any topic that makes them uncomfortable or unappealing. They repeated the lie that Lord Voldemort had died in a car accident so often that they almost came to believe it.
Petunia was reared next to a witch, yet she knows astonishingly little about magic. She and Vernon believe that they can somehow take Harry’s magic away, and to explain away the letters that Harry receives from Hogwarts on his eleventh birthday, they resort to the age-old myth that witches cannot cross water. She shouldn’t have been astonished when Hagrid had little trouble crossing the rough sea to the hut on the rock because she had repeatedly witnessed Lily race across stepping stones and jump streams throughout their childhood.