Petunia’s animosity against Harry was probably a result of her long-standing envy of Lily, her magical sister. Remember my last,” read a Howler from Dumbledore addressed to Petunia. He was likely referring to the letter he left with baby Harry on Privet Drive’s front step. Albus had another motivation to write, though, and this one had far-reaching repercussions.
When Petunia wrote to the headmaster of Hogwarts as a young girl pleading to be admitted, he sent her a sympathetic reply. Dumbledore’s tactful rejection caused “Tuney” to start calling her sister a “weird.”
Petunia was disappointed and resentful, so she watched Lily and Snape as they become close friends and learned bits and pieces about the wizarding world she would never be able to enter.
Harry was more shocked than Uncle Vernon to hear Petunia mention “Azkaban” as she spat out a competent description of a Dementor. Even Petunia, who was so determined to despise the magic she never experienced, was horrified to learn of Voldemort’s reappearance; this was the one time Harry genuinely realised she was her mother’s sister.
Although she may have given Harry a place to grow up, it was obvious that Petunia’s unfulfilled magical aspirations were likely what made her the person she was—someone who was more concerned with the surgical cleanliness of her counters than the welfare of her sister’s son.
She paused briefly as she bid Harry farewell, as if to say something. Of course, she never did, but that shaky second revealed a lot about her character.
Who delivered a reminder of my previous Petunia?
Because she lacks magical skills, Harry’s aunt Petunia believes her nephew is a freak. Despite the fact that she and her husband have “raised” Harry since he was a baby and have hosted him every summer since he enrolled at Hogwarts, they detest him and wish he weren’t connected to them.
Most of Aunt Petunia’s actions in Book 5 are consistent with the racist, emotionally abusive foolishness she usually engages in. She continues to treat Harry like he is an embarrassing secret that the Dursleys are forced to keep hidden. However, she makes a fascinating character development that starts to make Aunt Petunia appear more human and less cartoonishly nasty and foolish. Harry informs his enraged aunt and uncle that Voldemort is returning after she almost loses her son to demonic attacks. In fact, Harry’s mother Lily’s sister, his aunt Petunia, truly appears to understand what that means:
She was gazing at Harry as if it was the first time she had ever done so. Harry suddenly understood, for the first time in his life, that Aunt Petunia was his mother’s sister. He was unable to express why this struck him so forcefully at the time. He only knew that other people in the space shared his suspicions about what Lord Voldemort’s return may entail. […] The vehement denial that 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. (2.194)
Harry and Aunt Petunia share a moment of unexpected understanding when Harry suddenly realises that his mother, who was killed by Voldemort, was also her sister. This moment serves as a reminder that the two worlds Harry lives in aren’t entirely separable. Beginning with Book 1, the wizarding and Muggle worlds have entirely different appearances. But starting with Book 5, we begin to realise that there are Squibs and Muggleborn wizards in the Muggle world as well. As Voldemort rises, Muggles are no more protected than magical beings, and Aunt Petunia appears to be aware that the line dividing the magic and non-magical realms is beginning to blur.
Of course, having Harry inside her house puts her entire family’s safety at danger. In order to prevent Voldemort from finding them, Uncle Vernon tries to kick Harry out of the house in Chapter 2. However, Aunt Petunia gets a unique enchanted letter from Howler that just says, “Remember my last, Petunia” (2.217). By the end of Book 5, Harry learns that Professor Dumbledore sent this Howler to remind Aunt Petunia of her promise to provide Harry with a place to reside. Uncle Petunia’s connection to Lily, who was murdered by Voldemort out of love for Harry, offers Harry a unique, age-old magical shield. As long as Harry is living with Lily’s blood relatives, Voldemort will not be able to discover him. So even though they don’t want to, the Dursleys still let Harry into their household. For the first several years of his life, Harry is kept secure thanks to this power.
Aunt Petunia, was she a dud?
“Good question,” Rowling responded when the reader inquired if Aunt Petunia was a Squib, a non-magical person born to at least one magical parent. She is not a Squib, so no, she is not. Her race is Muggle.
In Order of the Phoenix, who was it that sent Harry dementors?
Madam Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge sent two Azkaban Dementors to Little Whinging to silence Harry Potter because she wanted to cast doubt on him. Harry was able to save himself and his cousin by using a physical Patronus to drive the Azkaban guards away, but the Ministry nonetheless punished him.
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.
Mrs. Figg, was she a dud?
The Order of the Phoenix member Mrs. Arabella Doreen Figg was a Squib who sold hybrid cats and kneazles[3]. She had at least four part-kneazle cats named Mr. Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty that she owned and extensively documented. She resided on Wisteria Walk in Little Whinging in a home that smelled strongly of cabbage. [4] She used to babysit Harry Potter in the 1980s and early 1990s because she lived close by and Albus Dumbledore needed someone to watch out for him. Mrs. Figg kept her true identity a secret for the majority of Harry’s childhood because Dumbledore thought he was too young to understand his place in the wizarding world. Harry didn’t learn of Mrs. Figg’s connection to the wizarding world until 1995, when he and Dudley Dursley were attacked by dementors. Mrs. Figg did her best to encourage the Order, although it’s unlikely that she took part in the Battle of Hogwarts. She most likely made it through the conflict and carried on reproducing and exchanging part-kneazle cats.
Petunia, did you want to be a witch?
4. Petunia aspired to become a witch, according to Rowling: “Petunia had some hidden sentiments of guilt about the way she had severed her relationship with Lily, whom she knew, in her heart of hearts, had always loved her. She also claims that Petunia had a secret wish that she would exhibit magical abilities and be whisked away to Hogwarts.
Vernon, on the other hand, shares a detest of Harry with a Hogwarts student. Harry’s likeness to the father Uncle Vernon and Severus Snape both detested is a contributing factor in Uncle Vernon’s disdain of him, according to Rowling.
5. J.K. Rowling explains how she came to choose the names of the Dursley family: “‘Vernon’ is just a name I never much liked, she says, adding that she always meant for them to be their names, even if she spent time exploring various names for other characters.
“When my sister Di and I were very little, I usually called terrible female characters that we would play make-believe games with the name “Petunia.
6. Hagrid and Dumble are named very specifically: Rubeus Hagrid and Albus Dumbledore were taken from the words “red and “white, two hues frequently connected with alchemy, whereas Petunia and Vernon may have been given names based on instinct. While Dumbledore is white, which is majestic and intelligent, Hagrid is red, which is warm and wild.
The two Demons were dispatched by whom?
Dolores Jane Umbridge had a younger brother who was a Squib after being born to a Wizard father and a Muggle mother. Dolores was raised by her father to hate her mother and brother for not possessing magical skills. She was sent to the Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and because she was never granted any positions of authority, she detested her time there.
Following her time at Hogwarts, Umbridge progressed to hold important and powerful posts in the Improper Use of Magic Office of the Ministry of Magic. After some time, Umbridge was promoted to Senior Undersecretary under Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Umbridge made use of her position of authority to further her dislike of those who are half-human, such as by enacting new anti-werewolf laws that made it nearly hard for Remus Lupin to obtain employment after leaving his position as Hogwarts’ defence against the dark arts professor in 1994.
Umbridge sent two dementors to attack Harry Potter and his cousin Dudley Dursley in Little Whinging in an effort to get him expelled from Hogwarts for using magic outside of school following reports of Lord Voldemort’s return and Cornelius Fudge’s growing anxiety. Umbridge made intimidation attempts on Harry at his trial in an effort to discredit his claim that he had only used the Patronus Charm because he and Dudley were going to become permanently disabled as a result of the dementors. In the end, Harry was found not guilty despite Umbridge, Fudge, and a few other court members voting for conviction.
Did Snape have any knowledge of petunias?
Harry was never given any love or affection by Petunia because he made her think about Lily and the wizarding world.
[4] She frequently treated him like a waste of space, gave him the cupboard under the stairs to start with, and had him do all the chores.
She and Vernon neglected the most of Harry’s birthdays.
[11]
[13]
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 ignorant of the wizarding world and made her family appear as normal as she could. In 1997, when Harry left to look for Horcruxes, Petunia was on the verge of saying goodbye to him and wishing him success while also acknowledging that her mistreatment of him was motivated by envy, but she pulled back at the last minute. [26]
After Severus Snape was killed by Nagini’s fangs during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry was given access to various memories of Snape’s past and allegiances. Inadvertently explaining 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 powers, and her childhood animosity with Snape, was one of Harry’s first memories. 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 Ginevra 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. Although it is unknown if Petunia got in touch with Harry once more after the war, it is very likely that she made up with her nephew and was exchanging Christmas cards with him as well. Harry developed a new appreciation for his aunt as a result of how he discovered what sparked the conflict between his mother and her sister. After she passed away, Dudley gave Harry the blanket that Petunia had been holding onto ever since he arrived at Privet Drive.
Severus Snape
“I heard that nasty boy telling her about them years ago,” said Petunia Dursley.
After Dementors attacked Dudley Dursley, Harry and Petunia talked about Snape[src].
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. He was such an eccentric, and Petunia, who was dismissive of anything out of the ordinary, looked upon him with contempt because of his low economic standing. 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. The issue of Snape, like with everything relating to magic, was never brought up under the Dursley’s roof until Dudley Dursley was attacked by dementors and he was implicitly addressed by Petunia as “that dreadful boy” when talking about dementors, possibly as a result of this early hate.
Ironically, Snape and Petunia’s unpleasant interactions contributed to the development of their individual adult personas. Snape’s experiences with Petunia probably contributed to his increasing contempt for the Muggle community and led him to dabble with pure-blood supremacy and the Dark Arts in his adolescence. 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.