Number Four, Privet Drive

• Type: Muggle Residence
• Location: Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England
• Owner/Residents: Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, Dudley Dursley. Harry Potter resided here during his summer holidays from 1981 to 1996.
• Key Features: An obsessively neat, “perfectly normal” two-story house with four bedrooms. Protected by powerful, ancient magic tied to Lily Potter's sacrifice, which kept Harry Potter safe from Lord Voldemort.

Number four, Privet Drive is the home of the Dursley family and is portrayed as the epitome of mundane Muggle suburbia. The house is described as large and boxy, identical to all the others on the street, with a neat garden and a “spotlessly clean” interior. The Dursleys pride themselves on being perfectly normal, and their house reflects this desire, with everything in its proper place. On 1 November 1981, Albus Dumbledore left the infant Harry Potter on the front doorstep following the murder of his parents by Lord Voldemort. The house was chosen specifically because Harry's aunt, Petunia Dursley, lived there. By taking Harry in, Petunia sealed a powerful charm based on her sister Lily Potter's sacrificial protection. This enchantment ensured that as long as Harry could call the place where his mother's blood dwelled “home,” he could not be harmed by Voldemort or his followers while he was there. This powerful magic was the reason Harry was forced to return to Privet Drive every summer, as the protection had to be renewed annually by his presence. The protective charm was set to break when Harry Potter came of age on his seventeenth birthday, or if he no longer considered the house his home. Anticipating this, the Order of the Phoenix evacuated the Dursley family in the summer of 1997 for their own safety, shortly before escorting Harry from the premises for the final time.

Number four, Privet Drive serves as a stark contrast to the magical world of Hogwarts. For Harry, it is simultaneously a prison and his only true protection from Lord Voldemort. The story often begins and ends at this location in the earlier books, highlighting Harry's transition between the Muggle and wizarding worlds. Key events at this location include:

• The endless stream of Hogwarts acceptance letters arriving by owl post, culminating in a flood of letters pouring from the fireplace (PS3).
• Rubeus Hagrid's arrival to inform Harry he is a wizard and to give Dudley Dursley a pig's tail (PS4).
• The visit from Dobby the house-elf, who attempts to prevent Harry's return to Hogwarts by dropping a pudding, leading to Harry being locked in his room (CS2).
• The rescue of Harry from his barred bedroom by Ron Weasley, Fred Weasley, and George Weasley in their father's flying Ford Anglia (CS3).
• Harry accidentally inflating his Aunt Marge after she insults his parents (PA2).
• The Dementor attack on Harry and Dudley in the nearby alleyway, which led to the arrival of the Advance Guard to escort Harry to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place (OP1-2).
• Albus Dumbledore's visit to collect Harry, where he reprimands the Dursleys for their mistreatment of him and reveals information about Horcruxes (HBP3).
• The departure point for the Battle of the Seven Potters, where the Order of the Phoenix executes a plan to move Harry to safety before the protective enchantments break (DH4).

• Cupboard Under the Stairs: Harry's small, dusty bedroom for the first ten years of his life. It symbolized the neglect and cruelty he suffered at the hands of the Dursleys.
• Harry's Bedroom (Formerly Dudley's Second Bedroom): After the Hogwarts letters began arriving addressed to the “Cupboard under the Stairs,” Harry was moved into Dudley's second bedroom, which was filled with his cousin's broken and discarded toys.
• Living Room: The site of several significant events, including Aunt Marge's inflation, the Dursleys' first encounter with wizarding communication via the Floo Network, and Dumbledore's final visit.
• Kitchen: The primary setting for the Dursleys' family life and the scene of Dobby's disastrous pudding incident.
• Garden: A meticulously maintained garden that Harry was often forced to tend as part of his chores.

• J.K. Rowling has stated that she chose the name “Privet Drive” because the privet hedge is a symbol of suburbia, creating a sense of enclosure and conformity (Pottermore).
• The author sees number four as a representation of a certain kind of “Muggle-ness” that she dislikes: a deliberate lack of imagination and a narrow-minded worldview (J.K. Rowling interview).
• For the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a real house located at 12 Picket Post Close in Bracknell, England, was used for exterior shots. For subsequent films, a replica of the house and a portion of Privet Drive were constructed at Leavesden Studios for greater filming flexibility (film).