Show pageOld revisionsBacklinksBack to top This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong. ======Number Four, Privet Drive====== =====Location Information===== * **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]]. =====Description and History===== 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. =====Role in the Story===== 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 world]]s. 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 [[Horcrux]]es (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 [[enchantment]]s break (DH4). =====Known Areas Within===== * **[[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. =====Behind the Scenes===== * 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).
