Petunia Dursley

Petunia Dursley (née Evans) was a Muggle, the wife of Vernon Dursley, the mother of Dudley Dursley, and the maternal aunt of Harry Potter. She was the older sister of the witch Lily Potter. Defined by her intense desire for a normal, middle-class life and a deep-seated resentment of magic, Petunia reluctantly took Harry in after his parents' deaths. Her home at Number 4, Privet Drive served as Harry's unwilling sanctuary, providing him with a powerful blood protection charm against Lord Voldemort until he came of age. She represents the mundane, prejudiced, and non-magical world that stands in stark contrast to Harry's life as a wizard.

Petunia grew up in the town of Cokeworth with her parents and her younger sister, Lily Evans. From a young age, she was overshadowed by Lily's magical abilities, which she could not understand or replicate. This fostered a deep and lasting jealousy. After Lily was accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Petunia wrote a letter to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, pleading to be allowed to attend as well. After receiving a kind but firm rejection, her envy curdled into bitterness, and she began referring to her sister as a “freak.” She later met Vernon Dursley at a London office where she was on a typing course. They bonded over their shared love for all things conventional and ordinary. During their courtship, she was terrified that Vernon would discover the truth about her sister. When she finally introduced Vernon to Lily and her then-boyfriend James Potter, the evening ended in disaster, with Vernon and James taking an instant dislike to one another. Petunia did not have Lily as a bridesmaid at her wedding, and her last contact with her sister was the announcement of Harry's birth, which she and Vernon promptly ignored.

On November 1, 1981, Petunia awoke to find her infant nephew, Harry Potter, on her doorstep. A letter from Albus Dumbledore explained that Lily and James had been murdered by Lord Voldemort and that by taking Harry in, Petunia would seal a powerful protective charm based on her sister's sacrifice, keeping Harry safe as long as he could call her house “home.” Though resentful, Petunia agreed to raise Harry, but she and Vernon were determined to “stamp the magic out of him.” For ten years, they treated Harry with cruelty and neglect, forcing him to live in the cupboard under the stairs, while doting on their own son, Dudley Dursley. Her carefully constructed world of normalcy was shattered on Harry's eleventh birthday when Rubeus Hagrid arrived to deliver Harry's Hogwarts acceptance letter in person. In a fit of rage, Petunia revealed her long-suppressed knowledge of the magical world, screaming at Harry that her parents had been proud of having a witch in the family, while she was the only one who saw Lily for the “freak” she was.

Throughout Harry's time at Hogwarts, Petunia's disdain for him and his world remained. However, during the summer before Harry's fifth year, two Dementors attacked Harry and Dudley in Little Whinging. When Vernon tried to throw Harry out of the house, Petunia received a Howler from Dumbledore with the simple message, “Remember my last.” This reminded her of the letter Dumbledore had left with Harry years earlier and the vital protection she afforded him. For the first time, she overruled Vernon, insisting Harry must stay, revealing she knew what Dementors were and that they guarded the wizard prison, Azkaban. In the summer of 1997, with Lord Voldemort's power growing, the Order of the Phoenix arranged for the Dursleys to go into hiding for their own protection. Before leaving, Petunia shared a brief, hesitant moment with Harry. It seemed as if she wanted to say something more meaningful, but in the end, she only wished him “goodbye” and departed, leaving Harry for the final time.

Petunia is described as a thin, blonde woman with “nearly twice the usual amount of neck,” which she found useful for spying on her neighbors. She had a “horsey” face and was obsessed with cleanliness, order, and maintaining an appearance of perfect normalcy. Her personality was primarily defined by her prejudice against magic, which stemmed from childhood jealousy of her sister Lily. She was nosy, judgmental, and materialistic. She treated Harry with contempt and neglect, viewing him as a dangerous and unwelcome burden. Conversely, she was an intensely indulgent mother to her son, Dudley, refusing to see any of his faults and spoiling him rotten. Despite her harsh exterior, there were rare moments that suggested a deeply buried sense of familial duty or affection for her sister, such as her decision to let Harry stay after the Dementor attack and her final, faltering farewell to him.

Petunia was a Muggle and possessed no magical abilities. Her sole connection to the world of magic was her blood relationship to her sister, Lily. This biological link was the key component in the powerful sacrificial protection charm that Dumbledore enacted. By accepting Harry into her home, Petunia, who shared Lily's blood, activated and maintained the charm that kept Harry safe from Lord Voldemort for sixteen years.

As a Muggle, Petunia did not own any magical objects. Her most significant possession was her house at Number 4, Privet Drive, which served as the magical anchor for Harry's protection. Other notable mundane possessions include:

• Her meticulously clean kitchen, the heart of her domestic kingdom.
• The numerous photographs of Dudley that adorned the mantelpiece, with no pictures of Harry.
• A new television, which Vernon destroyed in a rage upon learning of Marge Dursley's inflation.

• Lily Potter: Petunia's relationship with her younger sister was the defining force of her life. It was a complex mixture of childhood rivalry, intense jealousy of Lily's magical gifts, and a deeply buried, almost entirely extinguished, sense of sisterly love. Her final interaction with Harry suggested she mourned her sister in her own way.
• Vernon Dursley: Her husband. They shared a perfectly matched worldview, centered on a love of conformity and a hatred of anything strange or magical. She often supported Vernon's bullying of Harry, though she was the one with a clearer (if still limited) understanding of the magical world's dangers.
• Dudley Dursley: Her only son, whom she adored and spoiled to a fault. Her love for him was as excessive as her neglect of Harry.
• Harry Potter: Her nephew and ward. For sixteen years, she was his reluctant guardian, treating him with disdain and cruelty. Yet, she was also his protector, providing the home that kept Lord Voldemort at bay. Their relationship was dysfunctional and almost entirely devoid of affection, save for a single, ambiguous moment of hesitation before she left Privet Drive for the last time.
• Albus Dumbledore: She viewed him as the embodiment of the magical world that had “stolen” her sister. She first interacted with him by letter as a child and later through the correspondence he left with the infant Harry and the Howler he sent her. She feared and deeply resented him.

The name Petunia refers to a common genus of garden flower. Petunias are often seen as ordinary and unremarkable compared to more dramatic flowers like lilies. This reflects Petunia's obsessive desire for a normal, conventional, suburban life, in stark contrast to her sister, Lily. In the Victorian language of flowers, a petunia can symbolize resentment and anger, which perfectly encapsulates Petunia's feelings toward magic and the sister she both envied and lost.

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, a deleted scene was written where Petunia has a more explicit moment of reconciliation with Harry. She explains that he didn't just lose a mother that night in Godric's Hollow, but she lost a sister, showing a more overt sense of grief than is present in the novel (film, deleted scene).
• J.K. Rowling has stated that in her final scene with Harry, Petunia was on the verge of wishing him luck and acknowledging that she did, on some level, care for him, but her years of pretending that she didn't care had become too ingrained for her to break character (J.K. Rowling interview).
• Rowling also revealed that Petunia and Harry would maintain a minimal relationship in later life, exchanging Christmas cards, but never truly reconciling or becoming close (Pottermore).