Inside Harry Potter: J.K. Reveals Why The Dursleys Hate Harry Potter In Detail

The Harry Potter series met its happily ever after years ago but until now, Harry Potter fans the world over still haven’t quite recovered from the ending. In fact, million of Harry Potter fans are still subscribed to the wizarding world of Harry Potter through the Harry Potter fan website, Pottermore.

In celebration of Dudley Dursely’s birthday, June 23, J.K. Rowling decides to reveal in detail the story behind the Dursley’s immense hatred for Harry Potter, the boy who lived. The Dursley backstory could be unlocked at the Pottermore website, inside Book 1, Chapter 2, The Cupboard Under The Stairs.

J.K. Rowling reveals that writing the characters of the Dursleys made a huge impact on the overall turn of events in the Harry Potter story. She explains how she came up with the names of the Dursleys, which didn’t take much deliberation unlike the other characters in Harry Potter.

“‘Vernon’ is simply a name I never much cared for. ‘Petunia’ is the name that I always gave unpleasant female characters in games of make believe I played with my sister Di.”

J.K. also adds that the surname Dursley was inspired from a real town close to the birthplace of the Harry Potter author.

“I have never visited Dursley, and I expect that it is full of charming people. It was the sound of the word that appealed rather than any association of the place.”

Harry Potter fans will already know that Petunia’s hatred for Harry had roots way back to her hatred for Harry’s mother, Lily. Petunia became rather jealous of Lily since she had “special gifts,” albeit being born to equally normal parents. In the Harry Potter universe, Lily would be known as a muggle-born.

But this doesn’t quite explain how Vernon came to hate the young Harry Potter. What J.K.’s writing reveals is that it seems Harry was destined to repeatedly suffer the consequences of his father’s “friendliness.” Snape’s ire for Harry was a mystery long answered in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, it being an extension of Snape’s abhorrence for James Potter. And J.K. reveals this was the same reason Harry suffered from the anger of Vernon Dursley.

According to J.K. Rowling, the story of Harry Potter’s Vernon and Petunia started when they first met as officemates, and Petunia seeing Vernon as the “model of manliness.” Further on into the relationship, the Dursley couple meet with the Potters and the exchange made a rather sour turn.

Rowling narrates how Vernon, being himself, asks James all sorts of questions such as what kind of car he drives. James, on the other hand, describes with enthusiasm his broom. Dursley is easily annoyed at the Potters’ “quirks” and is quick to nastily comment on how wizards collect unemployment benefits. James Potter goes on to explain how much gold they have stashed at Gringotts, the wizard bank in Harry Potter, and Vernon is angered because he couldn’t figure out if James was making fun of him or not.

The Dursley couple’s hatred for James and Lily Potter escalated from here on, and even went as far as boycotting the Potters’ wedding. So, it wasn’t a surprise that Harry wasn’t met with much enthusiasm when Dumbledore arrived at the Dursley doorstep in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

There are more backstories and secrets that J.K. Rowling reveals about the Harry Potter series in the Harry Potter website, Pottermore. Go ahead and check it out, if you haven’t yet, here.

[Image via Telegraph]