Dursley family

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense."

—Description of the Dursleys^[src]

The Dursley family is a Muggle family, and the only known living close relatives of Harry Potter. Petunia Dursley (née Evans) was the older sister of Harry's mother, Lily Potter (née Evans), but took the surname Dursley when she married Vernon Dursley. They had a son named Dudley.

Background[]

File:Dursleys 1980s.jpg

The Dursleys in the late 1980s.

"They're the worst kind of Muggles, oh really Albus, must we?"

—Minerva McGonagall discussing Harry's relatives.^[src]

Harry's aunt and uncle met at work. Petunia Evans, forever embittered by the fact that her parents seemed to value her witch sister more than they valued her, left Cokeworth forever to pursue a typing course in London. This led to an office job, where she met the extremely unmagical, opinionated and materialistic Vernon Dursley. Large and neckless, this junior executive seemed a model of manliness to young Petunia. He not only returned her romantic interest, but was deliciously normal. He had a perfectly correct car, and wanted to do completely ordinary things, and by the time he had taken her on a series of dull dates, during which he talked mainly about himself and his predictable ideas on the world. During one paticular date when they were sitting in his car in front of a chip shop she tearfully confessed about her strange sister. As she had expected, Vernon was quite shocked, though he comforted her and told her it wasn't her fault for having a "freak" for a sister. He finally proposed to her in his mother's (very ordinary) living room, it was all very emotional.

Due to Petunia's maternal connection to Harry Potter, Harry was sent to live with the Dursleys after his parents were killed by Lord Voldemort. The belief was that Lily's maternal sacrifice for Harry would be transmitted through Petunia, even though she held Harry in contempt. Due to his wizarding background, Harry was treated with fear and negligence by the Dursleys; originally being kept oblivious to his wizarding heritage, and being told that his parents had died in a car accident.

The Dursleys lived at 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey,^[1] and often went out of their way to keep their neighbors oblivious to anything odd about their family, usually explaining away anything odd by telling people that Harry was a delinquent who went to a detention school far away. Harry did occasionally update them about Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Because of their family connection to Harry and the danger of Voldemort using them to get to Harry, they were forced to go in hiding for their own safety for a period of time during the height of the Second Wizarding War.^[2]

Despite his mistreatment of Harry, Harry's cousin Dudley Dursley eventually came to regret his cruelty towards Harry, and the two reconciled later in life; this was mostly due to an incident in the summer before Harry's fifth year of schooling that involved him saving Dudley from a Dementor. ^[2]

Known family members[]

"When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; The Dursleys were his only family."

—Harry's feelings for the Dursleys^[src]

File:Marge.jpg

Marjorie 'Marge' Dursley

Dudley Dursley — only child of Vernon and Petunia.
Dursley children — children of Dudley and his wife.
Mrs. Dursley — mother of Vernon and Marjorie.
Mrs. Dursley — wife of Dudley and mother of at least two children.
Marjorie Dursley — sister of Vernon; a breeder of bulldogs.
Petunia Dursley née Evans — wife of Vernon and mother of Dudley; a housewife.
Vernon Dursley — husband of Petunia and father of Dudley; director of a drill-making company called Grunnings.

Dursley family tree[]

     	     Mr and Mrs Dursley
                 |                   (see Evans family)
       ---------------------                |
       |                   |                |
Marjorie Dursley     Vernon Dursley + Petunia Evans
                                    |
                                    |
                              Dudley Dursley + Mrs. Dursley
                                             |
                                             |
                                    Two or more children

Etymology[]

Dursley is a town in Gloucestershire, England. J. K. Rowling has never visited Dursley, but she grew up not too far away from the town and used the name as she found it interesting.

Petunia's name is the meaning of flower and the origin of the name is English.

Behind the scenes[]

In the film series, the Dursley family is portrayed by Richard Griffiths who plays Vernon Dursley. Fiona Shaw plays Petunia Dursley (née Evans). Harry Melling plays Dudley Dursley and Pam Ferris plays Marjorie Dursley. In the second film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Ariella Paradise plays Petunia Evans as a teenager.
The Dursleys neither appear in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire nor in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. With the exception of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, they appeared in five of the film adaptations overall except Marjorie Dursley, who only appears in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
J. K. Rowling has said she almost wrote in the epilogue of the book of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that Dudley Dursley appeared at the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters with a magical child, but she changed her mind, stating that "any latent wizarding genes would never have survived contact with Uncle Vernon's DNA."^[3]
The Dursleys are like a Muggle family version of the Malfoys.
Most of of the Wizarding world are usually very surprised at the complete lack of family love and respect the Dursleys show to Harry Potter.
In some of the video game adaptations of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the Dursleys are incorrectly referred to as Harry's stepfamily.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

[1] Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

[DH-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[3] J.K.Rowling Official Site: Extra Stuff

[1]

[2]

[3]