Information about Dursley Family

The Dursleys or the Dursley family are fictional characters in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. They are Harry Potter's last living relatives. In order to ensure his safety, Harry was placed under their care as a baby by Albus Dumbledore. The Dursleys live at Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging in Surrey, England.

The name "Dursley" derives from the small town in Gloucestershire, near to the birthplace of J. K. Rowling.


Vernon Dursley

Harry Potter character
Vernon Dursley

Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley
in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
ParentageMuggle
ActorRichard Griffiths
First appearance''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Vernon Dursley is the first character introduced in the Harry Potter series. He is Harry Potter's uncle—he is married to Petunia, Lily Potter's sister, and they have a son named Dudley. Vernon is described as a big, beefy man, with hardly any neck, and a large moustache. He is very much the head of his household, laying down most of the rules for Harry and doing most of the threatening while his wife turns a deaf ear, as well as spoiling his own son. He is also the director of a drill-making company, Grunnings, and seems to be quite successful in his career.

Vernon is a Muggle, and despises all magical things, especially his nephew (by marriage, not blood). He and his wife have grudgingly raised Harry from an early age, denying him any information about the magical world, including how his parents died. Unlike Petunia, who seems to have the slightest feeling of familial loyalty to Harry, Vernon seems to hate his nephew so much that in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, he was willing to throw him out of the house, knowing that doing so would put him in grave danger. He does, however, show affection (possibly too much and over-the-top) to Dudley. At one point when Vernon thought his family was being threatened by Harry's visiting wizard friends, he stepped in front of Petunia to "save" her, rather like how Lily Potter defended her son on the night when Voldemort attacked.

Vernon also has an aversion to imagination, or to any references to magic, or anything even slightly out of the ordinary—such as in the first book, when Harry mentions dreaming about a flying motorcycle, Uncle Vernon responds by angrily bellowing that motorcycles don't fly, despite Harry's protests that it was only a dream. By the end of Deathly Hallows he is grand-uncle to Harry's children James, Albus Severus and Lily by marriage. However, it is implied that after their separation in the beginning of the seventh book, Uncle Vernon and Harry would never see each other again.


Petunia Dursley

Harry Potter character
Petunia Dursley

Fiona Shaw as Petunia Dursley
in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
ParentageMuggle
ActorFiona Shaw
First appearance''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Petunia Dursley (née Evans), is Harry Potter's maternal aunt. She is described as being a blonde, bony woman with a "rather horsey" face and a very long neck, which she uses to spy on her neighbors. Her eyes are large and pale, quite unlike her sister's. Petunia obsessively follows news about divorced movie stars while sniffing, "as if we're interested in their sordid affairs."[HP5] Her whole family was made up of Muggles, except for her sister Lily who was a Muggle born witch. According to Petunia, her parents were proud of having a witch in the family, but Petunia saw her sister as a freak, due to jealousy of her magical abilities.[1]

In the seventh book, it is revealed that the Evans girls lived near Spinner's End, the residence of Tobias and Eileen Snape. Their son, Severus, seems to have observed Lily's magical talents from a young age, and took a strong liking to her (strangely enough, despite her status as a Muggle-born). Petunia on the other hand, seems to have been envious of her sister's abilities. She went so far as to write to Dumbledore pleading to be allowed to enter Hogwarts. Petunia was gently denied enrollment at Hogwarts; she has since been terribly cold towards the school, and by extension, her sister and the magical community as a whole. In a letter that Lily Potter wrote to Sirius Black (which Harry read in the Blacks' house), she makes reference to Harry nearly smashing "that horrible vase that Petunia sent" with his toy broomstick and adds "no complaints there". This indicates that the sisters were still in touch at the time, and at least enough for Petunia to send her sister holiday gifts. This also echoes Harry's Christmas presents from the Dursley family (old pair of Vernon's socks, a matchstick, etc.) which are never pretty or welcome, but do show a grudging sign of attachment from the family.

At some point, she met Vernon Dursley and married him. On 22 June 1980 they had a son named Dudley. Petunia hadn't seen her sister for years and usually pretended she didn't have one at all. However, one morning Petunia discovered her infant nephew, Harry Potter, on her doorstep as she put out the milk bottles.

There was a note left with baby Harry by Albus Dumbledore, which explained that his parents Lily and James had been killed by Lord Voldemort, how Lily had sacrificed herself to save her son's life and how living with his only other relatives would protect him from Lord Voldemort until he comes of age at 17. Petunia and Vernon grudgingly agreed to raise Harry, but they kept him as downtrodden as possible in an attempt to squash the magic out of him; they never told him how his parents died, instead telling him they had been killed in a car crash and not to ask questions (about that or anything else).

When Vernon attempts to throw Harry out of their house at the beginning of Order of the Phoenix, Petunia receives a Howler from Dumbledore—"Remember my last, Petunia", which Rowling has confirmed is referring to the note he left with one-year-old Harry on their doorstep. This prompts Petunia to override Vernon's decision and allow Harry to stay. Aunt Petunia has, therefore, more knowledge about the wizarding world than she will admit. At the very least, Petunia has proved she knows what Dementors and Azkaban are. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Petunia hears her husband ask what a Dementor is, to which she responds, "They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban." When Harry and the rest of her family look at her strangely for knowing this magical information, she responds that she heard "that awful boy" telling Lily about them years ago. Harry angrily retorts that if she's going to talk about his parents, she could at least use their names, but she does not respond to his retort. It is revealed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, after Severus Snape has died and passed his memories to Harry, that Petunia was in fact referring to Snape, who had a long friendship with Lily and used exactly the same words, "They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban," to describe Dementors to her. Petunia overheard the exchange and remembered Snape's explanation. While she resents Lily for being able to do magic and go on to Hogwarts while she is left behind in the Muggle world, Petunia retains knowledge of the magical world and has a bit of an idea of the dangers that Harry faces (mainly from information that she had gleaned from eavesdropping on conversations between Snape and Lily).

When Harry leaves the Dursleys at the beginning of the seventh book, it is implied that he never meets Petunia ever again. Before the Dursleys leave she almost wishes him good luck, showing that she does feel a tiny amount of attachment to her nephew, however her enforced dislike of Harry and magic prevent her from doing so and she leaves without a word.




Dudley Dursley

Harry Potter character
Dudley Dursley

Harry Melling as Dudley Dursley
in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
ParentageMuggle
ActorHarry Melling
First appearance''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Dudley Dursley was born on 22 June 1980. He is the only child of Vernon and Petunia Dursley, a nephew to Marjorie Dursley (his father's sister) and the late James and Lily Potter (Lily being his mother's sister). He is Harry Potter's only cousin.

Described as a very large, blonde boy, Dudley has been thoroughly spoiled since birth—he gets mountains of birthday and Christmas presents and then throws a tantrum because he wants even more. He also seems to not care for Harry and is mean to him. He was given two bedrooms in the house, one of which he never uses (it is filled with books and broken toys), but he throws a screaming fit when it is given to Harry.[HP1] Dudley is generally given his way in almost everything. He shows the symptoms of a spoiled brat, as demonstrated when a disgusted Minerva McGonagall tells Albus Dumbledore in the first chapter of the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, how she saw the toddler Dudley kicking his mother and screaming for sweets.

An enormous, rude, belligerent and selfish boy, Dudley is quite an unlikable character, although he knows how to be polite when he wants to make an impression (notably when his father's business associate came for dinner one evening).[HP2] It can be inferred that he and Harry went to a school in Surrey together, where Dudley and his gang of bullies ruled the school, with their favourite pastime being "Harry hunting". The rest of the students at school shunned Harry as they knew Dudley hated him, and they didn't want to get on Dudley's bad side. With each passing year Dudley was overindulged in every way by his parents, which eventually made him morbidly obese and a careless student.[HP4] In Philosopher's Stone, Harry described him as "a pig in a wig" (alternatively, his mother thought him a "baby angel") and by the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he notes that Dudley "had reached the height and weight of a young killer whale". The same year Harry started at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Dudley was enrolled at his father's old boarding school, Smeltings. Smeltings is described as a snobbish public school with absurd traditions. (The use of the term "public school" in England is generally interchangeable with the North American and Scottish use of the term "private school".)

By age fifteen, Dudley has become physically strong (Harry describes him as being vast as ever), and he has taken an interest in boxing and seems skilled in it. A great bully, he leads a gang of thugs (Piers Polkiss, Dennis, Gordon and Malcolm) with whom he regularly beats up younger children such as Mark Evans on the flimsiest of excuses ("He was asking for it ... he cheeked me"). Dudley also starts smoking on street corners and throwing rocks at passing cars and children with his gang, and he continues to be spoiled by his parents.

Dudley has had incredibly bad luck during the books and is therefore a rather ineffective person. In Philosopher's Stone, Dudley knocks Harry down to get in front of the glass case of a snake at the zoo and Harry inadvertently vanishes the glass. Though the snake slithered out to freedom and gave passerbys a few playful nips at the heel, Dudley declares that the snake nearly took a chunk out of his leg. In the same year, he is given a pig's tail by Rubeus Hagrid, which has to be removed at a private hospital in London.

In Goblet of Fire, he becomes wider than he is tall, and the school outfitters tell the Dursleys that they don't stock school uniforms that can accommodate Dudley's size; the Smeltings school nurse advises the Dursleys to put Dudley on a strict diet, and sends a list of recommended foods—fruits and vegetables ("rabbit food", according to Uncle Vernon). During the summer when this diet is enforced, the Weasley family comes to pick Harry up for the Quidditch World Cup. Dudley is afraid of them and attempts to protect his buttocks from magical abuse by keeping his hands clamped on it and shuffling along the wall. Fred and George Weasley "accidentally" drop a magical Ton-Tongue Toffee which enlarges Dudley's tongue to four feet before a hysterical Petunia Dursley (who initially tries to pull it out, causing Dudley immense pain) reluctantly allows Mr. Weasley to shrink it.

One evening during the summer holidays of the fifth book, when both boys are fifteen and walking home, arguing, two Dementors (sent by Dolores Umbridge) attack. Dudley collapses, and Harry uses the Patronus Charm to drive the Dementors away from himself and his cousin. He half carries the shaken Dudley home, while Dudley is convinced that Harry used magic to draw the Dementors (though, as a Muggle, he could only feel them and not see them) to them. After the confrontation, Harry wonders what sort of bad memories the pampered, spoiled Dudley could have relived, as Dementors force you to relive your worst experiences. Rowling later revealed, in an online chat, that Dudley's worst fear was seeing himself for who he really was, and that this was what the Dementors inflicted on him.[2] The experience did, in fact, give Dudley a more favorable impression of Harry, although this new impression did not by any means extend to Dudley's parents. Even so, Harry would remain unaware of Dudley's changed viewpoint until the final book.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Dursleys are visited by Albus Dumbledore, who pities Dudley and blames Vernon and Petunia for their "appalling damage" on him and how he has turned out.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Dudley is the only member of the Dursley family to accept Harry: he shakes his hand and thanks him for saving his soul from the Dementor attack in the events of Order of the Phoenix. Harry, as well as Petunia and Vernon, are surprised by Dudley's reaction. It is thought that he may have wished to make amends with Harry over the summer, as he left a cup of tea outside Harry's door and showed some concern for him when the Dursleys left to go into hiding. In his appreciation of his cousin's belated gratitude, Harry says good-bye to him using Dudley's former gang name, "Big D" (before that he had called him "Dudders", just as his parents had, much to Dudley's chagrin). It is implied that Harry and Dudley might meet again. Dudley is described as muscular rather than obese, indicating that he has kept his interest in boxing, and it has paid off.

Marjorie "Marge" Dursley

Harry Potter character
Marjorie "Marge" Dursley
Enlarge picture
Aunt Marge

Pam Ferris as Aunt Marge
in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
ParentageMuggle
ActorPam Ferris
First appearanceHarry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban
Marjorie "Marge" Dursley is Vernon Dursley's sister and is described as being just like him, a large woman with hardly any neck and even a bit of a moustache. Though she isn't a blood relative of Harry, he has been forced to call her "Aunt Marge" throughout his whole life with the Dursleys. Marge lives in the country, where she breeds bulldogs. Due to this, she rarely visits Privet Drive, to Harry's great delight. However, each of her visits stands out in Harry's mind for her cruelty to him. Owing to Vernon and Petunia's beliefs, Aunt Marge believes that Harry is a horrible boy, and delights in insulting both him and his dead parents. Her most recent known visit was in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when, after she insulted Harry's mother and father, an enraged Harry accidentally inflated her, causing her to thus resemble a floating balloon--a possible metaphor towards her being high on her own 'hot air'. She also appeared in a memory in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix—Harry being chased up a tree by one of Marge's bulldogs at age ten while the Dursleys laugh at him from the ground and Marge refuses to call the dog off.

Aunt Marge usually brings her dog Ripper with her when she visits Privet Drive and she treats him better than she treats most humans. While Aunt Marge is gone, Colonel Fubster takes care of her other dogs.


References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ "J.K. Rowling Web Chat Transcript", The Leaky Cauldron, 2007-07-30. Retrieved on 2007-07-30. 

External links

fictional character is any person, persona, identity, or entity whose existence originates from a work of fiction. The process of creating and developing characters in a work of fiction is called characterization.
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Harry Potter

The success of the Harry Potter franchise has led to a set of stamps being commissioned by Royal Mail, which feature the British children's covers of the seven books.[1]
Author J. K.
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J. K. Rowling

Born: 31 July 1965 (1965--) (age 42)
Yate, South Gloucestershire, England
Occupation: Novelist
Nationality: British
Debut works: Harry Potter and
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Harry James Potter is a fictional character and the main protagonist of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of fantasy books. He is the title character of these seven books.
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Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a fictional character within the Harry Potter series written by British author J. K. Rowling. He is the headmaster of the fictional wizarding school Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the majority of the series and
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Surrey

Geography
Status Ceremonial & Non-metropolitan county
Origin Historic
Region South East England
Area
- Total
- Admin.
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Motto
Dieu et mon droit   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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Dursley

Dursley ()
|240px|Dursley (

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    Gloucestershire (pronounced [ˈglɒstəʃə]; GLOSS-ter-sher) is a county in South West England.
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    Harry Potter

    The success of the Harry Potter franchise has led to a set of stamps being commissioned by Royal Mail, which feature the British children's covers of the seven books.[1]
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    Richard Griffiths

    Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films

    Born July 31 1947 (1947--) (age 60)
    Thornaby-on-Tees, Yorkshire, England
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    Blood purity is a central concept in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling. Wizards who have four magical grandparents are known as pure-blood
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    Muggle is the only word used in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling to refer to a normal person who lacks any sort of magical ability. The word was used in popular culture and literature prior to the usage by J. K. Rowling.
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    Richard Griffiths

    Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films

    Born July 31 1947 (1947--) (age 60)
    Thornaby-on-Tees, Yorkshire, England
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    Harry Potter books
    Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

    Author J. K. Rowling
    Illustrators Thomas Taylor,
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    Genre Fantasy
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    Harry James Potter is a fictional character and the main protagonist of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of fantasy books. He is the title character of these seven books.
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    Muggle is the only word used in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling to refer to a normal person who lacks any sort of magical ability. The word was used in popular culture and literature prior to the usage by J. K. Rowling.
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    Mary GrandPré
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    Harry Potter

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    Fiona Shaw

    Born July 10 1958 (1958--) (age 49)
    County Cork, Ireland

    Fiona Shaw, CBE (Hon) (born 10 July, 1955[1]
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    Blood purity is a central concept in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling. Wizards who have four magical grandparents are known as pure-blood
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    Muggle is the only word used in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling to refer to a normal person who lacks any sort of magical ability. The word was used in popular culture and literature prior to the usage by J. K. Rowling.
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    Fiona Shaw

    Born July 10 1958 (1958--) (age 49)
    County Cork, Ireland

    Fiona Shaw, CBE (Hon) (born 10 July, 1955[1]
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    Harry Potter books
    Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

    Author J. K. Rowling
    Illustrators Thomas Taylor,
    Mary GrandPré
    Genre Fantasy
    Publishers Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, Scholastic Press, Raincoast Books

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    Harry James Potter is a fictional character and the main protagonist of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of fantasy books. He is the title character of these seven books.
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    Blond (or blonde, see below) is a hair color found in certain people characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color, going from the very pale blond caused by a
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