JK Rowling reveals why the Dursleys hated Harry Potter

We will always remember poor little Harry Potter when he lived with his family, the Dursleys, in a closet under the stairs, however we never knew why this little boy was the target of the Dursleys ire; of his uncle, his aunt and his son each more peculiar. Finally JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter book saga, has decided to give some answers to the questions asked.

Origin of the Dursleys' wrath

With a post posted on Pottemore, Rowling wrote extensively on the history of Vernon and Petunia Dursley, who met in a boring office environment. Petunia was always bitter because her sister Lily was a magician and also because of that she was the favorite daughter. In fact, her affair with the clearly ordinary Vernon appears to have been an act of rebellion against her sister's uniqueness.

However, the tension quickly grew between Vernon and Lily's boyfriend, James Potter, and the sisters grew increasingly estranged. Lily was not invited to be honored at Petunia's wedding and Petunia failed to demonstrate the distinction of her life to her sister Lily.

The last message to emerge between the sisters was a letter that Lily wrote announcing the birth of her son Harry, a letter that was immediately thrown in the trash by the Dursleys. Unsurprisingly, the Dursleys were very surprised to discover their orphaned nephew one day on their doorstep a year later, but in the face of Lily's shocking death, Petunia couldn't help but take care of the little boy.

In this revelation the author tells the following:

"She did it reluctantly and spent the rest of Harry Potter's childhood trying to punish him because of her own choice."

In addition to this, Vernon's resentment was added, which also derives from Harry's resemblance to his father James Potter, which in turn motivated Severus Snape's dislike.

Aunt Petunia's Little Ray of Hope

Although many of the readers expected more during Aunt Petunia's farewell at the end of the saga, the author continues to think that Aunt Petunia behaves in a way more consistent with her thoughts and feelings throughout the previous seven books.

“I wanted to suggest, in the last book, that something decent struggled to get out of Aunt Petunia when she said goodbye to Harry for the last time, but she was not able to admit it, or show her buried feelings. "

Finally, the author commented that, despite thinking a lot about Aunt Petunia's feelings and thoughts, no one ever seemed to expect anything better from Uncle Vernon, so there was no disappointment whatsoever.

Curiosities of the Dursleys

The names Vernon and Petunia came up early on and never went through a list of rehearsal names as was done with other characters. The author comments that Vernon is a simple name that she doesn't care about and Petunia is a name that always made her think of unpleasant female characters due to the games she played with her sister.

The author also comments that the last name "Dursley" was taken from a town with the same name located in Gloucestershire and that it is not very far from where the author was born. On the other hand, he also affirms that he has never visited the place, but that he took the word because its sound appealed to him.

“The Dursleys are reluctant, prejudiced, narrow-minded, ignorant and bigoted, most of the things I like least. "

JK Rowling's writings on the Pottermore website have recently revealed a wealth of details about American Hogwarts, the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including the revelation of four school houses.