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"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]

Dursley was the surname of a Muggle family, 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.[3]

Background[]

"They're the worst kind of Muggles, oh really Albus, must we?"
— Minerva McGonagall discussing Harry's relatives[src]

Harry Potter's Muggle aunt and uncle met at work. Petunia Evans, forever embittered by the fact that her parents seemed to value her magical 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.[4]

Dursley Wedding Photo

Vernon and Petunia's wedding photo

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 particular 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 was not her fault for having a "freak" for a sister and that he would not hold it against her. He finally proposed to her in his mother's (very ordinary) living room, it was all very emotional.[4]

Due to Petunia's maternal connection to Harry Potter, he was sent to live with the Dursleys after his parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort.[3] The belief was that the power of Lily's loving sacrifice for Harry would be continued through Petunia, due to her blood connection with her sister, even though she personally held Harry in contempt. This would provide Harry with magical protection against Lord Voldemort and his followers when Harry was outside the powerful protective spells around Hogwarts Castle.[7]

Due to his wizarding background, Harry was treated with fear and negligence by the Dursleys. He was originally kept oblivious to his wizarding heritage and told that his parents had died in a car accident. He believed this until Rubeus Hagrid revealed the truth to him on his eleventh birthday, over the Dursley's objections.[6][1]

Littlewhinging

4 Privet Drive

The Dursleys lived at 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey,[3] and often went out of their way to keep their neighbours oblivious to anything odd about their family, usually explaining away anything odd by telling people that Harry was a delinquent who went to a reformatory school far away.[2][8] Harry did occasionally update them about Voldemort and the Death Eaters.[9] 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.[10]

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.[10] The effect of the Dementor's powers forced Dudley to face the negative aspects of himself and prompted him to change his ways.[11]

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 Potter regarding his feelings towards the Dursleys[src]
Person Notes
Dudley Dursley Only child of Vernon and Petunia.[3]
Dursley children Children of Dudley and his wife.
Mrs Dursley Mother of Vernon and Marjorie.[4]
Wife of Dudley and mother of at least two children.
Marjorie Dursley Sister of Vernon; a breeder of bulldogs.[2]
Petunia Dursley (née Evans) Wife of Vernon, older sister of Lily and mother of Dudley; a housewife.[3]
Vernon Dursley Husband of Petunia and father of Dudley; director of a drill making company called Grunnings.[3]

Family tree[]

 
 
 
 
Dursley family
 
 
 
 
 
Evans
family
 
 
 
 
 
Potter
family
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mrs Dursley
 
Mrs Evans
 
Mr Evans
 
Euphemia Potter
(d. c. 1979)
 
Fleamont Potter
(d. c. 1979)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Marjorie Eileen Dursley
 
Vernon Dursley
 
 Petunia Evans 
(c. 1960–c. 2020)
 
 
Lily J. Evans
(19601981)
 
James Potter
(19601981)
 
 
Weasley family
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dudley Dursley
(b. c. 1980)
 
 
 
 
 
Harry James Potter
(b. 1980)
 
Ginevra Molly Weasley
(b. 1981)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2 children
 
 
 
James Sirius Potter
(b. c. 2004)
 
Albus Severus Potter
(b. c. 2006)
 
Lily Luna
Potter

(b. c. 2008)


Etymology[]

Dursley is a town in Gloucestershire, England.

Vernon was taken from the town of Vernon, Eure, France. It is also an English name of Norman origin meaning "place of alders"

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

Dudley is also taken from the map, it is a large town in West Midlands, England. As a name it is of Old English origin meaning "people's field"

Marjorie is of English origin meaning "pearl".

Behind the scenes[]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

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