Dursley family

Dursley family
Family heritage
Blood status	Muggle
Notable family members	Marjorie Dursley Vernon Dursley Petunia Dursley (née Evans) † Dudley Dursley Dudley Dursley's children
Status	Extant
Relationships
Related families	Evans family Potter family
Affiliation
Loyalty	Muggle world Smeltings Academy Grunnings Dudley Dursley's gang (formerly)

"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

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.

Background

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

— Minerva McGonagall discussing Harry's relatives

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

4 Privet Drive

The Dursleys lived at 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey, 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. 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.

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

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

Person	Notes
Dudley Dursley	Only child of Vernon and Petunia.
Dursley children	Children of Dudley and his wife.
Mrs Dursley	Mother of Vernon and Marjorie.
	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, older sister of Lily and mother of Dudley; a housewife.
Vernon Dursley	Husband of Petunia and father of Dudley; director of a drill making company called Grunnings.

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 (1960—1981)

James Potter (1960—1981)

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

• J. K. Rowling wrote on Pottermore. "The surname ‘Dursley’ was taken from the eponymous town in Gloucestershire, which is not very far from where I was born. 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 with the place." In a 2001 interview she stated "I don't imagine I'm very popular in Dursley," after giving the name to such unlikable characters.
• As the surname alludes to a town in Gloucestershire, it is likely that the family originated in that region.
  • Interestingly, the Potter family also has apparent roots in Gloucestershire, through Linfred of Stinchcombe, the founding patriarch of the family, whose name indicates his possible origin in that town in the county (curiously west of Dursley). This would indicate that, ironically, over and above any antipathy, the two families share a common origin.
• On the parent's names, Rowling wrote "'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, when we were very young."
• 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 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."
• Most 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 Philosopher's Stone, the Dursleys are incorrectly referred to as Harry's stepfamily.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) (Appears in photographs)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Appears in flashback(s))
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play) (Appears in flashback(s))
• J. K. Rowling's official site (Mentioned only)
• Pottermore
• Harry Potter (website)
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault
• Harry Potter: The Creature Vault (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game
• LEGO Harry Potter
• LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
• LEGO Harry Potter
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• Harry Potter for Kinect (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened (Mentioned only)