Warner Bros. PicturesYou’ve got to wonder what the hell baby Potter could have done to suffer the torturous wrath of the Dursleys.
I mean, they try to fuck Harry Potter up pretty bad – so there’s got to be some serious reasoning behind locking a child in a cupboard for their entire childhood.
We already know that throughout the books and the films, it’s evident the Dursleys hate Harry, but the reason remained unknown. Until now.
JK Rowling has revealed the back story behind the Dursleys’ violent dislike of their nephew on her source-for-everything-wizard-related website, Pottermore.
Warner Bros. PicturesAnd it turns out Harry’s grotesque uncle and aunt, and their equally grotesque and professional shithead son, Dudley, tortured the boy wizard for the most unfair reason ever – they hated his dad.
Rowling, writing at length about the history of Vernon and Petunia Dursley, confirmed what we all know – Petunia wasn’t fond of her sister (and Harry’s mum) Lily – basically, because Lily was cooler than her.
What we didn’t know was that she romanced dull and ordinary Vernon out of rebellion against her sister’s uniqueness. Which, I mean, is a pretty terrible reason to court someone.
But here’s the kicker – it all stems back to Vernon having it in for Harry’s father James (which seems to be the main reason everybody hates Harry). Apparently, a disagreement between the two created a permanent rift between the families.
Warner Bros. PicturesHere’s what happened, according to Rowling:
Vernon supposed out loud that wizards had to live on unemployment benefit. James explained about Gringotts, and the fortune his parents had saved there, in solid gold.
Vernon could not tell whether he was being made fun of or not, and grew angry. The evening ended with Vernon and Petunia storming out of the restaurant, while Lily burst into tears and James (a little ashamed of himself) promised to make things up with Vernon at the earliest opportunity.
Obviously, a truce never happened and the bitch fight continued. It snowballed from there, with Vernon refusing to attend James and Lily’s wedding and Petunia not inviting Lily as her bridesmaid to her own wedding.
Warner Bros. PicturesSo when the Potters were killed (RIP), Petunia felt obliged to take Harry in, but ‘spent the rest of Harry’s childhood punishing him for her own choice.’
Rowling also added that the reason Vernon despises Harry ‘stems in part, like Severus Snape’s, from Harry’s close resemblance to the father they both so disliked.’
To be fair though, Vernon probably deserved it.
