In the well-known tale of Harry Potter, we are introduced to many unique characters, one of them being Petunia Dursley. Petunia Dursley, aunt to Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived and sister to Lily Potter is portrayed as a jealous, rude and snobby character. But did you ever think what made her to be so?
Petunia Dursley, discovered long ago that she was not meant for the wizarding world, while her sister was. Lily And Petunia Evans were close sisters, that is until Lily began showing signs of magic and to make things worse Lily befriended a boy named Severus Snape who told her that she was not strange at all but was special. After catching Petunia spying on them, Severus used his power to make a branch fall and hit her. As well as the physical damage, he added further insult to injury by emotionally hurting her
too. Experiences like these would have shaped Petunia’s attitude to magic for years to come.
Unfortunately there was no escaping the fact that one girl possessed gifts that the other did not. This situation is difficult enough among Muggle siblings, so what happens when this ‘gift’ happens to be magic?
Petunia envied her sister, but truthfully who wouldn’t? After accepting the fact that she would never be a witch, she made herself a different person, a normal, down-to-earth lady who didn’t have any ties with magic. She had less and almost no contact with her sister, who was too weird to be part of Petunia’s life, until she found a baby on her doorstep- her sister’s son-Harry Potter.
Imagine yourself in Petunia Dursley’s shoes- your once close sister, who you devoted almost your entire life to being opposite to, is now dead and her son is now to be raised by you, who is bound to have some magical abilities(unlike your own son ‘Ickle Duddleykinns’), which you have tried so hard to avoid. Not to forget, Harry had his mother’s eyes which reminded Petunia of the sister she lost and the broken relationship that could never be mended.
Concluding that, though Petunia was jealous and hated the magical world, it would not have happened if not for some events in the past. Let’s not forget it wasn’t just Harry that lost a mother that day, Petunia Dursley lost a sister too.