Vernon Dursley

**Vernon Dursley** was the uncle and legal guardian of Harry Black.

## Biography

### Early Life

Vernon was born at some point before 1961 into the Dursley family. He had an older sister named Marge.

### First Wizarding War

Vernon would eventually marry a woman named Petunia Evans, most likely at some point in the 1970's. Petunia did not want her sister Lily and her husband James Potter to attend the wedding, but her mother Rose insisted. They had a son named Dudley Dursley in June of 1980.

### Post-War

On October 31st of 1981 Lily and James Potter were attacked by the Dark Lord Voldemort. When a medical examination led Lily and James to the conclusion that their infant son Harry was a squib they decided it would be best if he were kept seperate from his twin brother Jim (who had been declared to be the Boy-Who-Lived) and the magical world as a whole. Thus it was decided by the Potters that Harry would be raised by the Dursleys, who would notify the Potters if it ever turned out that Harry wasn't a squib after all. Lily encouraged Vernon and Petunia to tell Harry her and James had died in an accident to make his transition into the Muggle world easier (though she never told James this).

While Vernon and his wife were at first intent on raising Harry as if he were their own, but an unknown malicious magical phenomenon (later dubbed "my Muggle problem" or "Bob" by Harry) caused them to grow to distrust, hate, and eventually fear Harry. Within months the Dursleys had independently come to the conclusion that Harry would somehow harm Dudley if they were kept in the same nursery, and before long Harry was placed in the cupboard under the stairs. "Bob" also corrupted the Dursleys views of Harry's actions as they happened, leading Vernon to believe that an accident when Harry was six and spilled some grease on him to be a genuine attempt to maim him, causing him to attack Harry in "self-defense" and break his arm. This also caused the Dursleys to neglect contacting the Potters when Harry showed signs of accidental magic, instead trying to "stamp it out". Vernon at one point beat Harry with a cane after he made a comment about Vernon's weight.

The Dursley's rarely referred to Harry by his name, instead calling him "freak" or "boy", and actually had to sit him down the night before he went to primary school to explain that at school people would refer to him as "Harry Potter".

### Book 1 - The Prince of Slytherin

James Potter retrieves Harry from the Dursley home and is horrified to learn how Harry was treated. Harry's experiences with the Dursleys also immediately drive a wedge between him and the Potters, and he silently vows revenge against them. His abuse at Vernon's hands allows him to recognize similair signs on Theodore Nott, which would lead him to befriend and try to protect the other boy.

Harry returns to Privet Drive after his first school year at Hogwarts, accompanied by his solicitors Artemus Podmore and Hestia Jones, who threaten Vernon and Petunia into leaving Harry alone. Harry's bedroom would be seperated from the rest of the house, with a seperate entrance, and any more harm to Harry would be reported to the Ministry of Magic. After the solicitors have left Vernon promises Petunia that he will continue to protect his family from "the freak".

### Book 2 - The Secret Enemy

That summer Harry is attacked by a swarm of doxies, which had been sent to Privet Drive by Narcissa Malfoy to kill him. Harry just barely manages to get inside the house, but Vernon, convinced that Harry had somehow brought them to his house to threaten his family, punches him in the face and throwing him out again while bellowing "SUPPERTIME!" and grinning as the swarm descends on Harry. Harry is saved by the timely intervention of Hestia Jones and two aurors, who arrest Vernon. While under interrogation Vernon suffers a heart attack and is transported to a Muggle hospital. Vernon is visited in the hospital by Severus Snape, who uses legilimency to read his and Petuna's memories, which causes him to discover the phenomenon that caused the Dursleys to fear Harry.

While he physically fully recovers from the Doxy Incident Harry does begin to suffer nightmares of the incident and when he encounters a boggart during a DADA project it takes the form of Vernon sending a swarm of doxies at Harry. The boggart incident causes Lily Potter to find out the truth about Vernon's involvement in the doxy attack, which James had kept from her. Lily visits the Dursley home at night and transfigures his medicine, which he had been taking since his heart attack, into other drugs that would worsen his condition, which she confesses to her sister Petunia before oblivating the memory, causing Vernon to suffer a second heart attack just over a week later, which kills him. Unbeknownst to Lily, Harry suffers a great deal of guilt over Vernon's death, blaming himself for it. James, Lily, and Jim attend Vernon's funeral, where Jim is mistaken for Harry and they are attacked by Marge and Dudley.

### Book 3 - The Death Eater Menace

When he and Regulus Black try do destroy Salazar Slytherin's Locket, which had been turned into a Horcrux by Voldemort, Harry is confronted by an illusion of Vernon Dursley's corpse, who blames him for his death. Harry encounters another boggart while helping his brother Jim confront his boggart-fear, which once again takes the shape of Vernon. When Harry faces yet another boggart during his DADA exams at the end of the school year it no longer takes Vernon's form, instead showing scenes from the dark timeline he prevented.

After losing their fortune and home James, Lily, and Jim Potter are forced to move into 4 Privet Drive, where James finds out from Arabella Figg that Petunia and Dudley moved to Oxford within months of Vernon's death with the money from his life insurance.

### Book 4 - The Resurrection Game

Jim Potter discovers that Vernon Dursley has not passed on to the afterlife, and has instead become a ghost who is haunting 4 Privet Drive, that Jim can only see because of his experimentations with Animagery, which allow him to change his eyes into those of a raven. Vernon reveals that he has spent the past two years haunting the house in a dream-like state that Jim pulled him out of when he called out his name, chasing out all the renters that had lived in the home in the time between Petunia and Dudley moving out and the Potters moving in. Even after his death Vernon continues to hold on to his distrust and fear of Harry, constantly trying to set Jim against him.

Around the same time Petunia is visited by Rita Skeeter, who makes a Remembrall and discovers that her memories have been tampered with.

## Physical Description

Vernon was a large overweight man, described as obese by Lily Potter, while Sirius Black dubbed him a "mustachioed whale", and his brother Regulus referred to an apparition of Vernon as a "grotesque flatulent git".

## Magical Abilities & Skills

As a Muggle Vernon possesses no magical abilities

## Canon Divergence

In Canon Vernon is never revealed to be under the effect of any kind of magical effect, though his treatment of Harry is also far more toned down.

Canon-Vernon lives to the end of the series, and as such never becomes a ghost.

## References

Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 93 - Reactions & Overreactions (Pt 4),

Sirius questions Harry about his childhood.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 3 - The Reunion,

Harry reunites with his father James.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 19 - Parent-Teacher Conference,

Lily asks Snape to investigate the Dursleys.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 37 - Mysteries and Revelations,

Snape reveals what he learned from Vernon's memories.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 6 - Day One in the Snake Pit,

Harry notices Theo's scars.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 7 - Potions and Process,

Harry reveals the extent of his abuse to Severus Snape.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 34 - The End of the Beginning (Pt 2),

Harry returns to Privet Drive.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 82 - Goodbyes,

Narcissa visits Peter Pettigrew's office.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 35 - The Lessons of Summer,

A swarm of doxies appears in Little Whinging.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 36 - Healers and Hospitals,

Harry wakes up in the Tonks Clinic in Hogsmeade.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 38 - Meet the Weasleys (Pt 1),

"Harry awoke with a gasp from a vivid nightmare involving Vernon Dursley's cheerful smile and the sensation of a dozen chittering doxies crawling up his back.".
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 56 - The Boggart (Pt 1),

Harry first encounters a boggart.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 66 - Home for the Holidays,

Murder.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 58 - Family Dysfunctions (Pt 1),

Harry is informed of Vernon Dursley's death.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 92 - Reactions & Overreactions (Pt 3),

Regulus is nearly killed by the Locket.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 102 - Dementors, Divination and a Day in Hogsmeade,

Harry and Jim face a boggart.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 138 - The Future All Around Us, Waiting to Be Born (Pt 2),

Harry faces yet another boggart.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 138 - The Future All Around Us, Waiting to Be Born (Pt 2),

James speak with Mrs. Figg.
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Ch. 144 - A Series of Tense Conversations (Pt 2),

Jim meets Vernon Dursley.
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Ch. 144 - A Series of Tense Conversations (Pt 2),

Rita Skeeter inverviews Petunia Dursley to get dirt on Jim Potter.