Esther Roberts

## Esther Evans (née Roberts)

**Esther Evans** (née **Roberts**)(2 August, 1937 - 13 April, 1979) was an English muggle, the daughter of Alfred Roberts and his wife Katherine, also known as Katarzyna, a Polish immigrant who came to England before the outbreak of the Second World War. Her father worked at a bank.

Born in Evesham, she moved to the town of Cokeworth with her husband, John Evans, in 1957. She was the mother of Petunia Dursley (née Evans) and Lily Potter (née Evans). She was the mother-in-law of both Vernon Dursley and James Potter, and the grandmother of Dudley Dursley, a muggle, and Harry Potter, "the Boy Who Lived".

According to sources, the Evans died "very normal muggle deaths". Esther herself died of lung cancer.

## Biography

### Early life

Esther Roberts was born on 2 August, 1937, in Evesham, Worcestershire, England. She was the daughter of Alfred Roberts, aged 31, who worked at a bank. Her mother was Katherine Roberts (born Katarzyna Cohen), aged 20, who had immigrated to England from Warsaw, Poland.

Esther grew up mostly raised by her mother, who only spoke Yiddish. Her parents had married each other because Katherine had gotten pregnant, and "*that's what they did in those days*," according to Esther's granddaughter, Petunia Dursley (née Evans). She grew up half-Jewish, and many members of her mother's family, the Cohens, were killed because they were. Esther recalled an early childhood memory in which her mother, Katherine, stayed up to pray for her family, still in Poland, which was invaded in September 1939. Esther was two years old.

Esther's parents divorced when she was sixteen years old, and her father left the family. She was their only child. She did not tell her children much about her father growing up, and did not speak much of him.

### Later life

Esther met a man called John Evans in 1954. She did not attend university. She married him in 1957, and they moved to a small house in Cokeworth. Cokeworth was a large town located in the midlands of England. It was a town with several streets of identical brick, terraced, houses. It was located near a dirty river, the bank of which is strewn with litter.

Their daughter, Petunia, was born there on 22 February, 1958. She was named after John's mother, Petunia Evans (née Gordon). Soon after, another daughter, who they named Lily, was born on 30 January, 1960, also in Cokeworth.

At the age of nine, Esther's daughter, Lily, became friends with Severus Snape, who lived down in Spinner's End, which was within walking distance of the Evans' house. However, the Evanses were apparently better off, since Petunia sneered at Snape for coming from that poverty-stricken neighbourhood.

Severus was the first person to tell Lily that she was a witch (unbeknownst to Esther) and he went on to teach Lily a great deal about the wizarding world while the two eagerly awaited the time when they could attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry together. Lily's magical abilities and friendship with Severus caused problems between the Evans sisters. In the summer of 1971, the Evanses received a visit from Professor Minerva McGonagall, who taught at the school. She informed Esther and her husband, John, that their daughter was a witch, and had been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

John and Esther were overjoyed and extremely proud "to have a witch in the family".

Envying her sister's abilities, Esther's other daughter, Petunia, wrote to Dumbledore, asking if she could attend Hogwarts with Lily. However, the headmaster kindly refused her petition. The letter was later found by Lily and Severus.

At the age of eleven, Lily bought her wand from Ollivander's in Diagon Alley. The wand was 10¼ inches, willow, "*swishy*", and according to Garrick Ollivander, good for charm work. Shortly before her depart to Hogwarts, Esther's daughters, Lily and Petunia, argued about magic again. Petunia called Lily a "freak" for possess that power and said it was better that she went to that school so "normal people" would be safe.

In late 1977, Esther's daughter, Lily, and her new boyfriend, James, had a disastrous first meeting with Petunia and her then-fiancé, Vernon Dursley, which presumably took place over Christmas break, as they were both still at Hogwarts. When Vernon tried to impress James with his car, the wizard in turn boasted of his own material wealth, and a row ensued. The evening ended with both Vernon and Petunia storming out of the restaurant and Lily bursting into tears, with an ashamed James promising he'd apologise and make it up (which, due to his and Lily's untimely deaths, never happened). Petunia was married by the end of 1977. Though Lily and James were invited to the wedding, her sister refused to have Lily as a bridesmaid, upsetting her deeply. At the reception, Vernon wouldn't talk to James, but described him as "*some magician*" within his earshot.

#### Death

Esther died of lung cancer on 13 April, 1979, which was a "very normal muggle death". Her daughter, Petunia, blamed Lily for her death, only driving a wedge further between them.

## Etymology

According to the Hebrew Bible, Queen Esther was born with the name ("Myrtle"). Her name was changed to Esther to hide her identity upon becoming queen of Persia. The root of Esther in Hebrew is *hester* (הסתר) "Hidden". The name can be derived from the Old Persian *stāra* (meaning "star").