On what marks the 35th birthday of Dudley Dursley, J.K. Rowling has released new information on Pottermore about Harry Potter's miserable aunt and uncle; Petunia and Vernon Dursley.
Surprising to no one, Rowling's notes seem to hint at the fact that she doensn't like these characters very much.
Rowling's latest entry describes the Durselys first meeting with Lily and James Potter. Apparently, James didn't exactly make a great first impression.
James was amused by Vernon, and made the mistake of showing it. Vernon tried to patronise James, asking what car he drove. James described his racing broom. 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.
Rowling goes on to explain that Petunia did not invite Lily to be a bridesmaid at her wedding to Vernon, and all but threw out Lily's letter announcing Harry's birth.
According to Rowling, Vernon and Petunia didn't go through the rigorous naming process of other characters. She essentially chose two names she hated and went from there.
"‘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," Rowling writes.
In Harry's final interaction with the Dursleys, Rowling says that she'd hoped to "suggest ... that something decent almost struggled out of Aunt Petunia" when she said goodbye to Harry. Ultimately, however, nothing decent struggles out and Petunia stays true to her narrow-minded self.
Happy birthday, Dudley -- your parents were the worst.