Occupation Notes

She obsessively follows news about divorced movie stars while sniffing, "as if we're interested in their sordid affairs". At some point she met Vernon Dursley and married him. Petunia Dursley hadn't seen her sister for years and usually pretended she didn't have one - The Evans sisters weren't talking as Lily Potter knew how her sister felt about her. However one day Petunia discovered her nephew Harry Potter on her doorstep as she put out the milk bottles. There was a note left with baby Harry by Albus Dumbledore, which explained that his parents Lily and James had been killed by Lord Voldemort, how Lily Potter had sacrificed herself to save her son's life and how living with his only other relatives would protect him from Lord Voldemort. Petunia and Vernon agreed to raise Harry, but kept him as downtrodden as possible in order to squash the magic out of him; they never told him how his parents died, instead claiming they had died in a car crash. When Petunia and her husband, Vernon, attempted to throw Harry out of their house at the beginning of Order of the Phoenix, she receives a Howler from Dumbledore – "Remember my last, Petunia", which JKR has confirmed is referring to the note he left with one-year-old Harry on their doorstep. Rowling has also said that Dumbledore had corresponded with Petunia before that. Aunt Petunia has, therefore, more knowledge about the wizarding world than she will admit. Furthermore, Petunia has proved she knows what dementors and Azkaban are, claiming to have overheard a conversation between Lily and an "awful boy" that might have been James Potter. Petunia normally refers to James using his name, leaving the possibility that she has met other wizards.