Was Vernon Misunderstood?

WARNING!!!!! SPOILER INFO!!!!! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ ALL 7 HARRY POTTER BOOKS, AND YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANY SECRETS, STOP READING NOW!!!!!!



OK, don't say I didn't warn you.....


This is something that's been percolating in my brain for quite sometime. And, yes, this is my third post of the day, and yes, the other two are on VASTLY different subjects. I can't help if if I have catholic (with a little c) interests.

So, having finished all 7 Harry Potter books, and having had, now, several months to ruminate on them, I'm beginning to think that perhaps Vernon Dursley may be the second, or at least third, most misunderstood character in the series (Snape is obviously the first, I'd not fight too hard if anyone wanted to say Neville was second).

What? you say? But you HATE Vernon! We ALL hate Vernon! He's just downright mean, and ENJOYS being mean! Look at what he did to Harry! Look at what he did to his own son!

Yes, I know. And I admit that one of my fondest HP fantasies is that at some point in the post-You-Know-Who world Petunia finally tells Vernon to shove it up his You-Know-Where, and she and Dudley actually form a relationship of sorts with Harry. I love the mental image of Petunia, Dudley, Teddy Tonks, Victoire, and Harry,Ginny and clan all pulling Christmas-crackers around a huge table in a Burrow-like house!

But back to Vernon. I'm not so sure that the man got a fair shake. Let's think about this from his point of view for a moment.

At some point in his life, probably in his mid to late 20s, he meets Petunia, and they go through whatever courtship they go through. Given what we've seen of him, I'd guess it was a fairly traditional type deal. He was probably bluff and hearty, and she probably twittered a lot. Even assuming that the elder Evanses were already dead, at some point Vernon and Petunia would've had to have talked about their families. He would've introduced her to Marge (and Ripper!) and she would've told him....She would've told him what about Lily?

I think the hurt that Petunia suffered was still too fresh for her to have been objective when she initally met Vernon. After all, she was only a few years older than Lily, so assuming that she and Vernon met, courted, married and had Dudley during her late teens/early twenties (as they had to, for Dudley to be the same age as Harry), Lily might very well have still been at Hogwarts. I believe that the seve years Lily spent at Hogwarts were an unbearable burden to Petunia. She'd had to watch Lily perform her (somewhat) unintentional magic when they were younger, she'd seen Lily be invited to Hogwarts, she'd been REFUSED by Dumbledore (DUMBLEDORE! Who let almost ANYONE in....provided they had promise), and then she had to watch for seven years as Lily learned everything that Lily had been denied.

I don't think Petunia could possibly remain objective during that. I love my sister, and I delight in our complementary selves (she cooks, I bake) but I have to admit, if she went to the Culinary Institute to learn to be a pastry chef, the jealousy would eat at me. Even at 40 -- at 11, it would've killed me. And if I had to eat all her delightful little pastries when she came home on holiday, it would be unbearable.

So, I think that by the time Vernon met Petunia, she was nearly mad with jealousy, and it had festered to the point that she couldn't even remember the relationship she had once had with her sister.

OK, fine, you say, but how does that absolve Vernon? Stick with me for a moment longer...

Vernon never knew Lily, until after he saw her through Petunia's eyes. I think that the inital description and impression of Lily that Petunia gave to Vernon colored the entirety of his feelings towards Lily, and by extension towards Harry. I think that the initial impression he was given was of a girl who'd been given everything, who was, perhaps, a little arrogant, and who had hurt Petunia immeasurably.

Now, if I were Vernon, and I were a young, twenty-something male who'd just fallen in love with with a young lady, I know how I'd react to someone who had hurt her to such a degree. I'd hate them. Flat out. No questions asked, no holds barred. I'd consider it my duty to shield the object of my affection from the hurt.

Now, that being said, I do think that Vernon was, shall we say, a bit simple. Once he had hold of an idea ("The Potters are odd, and we must ignore them"), he never re-examined it to see if there was a flaw. In this, I don't think we can cut him much slack. We all make snap judgements, but hopefully most of us can go back and re-form those judgements if further evidence holds them to be wrong. I don't think Vernon had that capacity, and I'll not try to.

But I still think that he's gotten a bit of a raw deal. Keep in mind, this was Petunia's family. Vernon was an outsider, taking his cues from Petunia. No, for the record, I think that Petunia began re-working her feelings towards Lily adn Harry at some point, probably after the dementors attacked Dudley, but possibly beforehand. But regardless of what Petunia might've felt after Lily died, regardless of what she might've felt after Voldemort came back, regardless of what she might have felt seeing Harry every day for 10 or 15 or 17 years; Harry, who looked just like his father....except he had his mother's eyes, she never, NEVER expressed those feelings to Vernon. The closest she got was once in Order of the Phoenix, when she insisted that Harry would have to stay, and briefly in Deathly Hallows, when she seems to want to say something more to Harry before the Dursleys leave Number 4 Privet Drive.

Now, it would take a whole 'nother post to think about WHY she didn't talk to Vernon about her feelings, whether they were changing or not. But, I think it's safe to say that she didn't. If we accept that, then I don't know that we can necessarily blame Vernon. You can't deal with what you don't know.

Now, again, I'm not saying Vernon ought to be getting the Muggle-Wizard Relations award. He's still a simple, shallow person who really only wants to deal with what he can comprehend, and magic is SO far beyond his comprehension it's not even funny. But I don't think we know the entire story of Vernon, and I think it's possible that he's been cut a raw deal.

Comments from my fellow Harry Potter geeks out there?