History Characters / HarryPotterMuggles

* BigSisterBully: When she and Lily were children, Lily was accepted into Hogwarts and she wasn't. Out of jealousy and bitterness, Petunia began to hate her sister and all things magic, and their relationship never recovered.

** As is trying to talk back to Alastor Moody. Even if you don't know of Moody's background and history, one look ''alone'' should indicate this is not someone you want to pick a fight with.

* RichBitch: He was shown to be snobbish in his only speaking appearance, describing Morfin Gaunt and his father as "tramps" for their insanity and deranged actions towards others (which was admittedly true). Also, the locals from the village were known to have low opinions of him and his parents for their general snobby and elitist attitudes.

* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: He and his GangOfBullies dress like upper class delinquent chavs while cornering Harry in ''OrderOfThePhoenix''.

** In the end, when Harry declares the Dursleys consider him a waste of space, Vernon awkwardly does not respond, implying that he knows there was no justification for the horrible way he treated Harry, and now he feels some guilt about it, but is either too proud to apologise for it or considers doing so redundant.
** In the film adaptation of ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', before officially "suggesting" it, he can be seen silently agreeing with Harry that he should go upstairs out of the way when Marge begins insulting the boy's parents. He could just be wanting to avoid setting Harry off, but the implication is there that even ''he'' finds her behaviour to be appalling.

* AwfulTruth: According to Rowling, when he was attacked by dementors, he didn't have any traumatic memories for them to make him relive, due to having been pampered and spoiled constantly by his parents. Instead, he was forced to see himself as other people saw him, and to realize the truth about himself--that he was nothing but a big, fat, mean, stupid, spoiled bully, and had been his whole life. This actually triggers his first step towards becoming a better person.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Harry obviously despises her, Petunia is screaming internally when her dog tears up the carpet and even ''Dudley'' has to be bribed in order to tolerate her presence. Even Vernon doesn't really care for Marge as much as he lets on, as he's clearly fearful of what would happen if Marge know about Harry's 'abnormality' (which Harry attempts to use to his advantage). Also, he gets a postcard claiming Marge is ill, and he shows absolutely no concern. To Vernon's credit, when Marge inflates into a balloon, he is angry and demands that he be changed back, which Harry refuses and threatens Vernon to back off. But it's telling that Petunia and Dudley do not care about what happened to Marge, with Dudley focusing on his eating his dessert and Petunia making no attempt to get Harry to help Marge.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Harry obviously despises her, Petunia is screaming internally when her dog tears up the carpet and even ''Dudley'' has to be bribed in order to tolerate her presence. Even Vernon doesn't really care for Marge as much as he lets on, as he's clearly fearful of what would happen if Marge know about Harry's 'abnormality' (which Harry attempts to use to his advantage). Also, he gets a postcard claiming Marge is ill, and he shows absolutely no concern.

* AxCrazy: At his worst, he borders on this - the main example is when Dudley is afflicted by the Ton Tongue Toffee. Though, frankly, his actions early in ''Philosopher's Stone'' after the letters start arriving (Dudley even lampshades it by saying, "Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he mummy?") and in ''Chamber of Secrets'' (where he literally imprisons Harry and tries to prevent his escape by main force out of sheer spite).

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: For all her flaws, she ''genuinely'' does love Dudley, even if her parenting makes him the fat, spoiled bully he would become, and her and Vernon's relationship appears to be a fairly happy one.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Normally he's happy with leaving Harry out of things. After his HeelFaceTurn, however, it hits him that Harry is not going into hiding with him and his parents. Dudley is actually horrified by this since Harry has warned the Dursleys that the same killer that wiped out his parents will go after them and torture them, and Harry instead is going into the fray. It gives him the courage to try to say goodbye and thank him.

* JerkassHasAPoint:
** In ''Chamber of Secrets'', while it doesn't ''remotely'' excuse him going out of his way to barricade Harry in his room and stop him from going back to Hogwarts, Vernon, from a ''purely technical standpoint'', is in the right to be pissed off at Harry withholding from him that he's not allowed to use magic outside of school since he basically kept the Dursleys in a constant state of fear since he returned, even if Harry had [[AbusiveParents a very, very good reason for doing so]]. And even before that, since he never discovers Dobby's treachery in spoiling Petunia's cake and [[MadeOutToBeAJerkAss framing Harry for it]], as far as he's concerned Harry is guilty as charged in trying to cause even more grief for them - though, again, you could hardly blame him if he had decided to [[AssholeVictim make them suffer a little.]]
** In ''Order of the Phoenix'', his attempt to throw Harry out of the house (knowing it would put Harry in mortal danger if he did so) is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Harry has just told him that Voldemort has returned and probably has Harry in his sights, with none of them fully understanding that their house is actually protected from Voldemort. The various other Harry-related disasters he lists that have befallen his household [[OnceAnEpisode once every book]] are (admittedly massive) inconveniences that do not justify risking Harry's life, but his unwillingness to let Harry draw an unstoppably powerful psychopathic murderer to Petunia and Dudley's doorstep with his continued presence isn't totally unreasonable.

---> '''Harry:''' Besides, I'm just a waste of space. Isn't that right, Vernon?

%% Doesnt explain what the reaction is. * BerserkButton:
%% ** Say anything related to magic in front of him. [[SchmuckBait Go on, try it.]]
%%** Never mind magic, so much as mention anything remotely unnatural, even in a dream and he'll snap - though that could be because said dream was Harry's, and he was particularly on edge about anything potentially magical where Harry was concerned.

* DemotedToExtra: In the films as the series goes on after ''Prisoner of Azkaban''. His scenes in ''Goblet of Fire'' and ''Half Blood Prince'' are outright skipped, and he makes very small appearances in ''Order of the Phoenix'' and ''Deathly Hallows Part 1.''

* TragicDream: [[spoiler:As a child, she desperately wanted to attend Hogwarts, but couldn't because she was a Muggle. She was unable to get over her jealousy of her sister Lily being a witch, and it destroyed their relationship for the rest of their lives.]]

* HeIsAllGrownUp: By the ''Deathly Hallows'', he's described as "large and muscular".

* PoorCommunicationKills: His ChildByRape, Tom Riddle Jr., seemed to believe that his father had abandoned his mother due to being a witch, when in fact Sr. had only been with her in the first place due to her slipping him love potion/casting the Imperius Curse on him, so his reaction was less about her being a witch and more about what she had used her magic to do to him. Then again, Jr. probably would have still killed him just for the revelation of [[YouAreWhatYouHate having half-Muggle parentage]], and with Voldemort's general sociopathy and his smug superiority in magic, it's very unlikely Voldemort would have even cared about the fact that his mother drugged and raped his father with a LovePotion.

* LoveTriangle: She and Tom were a couple, but Merope also had an eye on the young nobleman.

* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: She was a pretty, (implied) upper-class Muggle woman, while Merope was a poor, ugly witch who Tom Riddle Sr. didn't even know existed. But Merope had magic on her side, which she used to bewitch Tom Riddle Sr. into loving her.

** ''Prisoner of Azkaban'': The visiting Aunt Marge pushes Harry's ''BerserkButton'' about his parents while drunk, and Harry loses control of his powers, causing Marge to inflate like a balloon and float to the ceiling. While in this case, the Ministry of Magic was able to make it like the incident never happened and even wipe Marge's mind, the family is still quite incensed over it. At the end of the school year, they're informed that Harry now has a Godfather, on the run for murderer, who is very keen to make sure that Harry is being treated well and will get involved if he believes otherwise, wiping out the advantage the Dursleys gained on finding out that Harry can't use magic.

* BerserkButton:
** Say anything related to magic in front of him. [[SchmuckBait Go on, try it.]]
** Never mind magic, so much as mention anything remotely unnatural, even in a dream and he'll snap - though that could be because said dream was Harry's, and he was particularly on edge about anything potentially magical where Harry was concerned.

** ''HalfBloodPrince'': Not too bad this time, but they still have to contend with a rather humiliating meeting with Albus Dumbledore, who is very clearly trolling them, knowing that they're too scared to stand up to him. He dresses them down for their abusive treatment of Harry, and then indicates they have done an even worse job raising Dudley, with them saying nothing in their defense.
** ''DeathlyHallows'': Due to their relationship with Harry, they're forced to go into hiding until the situation blows over, as they'll be prime targets for torture and murder if Voldemort's forces find them. However, it's likely that the conditions of their temporary displacement were reasonable and ended up lasting less than a year, so this is certainly the least they've been humiliated in any of the books. Dudley even manages to start the process of repairing his relationship with his cousin, although Vernon and Petunia can't quite bring themselves to do the same.

** ''Chamber of Secrets'': For the first several weeks of summer, the Dursleys are clearly living in fear of what Harry might do to them now that he's been educated on his magical powers, heavily altering the power dynamics in their relationship. Then, Vernon loses out on a massive order of drills that he implied would have bought them a vacation home thanks to Dobby sabotaging a dinner party in an attempt to force Harry to not go to Hogwarts that year. It's quite clear from the scene that, were it not for Dobby, he would have been successful. His attempt to punish Harry (after discovering that Harry isn't allowed to use magic outside of school) by locking him in his room and starving him lasts all of three days before he's sprung by the Weasleys, which also leads to Harry spending the rest of his summer vacation at The Burrow, where he's far happier than he's ever been with the Dursleys.

** ''PrisonerOfAzkaban'': The visiting Aunt Marge pushes Harry's ''BerserkButton'' about his parents while drunk, and Harry loses control of his powers, causing Marge to inflate like a balloon and float to the ceiling. While in this case, the Ministry of Magic was able to make it like the incident never happened and even wipe Marge's mind, the family is still quite incensed over it.