When people learn about this evil character from the Harry Potter franchise, they might understand what made them that way.

SUMMARY

There’s a lesser-known fact about Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter series that sheds light on why she was the way she was.
It was stated that Petunia too wanted to become a witch like her sister, but she didn’t possess the genes for magic.
Despite this, she wrote a letter to Dumbledore for her consideration, but she was rejected by him for not having magic.

While it’s all laid out in front of the bookworms that cruised through the entire Harry Potter series of novels written by author J.K. Rowling, the strict fans of the films by Warner Bros. adapting the tale of The Boy Who Lived for the big screen had to wait for the next films in the franchise to catch up to the lore of the world of wizards and witches.

Daniel Radcliffe in a still from the Harry Potter franchise
And if you miss it in the films, then you would have to either rewatch it or go on a research spree on the internet as to why certain things happened the way they did. One of the crucial yet lesser-known facts about Harry’s life in the film was about her aunt Petunia Dursley, who seemed to hate him for being born.

But this hatred stemmed from the fact that her sister was able to get into Hogwarts, but she was rejected by Dumbledore himself, never fulfilling her dream to become a witch.

Petunia Dursley Wanted To Become A Witch Just Like Lily In The Harry Potter Franchise

Fiona Shaw and Daniel Radcliffe in a still from the Harry Potter franchise
This may not be the blink-and-you-miss-it bit of lore from the Harry Potter series of films, but it is a lesser-known fact about Aunt Petunia from the franchise. While everyone may hate her with passion for how she and her family treated Harry since the day he was a young boy, people would definitely love to know what made her heart so cold.

This bit of information was revealed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and the films in a deleted scene, where she revealed how she lost a sister to the dark arts.

It was revealed in more detail in the novels that Petunia, played by Fiona Shaw in the films, wanted to become a witch, just like her sister. Alas, Lily had the genes to wield magic, and she, just like their parents, was a muggle.

Despite this fact, Petunia is adamant about making her dream of witching days come to fruition, which is why she wrote a letter to the Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore, requesting him to let her join the school for witches and wizards.

But as the fact stood, she simply had no talent for magic, which is why he had to decline her application, no matter how hard she took it.

Thus, this rejection was not handled well by Petunia, and after the death of her sister at the hands of Voldemort, she harbored the same resentment towards Lily’s child as she did towards Lily for being the gifted one among the two.

Although this may never be an excuse for her to treat a child this way, people at least understood where she turned this way.

How Petunia Still Had A Heart At The End

Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson in a still from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
While she may have been portrayed as one of the most cold-hearted and evil characters in the entire series, Petunia, to a very certain extent, loved her sister, and cared for Harry till the end.

In the novels, it was also revealed that to ensure Harry’s safety from Voldemort, Dumbledore requested Petunia to keep him with her, as the last remaining blood relative of Lily, she was the only one he could be safe with since Lily’s sacrifice bound Harry with a magic that stipulated this situation.

Thus, despite Vernon’s persuasion to put him in an orphanage, Petunia never let Harry go, no matter how she felt about him and her sister.