Petunia, the wife of Vernon and mother of Dudley, takes in her nephew Harry as a baby after his parents are killed by Lord Voldemort, but she certainly doesn’t deserve ‘Cool Auntie’ status given the way she treats him for all seven books and eight films.
Poor Harry is forced to live in a spider-ridden cupboard under the stairs and is constantly reminded that his parents were supposedly ‘freaks’, all while being forced to earn his keep through cooking and cleaning.
The films, which are of course based on the novels by J.K. Rowling, often omit some major details you read about in the books (shout out to Sir Cadogan, Winky and Peeves, who never quite made the final cut in the film).
In the original 2001 film The Philosopher’s Stone, the abusive aunt can be seen in the kitchen when Harry receives his first of many letters from Hogwarts, inviting him to start his magical education away from the dreadful Dursley’s.
Sharing the details with other Potterheads, one wrote: “In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Aunt Petunia is visible in the background of this scene dyeing Dudley’s old clothes grey for Harry’s uniform.
“This is only ever mentioned in the book.”
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Petunia was perhaps making a stew or soup in the pot, as I have always thought, but it turns out she was simply ensuring that none of the family’s hard-earned cash would be spent on any school uniform for Harry.
Warner Bros.
Petunia may have expected the Hogwarts letter to arrive in the post at some point soon, given her sister’s history, but she was still determined to send Harry to the local state school, Stonewall High, rather than the fee-paying Smeltings Academy where their darling Dudley was due to attend.
And rather than buying him the new uniform, she decides to dye some of Dudley’s old clothes grey, ready for Harry to start at a new school in the sort of clothes you’d find in the lost-and-found box at school when you forgot your PE kit.
Fans of the beloved Harry Potter series reacted to the news with a mixture of surprise and shock.
One commented: “The amount of times I have seen this movie is crazy, and I’ve read the book once, absolutely loved it, and yet I didn’t even notice this.
“That’s actually really cool!! Just wish they kept Peeves in the film!”
Warner Bros.
Another put: “Remember when the movies were this true to the books? Good times.”
Thankfully for Harry, Hagrid arrived not too long after to help him start his Hogwarts journey, and he managed to avoid ever wearing the horrible contents of Petunia’s pot.
