10 Harry Potter Characters Who Are Way Better In The Books
8. Petunia Dursley
Along with her husband and her son, Petunia Dursley treats her nephew with disdain. She views Harry as a burden on the rest of the family and routinely neglects him.
In the movies, Petunia’s only time in the limelight comes at the start of The Philosopher’s Stone. Shortly after Hagrid’s arrival, she rants about her sister (Harry’s mother), revealing her deep-seated hatred. But even though Petunia appears in the majority of the other movies, she doesn’t have any other memorable scenes – her husband does most of the talking.
Petunia isn’t particularly prominent in the books, either. But she does get a nice chunk of backstory in the final novel. When Harry experiences Snape’s memories in ‘The Prince’s Tale’, he learns Petunia had ambitions to become a witch when she was younger. She even wrote to Dumbledore and asked to be accepted into Hogwarts alongside her sister.
This side of Petunia is the most likeable part of her personality. It humanises her in a way that no one saw coming, and it’s a shame we don’t get to experience this in the movies.