Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters or plot devices, if I did I would be British and rich, and a much better writer. Harry Potter and all associated ideas are the property of J K Rowling.
Little Whinging is a plain looking suburb located just outside of London. Most people who live in this area are considered normal hard working people, although boring would probably hit closer to the mark. On the street of Privet Drive, in the large house with the brass number 4 on the door, there lives a family who are as close to normal as it is possible to get. This family consists of Vernon Dursley who works a 9-5 job at Grunnings Drills, his wife Petunia Evans Dursley who is a stay at home mother, and a widely acknowledged gossip. They also have a son, Dudley, who despite being extremely over weight, and a known bully among the neighborhood, is the apple of his parents eyes. Unfortunately for the Dursley their much coveted normalcy, only last for little over 9 months of the year. You see, they also have a nephew, who spends the summer in the perfectly normal homes. This nephew, whose name is Harry James Potter, was dumped on their doorstep shortly before his first birthday. To understand the current relationship that exists between Vernon and Petunia, and their nephew Harry, we need to go back and look at how their relationship developed and where it all started.
They say that you can never tell a person really character until they are face with a difficult decision. When Harry first appeared on a crisp November morning, he caused quite a shock to Petunia and Vernon, and their perfectly normal lives. Conversely, Dudley was not shocked at all, although this could be because he was fast asleep, or more likely due to the fact that he was one years old, and could hardly be expected to comprehend the dramatic change in his upbringing that was about to occur.
Now one thing you have to understand about the Dursley's is that appearing normal and being respected were the two most important things in their lives, with the exception of their new baby boy. So, when they discovered baby Harry on the doorstep they quickly brought him inside, before the entire neighborhood saw him, and then proceeded to decide what to do with him. After reading the letter that had been tucked in Harry's baby blanket, they had decided to look after the poor little baby who had lost his parents. Vernon was not heartless and couldn't help but imagine what could happen if his precious Dudley was in Harry's place. As for Petunia, she decided to bring Harry up as her own, for despite the lingering jealously she still held for her sister and her abnormalities, baby Harry was still family. Having made that decision Vernon and Petunia decided to fix up their guest room for Harry and to treat him like they were planning to treat Dudley.
Now as you can see the Dursley's started out well, and had the best intentions at heart. However, three years after Harry's arrival strange things started to happen around their house, and their nephew in particular. When the Dursley's could no longer ignore these happenings, they decided something needed to be done, they could have the perfectly normal lives disrupted like this, let alone the problems this would cause to their reputations. Now if Harry had been an ordinary baby none of these strange this would have happened, in fact his normal upbringing would have remained perfectly normal. Unfortunately, Harry wasn't normal, he was a wizard, and unluckily for little Harry and his family he was destined to be quite a powerful wizard at that. At this point it is important to understand that while all young wizards have incidences of accident magic growing up, it is usually fairly easy to ignore, which is most definitely not the case with Harry. If Harry had been less powerful his accidental magical outburst could have remained hidden inside the house and none of the neighbors would have been at risk of discovering his gift, or the 'abnormality' that his aunt and uncle were hiding in their house. As it stands, Harry's outburst were rather spectacularly, and quite noticeable. Like turning his teachers' hair blue, accidentally apparition on to the roof at the school, and minutely altering his appearance, at times.
Face with the disruption in the normal lives, and the possible destruction of their reputation, the Dursley's did the only thing they could think of, they tried to get rid of the threat. Now as they couldn't get rid of Harry himself, they hid him and actively discouraged the abnormal behavior, ie magical outbursts. As they were dealing with a young child the discouragements took the form of punishments and rewards, since this is how children learn. Once, again, the Dursley's were not monsters, just ordinary people put into a situation that they neither understood, nor could control. The punishments started off mild and gradually increased as the Dursley's, especially Vernon got more and more agitated. It seemed that no matter what they did, the abnormal incidences increased in number and became more noticeable, well at least in the Dursley's eyes. Of course, the neighbors didn't notice the abnormal behavior they were too involved in their own lives, and as is the case with people that are very concerned with maintaining the reputations, they become more and more paranoid and convinced that everyone is watching them. The punishments continued to increase until Harry found himself doing most of the household chores and living is the cupboard under the stairs.
Poor little Harry, didn't understand what was going on, at first his was entertained by all the 'neat' stuff that happened when he was desperate or scared, but when his family started to punish him for the odd things that occurred around him he started to get scared and nervous. Harry tried to stop the 'neat' things from happening, but as he didn't know why they were occurring, or if he was even the cause, he couldn't do anything. Now you could consider Harry lucky that he didn't remember much about before, when he was treated like a part of the family, or you could find it depressing that he didn't remember having a loving family, who weren't terrified of him, and what he could do, accidentally or not, to their perfect life, and nearly untarnished reputation. On one hand he would have know that they cared for him and that he had been happy there, but he also would have been incredibly confused, and most likely significantly more bitter, than he ended up being.
Shortly after Harry's eleventh birthday, letters began to arrive addressed the 'Harry Potter', however, his uncle kept getting them before him and destroying them. This action may seem confusing, considering that Vernon and Petunia still cared for him, they were just ruled by their fear, but like with many things that we do not understand, they assumed that this new development could be nothing but bad news. You see, Petunia recognized the letter as being similar to the one that her sister Lily had received on her eleventh birthday, and that had subsequently torn her happy childhood and her loving relationship with her sister in two. Vernon on the other hand just assumed, that more training in his nephews abnormality, couldn't only make the 'odd' occurrences worse, and more noticeable.
Despite all their attempts to ensure that Harry not receive his letter, they failed and he ended up not only receiving the letter but attending the school which sent the letter, 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry', under Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Harry's tuition at Hogwarts served to cement the fear his aunt and uncle felt, and increase their bitterness towards him.