A/N: These are just character analysis of the Dursleys and my thoughts on them. Be warned, I may be a bit biased every now and then. Oh, and there will be spoilers for all seven books so….SPOILER ALERT!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All rights and ownership belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Petunia

Petunia Dursley is one of the most complex characters in the series so I'll start with her first. In the beginning of Sorcerer's Stone, she was just a nosy, overly doting mother and only showed coldness when her sister, Lily, is mentioned. However, all that changed when Harry Potter showed up on her doorstep and Petunia finds out about Lily's death. Did that melt the coldness in her heart? No; in fact, that news seem to make her worse!

Petunia, along with Vernon, locked Harry in a small, spider-infested cupboard, gave him little food, gave him hand-me-down clothes from Dudley, and treated him like a slave. She even tried to hit Harry with a frying pan in Chamber of Secrets, for Merlin's sake! Keep in mind, Harry is Petunia's little sister's only son so for her to treat him like that is just appalling. What's even worse is her reason for doing this, which is understandable but still bad.

In chapter four of Sorcerer's Stone, it was implied through Petunia's outburst that she was extremely jealous of the attention Lily had gotten from her parents for being a witch. We all understand this as siblings tend to fight each other for their parents attention, but abusing their child out of past resentment is downright cruel. There's more to this jealously Petunia had, but I'll talk about that later.

Her treatment of Harry soften during Goblet of Fire because of Harry's "murderous" godfather, Sirius Black. However, in Order of the Phoenix, Petunia revealed her knowledge of the wizarding world: she knew that Dementors guard the wizard prison, Azkaban. She also said she heard it from "that boy" whom Lily was friends with. It seems as the series goes on, Petunia's backstory is given to us little by little until the last book, the Deathly Hallows, reveals everything about her.

Petunia's behavior is strange in Half-Blood Prince; when Dumbledore confronts her about her mistreatment of Harry and Dudley, she's "oddly flushed." Did she know what she was doing was wrong? If so, why didn't she stop mistreating Harry? Why didn't she stop spoiling her son rotten? These are questions I want you guys to answer on your own.

Finally in the Deathly Hallows, Petunia had something to say to Harry before she and her family go into hiding. But she'd never gotten the courage to say what she wanted to say to her nephew before departing. Whether it was an apology or a goodbye, I'm pretty sure it was already too little too late for that. It wasn't the last we see or hear Petunia, however. In chapter thirty-three of the Deathly Hallows, we dive into Severus Snape's memories and see a young Petunia swinging on the swings with a young Lily. We then get a taste of Lily's magic as she jumped off the swing, flew, and landed on the ground as gently as you please.

Petunia freaks out when Lily showed her a flower's petals opening and closing in her hand. Snape then shows up and tells Lily that she's a witch; obviously Petunia doesn't believe him and walks off, taking Lily with her. Petunia, however, must had been curious because she decided to spy on Lily and Snape talking about the magical world (we find out Snape was "that boy" Petunia was talking about in OOTP and how she knew about Dementors guarding Azkaban). As we go deeper into Snape's memories, we find out Petunia had sent Dumbledore a letter asking if she can go to Hogwarts with Lily. When Dumbledore kindly told her she couldn't go to Hogwarts because she didn't have magic powers, Petunia's heart turned cold. This was the start of the developing jealousy and hatred Petunia had for Lily and everything magical. She deemed Lily and the rest of her kind freaks of nature and cut her sister out of her life, severing the bond they had as children forever.

This will turn out to be a terrible mistake when she finds out about Lily's death. Petunia wanted Lily to forgive her for the way she treated her when she was alive, but I don't see how that's possible when she mistreated her sister's son.

Did Petunia Deserve Forgiveness?

While I do understand and sympathize her, I can't forgive Petunia Dursley and I don't think she deserve forgiveness. Every time I read a sympathic!Petunia fanfic, I can't help but think of the way she treated Harry and all forgiveness I was about to give her flew out the window. If Petunia really want Lily to forgive her, she wouldn't have mistreated her sister's only son.

Petunia had plenty of chances to apologize to Lily, one being at a planned dinner with her, James, and Vernon. But that didn't work out well since Vernon was being rude to James (and James was taking the bait). Still, Petunia could've went to Lily after the disaster and tell her how much she loved her. But that didn't happened because jealousy, hatred, and pride blinded Petunia. There was also an opportunity for Petunia to get forgiven when Harry showed up on her doorstep. But no, she let that opportunity pass by abusing her nephew who had no idea of the torn relationship with her and Lily. If Petunia had let all the jealousy she had for Lily go, maybe the sisters would've reconcile.

That's the problem with Petunia; she couldn't (or wouldn't) let go of her jealousy. Instead, she nursed it and it grew in her heart, turning her into a bitter, spiteful, and cruel woman. Things would have turned out differently if Petunia had accept the way she was, a Muggle with no special powers. It's normal to be jealous of someone, but you have to let it go and accept the way things are or else it could ruin your relationship with the person you're jealous of. Even if you don't have a relationship with the person, you still have to let the jealousy go. It isn't worth losing a relationship with someone you know and love. That's a lesson Petunia failed to learn.

All in all, Petunia doesn't deserve forgiveness. Even if she wanted Lily's forgiveness, she never showed or admit it. There is a reason envy is a Deadly Sin and Petunia's case proved it.

A/N: I had to update this chapter because I've forgotten to add a few things.