Relatives of Harry Potter

This article is an overview of the family tree of fictional character Harry Potter of the Harry Potter series. A brief introduction of each relative in the family tree is given below, followed by full descriptions.

Family tree of Harry Potter

Mr. and Mrs. Potter

Harry's paternal grandparents: as of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix not much has been revealed about them. However, the reader knows that they took care of Sirius Black when he ran away from his home. They took him as a second son. It seems that they are dead. Mr. Potter was presumably the "grandfather with knobbly knees" that Harry saw in the Mirror of Erised.

James Potter

Harry's father: he was born c. 1960 in England. He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry c. 1971 to c. 1978. His best friends were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, who would later betray James. It was in Hogwarts where he met his future wife Lily Evans, who was Head Girl while he was Head Boy. After finishing Hogwarts, James and Lily married and had a son, whom they named Harry. James and Lily belonged to an organisation called the Order of the Phoenix, which was created for wizards who wanted to battle Lord Voldemort. On October 31, 1981, James and Lily were murdered by Lord Voldemort himself.

Lily Potter, née Evans

Harry's mother: Lily entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1971 as a member of the Gryffindor House. She was considered a talented student and was named Head Girl during the last year of her studies. Lily met her future husband, James Potter, at Hogwarts, but for most of the time they were there she regarded him as an arrogant fool. She finished school in 1978, and soon after she married James Potter. On July 31, 1980 they had a son named Harry James Potter. At the time Lily and her husband were members of the Order of the Phoenix, an organisation of sorcerers opposing the ambitious Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The two escaped three times from attacks by Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort, but on October 31, 1981, Lily and her family were attacked without warning at their home in Godric's Hollow. Their confrontation ended with first James and then Lily dead and Voldemort himself barely alive. After their deaths, Harry was begrudgingly adopted by Lily's sister Petunia, who is married to Vernon Dursley.

Since Lily sacrificed herself to save Harry from Lord Voldemort, her selfless act of love gave Harry an innate defence against Voldemort. Later in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Professor Quirrell, acting as host to Voldemort, attempts to attack Harry to gain the Philosopher's stone, but is destroyed by the attempt, and Voldemort returned to his prior non-corporeal state. Over time, however, Voldemort has learned to overcome some of Harry's defences. Harry is safe with his aunt Petunia because Lily's blood runs in her veins.

Though Harry bears a great resemblance to his father, it is often noted that he has Lily's green eyes. Several rumours regarding the forthcoming events of the sixth and seventh Harry Potter books regard this detail as significant.

Vernon Dursley

Harry's uncle-by-marriage: he is married to Petunia, Lily's sister and they have a son named Dudley. Vernon is described as a big, beefy man, with hardly any neck, and a large mustache. He is the director of a drill-making company called "Grunnings". He is a Muggle, and detests all magical things, especially his nephew Harry. He and his wife, Petunia, have grudgingly raised Harry from an early age, denying him any information about the magical world, including his parents.

Petunia Dursley, née Evans

Harry's maternal aunt: she was born Petunia Evans and her whole family was made up of Muggles, except for her sister Lily who was a Muggle-born witch. Their parents were proud of having a witch in the family. However, Petunia saw her as a freak. Petunia has a horsey face and a very long neck, which she uses to spy on the neighbours.

At some point she met Vernon Dursley and married him. On June 22, 1980 they had a son named Dudley. Petunia Dursley hadn't seen her sister for years and usually pretended she didn't have a sister. However one day she discovered her nephew, Harry, on her doorstep.

There was a note left with baby Harry, which explained that his parents Lily and James had been killed by Lord Voldemort, how Lily Potter had sacrificed her self to save her son's life and how if he lived with his mother's relatives he would be protected from Lord Voldemort.

Petunia and Vernon agreed to raise Harry, but decided they would keep him as downtrodden as possible in order to squash the magic out of him; they never told him how his parents died, instead claiming that they died in a car crash.

When Harry started getting letters asking him to come to Hogwarts, Vernon and Petunia tried to run but Hagrid caught up with them at the hut-on-the-rock. He told Harry the true story of how his parents died and took him to Hogwarts. The Dursleys have since taken to ignoring Harry.

Dudley Dursley

Harry's first cousin: Dudley was born on June 22, 1980. He is the first and only son of Vernon and Petunia Dursley, a nephew to Marjorie Dursley and Lily Evans (respectively his father's and mother's sisters), and nephew-by-marriage to James Potter. Through his relatives Dudley seems to be relatively well-connected in both the Muggle and the wizarding world.

He has parents who have spoiled him since birth, letting their child lack social courtesy or grace, and overeat until he was beyond morbidly obese. Dudley is also egotistical despite having low intelligence. Throughout their childhood together, Dudley would take any opportunity he could to humiliate and torment his cousin, Harry. He had a gang of friends who he hung around with, beating up people, including Harry. Unlike his cousin, however, Dudley has no powers outside of his brutishness. By the fifth book Dudley has become physically strong: he has taken an interest in boxing and seems skilled in it.

Marjorie Dursley

Majorie "Marge" Dursley is Vernon Dursley's sister. Though she isn't a blood relative of Harry, he has been forced to call her "Aunt Marge". Marge lives out in the county, where she breeds bulldogs. Due to this she hardly ever visits Privet Drive, to Harry's great delight. However, each of her visits stands out in Harry's mind. For example when Harry was nine, Ripper—Marge's favourite dog—chased him up a tree: Marge didn't call the dog off until after midnight.

Her most recent visit was in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry quite literally blew her up. Under normal circumstances he might have been expelled, but with Sirius Black on the loose he was allowed to remain at school (although he wasn't told this immediately).

Aunt Marge brought along Ripper to the Dursleys when she comes to visit in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He is fed tea right out of Aunt Marge's saucer. Her reason for bringing him to the Dursley's is because he pines when she is away. While Aunt Marge is gone, Colonel Fubster takes care of her other dogs. Aunt Marge thinks Harry is a horrible boy, whose dad was a drunk and mother a fool.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans

Harry's maternal grandparents: they were both muggles as was their daughter Petunia; Lily turned out to be a witch. They were said to be "proud to have a witch in the family"; however, Petunia thought Lily was a "freak". Petunia is grown and married (to Vernon Dursley), and Lily died October 31st, 1981. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have never shown up. They have only been referred to, and in all likelihood are deceased.

Mark Evans

"So who've you been beating up tonight?" Harry asked [Dudley], his grin fading. "Another ten-year old? I know you did Mark Evans two nights ago."

General speculation in the internet realm of Harry Potter was that Mark might be a relative of Lily Evans in some way, and, as he was ten, he would be entering Hogwarts the following year. In July 2004 J.K. Rowling revealed on her website that the use of Evans for Mark's last name was merely a coincidence and will at no point later in the books be of importance. As she states on her site, Evans is a common name and she gave no thought to giving it to a (very) minor character.

External links

• J. K. Rowling's revelation on Mark Evans