Changes: 4 Privet Drive

Revision as of 20:43, 14 June 2010

"You don't mean--you can't mean the people who live here? Dumbledore, you can't. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son--"

— Minerva McGonagall^[src]

This is from Harry Potter and the Sorcerers (formerly "Philosopher's) Stone.

4 Privet Drive is the street address of the home owned by Vernon and Petunia Dursley. They lived in this home with their son, Dudley as well as Petunia's nephew, Harry Potter, son of Lily Potter, Petunia's late sister and Lily's husband James Potter. Privet Drive lies in the village of Little Whinging, which is located in the county of Surrey, near London in the southeast of England. The neighbourhood consists of a number of almost exact replications of the Dursley residence - row upon row of executive houses for executive people, most of whom probably run their own drills company.

History

Harrywig — Harry lets Hedwig fly free outside No.4

Albus Dumbledore first visited the house in 1981, delivering the baby Harry Potter to be put into the Dursleys care after the murder of his parents. Harry wasn't the only thing that Dumbledore left behind him on this occasion: he also invoked strong magic granting Harry absolute protection from Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters whilst he was at the house, as long as Harry could still call Privet Drive his home, until he came of age on his seventeenth birthday. As it happened, the Order of the Phoenix chose to move Harry to a different safe house - during the famous "Seven Potters" operation - a few days in advance of his seventeenth birthday, after which the magical protection was broken. The Advance Guard assembled here when they came to take Harry to 12 Grimmauld Place in the summer of 1995, as did the members of the Order of the Phoenix who were part of the Seven Potters plan in 1997. This was temporarily connected to the Floo Network by Arthur Weasley when the family came to pick Harry up to take him back to The Burrow for the remainder of the summer holidays in 1994. The fact it was boarded up caused something of a problem, as wizards and witches aren't used to this sort of thing happening to their fireplaces and thus weren't expecting such an obstacle to be put in their path. In the end, one of the Weasleys exploded it in order to get out, although they were kind enough to fix everything before they left.

Appearance

The home consisted of two floors. Inside, the house is if anything even neater than the perfectly presented gardens. Nymphadora Tonks in particular was moved to comment about how clean it was when she visited as part of the Advance Guard, although it has to be said that she is used to the walking mess that is her father, Ted Tonks. The downstairs consists of a living room, dining room, kitchen and hall. And, of course, the cupboard under the stairs which is full of spiders and just large enough for a young boy to sleep in. Even Vernon thought that Harry was getting a little cramped inside the cupboard by the time he was nearing the age of eleven, however, and it was at this point that he was allowed his own bedroom, taking over what used to be Dudley's second room. Although of course Vernon wasn't really concerned about Harry's welfare when allowing him the room: as ever, he had an ulterior motive.

The living room has a boarded-up fireplace, in front of which sits an electric fire.

The kitchen is filled with spotless modern top-of-the-range appliances, including a wide-screen television, whilst the dining room has a sizeable table just large enough to hold 37 birthday presents and a few plates of bacon and egg.

The layout upstairs used to consist of Vernon and Petunia's room, a spare room, Dudley's room, and Dudley's other room (in addition to a bathroom of course). Dudley's other room (the smallest of the bedrooms) was given to Harry by Vernon in 1991 - not an act of kindness but an attempt to prevent him receiving his acceptance letter to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This didn't go down well with Dudley of course, but he couldn't manage to make Vernon change his mind. The plan didn't work anyway, as Rubeus Hagrid eventually appeared to put the letter directly into Harry's hand, but somehow Harry kept the bedroom anyway.

Inside his room, Harry had a bed, a wardrobe and a desk, and when he stayed there he kept his Hogwarts trunk there too. Hedwig lived in a cage set on the desk. The other main feature of the room was the cat-flap that Vernon installed in 1992 - this was part of his scheme to keep Harry locked in his room forever following the notorious Dobby-and-the-pudding incident. He also fitted bars to the windows at this time to stop Harry escaping - they only lasted for three days before Fred and George Weasley ripped them off with a flying car, but the cat-flap stayed for years. Presumably it was removed after Voldemort's defeat and the end of the Second War, when the Dursleys could safely return to their house without risk of attack. At this point, finally, they would also have been free of Harry forever, and it's likely that nothing in the world could make Vernon happier.

Back garden

There is a greenhouse located in the back garden. Dudley once threw his pet tortoise through the roof of the greenhouse. Petunia often kept an eye on the neighbours by looking over the garden fence.

Surrounding area

A little information is known about the immediate surroundings of Privet Drive. Wisteria Walk is nearby, and it's on this street that the Squib and Order of the Phoenix member Arabella Figg lives with her vast collection of cats. Magnolia Crescent is also in the area. A dark alley next to a garage runs off this road, and it was here that Harry first saw Sirius Black in 1993. It is also where he and Dudley were attacked by Dementors in 1995.

Magnolia Road, which adjoins Magnolia Crescent, runs down to a playground which contains a number of swings which have been broken by Dudley and his gang, with only one remaining in working order.

Known residents

Harry Potter: "What's this?"

Petunia Dursley: "Your new school uniform."

Harry Potter: "Oh, I didn't realize it had to be so wet."

— An example of how the Dursleys treated Harry^[src]

Vernon Dursley (1980-present) (Co-Owner)

Moved in with his wife, Petunia and started a family together.

Petunia Dursley (1980-present) (Co-Owner)

Moved in with her husband, Vernon Dursley and started a family with him.

Dudley Dursley (1980-2000's) (Son of Owners)

Born to Vernon and Petunia, raised in this home, moved out to start a family.

Harry Potter (1981-1997) (Nephew of Owners)

Left in the care of Petunia, raised in this house, moved out in July 1997.

The Dursley's nephew, Harry Potter, the son of Petunia's late sister Lily and Lily's husband, James Potter, was delivered to the Dursleys on the front step the night after his parent's death. Professors Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall met at the front of the home, where they waited for the arrival of Rubeus Hagrid, who was charged with the retrieval of the baby Harry.

For most of his young life, the Dursleys, who felt Harry was a burden on their family, forced Harry to live in the cupboard under the stairs on the ground floor of the home. This was changed before the beginning of Harry's first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, when the Dursleys discovered that the school was aware of Harry's horrible living conditions.

Etymology

In England, a "privet" is "a very common shrub planted as hedges in suburbia." Those with privet hedges are said to conform to the suburban identity, and privets are characterized as boring and unimaginative.
"Privet" also means "prohibition."

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 {{Quote|You don't mean--you can't mean the people who live here? Dumbledore, you can't. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son--|[[Minerva McGonagall]]|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone}}
+This is from Harry Potter and the Sorcerers (formerly "Philosopher's) Stone.
 '''4 [[Privet Drive]]''' is the street address of the home owned by [[Vernon Dursley|Vernon]] and [[Petunia Dursley|Petunia]] [[Dursley family|Dursley]]. They lived in this home with their son, [[Dudley Dursley|Dudley]] as well as Petunia's nephew, [[Harry Potter]], son of [[Lily Evans|Lily Potter]], Petunia's late sister and Lily's husband [[James Potter I|James Potter]]. Privet Drive lies in the village of Little Whinging, which is located in the county of Surrey, near London in the southeast of England. The neighbourhood consists of a number of almost exact replications of the Dursley residence - row upon row of executive houses for executive people, most of whom probably run their own drills company.