Mark Reads ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’: Chapter 3

In the third chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry bids goodbye to the Dursley family and Dudley surprises everyone. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Harry Potter.

CHAPTER 3: THE DURSLEYS DEPARTING

Well, (some of) this is unexpected.

What isn’t a surprise in the third chapter is Uncle Vernon’s constant need to assert his manly authority on everything that comes within a 100 foot radius of his being. Sometimes, I like to imagine that all of Vernon’s thoughts are in ALL CAPS because it simply works.

I AM CHANGING MY MIND.

WIZARDS ARENT’ DANGEROUS.

I’M LOSING MY HOUSE.

YOU ARE TRYING TO STEAL MY HOUSE.

God, shut up, Vernon Dursley.

• ”Are you out of your mind?” demanded Harry. “A plot to get this house? Are you actually as stupid as you look?”

  “Don’t you dare–!” squealed Aunt Petunia, but again, Vernon waved her down: Slights on his personal appearance were, it seemed, as nothing to the danger he had spotted.

  “Just in case you’ve forgotten,” said Harry, “I’ve already got a house, my godfather left me one. So why would I want this one? All the happy memories?”

  There was silence. Harry thought he had rather impressed his uncle with this argument.

Apparently, it takes BASIC LOGIC to reason with Uncle Vernon. Also, WHY WOULD HARRY WANT A HOUSE EVER?

It’s revealed that Vernon, however, can’t understand the basic logic of why his family is in danger of being murdered by Lord Voldemort.

• ”I thought there was a Ministry of Magic?” asked Vernon Dursley abruptly.

  “There is,” said Harry, surprised.

  “Well, then, why can’t they protect us? It seems to me that, as innocent victims, guilty of nothing more than harboring a marked man, we ought to qualify for government protection!”

  Harry laughed; he could not help himself. It was so very typical of his uncle to put his hopes in the establishment, even within this world that he despised and mistrusted.

  “You heard what Mr. Weasley and Kingsley said,” Harry replied. “We think the Ministry has been infiltrated.”

I’m glad to hear the news that the Order is aware of how delicate their situation is because it makes me feel better about whatever Voldemort has planned; there’s now a possibility that he’ll fail again. But I also loved the subtext of political acceptance of the status quo. For a man like Vernon, privileged in every way imaginable, the idea of mistrusting authority is unheard of. It’s simply an impossibility. But for someone who gains power from the way things are, challenging that authority unravels his power as well.

Uncle Vernon continues to argue with Harry, despite all the evidence Harry provides: the accidents and crashes and explosions are all orchestrated events by Voldemort, and there are dementors in the world still, and the threat of death is very, very real.

• ”Dad,” said Dudley in a loud voice, “Dad—I’m going with these Order people.”

  “Dudley,” said Harry, “for the first time in your life, you’re talking sense.”

Whoa. WHOA. Dudley, supporting Harry? THE ENTIRE WORLD HAS BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.

Hestia and Daedalus arrive to escort the Dursleys away from their house, to a safe location, while Uncle Vernon continues to mope and whine like a small child. Dudley, however, grows up in a way I would have never expected.

• He had already reached the living room door when Dudley mumbled, “I don’t understand.”

  “What don’t you understand, popkin?” asked Aunt Petunia, looking up at her son.

  Dudley raised a large, hamlike hand to point at Harry.

  “Why isn’t he coming with us?”

  Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia froze where they stood, staring at Dudley as though he had just expressed a desire to become a ballerina.

  “What?” said Uncle Vernon.

  “Why isn’t he coming too?” asked Dudley.

I suppose the thought never even occurred to me: Harry saved Dudley’s life and, upon the news that dementors are still freely roaming the world, Dudley would want Harry around.

Why is this….kind of sad? I mean, Dudley has tormented Harry for years and this sudden change-of-heart is surprisingly genuine.

• ”Doesn’t matter?” repeated Hestia, her voice rising ominously. “Don’t these people realize what you’ve been though? What danger you are in? The unique position you hold in the hearts of the anti-Voldemort movement?”

  “Er—no, they don’t,” said Harry. “They think I’m a waste of space, actually, but I’m used to—“

  “I don’t think you’re a waste of space.”

  If Harry had not seen Dudley’s lips move, he might not have believed it. As it was, he stared at Dudley for several seconds before accepting that it must have been his cousin who had spoken; for one thing, Dudley had turned red. Harry was embarrassed and astonished himself.

  “Well…er…thanks, Dudley.”

  Again, Dudley appeared to grapple with thoughts to unwieldy for expression before mumbling, “You saved my life.”

I’m reminded of the final moments we saw Draco in the last book. Like Draco, Dudley is not off the hook for what he did to Harry. And forgiving a person doesn’t mean that you erase history. It’s about moving on with a new understanding. Dudley’s reaction to Harry here is jarring because it’s so believable. He hasn’t apologized yet, but it’s still a movement forward and I appreciate that Rowling wrote it exactly this way.

• Aunt Petunia, whose face had been buried in her handkerchief, looking around at the sound. She did not seem to have expected to have expected to find herself alone with Harry. Hastily stowing her wet handkerchief into her pocket, she said, “Well—good-bye,” and marched toward the door without looking at him.

  “Good-bye,” said Harry.

  She stopped and looked back. For a moment Harry had the strangest feeling that she wanted to say something to him: She gave him an odd, tremulous look and seemed to teeter on the edge of speech, but then, with a little jerk of her head, she bustled out of the room after her husband and son.

And with that, the Dursleys depart from the world of Harry Potter. There’s a part of me that’s disappointed with this ending; I wanted more from the Dursley story because they did such horrible things to Harry. Dumbledore’s scolding at the beginning of Half-Blood Prince was satisfying, but I still felt incomplete. I never expected Dudley’s change in heart, but I did expect Aunt Petunia to either apologize to Harry or speak frankly with him about the past 16 years or so.

I want to know what she was going to say. But I suppose that there are too many moments in life where there is no poetic finality or where things don’t happen the way we want them to. So the other part of me appreciates that Rowling is saying here that sometimes we never get closure, even on the very worst parts of our lives, that we’re left without answers or without catharsis.

Goodbye, Dursley family. I probably won’t miss you.