10 Funniest Dursley moments from the Harry Potter series

Harry Potter’s infamous muggle family is not only known for their cruelty towards Harry but also for providing some of the funniest scenes in the Harry Potter series. Their fear for the magical world which is heightened when Harry starts to go to Hogwarts adds to their torment towards Harry.

They try everything to prevent Harry from becoming a wizard and make his life miserable whenever he lives with them. Whenever we hear the name of the Dursleys it conjures up their pinched faces and overwhelming aversion towards anything remotely magical.

Their antagonistic part in Harry’s life is the epitome of suburban normalcy gone wrong. From Vernon’s booming declarations to Dudley’s spoiled antics, they have provided comic relief throughout the Harry Potter series. So, here's a list of 10 Funniest Dursley moments from the Harry Potter series.

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1)When Dudley grew a tail

In the movie Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, when the Dursley family shifted to an isolated home to stay away from magic and prevent Harry from going to Hogwarts, Hagrid came to visit their house. Hagrid broke into their house and gave Harry the news that he got selected as a student at Hogwarts and he has come to take him away. Hagrid then continues to wish Harry for his birthday and gives him a birthday cake. He adds that the cake might get a bit damaged and says that Harry is a wizard just like his parents.

When Harry and Hagrid were having a conversation Dudley, being a glutton, snatched Harry’s cake and started to eat it. When Hagrid saw this he quickly put a magic spell on Dudley for eating Harry’s birthday cake and mistreating Harry all these years. With Hagrid’s magic, Dudley grew a tail and started to panic. This was one of the funniest moments of the Dursley seeing them finally getting retribution for their action.

2)Dudley fell inside the snake enclosure

In the movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, when the Dursley family takes a trip to the zoo with Harry things take a funny turn. Upon entering the zoo Dudley got fascinated with the snake in the enclosure. He tried to make the snake move but to no avail. When he saw that the snake was not moving he got bored and moved away.

However, Harry understood the snake’s torment and felt sorry for it. Then all of a sudden the snake started to talk with Harry using movements showing that it understood what Harry was trying to say. Dudley, on seeing this got excited and came near the snake’s enclosure.

All of a sudden the glass disappeared and Dudley fell inside the snake enclosure with the snake inside. The snake escaped with this opportunity. However, when Dudley tried to come out of the enclosure he found the glass had reappeared, capturing him inside.

3)Aunt Marjorie flying away

In the movie Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban, when Aunt Marjorie visits the Dursley house she faces a hilarious predicament. While having dinner, Marjorie keeps on insulting Harry, she first points out Harry’s father to be a drunk to which Harry angrily replies that his father was not a drunk. However, she kept on adding insults and said that Harry’s mother was the main reason behind Harry turning out to be like that which angered Harry even more.

Then when Marjorie continued to insult Harry she found that her finger had started to swell. In no time she blew up like a balloon and started to float in the air. While Vernon Dudley tried to help his sister, Marjorie kept on lifting more and more and finally flew away in the sky like a balloon.

4)Dudley fighting with Vernon Dursley for 36 presents

When Dudley came down to see his presents for his birthday, he asked his father how many presents he got. His father got excited and told that Dudley got thirty-six presents and Vernon counted them himself. On hearing this Dudley got angry and threw a tantrum asking why he did not receive more presents as he got thirty-seven presents the previous year.

This is one of the funniest scenes of the Dursley family as we see Vernon Dursley trying his best to calm his son down and Petunia Dursley assuring Dudley that they are going to buy him two more presents when they go out that day.

5)When Vernon Dursley falls from the window

Vernon Dursley installed bars outside Harry's window in the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He does this because he does not want Harry to go back to Hogwarts Seeing that he is trapped, Harry becomes disappointed and feels sad that he will not be able to go back to Hogwarts. However, during the night Harry’s friend Ron Weasley used his father’s magical car to rescue Harry. Ron tied the bars with the car and pulled to break free Harry.

On hearing the noise from Harry’s room Vernon comes up and sees that Harry is escaping. He clutches Harry’s feet and tries to stop him from getting into the car. However, Harry escaped his clutches and got inside the car and Vernon fell down from the window on the ground. This has been one of the funniest moments of the Harry Potter series.

6)When Vernon tried to scare Hagrid

When the Dursley family went to stay in an isolated house in the movie Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, it was Harry’s birthday. All of a sudden a large intimidating, Hagrid barged into the house by breaking the door shocking and scaring everyone. Petunia and Vernon came down with a gun to protect themselves.

When they saw Hagrid Vernon Dursley tried to scare Hagrid with his gun telling him that he should not have barged into the house and ordering him to leave at once, Hagrid confronted him and bent the nozzle of his gun with ease showing his strength and dismissing Vernon’s intimidation. Hagrid’s nonchalant bending of the gun and the powerlessness of the Dursley couple is one of the funniest scenes in the Harry Potter series.

7)Letters attacking Vernon Dursley

When Uncle Vernon is fascinated and delighted about the fact that on Sunday they do not receive any posts the Dursley family is encountered with an unexpected situation. All of a sudden a letter from Hogwarts enters the house from the fireplace and surprises them. Then suddenly the house was full of hundreds of letters as they came pouring down the fireplace.

When Harry catches one of the letters and runs away to read it Vernon Dursley follows him trying to prevent him from reading the letter. However, letters come pouring from all around the house and disorient Vernon Dursley. Seeing his father’s state Dudley asks whether his father has gone mad. This is one of the funniest scenes in the Harry Potter series according to the fans.

8)Petunia finding letters inside eggs

While Aunt Petunia cracks eggs while making breakfast in the movie Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, she finds a surprise waiting for her. With each egg she cracked she found a letter from Hogwarts inside. She kept on cracking one egg after another and kept on finding letters from Hogwarts. She then looks outside the window and finds owls perched up on the fence of the house.

This incident scares Petunia Dursley and she starts to scream and run away. This scene is only available on the special feature DVDs and not on the streaming platforms. It is one of the funniest scenes in the Harry Potter series and has remained memorable among Harry Potter fans.

9)Vernon Dursley getting scared of the pigeons on his car

When Harry first receives a letter from Hogwarts in the movie Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone and gets excited to open it, Dudley snatches the letter from him and Vernon throws the letter on fire, burning it. Vernon did not want Harry to know about Hogwarts or anything about magic. After this incident letters kept on arriving at their house brought by owls.

However, Vernon kept tearing the letters but the number of letters kept on increasing with each passing day. He then sealed the mail slot of the door thinking it would prevent the mail from entering the house. While he goes out of the house to go to his office he finds that owls have perched up on his car and surrounded the house which surprises him and worsens his paranoia. He tries to scare the owls away but to no avail. This is one of the funniest scenes of the Harry Potter series as we see how even after trying so many ways to prevent the letters from arriving the situation kept on getting worse.

10)Dudley gets knocked out by Aunt Marjorie’s button

When Aunt Marjorie started to blow up like a balloon in the movie, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, Dudley was having dinner. He got scared seeing his aunt blowing up like a balloon and started to panic. Aunt Marjorie kept on getting bigger and bigger. This made her hands blow up, he stockings rip and her clothes start to tear.

All of a sudden her button ripped open from her shirt and struck Dudley in his forehead making him fall down. Dudley tries to stand again when another of Aunt Marjorie’s buttons rips open and strikes Dudley on the forehead making him unconscious. This was one of the funniest scenes in the Harry Potter movie which the viewers enjoyed.