Aside from Voldemort and Malfoy, the Dursley family were Harry Potter's worst enemies in the series.
Which is why Harry was so excited to get his Hogwarts letter and book it out of 4 Privet Drive.
But one Reddit user named jodatoufin recently highlighted a pretty convincing theory as to why the Dursleys treated Harry like garbage.
Remember how Voldemort accidentally turned part of Harry into a Horcrux?
And how constantly being around the dark magic of a Horcrux makes you act like a mean-spirited, evil, and generally miserable person?
Well, that might be the reason behind all the Dursleys' terrible behavior: They were negatively affected in the presence of a Horcrux aka Harry Potter.
Here's the theory in full, according to ChristieIsBored (who also links to this fascinating Tumblr post):
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In sum, to quote jodatoufin, "Since Harry was kind of a Horcrux that could explain why the Dursleys were so cruel to him."
Maybe it wasn't the Durselys' fault they were so awful after all.
Well that would certainly explain some things.
