How do you think the relationship between James and Vernon (and Petunia) was like the very few times they met? Could you paint me a picture of when they first met at the restaurant because I love James and I want to understand him more and you’re very good at it. Pleeeaasse?

excepttheeyes:

Aw, thank you! But oh god now I don’t want to mess this up. 

Firstly, I’m trying to figure out why they met because I always figured Petunia pulled and Elsa and shut Lily out completely. But I suppose they felt obligated to speak for the sake of their parents. So my take on it is, I figure Lily loathed Vernon and couldn’t understand what her sister saw in him, but she put on her big girl pants and interacted with him as she needed to. That being said, I’m sure Lily ranted about her sister but especially Vernon quite a bit to James and he was probably curious to meet him in the way that Fred and George were curious to meet Dudley. 

So, as for the dinner that happened…From what we’ve seen from Vernon, he was probably rather smug and smartly dressed in his best suit, and James probably strolled in with his air of casualty and his messy hair, and you know, I have a very vivid picture of the way James walked and just sort of sauntered around with his hands in his pockets and I just think Vernon would have immediately disliked him. So I assume Vernon dove straight in to drilling James with questions and trying to figure out what he could about him, and I think James, as someone who probably could not care less about peoples socioeconomic status, which was all Vernon seemed to care about, might have found the whole thing rather boring and grueling but spoke honestly and would occasionally let words like “Quidditch” and “Hogwarts” slip and Vernon would have a mini heart attack each time he did and whip around to make sure no one was listening in on them and James and Lily were probably both biting their lips trying not to laugh but Lily did a better job hiding it because she had been through this before. And then Vernon asks what kind of car James drove, trying to push forward and discuss matters he could understand, and James might have just stopped trying to hold back and starting discussing his racing broom and Vernon became irritated with him and probably thought he was rather childish in comparison to himself and apparently he made a comment about wizards living on unemployment and James was probably annoyed and slightly offended by that and got a little cocky about his family fortune, although I figure James was sometimes uncomfortable about his wealth much like Harry was, but Vernon was getting on his nerves so I figure Vernon just kept turning redder and redder and James’ desire to crack up kept getting stronger and stronger but also his patience just kept wearing thinner and thinner and Vernon thought James was taking the mickey and felt insulted, and Petunia was offended, and Lily got quieter and quieter as the night went on and eventually James might have said one too many things and Vernon started to yell and Petunia led him out of the restaurant and Lily started to cry and James had his “oh fuck” moment and nervously ran his hand through his hair like he always did and tried to calm Lily down and promised her he’d set things right.

Then we know that James and Lily attended their wedding and I figure James was on his best behavior because he knew how important this was to Lily, but apparently Vernon ignored James and had made a comment about him being an “amateur magician” which James overheard, and I’m sure Lily heard it too, and I figure that was the moment she ultimately accepted that it just wasn’t going to work and admitted defeat and they left. 

So in summary, I figure the idea of having to see each other stressed both parties out and James and Vernon were just so different, they were doomed from the beginning.