Would the Dursleys have treated Harry well if he didn’t show signs of magic or look much like James or Lily?

It seems almost more hard work to abuse Harry than just treat him normally lol.

Sure, I don’t expect the Dursleys to treat Harry like Dudley but would they have treated him neutrally or even slightly warmly?

It seems to me most of the hate from the Dursleys was fear and this stubbornness in their attempts to make him ‘normal’. They admit to swearing to stamp it out of him. That and Petunia’s trauma/jealousy around her sister. Which, I do somewhat sympathise with.

If your sister is this beautiful, lovely girl who gets magical powers and gets to go to Hogwarts….you would be a bit like ‘this is unfair’. Whilst I’m sure their parents loved them both, I can see how it would look like everything is about Lily when a muggle family finds out about magic. Then it didn’t help that they then lost their parents at a young age, so not much time to make things right. I can see why Petunia felt by taking in Harry that Lily ‘got the party and Petunia got the hangover’. Clearly we as the reader know this is not really a fair or accurate interpretation of Lily or the story but it is somewhat understandable.

So if Harry had looked a bit like Petunia or her parents and then shown no magic…maybe things would have calmed down a bit… whereas with every bit of magic, weird dream, wizard that approaches them, it just reignited the fear, bitterness and anger.

Make no mistake, the Dursleys are not excused for their behaviour. It’s terrible what they did. We also see signs that they are not very good people even outside of the Harry stuff. Their views on capital punishment, Vernons aggression to people, Marge and petunia’s Karen-ness.