The most terrible feature of Harry's relations is not their churlishness, but their heartlessness toward the orphaned boy. While they spoil their own horrible son with two bedrooms, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia assign Harry a spider-infested closet. In the second book, they lock him in a room with bars on the windows, and feed him a starvation diet through a slot in the door. The reason for their harshness, apart from their own selfishness, is Harry's magical background. This is an abnormality, they declare, that they will not tolerate.