Asleep was the way Harry liked the Dursleys best; it wasn't as though they were ever any help to him awake.
I have a bit hard time to understand the second part of the sentence, especially "it wasn't as though". Can it be paraphrased as: "it was as though they were not ever any help to him awake" ? What does it mean exactly?
Best Answer
You will find "It wasn't as though ..." is a relatively common idiomatic expression to mean
or
often contrary to expectation. Examples:
i.e. you would think the horse should be fast to win races, but this was not true.
i.e. despite the headmaster's expectation that she could move the desks, this was not true.
Rowling's sentence basically means, "contrary to what you would expect from legal guardians, the Dursleys were not of any help to Harry when they were awake" -- a colorful way to say that they were of no help to Harry at any time, but they were least unhelpful when they were sleeping.