Weasley family

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The Weasley family is a fictional household which figures prominently in the plot of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of fantasy novels, primarily because the youngest son, Ron Weasley, is the best friend to the series protagonist Harry Potter. The Weasleys have a large family of seven children, all of whom have red hair and freckles, physical characteristics that along with their family's prominent friends, associates, and ideology, make the Weasleys one of the most distinguished families in wizarding Britain.

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A photograph in The Daily Prophet of The Weasley nuclear family (minus Charlie Weasley) on vacation in Egypt

The Nuclear Family and Residence

The Weasley Nuclear Family consists of father and mother , Authur and Molly (née Prewett), sons (from oldest to youngest) Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George (twins), and Ron. The youngest child is daughter Ginevra (Ginny), who is the first female Weasley to be born in several generations. All seven of the Weasleys have been sorted into Gryffindor House at Hogwarts. All of the Weasley children save Bill and Percy are known to have served on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the former two each served as Head Boy instead ( Ron now currently serves as a Prefect, widely held to be a stepping stone to the office of Head Boy).

The Weasleys reside in the Burrow, located in the fictional village of Ottery St Catchpole, Devon, UK, possibly based on the real town of Ottery St Mary. The house is very tall - perhaps four or five floors high. The house remains in a dilapidated condition, managing to remain standing only by magic. There is a well-hidden Quidditch pitch nearby that is used by the Weasley boys and (secretly) by Ginny. Real Quidditch balls cannot be used in case they escape and fly over the Muggle village. See The Burrow for more details.

In the summer, the Burrow and the Weasleys often play host to Ron's two best friends, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Despite the house's rundown appearance Harry remarks on his first visit that it was the best house that he'd ever been in.

The physical condition of the Burrow reflects the overall financial situation of the Weasleys, which is to say, by wizarding standards, poor. Mr. Weasley is incredibly enthusiastic about all things involving muggles, going so far as to declare his goal in life to be figuring out how muggle airplanes stay in the air. Because of his hobby Mr. Weasley chooses to remain in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office in the ministry and though it allows him new ways to explore his hobby, the Weasley's find it difficult to maintain the style of living that other wizarding families enjoy, for nine people (seven when adults Bill and Charlie leave the house), on that salary. As a result their children have to make-do with secondhand school supplies and clothing, particularly the younger ones. Template:Spoiler In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Mr. Weasley receives a promotion and becomes the head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects, much to the delight of Mrs. Weasley. Template:Endspoiler

Pets and Animals

Errol is the Weasley's rather old and clumsy family owl

Pigwidgeon is Ron's rather small hyperactive owl, a gift from Sirius Black upon the loss of his pet rat Scabbers following the climatic events in Ron's third year.

Ron owns a large frog which has matured from the spawn that Harry had seen during his first visit.

Hermes is Percy's owl which was a gift to him from his parents for becoming a prefect in his fifth year.

Family chickens

Blood Traitors

The Weasleys are one of the older pure-blooded families. Many of the prejudices held by and associated with the "old" families are not held by the Weasleys, nor do the Weasley's take pride in their heritage of purity. For instance, a prejudice family like the Malfoy's would never associate with a muggle-born witch like Hermione Granger, much less allow her to spend the summers with them, thinking her a 'mud-blood', literally too dirty to associate with because of her parentage. Hermione however is welcome at any time to visit the Weasleys. For this the Weasleys are blood traitors, considered nearly as low as a muggle-born or half-bloods. The facination of Mr. Weasley with muggle technology only furthers to 'condemn' the Weasley's to this status; he is said by even those, like Cornelius Fudge, who are not as prejudiced as the Malfoys to "lack proper wizarding pride."

The Blood Traitor status of the Weasleys is only strengthened by their close relationship with Harry Potter (whose arch nemesis is the pure-blood champion Lord Voldemort), and as Authur, Molly, Bill, and Charlie are a part of the secret society called The Order of the Phoenix which works against Lord Voldemort and his organization of pure-blood supremacists, the blood traitor status of the Weasleys is all but irreversibly sealed.

Template:Spoiler The Weasley's own what is according to most an extraordinary clock. Instead of telling time however, any of it's nine hands can give information on any of the nine members of the Weasley family; traveling, work, at school, in prison, etc.. When Harry arrived at the Burrow in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, with Voldemort waging war on the wizarding world, each of the nine handles representing the nine Weasleys were fixed on 'mortal peril'. according J.K. Rowling in the Cub Reporter Press confrence following the release of the Half-Blood Prince, the Weasley's find themselves "in the firing line" as a direct result of their blood traitor status. Template:Endspoiler

Extended family

Gabrielle Delacour

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Soon to be the sister-in-law to Bill Weasley, Gabrielle, like her sister Fleur, is actually partly non-human as their grandmother was a Veela. During the Triwizard Tournament, in which Fleur was the champion for Beauxbatons, Gabrielle was chosen along with Cho Chang, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, to be the underwater "bait" for the champions to rescue. Fleur did not manage to rescue Gabrielle in time, but luckily Harry Potter had already saved her.

This incident obviously had a large effect on Gabrielle, because in The Half-Blood Prince, she is described as having something of a crush on Harry, similar to the one Ginny Weasley had in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Gideon and Fabian Prewett

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Molly Weasley's maiden name was Prewett and Gideon and Fabian Prewett were her brothers.

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Both Gideon and Fabian were members of the Order of the Phoenix, but, according to Moody they both died as heroes. Both are in a picture of the original Order members that Moody shows to Harry. They were brutally killed by five Death Eaters, including Antonin Dolohov, who went to Azkaban for it.

What happened to the Prewett brothers seems to have affected Molly, causing her to be overprotective of her children. Since the children of Arthur and Molly are pure-blood, the Prewetts must be a pure-blood family as well.

Relatives mentioned in passing

Sirius Black- The Weasleys are related loosely to the Black Family; Sirius Black says: "'Molly and I are cousins by marriage and Arthur's something like my second cousin once removed.'"¹
Grandfather - once owned the wizard chess set Ron currently owns
Uncle Bilius - according to Ron, Bilius saw the Grim and died within twenty-four hours
Mrs. Delacour - Fleur's grandmother who is a pure-veela. One of her hair was put in Fleur's wand.
Great-Aunt Muriel - said to be particularly fond of Bill. Ron is teased in HBP for having only been kissed by her, which prompts him to get a girlfriend (Lavender Brown). She is also mentioned as having a beautiful, goblin-made tiara, that she would be willing to lend to Fleur Delacour to wear in her wedding with Bill Weasley.

Trivia

The Weasley family names share some faint Arthurian connections. The father is named Arthur, the daughter is named Ginevra (Guinevere), "Percy" is short for Percival and "Ron" is the name of Arthur's spear. Some have connected Fred and George with Balin and Balan and Molly with Morgan le Fay.

In early drafts of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the Weasleys had a cousin Mafalda, the daughter of Molly's squib cousin (an accountant). Though she didn't make the final cut according to Rowling, Mafalda would have been "a nosy eavesdropping Slytherin who likes to impress."

External links

References

¹Rowling, Joanne Kathleen (2003). The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, pp. 98–120. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 0-439-35806-X.