Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Molly Weasley
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| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character | |
| Molly Weasley | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Red |
| Eye color | Unknown |
| Related Family | brothers Gideon and Fabian Prewett; husband Arthur, children Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny |
| Loyalty | Albus Dumbledore |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Molly Weasley (née Prewett) is the wife of Arthur Weasley. According to the author's web site, she was born on October 30.
[edit] Role in the Books
[edit] Philosopher's Stone
Molly Weasley appears here to teach Harry the way of getting to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. When we first meet her in King's Cross Station, she seems to be quite comforting; she sees that Harry is looking lost and provides what help she can. When Fred and George return to the platform to tell her who the "black-haired kid" is, and Ginny pleads to be allowed onto the train to see him, Molly refuses, saying he doesn't want to be gawked at like an animal in a zoo.
Mrs. Weasley is the source of some of Harry's Christmas presents. Simple as they are, a jumper (US: sweater) and some candy, these are very nearly the first real Christmas presents Harry has ever received.
She is also on hand to greet the returning Weasley children when they leave school, and speaks to Harry briefly then as well. She seems somewhat nonplussed by the brevity of Uncle Vernon's greeting to Harry.
[edit] Chamber of Secrets
When Harry, Ron, and the twins arrive in Mr. Weasley's flying Ford Anglia, Mrs. Weasley is awake and waiting for them, much to their dismay; they had hoped to sneak out, break Harry out of imprisonment, and return before she was aware of it. She scolds the three Weasley children thoroughly, but welcomes Harry to their home, saying that she knows he had nothing to do with it. She continues to be sympathetic towards Harry, giving him extra sausages with his breakfast when he hears the Dursleys had been starving him. As punishment for her boys, she sets them to de-gnoming the garden, but she says Harry doesn't need to do that, he can go up and rest. Harry, however, says he's never seen a de-gnoming and would like to help. Mrs. Weasley pulls a book off the shelf, Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests, and starts to consult it as to the best way to remove gnomes; Fred says that they know how to de-gnome a garden, and George suggests that Mrs. Weasley is sweet on Lockhart. Mrs. Weasley then sends them out to start work.
As they finish, Mr. Weasley returns home. As they gather in the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley tells Mr. Weasley that the twins had taken his car out to London. Mr. Weasley immediately asks how it had gone, but seeing warning signs from Mrs. Weasley, immediately changes his tone to say that they had been very naughty.
Booklists arrive, and there are a lot of books by Gilderoy Lockhart which all the students will need. George comments that this lot won't come cheap, and Mrs. Weasley, though looking worried, says that they will manage. When Hermione's owl arrives with the suggestion that they meet up in Diagon Alley, Mrs. Weasley agrees that makes sense, and the date for school supplies shopping is set.
When the day arrives, Mrs. Weasley says that the family will be traveling to Diagon Alley by Floo powder, but is dismayed to find how little they have left when she takes the jar of powder off the mantel. She offers Harry the powder first, then realizes that he's never traveled that way before. She tells Ron to go first, then with help from the twins provides a lot of advice as to how to travel by Floo powder, advice that makes Harry wonder how safe Floo travel is. When Harry ends up at the wrong grate, Mrs. Weasley is almost frantic with worry; she divides up her brood and sets them to searching Diagon Alley for Harry, in the hope that he had only gone a few grates too far and would be physically nearby. She is extremely relieved when Hagrid turns up with Harry in tow, having found him in Knockturn Alley. She brushes Harry off, and overruling the Twins' questions about what Knockturn Alley is like, reminds them that they are not allowed there.
At Gringotts, Harry sees that there is very little in the Weasleys' vault; Mrs. Weasley carefully checks all four corners of the vault for fallen coins before sweeping what little there is into her moneybag. Harry is acutely aware of the piles of Galleons and Sickles in his vault, but Mrs. Weasley says nothing about it. Back on the surface, she suggests that the group should split up to do their shopping.
We see Mrs. Weasley again at Flourish and Blotts, where she is in line for a book signing by Gilderoy Lockhart. When a confrontation between Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy becomes physical, and has to be broken up by Hagrid, Molly is thoroughly embarrassed. She carries on scolding her husband about it even after the twins tell her that Gilderoy is not upset at the fight, only wondering how it can be slanted so that the story enhances his exposure.
The trip to King's Cross Station is made in Arthur Weasley's flying Ford Anglia, though it remains on the ground as it is broad daylight. Mrs. Weasley is amazed at how skillful Muggles are, as the inside of the car seems much larger than the outside; Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, are aware that this is another of the almost-illegal spells that Mr. Weasley has put on the car.
When they are unable to reach Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Harry and Ron take the car and fly it to Hogwarts. In the process, a number of Muggles see them, and their escapades make it into the Evening Prophet. As a direct result of this, Mrs. Weasley sends Ron a Howler that scolds him at incredible volume in front of the entire Great Hall at breakfast.
Mrs. Weasley again provides a hand-knit jumper (US: sweater) and some candy to Harry as Christmas presents. Ron is unimpressed with his jumper, but Harry welcomes his, as it is still unusual for Harry to be receiving gifts.
When Ginny is taken into the Chamber of Secrets at the end of the book, she is rescued by Harry, with the aid of Fawkes. Fawkes leads them to Professor McGonagall's office, where they find Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, and Molly and Arthur Weasley. Mrs. Weasley immediately sweeps Ginny into a hug, and then Harry and Ron for having rescued her. Apparently she is too relieved to say much; most of the discussion at this point is Harry answering questions put by Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Mr. Weasley.
We don't see much of Mrs. Weasley after she and Mr. Weasley take Ginny off to the Hospital Wing, though we can assume that they likely stayed at the school for the celebratory feast that followed. And Mrs. Weasley is again present at King's Cross when the Hogwarts Express arrives, and again is dismayed by Uncle Vernon's lack of civility towards Harry.
[edit] Prisoner of Azkaban
We first see Molly Weasley in this story on the day before the Hogwarts Express leaves. Harry has been living in the Leaky Cauldron, off Diagon Alley, since running away from the Dursleys', and it is on the last day before he must leave for school that he runs into Ron and Hermione, doing their shopping for school supplies. When they return to the Leaky Cauldron, Mr. Weasley is there, and the other family members, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Fred, George, and Percy arrive shortly. The twins are aping Percy's exaggeratedly formal manner, and Mrs. Weasley is trying to reign them in with little success.
After dinner, Ron discovers that he has misplaced a bottle of rat tonic that he had purchased. Confined to his room by Percy, who is frantically searching for his Head Boy badge, Ron asks Harry to look for it in the salon where they had dinner. As Harry is doing this, he overhears Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking in the next room. It seems they are talking about him and one Sirius Black, a wizard who has recently broken out of Azkaban. It seems that the wizards believe that Black is headed for Hogwarts, to try and kill Harry. Mr. Weasley believes that Harry needs to know this, while Mrs. Weasley is protective, saying that Harry should not be told, and that other wizards will deal with it and Harry need never know.
The next day, on the platform, Mr. Weasley takes Harry aside to tell him about Black; Harry tells him that he knows, he had overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking about it last night. Mr. Weasley asks him to promise that he won't go out and try to hunt down Black himself. Harry wonders why he would do that, but does not get the chance to promise as the train is leaving.
Mrs. Weasley again provides a hand-knitted jumper (US: sweater) and various treats as a Christmas gift; this time, the jumper is bright red with the Gryffindor lion woven into the pattern.
Finally, Mrs. Weasley is again at the train station when the students return from Hogwarts, and expresses some dismay at the cavalier way Uncle Vernon greets Harry.
[edit] Goblet of Fire
Mrs. Weasley enters our story, not in person, but by means of a letter which has been sent by the Muggle postal system. It is totally covered with stamps, a fact which has caused some amusement to the mail carrier, to the point that he actually rang the doorbell to ask Uncle Vernon what was going on. Predictably, Uncle Vernon is not amused; he is livid because one of "Harry's sort" has done something that is unusual, and has brought attention to the Dursley household. The letter is an invitation for Harry to attend the Quidditch World Cup, to which Mr. Weasley has got tickets, and to allow him to stay at The Burrow afterwards, until the start of school. Harry manages to convince Uncle Vernon to allow him to go.
While getting Harry's school stuff, Fred and George contrive to drop a few enchanted toffees in the Dursleys' sitting room, and Dudley eats one of them. This makes his tongue several feet long. When he returns to The Burrow, Mr. Weasley scolds the twins, saying that this is the sort of thing that so hinders Muggle - wizard relations. He finishes by saying "You wait until I tell your mother—" at which point Mrs. Weasley appears, saying "Tell me what, dear?" Despite Mr. Weasley's efforts to backtrack, and the Twins' efforts to escape, Mrs. Weasley does find out about the enchanted toffee, and proceeds to scold the twins much more thoroughly and loudly than Mr. Weasley ever has. Asking Ron about this as he beats a hasty retreat, Harry learns that Mrs. Weasley had found a large stack of order forms for something called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and was upset that Fred and George were wasting their time creating magical jokes rather than preparing for a real career.
We see Mrs. Weasley later, preparing dinner. She is still seething about the Twins and their activities, and Harry and Ron must leap out of the way as a drawer opens violently and knives flash out to start chopping vegetables. To add to Mrs. Weasley's disgruntlement, she reaches for a wand, to find that it is a trick wand, which turns into a large rubber mouse when she tries to use it. Ron and Harry quickly escape the violence in the kitchen, taking cutlery out to help Bill and Charlie set tables in the garden.
At dinner, we hear Mrs. Weasley nagging Bill about his hair; apparently she is upset by his pony-tail. She also doesn't like his fang necklace. Eventually, Mrs. Weasley reminds the group that they will have to get up early to get to the match, and sends them all off to bed.
In the morning, she wakes Ron, Harry, Fred, and George, and is in the kitchen when they get downstairs, stirring a large pot of porridge. She snappishly tells the Twins that they can't Apparate, as Percy, Bill, and Charlie can, because they are not old enough and haven't passed their test. As they are leaving, she asks the Twins if they are carrying any of that Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes stuff; they say they are not, but she Summons toffees from any number of hiding places about their persons. When everyone leaves, the Twins leave in stony silence, without a backwards glance.
The riots at the Quidditch World Cup make the Daily Prophet, and Mrs. Weasley is distraught, worried to death that one of her family could have been injured. She is relieved when they troop back in the morning following, hugging everyone and saying that she was afraid that her last words to the Twins would have been angry, complaints about their magical jokes and the number of OWLs they didn't get. When Mr. Weasley mentions that he is mentioned in the newspaper article, Mrs. Weasley demands to know where? If she had seen that she would not have been as worried, as she would have known that he was all right. Mr. Weasley says he wasn't mentioned by name, and reads out a passage where he is identified as a "Ministry spokesman". He then says that as he has made things worse, he must go into the office and help straighten them out. Mrs. Weasley protests that he is on vacation, but he overrules her.
The rest of the summer, before school starts, is subdued. Mr. Weasley is spending all his time in the office, including weekends, dealing with the fallout from the riots, as is Percy. Mrs. Weasley does, at one point, see that Fred and George are hunched over a piece of parchment, and asks what they are doing. Told that it is homework, she asks if they are working on a new order form? Fred, looking pained, asks whether, should the Hogwarts Express crash tomorrow, would she want her last words to the twins to be an unfounded accusation?
As Harry and Ron pack their trunks that evening, Ron finds something hideous and lace-trimmed in his robes, and demands to know what it is. Mrs. Weasley says that it is "formal robes", and that it is a requirement this year. It was the best that was available in Ron's size at the second-hand clothing store. Harry finds that he also has a set of formal robes, but his are new, lace-free, and a colour that matches his eyes. Mrs. Weasley says that she had been able to get new robes for him with his money. After Mrs. Weasley has left Ron complains bitterly about his family's poverty.
The following morning, Mrs. Weasley summons Mr. Weasley to the kitchen, where an urgent call has come in via the Floo network. After Mr. Weasley has finished talking with Amos Diggory, whose head is sitting in the fireplace, Mrs. Weasley offers him a slice of toast. He accepts and departs. With Mr. Weasley off to the office, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie accompany the twins, Harry, Ron, and Ginny to London in three Muggle taxicabs which Mrs. Weasley has braved the Muggle post office to call. Once on the platform, it appears that she knows about some secret happening that will be going on at the school; but like Bill and Charlie, she refuses to tell them what's going on. And before the train is out of sight of the platform, the three of them have Disapparated.
After the First Task, Charlie Weasley stops in to congratulate Harry, and then says he has to send off an owl to Mrs. Weasley to let her know how Harry did.
At Christmas, Mrs. Weasley again sends Harry a hand-made jumper (US: sweater), this time green with a picture of a dragon on the front, and a large quantity of home-made mince pies. Later, at the Yule Ball, Harry, who is talking to Percy, sees the Twins stop Ludo Bagman briefly as Ludo is crossing the floor towards Harry. Ludo tells Harry that the Twins were looking for some marketing advice, and Harry thinks privately that Percy is certain to report this to Mrs. Weasley.
A story, written by Rita Skeeter, appears in Witch Weekly shortly after the Second Task. This article implies quite strongly that Hermione is keeping both Harry and Viktor Krum on a string romantically. When Easter rolls around, Mrs. Weasley sends chocolate eggs to Ron, Harry, and Hermione; Ron's and Harry's are the size of ostrich eggs and filled with toffees, while Hermione's is closer to the size of a chicken's egg. Ron confirms to Hermione that his mother reads Witch Weekly.
Shortly after the bizarre appearance, and disappearance, of Mr. Crouch at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are sending a letter off to Sirius describing the event when they are interrupted in the Owlery by the arrival of the twins, who are also preparing to send a letter off to someone. They are discussing whether their message is so strong as to sound like blackmail, but stop when they see they can be overheard. As they leave, Ron comments that they are really serious about this joke shop idea of theirs, they are not just doing it to annoy Mrs. Weasley.
On the day of the Third Task, Professor McGonagall tells Harry at breakfast that the Champions are congregating in a room off the Great Hall, where they can meet with their families who will be watching them compete. Harry, knowing that the Dursleys would not be present, stays at the table until Cedric Diggory, the other Hogwarts Champion, calls him. Entering the room, he finds that Mrs. Weasley and Bill are there. Amos Diggory, also present, is upset that the morning's article by Rita Skeeter only mentioned Harry as Hogwarts Champion. While Mrs. Weasley does remind him that Rita writes almost entirely in order to stir up trouble, this does not seem to calm him down any. Harry spends the morning showing Bill and Mrs. Weasley around the grounds, with Mrs. Weasley providing commentary on how it had been when she was there. At lunch, Mrs. Weasley is very frosty towards Hermione, until Harry tells her that Hermione is not his girlfriend. Mrs. Weasley, perhaps remembering her own comments to Amos Diggory earlier about Rita Skeeter, is then noticeably more friendly towards Hermione. Hermione, who has had an idea about magical bugging methods, is unable to tell Harry what she has learned because Mrs. Weasley and Bill are present.
Hermione has another exam, but Harry as Champion is excused from exams, so the afternoon is occupied with a long walk around the grounds. As evening starts to fall, Harry heads for the Quidditch pitch, and Mrs. Weasley and Bill peel off for the stands.
After Harry's exit from the maze, his encounter with Professor Moody, the unmasking of Barty Crouch, and his debriefing by Dumbledore, Harry is taken to the Hospital Wing. Here, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Ron, and Hermione are demanding of Madam Pomfrey that she tell them where Harry is. As Harry arrives, Mrs. Weasley immediately swoops over to comfort him, and Dumbledore forestalls any questions by telling them, and Madam Pomfrey, that Harry needs sleep, that questions can wait for the morning.
When Harry is awakened by Professor McGonagall and Cornelius Fudge, Mrs. Weasley is still there. She does not take part in the conversation with Fudge; however, after Fudge has left, Dumbledore asks if he can count on her and Arthur. She says that he can, and Bill volunteers to go tell his father immediately. Mrs. Weasley is shocked and alarmed when the large black dog who has been at Harry's bedside transforms into Sirius Black, but Dumbledore and Ron calm her down. After sending Sirius and Snape off on their missions, Dumbledore tells Harry to drink his sleeping potion, and leaves him with Ron, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley. Harry fretfully protests that he doesn't want the Galleons he has won, and Mrs. Weasley tells him not to worry about them. She is interrupted by a loud slamming sound at the window. Hermione apologizes for the noise, but doesn't yet explain what she was doing.
Ron later tells Harry that Mrs. Weasley had asked Dumbledore if Harry could spend the entire summer with the Weasleys at The Burrow, but Dumbledore had said no; he must go back to the Dursleys'. Ron says he doesn't know why, but that Dumbledore must have his reasons.
We see Mrs. Weasley again briefly at King's Cross Station, but she has no time to do more than exchange a couple of words with Harry before Uncle Vernon is headed away.
[edit] Order of the Phoenix
When Harry is brought to Number 12, Grimmauld Place, it is Mrs. Weasley who meets him in the front hall. Asking him to be very quiet, she sends him upstairs while the "grown-ups" have a meeting. Harry, in conversation with Ron and Hermione, whom he finds there, and Fred, George, and Ginny who arrive some time later, discover that despite being nominally in the thick of things, there in the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, they are almost as much in the dark about what is really going on as Harry is, or at least they would be if they hadn't taken it upon themselves to do a bit of spying. Fred and George reveal one of their inventions, Extendable Ears, which they have been using to try and listen in on events in meetings and in the front hall, but Mrs. Weasley had been destroying any that she found. The Weasleys also say that Harry shouldn't mention Percy; that whenever anyone mentions Percy, who has become estranged from the family, Mr. Weasley breaks whatever he's holding and Mrs. Weasley bursts into tears.
After the meeting ends, Mrs. Weasley brings everyone downstairs for dinner, asking for help to get the table set. She asks Harry to sit and rest from his trip, resisting his offer to help. The twins, trying to help, attempt to shift a large pot of stew, the bread and breadknife, and a pitcher of Butterbeer to the table by means of magic, and Mundungus Fletcher, Sirius, Harry, Ron, Bill, Hermione, and Ginny have to duck the flying, barely controlled dinnerware; Sirius, in particular, throws himself back away from the table, just avoiding the breadknife which ends up with its point buried in the table where his hand had been. Mrs. Weasley scolds the twins, saying that just because they are allowed to use magic doesn't mean they have to.
When Sirius, after dinner, suggests that Harry no doubt has questions about what the Order is doing, Mrs. Weasley instantly leaps to Harry's defence, saying that he is much too young to know. Mrs. Weasley at this point accuses Sirius of confusing Harry with his father. However, despite vehement argument on her part, Mrs. Weasley finds that she stands alone; Sirius, Lupin, and even her own husband all feel that Harry should know what is going on, as he is after all the center of things. Abandoning this tack, Mrs. Weasley then says that the Twins don't need to know any of this, to which they loudly protect that they are now of age and should be full members of the Order. Retreating, Mrs. Weasley says that Ron certainly is too young for the conversation, as is Hermione; Ron appeals to Harry, looking for confirmation that Harry would tell Ron anything that went on. Harry considers the possibility of leaving Ron in the dark as he had been left himself, but after a short pause confirms that he would tell Ron and Hermione anything that he learned. Defeated on all other fronts, Mrs. Weasley then hauls a loudly-protesting Ginny off to bed.
On her return to the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley remains quiet until Sirius mentions that Voldemort is seeking a weapon. At this point she says that really is enough information. Lupin agrees, and all the youngsters are sent off to bed. The Twins gather in Ron and Harry's room, to discuss what they have learned; but they are interrupted by Mrs. Weasley coming up the stairs, and must Apparate to their own room before she checks on them. An exhausted Harry is asleep before she passes their room again on the way down.
The next morning, Mrs. Weasley allows Harry a bit of a lie-in, but puts her own children to work making Grimmauld Place habitable. When Harry gets up, he finds Mrs. Weasley and the Weasley children in the drawing room. She tells Harry to get a mask and a sprayer; they have found an infestation of doxies in the drapes and they will be using Doxycide to eradicate them. She has a spot set aside for the dead doxies and their eggs, and she has anti-venom ready but she hopes she won't have to use it. While she is not looking, Fred and George sneak some of the doxy eggs into their pockets; George explains to Harry that they are ingredients for their joke-shop goods. While they are working, someone rings the bell; Mrs. Weasley goes down to answer it. Hermione, looking out the window, sees that it is Mundungus Fletcher with a load of cauldrons, and Harry, listening at the door, can hear both Mrs. Weasley and the portrait of Mrs. Black screaming in the front hall. When Mrs. Weasley returns to the drawing room with sandwiches for their lunch, she is still fulminating about Mundungus and his attempt to use Headquarters as a place to store his stolen goods.
Over the next several days, Mrs. Weasley sets all the children to cleaning Headquarters. When Ron complains that he had wanted to do something useful for the Order, Mrs. Weasley reminds him that making Headquarters livable is certainly something that would be useful to the Order. Meanwhile, they are repeatedly uncovering apparent bits of Dark magic, some of which the Twins are hiding away when Mrs. Weasley is not looking.
Finally, at dinner, Mrs. Weasley reminds Harry that he will have to be up early the next day to attend his hearing at the Ministry. Mr. Weasley will be accompanying him there, as Professor Dumbledore had asked. Harry is quite upset to realize that Dumbledore had been at Headquarters and had not wanted to talk to him. Mrs. Weasley tries to reassure him that he won't have any problem at the hearing, but Harry notices that she looks worried.
She is still worried in the morning as Harry prepares for his trip to the Ministry, and presses breakfast on him that he can't really eat. On his return, she is as relieved as anyone that he has been acquitted, though she does get annoyed at Fred, George, and Ginny dancing a victory dance and eventually yells at them to be quiet.
The day before they have to board the Hogwarts Express, booklists finally arrive, and Hermione and Ron are appointed Prefect. Mrs. Weasley is extremely pleased that Ron has received such an honour, and says that they should get something for him – Percy got an owl, but Ron already has one. Ron suggests a new broom, and Mrs. Weasley pauses, saying that a new broom would be expensive, but quickly accepts the suggestion and dashes off to prepare for a trip to Diagon Alley.
That evening, Mrs. Weasley has arranged a party to celebrate Ron and Hermione being made Prefect. This is the first time Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody has been present at Headquarters, and Mrs. Weasley asks him to use his magical eye to look at the writing desk in the drawing room and tell her if what is in there is actually a Boggart, as they suppose, or something more deadly. Moody confirms that it is a Boggart, and Mrs. Weasley says she'll deal with it. Later, though, as Harry goes to bed, he passes the drawing room, and sees Ron lying dead on the floor. He hears a weeping Mrs. Weasley casting Riddikulus, and sees the dead Ron turn into a dead Mr. Weasley. Realizing that this is the Boggart, Harry sees it change rapidly into several other Weasley family members, dead, and then himself. Lupin arrives, banishes the Boggart, and comforts Mrs. Weasley. Harry continues off to bed, aware now that his own death, which has suddenly become a more concrete possibility, is numbered among Mrs. Weasley's worst fears.
As they prepare to head off to school the next day, Mrs. Weasley is again angered by the Twins attempting to use magic. In an attempt to use magic to get their trunks down the stairs, they have run them into Ginny and injured her. Luckily, Mrs. Weasley was able to heal her. Mrs. Weasley is also exasperated by Sirius, who, in his Dog Animagus shape, is demanding to come along. She gives in to Sirius, but spends a lot of the trip pleading with him to act more like a dog. They make their farewells on the platform.
For the next while, we don't see Mrs. Weasley directly. Her presence is still felt, however, as Hermione, irritated by Fred and George testing out Fainting Fancies on the first-year students, threatens to tell their mother what they are doing. This proves to be a much more effective means of controlling the Twins than detention or any other school-based punishment. And, after Hermione arranges the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army, Sirius, talking by means of Floo Powder, passes on a message from Mrs. Weasley to Ron forbidding him to join the group, and asking Harry and Hermione to also stay out of it.
Just before Christmas, Harry perceives Mr. Weasley being attacked by a snake. Professor Dumbledore, after confirming Harry's perception, sends Professor McGonagall to fetch the other Weasley children (Ron is already present). As he is preparing to send them all to Grimmauld Place, McGonagall asks Dumbledore if she should be contacting Mrs. Weasley; Dumbledore says that will be a job for Fawkes. He also says that she may already know, due to that excellent clock of hers. Harry remembers that this refers to the clock in The Burrow which has hands for each of the Weasleys, indicating where they are.
After they arrive in Grimmauld Place, a phoenix feather appears with a note. The note, from Mrs. Weasley, says that she has seen Mr. Weasley in hospital, that he is seriously injured, but still alive. This does little to ease the worry that the Weasley children and Harry are feeling: if it is necessary to say that he is still alive, how close to death is he? When Mrs. Weasley gets to Grimmauld Place at 5 that morning, she is able to reassure everyone that Mr. Weasley is now sleeping peacefully. Harry, feeling somehow instrumental in Mr. Weasley's being injured, is unsure of his welcome, but Mrs. Weasley sweeps him into a hug, saying that if it wasn't for Harry raising the alarm, Mr. Weasley would not have lived.
Later that day, the entire family, guarded by Mad-Eye Moody and Tonks, visit Mr. Weasley in hospital. After the children have visited, the adults discuss privately the occurrences leading up to Harry's warning. Harry and the others manage to overhear this by means of Extendable Ears that the Twins have brought. Mrs. Weasley plays little part in the conversation, though she does hear Moody's suggestion that Harry may be possessed by Voldemort.
Harry, afraid that he is possessed by Voldemort, isolates himself from the other occupants of Grimmauld Place; Mrs. Weasley sends him up sandwiches when he does not appear at mealtimes. Once Harry is convinced by Ginny that he is not possessed, he rejoins the activities in the household, which largely are involved with preparations for Christmas, including decorating the house. On Christmas day, Mrs. Weasley is in tears because the jumper (US: sweater) that she had knit for Percy had been returned unopened.
Later that day, the Weasley family, with Harry, Hermione, Moody, and Lupin, are driven to the hospital by Mundungus Fletcher. There, Mr. Weasley asks if they have seen his Healer. Mrs. Weasley, noting that his dressings have been changed, demands to know what's going on. The twins, sensing storm clouds gathering, depart for the tea shop. Mr. Weasley diffidently mentions that the apprentice healer had been experimenting with Muggle healing techniques, something called "stitches". Mrs. Weasley, saying that it sounds like that means actually sewing the wound together, dismissively says that not even Mr. Weasley would be so stupid as to try that. Harry and Ron, now also sensing incipient explosion, also decide that the tea shop is calling, and with Hermione and Ginny, they depart.
Professor Snape visits Grimmauld Place to tell Harry that he will have to learn Occlumency from him. An exchange of insults between Sirius and Snape has the two of them at wands drawn and Harry standing between them trying to prevent them from dueling, when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, with the rest of the Weasley children, return from hospital where Mr. Weasley has been released as fit.
Mrs. Weasley does not join Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley children on the Knight Bus taking them back to Hogwarts after the vacation, instead staying on at Headquarters.
When Fred and George leave the school, Ron worries that Mrs. Weasley will blame him for their departure. Harry tells him that is nonsense, but Ron says Mrs. Weasley somehow believes that, as a Prefect, Ron has some kind of power over the Twins.
Mrs. Weasley, along with Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, Lupin, Tonks, and Moody, are present at the station when the Hogwarts Express returns Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to London. The entire lot of them face down Harry's aunt, uncle, and cousin, demanding concessions from the Dursleys that will ensure Harry's comfort over the summer.
[edit] Half-Blood Prince
After only a fortnight, Professor Dumbledore retrieves Harry from the Dursleys', and takes him via side-along Apparation to a village where they recruit a teacher, and then to The Burrow. It is well past midnight, but it seems that Mrs. Weasley is still up, waiting in the kitchen for Mr. Weasley to come home. She is talking with Tonks, who is looking surprisingly depressed. After Tonks and Dumbledore have left, Mrs. Weasley tells Harry that Mr. Weasley has been promoted, and now heads the new Office of Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. The increase in income has significantly helped the Weasley finances. When Mr. Weasley does come home, he insists on the Ministry-recommended challenge technique to prove who he is and who Mrs. Weasley is before he will allow her to open the door. Mrs. Weasley is vastly embarrassed at the intimacy of some of the questions and answers required, particularly with Harry there, listening. Once inside, Mr. Weasley tells some of the things that have happened during his day; Harry is very interested, but is unable to stifle a yawn because of the lateness of the hour. Seeing this, Mrs. Weasley shoos him off to bed.
The next morning, Harry's breakfast is brought to him by Fleur Delacour, with Mrs. Weasley grumbling behind her. Fleur, with her usual great drama, announces that she and Bill Weasley are to be married. After she has gone, Ginny, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley comment that Fleur is very full of herself, and wonder what Bill sees in her. Ginny nicknames her "Phlegm", which makes Harry and Hermione laugh, though Mrs. Weasley disapproves. After Mrs. Weasley leaves, Harry mentions how sad Tonks is looking. Ron mentions that Mrs. Weasley is always inviting her over, and offers his opinion that Mrs. Weasley was hoping that Tonks and Bill would have fancied each other. Later, when Harry ventures down to the kitchen, he finds Mrs. Weasley apparently ignoring Fleur, who is going on about wedding plans.
The day after Harry's birthday, booklists arrive, and Mrs. Weasley says that they can't put off going to Diagon Alley much longer. The following day, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione, along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, set out. Arriving in the Leaky Cauldron, they meet Hagrid who will be helping Mrs. Weasley guard them. In Diagon Alley, Mr. Weasley is annoyed by the street vendors selling amulets and charms, saying that if he was on the job he would run them all in and confiscate the lot. Mrs. Weasley reminds him that he is not on the job and tells him to calm down. Ginny does not need robes, so she sets off with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to Flourish and Blotts for textbooks, while Ron, Harry, and Hermione head off to Madam Malkin's with Hagrid.
The two groups later join up to visit Fred and George's new store, and Mrs. Weasley is taken aback by their garish window display which mocks Lord Voldemort.
While they are all in the store, Harry sees Draco Malfoy pass by, and under the Invisibility Cloak, he, Ron, and Hermione pursue him into Knockturn Alley and eavesdrop on a transaction he has in Borgin and Burkes. On their return to the joke shop, they try to convince a worried Mrs. Weasley that they had been in the back room of the store.
The day before the departure for Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley tells Harry that she would like to have everything packed up the night before, to avoid the mad rush in the morning to get everyone off for the train. She also says that Ministry cars are going to be coming to pick them up. Surprisingly, everyone is ready in the morning, and they get to the station in good order. While Mrs. Weasley is bidding her children goodbye, Harry takes Mr. Weasley aside and tells him about what they have overheard, advising him to search Malfoy Manor again. He returns to the platform just in time to collect a farewell hug from Mrs. Weasley and board the train.
Harry stays at the Burrow for Christmas, and when we first see him there, he and Ron have been set the task of peeling sprouts by hand. Apparently Mrs. Weasley feels that Ron needs some understanding of how Muggles have to live, and has been setting him various manual tasks over his vacation; Harry joins in out of friendship and because he wants to talk privately about things that have been happening at school. Mrs. Weasley comes into the kitchen while Fred and George are there, to explain the sleeping arrangements; apparently, with Bill and Fleur there, as well as Lupin, things will be a bit cramped. Percy, still estranged from the family, is not expected to be there.
On Christmas Eve, the family is gathered in the parlour. The wireless (US: radio) is playing a selection by Mrs. Weasley's favorite singer, Celestina Warbeck, and Fleur evidently does not like it as she is trying to talk over it. There is a small battle going on in the background of the scene here, with Mrs. Weasley repeatedly increasing the volume of the wireless, and Fleur in response raising her voice. Some time after the song has finished, Fleur starts making fun of it, which Mr. Weasley and Lupin see as a signal that the evening is over and everyone should go off to bed.
At Christmas dinner the next day, the gathered group discuss, among other things, Tonks, who was invited, but who apparently chose to spend Christmas alone. Mrs. Weasley seems to blame Bill for her absence. This appears to echo Ron's earlier statement that Mrs. Weasley is trying to get Bill and Tonks hooked up, and leads us to believe that Tonks' absence is because Fleur is present.
The entire group is stunned by the appearance of Percy at the door, along with the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Percy woodenly wishes everyone a Happy Christmas. Mrs. Weasley runs to hug him; he tolerates this but does not respond. Scrimgeour takes Harry aside on the pretense of allowing the family some time for their reunion. The reunion ends, we find out later, with Percy leaving hurriedly, decorated with mashed parsnips which Fred, George, and Ginny all claim credit for having thrown, and Mrs. Weasley in tears.
When Ron is poisoned on his birthday, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are summoned to the school. Arriving in the Hospital Wing, they effusively thank Harry for once again saving the life of one of their family members. Harry, embarrassed by the praise, very quickly leaves the Hospital Wing with Hermione and Hagrid.
At the end of the book, Bill is guarding Hogwarts when the battle at the Astronomy Tower breaks out. He is badly bitten by Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf. As Fenrir is not transformed, Bill does not become a werewolf, but the damage to his face is very bad and Madam Pomfrey says he will be permanently scarred. When Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arrive, Mrs. Weasley immediately takes over tending Bills injuries. As she does so, she remarks that it is such a shame, he was so handsome, and was going to be married. Fleur, who has arrived with them, picks up the aspersion immediately and is angered by it. She immediately accuses Mrs. Weasley of thinking that Fleur had been interested in Bill only because of his looks, says that she has looks good enough for both of them, and the wedding is still going to happen. So saying, she shoulders Mrs. Weasley aside and takes over tending Bill's wounded face. Mrs. Weasley is stunned, but then tentatively suggests that their Auntie Muriel has a Goblin-made tiara with moonstones that would look lovely against Fleur's hair. She offers to try and arrange to loan it to Fleur for the wedding. Fleur stiffly accepts. Before Harry can figure out what is going on, the two women are in tears and hugging each other.
While we don't speak with Mrs. Weasley again in the book, it is safe to assume that she remains at the school for Dumbledore's funeral.
[edit] Deathly Hallows
Harry has escaped from Privet Drive with Hagrid. After arriving at Ted Tonks' house, Harry and Hagrid catch a Portkey that takes them to The Burrow. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny meet them there, distraught because Harry is the first party to arrive, and two other parties, Nymphadora Tonks with Ron, and Mr. Weasley with Fred, should have arrived earlier, but their Portkeys had appeared without them. Mrs. Weasley is happy to see Harry and hugs him, but when Hagrid asks for a bit of brandy, Mrs. Weasley runs to the kitchen to get it, rather than Summoning it. Harry believes that she is hiding her face, trying to hide her tears. Shortly, Lupin arrives with George, who is injured. Mrs. Weasley directs Lupin to put him on the couch and starts trying to care for him. Lupin takes Harry aside, and queries him to confirm that he is the real Harry. Lupin is of the opinion that someone in the Order had betrayed them, and needs to confirm that they are not harboring an impostor. The remaining pairs trickle in, leaving only Mundungus Fletcher and "Mad-Eye" Moody. Fletcher had apparently become afraid and Disapparated, and the killing spell that had been aimed at him had hit Moody instead. The group gathered around George on the couch drink to his memory, and then Bill and Lupin depart to try and collect his body. Harry, feeling that his presence at The Burrow puts everyone in danger, volunteers to leave as well, but Mrs. Weasley is vocal in demanding that he stay.
The Order is aware that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been given a final mission by Dumbledore, but once rebuffed, are content to simply offer what assistance they can. Mrs. Weasley, however, takes Harry aside on his first day at The Burrow, on the pretense of asking him if a stray sock she has found is his. Once he is separated from Ron and Hermione, she starts asking him about what Dumbledore had wanted him to do. Harry gently resists her questioning, in the end simply refusing to tell her what Dumbledore had in mind, and then saying that the sock she had found couldn't be his.
Mrs. Weasley is, of course, preparing the house and yard to receive vast numbers of visitors for Bill and Fleur's wedding, which is to be held there on the first of August. She sets tasks for Harry, Hermione, and all the Weasley children present to get things ready. Harry can't help noticing that the tasks selected seem to be designed to keep Harry, Hermione, and Ron separated from each other. Harry frets at this obstacle to their planning, rhetorically asking at one point whether Mrs. Weasley expects someone else to bump off Voldemort while Harry stays at the Burrow and makes vol-au-vents? Ginny, who is helping him at that moment, apparently now understands some of Harry's mission, despite Harry's trying to make a joke of it.
Mrs. Weasley's attempt to keep the Trio separated does break down at one point. She has assigned Ron to clean his room, Hermione has been given the task of dealing with the table linens, something she had already done the day before, and Harry and Mr. Weasley are assigned the job of dealing with the chicken coop. When Mr. Weasley admits that he has put the wreckage of Sirius' flying motorbike in there, so there is really nothing to be done, Harry goes to Ron's room, joining Hermione who is already present. They manage to get some planning done before being discovered and sent on to new jobs by Mrs. Weasley.
When Fleur's mother arrives, she manages to calm Mrs. Weasley's nerves immediately. Everything is lovely, everything is perfect, and Mrs. Delacour is most willing to pitch in and help, including providing a spell that cleans out the recalcitrant oven that had been giving Ron such problems.
As the next day is Harry's birthday, Mrs. Weasley asks Harry what he would like. Harry, while thinking to himself that he is burden enough on the Weasleys just by his presence in this already busy time, says that there is nothing he really needs, and he really doesn't want a big fuss made over him.
When Harry gets down to the kitchen on his birthday, he finds that Mrs. Weasley has given him a gold watch, a traditional gift for a wizard on reaching his majority. Mrs. Weasley diffidently apologizes for its condition, saying it had belonged to her late brother, who had not always been the best at maintaining his personal possessions; Harry, knowing that this makes it all the more valuable, expresses his thanks by hugging Mrs. Weasley. Later, Harry sees Mrs. Weasley carrying something that looks like an enormous Golden Snitch to the outside table; investigating, he finds that it is his birthday cake.
Rufus Scrimgeour's visit to Harry, Ron, and Hermione later that day is heated, and tempers flare. The shouting brings Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to the parlour where the meeting is happening, just in time to see Scrimegeour leaving.
On the day of the wedding, while we can see that Mrs. Weasley has done an excellent job of decorating, she herself has very little role in the celebrations.
We do not see Mrs. Weasley again until the end of the book, when she arrives in the Room of Requirement in response to the call for members of the Order to defend Hogwarts. The entire Weasley family, including both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, are present in the Room of Requirement when Percy arrives. After a frozen moment, which Fleur attempts to defuse by asking Lupin about his infant son Teddy, Percy loudly declares that he has been a blind, ambitious fool, and asks to be forgiven by his family. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley greet this with welcoming hugs, and together they go off to battle.
We see Mrs. Weasley once in passing: at the break in the battle, as Harry is carrying Snape's memories up to the Headmaster's office to put them into the Pensieve, he sees the Weasley family gathered together to mourn the passing of Fred.
At the end of the battle at Hogwarts, Bellatrix Lestrange is dueling Hermione, Ginny, and Luna. When a curse narrowly misses Ginny, Mrs. Weasley, enraged by the attack on her daughter, engages Bellatrix in combat and ends up killing her. Seeing Bellatrix fall, Voldemort hurls a curse at Mrs. Weasley; Harry, from under the Invisibility Cloak, blocks it. Voldemort then turns his attention to Harry.
In the feast following the end of the battle, Harry sees the Weasley family sitting together, and Ginny leaning against her mother in tiredness. Harry decides not to impose himself on them; they need time as a family to recover from their loss.
[edit] Strengths
She cares very deeply for her children and is very much the kingpin around which the entire Weasley family turns. She is also apparently a very powerful witch and excellent duelist, as she is able to take Bellatrix Lestrange single-handed. While we cannot judge her intelligence relative to (say) her husband, it is certainly true that she has raised a family of very powerful, and in the case of the Twins, very inventive wizards. She does have a very direct and forceful character, much more so than her husband.
[edit] Weaknesses
As we see in the episode with the Boggart in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Molly's greatest fear is of harm befalling her children or her husband... or Harry. Seeing these fears given solid form before her does leave her weakened and in tears. It is this same fear for her children that causes her to face Bellatrix single-handed, a potentially unwise decision given that, being in Voldemort's upper echelon, Bellatrix is obviously a very powerful witch. It is only Molly's hitherto unheralded strength at dueling that saves her in this instance.
[edit] Relationships with Other Characters
Molly Weasley cares very deeply for her children. Like all parents, she wants her children to be people that she can be proud of. As a result, she is possibly a little more ambitious on the childrens' behalf than they are themselves. She seems disappointed that the Twins don't want to work for the Ministry, apparently believing that their choosing to work for themselves in a joke shop is somehow beneath them. She is very proud of Percy's appointment to be Bartemius Crouch's assistant, and must be pleased, at least initially, at his apparent rapid rise within the Ministry. His departure from the family, stormy as it is, pains Molly very deeply.
With each of her children, we can see the separate motherly dynamic in action. She is, for instance, always nagging Bill about the length of his hair, and the twins about their grades. She accepts Percy's pompousness, perhaps thinking it justified in someone who is selected as Prefect and later Head Boy. Her interaction with Ron is more varied; perhaps this is because we see more of it, Ron being almost a viewpoint character in the series, but seems to be largely mutual exasperation, Ron at the exigencies of their financial situation, Molly at Ron's inability to deal with it. Apart from the protectiveness we see late in book 7, we don't see a lot of Molly's interactions with Ginny.
One ongoing thorn in Molly's side must be Arthur, her husband. Arthur's fascination with Muggle artifacts and techniques exasperates her, his experimenting with spells on them vexes her, and his unwillingness to discipline the children, the Twins in particular, infuriates her. Further, although she never mentions it, his lack of ambition must gall her as well; surely, if he had a little more ambition, he could move up in the Ministry to a higher-paying job. And yet, they seem to have a very solid marriage, caring for and about each other.
Harry's experience with her starts off as being somewhat alarming. When he first arrives at The Burrow, it is to hear Molly tearing a strip off the Twins and Ron for their adventures of the previous night. Harry fears that he is in for some of the same, but Molly moderates her tone instantly when she turns to him, knowing that he is not to blame for what has happened, simply inviting him in to have some breakfast. Molly, over the course of the six years starting with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, brings Harry into her own circle, caring for him as she does for her own, but always knowing that she has no real authority over him. We are perhaps mildly surprised that Molly never scolds Harry, for all that his death is one of the things that she most fears.
[edit] Analysis
For almost all of the series, we see Molly Weasley as essentially "the good mother", nurturing her children, worrying about them, scolding them when they misbehave, and trying to shield them from the cold hard realities of life in the world as best she can. Over time, she also takes Harry under her wing, treating him and defending him as she would one of her own children. This becomes quite apparent in the early chapters of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, where she argues unsuccessfully against letting Harry know the business of the Order. In this, she seems to be battling her own husband, who agrees with the rest of the Order that Harry, as the center of the efforts, has a right to know what the efforts are. Additionally, Arthur has a much less rigid view of the necessary discipline, and often seems to feel that the punishments Molly is meting out, particularly to the Twins, are harsher than they need to be. We see this first in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where upon being told of the Twin's use of the flying car, his first reaction is to ask how it went, rather than to scold them for taking it. We see it again in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, where Arthur, who is scolding the twins for their having dropped a magical toffee where Dudley would pick it up, suddenly backtracks when Molly appears. Molly's attempts to protect Harry come to a head in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, where she seems to be trying to prevent Harry, Ron, and Hermione from spending time together, in the apparent hope that if they are unable to plan an escape from The Burrow, they will be unable to make an escape. She is well aware that Harry has a mission that has been given him by Dumbledore, and is afraid of what that mission will entail for him, as well as for Ron, and for Hermione whom she has also mentally adopted. As so many teenagers do, Harry chafes at what he sees as over-protectiveness. He does not openly rebel against it, perhaps because he has been so starved for affection that he is willing to accept this protectiveness as part of the package, but he is aware of being protected when he doesn't want to be, and manages to avoid it long enough to make the necessary preparations for his mission.
It is only at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, where she successfully duels with Bellatrix Lestrange, that it is revealed that Molly is actually quite a powerful witch who has been hiding her talents, in order to raise her family. From our first meeting with her, in retrospect, we do sense something of this restrained power, there is a self-assurance in her manner that does not seem to quite tally with the simple housewife she appears to be. Granted, one would have to be very self-assured to deal with raising her sons, especially Fred and George, but perhaps their nature is due to their having inherited her power and force of personality. It seems that they are their mother's sons, where Percy and Ron have inherited more from their father. It is certainly true that Ginny seems to have inherited quite a bit of Molly's nature and temperament.
