The Eighth Weasley
I touched briefly upon this topic in my Review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but I wanted to get more in-depth about Harry's relationship with the Weasley family and why it means so much to him... the truth is, I really believe Harry wants to be a Weasley. Here's why:
Upon the release of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” I noticed a great deal of dismay from many people about the young love between Harry and Ginny Weasley, his best friend’s sister. People seemed to think this new development was absurd, that it came out of the blue, that it was out of character. I didn’t think so at all -- in fact, I’d been expecting it. Waiting for it, even.
Ginny for all her gallivanting about with other boys, has held a torch for Harry ever since their first meeting at Platform 9 3/4 back in “Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone,” and in fact was quite active in pursuing him -- as active as a shy 11-year-old girl can be -- in “Chamber of Secrets.” Harry didn’t return her affections then, being more concerned at that age with things like Quidditch and saving the world from the Dark Lord than he was with girls.
Ginny’s attraction to Harry is easily understandable -- he’s brave, handsome, strong and has a habit of saving herself and her family from mortal peril on a semi-annual basis. Harry’s attraction to Ginny, however, requires a little more thought. When he begins feeling pangs of jealousy as she flits about with Dean Thomas, is it just because she’s smart, just because she’s not intimidated by him (any longer), just because she’s a cute redhead? All of these things undoubtedly play a factor for Harry, as they would for any strapping lad of his age, but there’s something else to consider as well, something far more important here.
Harry’s attraction to Ginny is a microcosm of his feelings for her family as a whole.
Harry Potter wants to be a Weasley.
Harry has never had a family. He was born to good people who almost certainly would have been good, nurturing parents, except they never had a chance. After just one year with their son, both were brutally murdered in defense of his life. While this sacrifice gave Harry a great gift and a great power, it did not give him the love and support a child needs -- rather, it gave him a sense of anger and loss, once he discovered the truth. It made him feel that his parents had been stolen from him and he elevated them in his mind (and the mind of the reader) to an almost Saintlike status, making it all the more jarring in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” when he witnesses an act of schoolboy cruelty by his father, James, whom we had all come to suspect was above such things.
His parents dead, Harry was shuffled off to an aunt and uncle that treated him, his entire life, as an annoyance. He was hidden away, lied about to relatives and sheltered from a world that he was rightfully born into -- no wonder he gleefully chose to escape when Hagrid first came for him.
In his first year, Harry encounters the Mirror of Erised, a looking-glass that shows a person his heart’s desire. Harry sees not fame, not fortune, not power, but himself, as he was, standing with his parents.
He didn’t really encounter a family until he happened to meet Molly Weasley and her children on the platform to the Hogwarts Express. There he saw a mother who loved her children, even when they went out of their way to frustrate her (as Fred and George did) and who immediately made him feel welcome. As the year progressed, Ron became his first real friend, and he and (to a lesser extent) the twins became surrogate brothers.
Although he probably didn’t realize the significance at the time, his place became even more assured that Christmas when Harry, like the others, was given a Weasley sweater by Molly. The Weasley boys may not have been thrilled -- what teenage boy would be to get a sweater for Christmas year after year? -- but that sweater has real significance. Receiving one means that Molly has accepted you as part of the family. In “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” five Christmases later, everybody gets a Weasley sweater... with one exception. Fleur Delacour, Bill Weasley’s fiance. Molly (along with Hermione and Ginny) have not accepted Fleur as part of the family at this point, despite Bill’s love for her.
But it isn’t until the summer after his first year at Hogwarts, when Harry goes to the Burrow, that he finally sees first-hand what it’s like to live as part of a family. Despite Molly’s gift the previous Christmas, he has never been immersed in the Weasley family until now, when he suddenly has a surrogate mother, a surrogate father and seven surrogate siblings. (At this point, I believe, he does regard Ginny as a little sister. By his sixth year at Hogwarts, clearly, those feelings have changed.)
Over the next few years, Harry’s interactions with the Weasleys grow closer and closer. Except for a family vacation to Egypt the summer between Harry and Ron’s second and third year, he becomes nearly as involved every aspect of their lives as Ron himself. Arthur warns Harry of the presumed threat of Sirius Black, and although he does not tell him the whole truth of the matter, he treats him with respect, like a father speaking to a son. He takes Harry (and Hermione as well, also slowly being adopted) with the family to the Quidditch World Cup the following summer. When Harry is entered into the Triwizard Tournament and his family is summoned, it is not Vernon and Petunia Dursley that come to his side, but Molly Weasley.
During his third year, Fred and George present Harry -- not Ron -- with the Marauder’s Map, the secret of all their mischief-making and, as it turns out, an invaluable tool in Harry’s coming struggles. At the end of the fourth novel, he gives his winnings in the Triwizard Tournament to the twins so that they may open their Joke Shop -- a dream Molly may not necessarily approve of, but that Harry endorses. His rationale is that the world will need laughter with the darkness that is coming, but that would be no rationale at all if he didn’t have faith in Fred and George to use that money to be successful.
He saves the life of Arthur Weasley in the fifth novel and saves Ron’s in the sixth, and Arthur tells him it was a lucky day for the Weasley family when Ron sat next to him on the Hogwarts express. It was, to be sure, but it was just as lucky for Harry, because he sees in the Weasleys everything he has ever wanted: love, comfort, a home, acceptance. But even as they welcome him with open arms, make him a part of the family, he still feels slightly apart, because he knows he is not one of the family, not really.
But through Ginny, he could become family in fact, and not just in spirit.
For several books now, J.K. Rowling has drawn attention to a clock in the Burrow that has hands for each member of the Weasley family and pointing to where they currently are: work, school and mortal peril being popular choices. Thus far, the clock has been mere decoration, not factoring into the plot. With only one volume remaining in the series, I am certain that somehow it will be utilized.
And I would not be surprised if, at some point, a new hand is added to that clock. And the name it will bear will be “Harry.”
Upon the release of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” I noticed a great deal of dismay from many people about the young love between Harry and Ginny Weasley, his best friend’s sister. People seemed to think this new development was absurd, that it came out of the blue, that it was out of character. I didn’t think so at all -- in fact, I’d been expecting it. Waiting for it, even.
Ginny for all her gallivanting about with other boys, has held a torch for Harry ever since their first meeting at Platform 9 3/4 back in “Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone,” and in fact was quite active in pursuing him -- as active as a shy 11-year-old girl can be -- in “Chamber of Secrets.” Harry didn’t return her affections then, being more concerned at that age with things like Quidditch and saving the world from the Dark Lord than he was with girls.
Ginny’s attraction to Harry is easily understandable -- he’s brave, handsome, strong and has a habit of saving herself and her family from mortal peril on a semi-annual basis. Harry’s attraction to Ginny, however, requires a little more thought. When he begins feeling pangs of jealousy as she flits about with Dean Thomas, is it just because she’s smart, just because she’s not intimidated by him (any longer), just because she’s a cute redhead? All of these things undoubtedly play a factor for Harry, as they would for any strapping lad of his age, but there’s something else to consider as well, something far more important here.
Harry’s attraction to Ginny is a microcosm of his feelings for her family as a whole.
Harry Potter wants to be a Weasley.
Harry has never had a family. He was born to good people who almost certainly would have been good, nurturing parents, except they never had a chance. After just one year with their son, both were brutally murdered in defense of his life. While this sacrifice gave Harry a great gift and a great power, it did not give him the love and support a child needs -- rather, it gave him a sense of anger and loss, once he discovered the truth. It made him feel that his parents had been stolen from him and he elevated them in his mind (and the mind of the reader) to an almost Saintlike status, making it all the more jarring in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” when he witnesses an act of schoolboy cruelty by his father, James, whom we had all come to suspect was above such things.
His parents dead, Harry was shuffled off to an aunt and uncle that treated him, his entire life, as an annoyance. He was hidden away, lied about to relatives and sheltered from a world that he was rightfully born into -- no wonder he gleefully chose to escape when Hagrid first came for him.
In his first year, Harry encounters the Mirror of Erised, a looking-glass that shows a person his heart’s desire. Harry sees not fame, not fortune, not power, but himself, as he was, standing with his parents.
He didn’t really encounter a family until he happened to meet Molly Weasley and her children on the platform to the Hogwarts Express. There he saw a mother who loved her children, even when they went out of their way to frustrate her (as Fred and George did) and who immediately made him feel welcome. As the year progressed, Ron became his first real friend, and he and (to a lesser extent) the twins became surrogate brothers.
Although he probably didn’t realize the significance at the time, his place became even more assured that Christmas when Harry, like the others, was given a Weasley sweater by Molly. The Weasley boys may not have been thrilled -- what teenage boy would be to get a sweater for Christmas year after year? -- but that sweater has real significance. Receiving one means that Molly has accepted you as part of the family. In “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” five Christmases later, everybody gets a Weasley sweater... with one exception. Fleur Delacour, Bill Weasley’s fiance. Molly (along with Hermione and Ginny) have not accepted Fleur as part of the family at this point, despite Bill’s love for her.
But it isn’t until the summer after his first year at Hogwarts, when Harry goes to the Burrow, that he finally sees first-hand what it’s like to live as part of a family. Despite Molly’s gift the previous Christmas, he has never been immersed in the Weasley family until now, when he suddenly has a surrogate mother, a surrogate father and seven surrogate siblings. (At this point, I believe, he does regard Ginny as a little sister. By his sixth year at Hogwarts, clearly, those feelings have changed.)
Over the next few years, Harry’s interactions with the Weasleys grow closer and closer. Except for a family vacation to Egypt the summer between Harry and Ron’s second and third year, he becomes nearly as involved every aspect of their lives as Ron himself. Arthur warns Harry of the presumed threat of Sirius Black, and although he does not tell him the whole truth of the matter, he treats him with respect, like a father speaking to a son. He takes Harry (and Hermione as well, also slowly being adopted) with the family to the Quidditch World Cup the following summer. When Harry is entered into the Triwizard Tournament and his family is summoned, it is not Vernon and Petunia Dursley that come to his side, but Molly Weasley.
During his third year, Fred and George present Harry -- not Ron -- with the Marauder’s Map, the secret of all their mischief-making and, as it turns out, an invaluable tool in Harry’s coming struggles. At the end of the fourth novel, he gives his winnings in the Triwizard Tournament to the twins so that they may open their Joke Shop -- a dream Molly may not necessarily approve of, but that Harry endorses. His rationale is that the world will need laughter with the darkness that is coming, but that would be no rationale at all if he didn’t have faith in Fred and George to use that money to be successful.
He saves the life of Arthur Weasley in the fifth novel and saves Ron’s in the sixth, and Arthur tells him it was a lucky day for the Weasley family when Ron sat next to him on the Hogwarts express. It was, to be sure, but it was just as lucky for Harry, because he sees in the Weasleys everything he has ever wanted: love, comfort, a home, acceptance. But even as they welcome him with open arms, make him a part of the family, he still feels slightly apart, because he knows he is not one of the family, not really.
But through Ginny, he could become family in fact, and not just in spirit.
For several books now, J.K. Rowling has drawn attention to a clock in the Burrow that has hands for each member of the Weasley family and pointing to where they currently are: work, school and mortal peril being popular choices. Thus far, the clock has been mere decoration, not factoring into the plot. With only one volume remaining in the series, I am certain that somehow it will be utilized.
And I would not be surprised if, at some point, a new hand is added to that clock. And the name it will bear will be “Harry.”