Fred and George Weasley
"Now, behave, won't you? Won't you, Fred? And you, George?"
-- Molly Weasley (PS6)"The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve."
-- Ginny Weasley (OP29)
Name meaningsRelated pages on Fred & George:
Birth name: Fred and George Weasley.
Name meaning: Weasley="In Britain and Ireland the weasel
has a bad reputation as an unfortunate, even malevolent, animal. However,
since childhood I have had a great fondness for the Family Mustelidae;
not so much malignant as maligned, in my opinion." (JKR)
This genus includes weasels, stoats, polecats, ferrets, mink, wolverines,
badgers, skunks, otters, and others.
Born: April 1st (JKR), 1978.
Death: Fred died on May 2, 1998 during the Battle of Hogwarts (DH32, YL).
FAMILY & FRIENDS
Ancestry: Pure-blood.
Mother: Molly (Prewett) Weasley.
Father: Arthur Weasley,
Head of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, Ministry
of Magic.
Maternal grandparents: Molly and Sirius are "cousins
by marriage," (OP6) so Molly's parents are probably related in some
way to the Prewetts listed on the Black Family Tree (see BFT and my
notes).
Paternal grandparents: Septimus and Cedrella Weasley (see BFT and my
notes).
Aunts & Uncles:
- Weasley: Arthur had 2 brothers but we don't know their names (JKR). According to Jo, Ginny is the first female to be born into the Weasley family in generations, so we can deduce that Arthur had no sisters (JKR).
- Prewett: Molly's brothers Gideon and Fabian Prewett (OP9).
- Surname unknown:
- Uncle Bilius, who saw a Grim and died a week later (PA6).
- Great Auntie Muriel who has a goblin-made tiara (HBP29) and apparently is a memorable kisser (HBP14).
Cousins: Mafalda, a cousin who never made it into
the books (
JKR) and her father the Muggle accountant
(PS6).
Siblings: Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron and Ginny.
Spouse: George married Angelina Johnson (YL).
Children: George and Angelina's children
are named Fred and Roxanne (YL).
Location of childhood home: "The Burrow," near
Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon (second floor bedroom) (HBP5); in 1997, moved to a flat above their shop at 93 Diagon Alley (HBP5), and again to Aunt Muriel's Eastertime in 1998 for better security (DH24).
Creatures associated: The family owl (Errol),
family ghoul, Nifflers (OP31), garden gnome disguised as Christmas tree angel
(HBP16).
APPEARANCE
Eyes: unknown.
Hair color: Flaming red.
Other characteristics: Freckles. Body type similar
to their shorter, stockier brother Charlie (GF5). For Christmas their
third year, Molly gave them blue "Weasley" sweaters, one
with a large yellow F on it, the other a G (PS12). George has a dark hole on the side of his head where his ear was cursed off (DH).
HOGWARTS
First year: 1989.
House: Gryffindor.
Quidditch: Beaters for Gryffindor, they use Cleansweep
Five broomsticks (CS). Banned for life by Dolores Umbridge after
post-game brawling with Draco Malfoy (OP19).
OWLs: They both got 3 OWLs (OP12) -- Ron got 7 (HBP5).
Fred's Yule Ball date: Angelina Johnson (GF22).
Awards, prizes, etc.: Fred and George have a whole drawer in
Filch's "punishment" cabinet all to themselves (CS8). Professor
Flitwick was so taken with the Portable Swamp that the twins created
on a school corridor that he left a small part of it in their honor (OP38).
Finished school? No, the twins quit school before the
end of their 7th year in a final act of defiance against Headmaster Dolores
Umbridge (OP29).
SKILLS, DEVICES, ALLEGIANCES, ETC.
Wands: Unknown.
Skills: the twins are unusually adept at charms
as their many inventions show; they also have a flair for business
and a knack for finding secret passages at Hogwarts.
Quidditch World Cup: During the Quidditch
World Cup, they placed a bet with Ludo Bagman for
all of their money (thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts)
that Ireland would win, "but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch." (GF9)
They won, but unfortunately Bagman cheated them by giving them Leprechaun
gold that vanished the next morning (GF37).
Spells & potions: Aging potion (GF16), jelly legs jinx (GF), Garrotting Gas (OP32).
Inventions:
- fake wands (GF5),
- Weasleys' Wild-Fire Whiz-Bangs (OP28),
- Canary Creams (GF21),
- Extendable Ears (OP4),
- Skiving Snackboxes (OP),
- Headless Hat (OP24),
- Nosebleed Nougat (OP12, HBP6),
- Portable Swamp (OP29),
- Puking Pastilles (OP6),
- Ton-Tongue Toffees (GF4, GF5)
- Punching telescope (HBP5)
- [annotated list of inventions]
For sale at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes (HBP6):
- Skiving Snackboxes (Nosebleed Nougat is the most popular)
- bins full of trick wands
- boxes of quills (Self-Inking, Spell-Checking and Smart-Answer)
- Reusable hangman
- Patented Daydream Charms
- Muggle card and rope tricks
- Edible Dark Marks
- Shield Charms (hats, cloaks, gloves)
- Instant Darkness Powder (imported from Peru)
- Decoy Detonators
- Joke cauldrons
- "WonderWitch" products (love potions, Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher)
- Pygmy Puffs (miniature puffskeins)
- [annotated list of inventions]
Other devices: Filibuster’s Fabulous No-Heat,
Wet-Start Fireworks (CS, GF11), Cleansweep Five broomsticks (CS), Stink
Pellets from Zonko's (PA8), Marauder's
Map ("the secret of our success") (PA9), Dungbombs
(PA9, 11).
Substances, restricted and otherwise: Venomous Tentacula
seeds (OP9), Bulbadox powder (OP12).
Organizations & affiliations: The twins were some
of the first wizards to meet Harry, and they have always been unhesitatingly
loyal (in their own way). They helped Harry deal with being ostracized
over being a Parseltongue by preceding him through the hallways shouting "Make
way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through." (CS12)
They were also members of Dumbledore's Army (OP).
"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things," said Ginny. "We thought they just liked the noise." (GF5)
Weasley's Wizard Wheezes: Although their mother wanted the twins to work for the Ministry of Magic like their father, the twins' ambition was to open a joke shop to sell their inventions (GF5, 29). With Harry's seed money, the twins did just that, first testing their product ideas (OP6), then launching an mail-order business "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," during their last year at Hogwarts (OP6). After they quit school they opened a very successful shop at 93 Diagon Alley (OP29). With the 1996 closure of Zonko's in Hogsmeade (HBP), the twins now appear to have a monopoly on the magical joke and gag industry, in fact the twins told Harry were considering buying the Zonko's shop (HBP19).
PROFILE
Mischief managed! The Weasley twins Are the staunch enemies
of pretension, authority, and pessimism. Their weapons? A pointed,
wicked sense of humor and inventive, original charmwork coupled with
a good business sense. Like Peeves and Dumbledore, the twins show
how handy disruption and laughter can be when you are fighting tyranny
and hatred. Fred and George are sons of Arthur and Molly Weasley, falling
between Percy (who is two years older) and Ron (who is two years younger).
They entered Hogwarts in September 1989, and were sorted into Gryffindor.
Fred and George are very similar in personality. The two find themselves at odds with their mother quite frequently, partly because she doesn't think they take things like school work seriously enough and partly because they just enjoy pestering and teasing her. They greatly enjoy badgering their older brother Percy as well, whose personality is completely opposite from theirs. They like to be the life of the party and the center of attention. Adventurous boys who push the limits, they spend a lot of time exploring areas of Hogwarts castle and grounds that students aren't supposed to enter. The twins have a special knack for finding secret passages; they found one their first week at Hogwarts, behind a statue of Gregory the Smarmy on the second floor.
Their frequent escapades and shenanigans get them into plenty of trouble. Argus Filch has an entire file drawer devoted to the rule-breaking of Fred and George, and Hagrid says he's spent half his life chasing the twins out of the Forbidden Forest. When the Goblet of Fire was charmed with an Age Line so that no one under the age of 17 could enter the Triwizard Tournament, Fred and George took an Aging Potion to try to fool it. The attempt failed, and they were left with long white beards for their trouble. They tend to be disrespectful to teachers in general, even going so far as to throw snowballs at Quirrell's turban.
Early in their career at Hogwarts, Fred and George were in trouble as usual and were in Filch's office when they noticed a drawer marked "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous." That was all the incentive they needed. They grabbed the first thing they could from the drawer and in that way discovered a most unusual map of Hogwarts. It was the Marauder's Map and they considered it to be the secret of their success over the years. In 1993, they gave the map to Harry Potter, saying that they didn't need it anymore.
| GALLONS OF GALLEONS! Pocket money failing to keep pace with your outgoings? Like to earn a little extra gold? Contact Fred and George Weasley, Gryffindor common room. for simple, part-time, virtually painless jobs. (we regret that all work is undertaken at applicant's own risk) (OP12) |
Fred and George always wanted to own a joke shop; from a young age explosions could be heard coming from their bedroom as they created and tested products (GF5). When Harry won the Triwizard Tournament in 1995, he gave them his winnings for the shop (GF37), and they dove in; less than a year later, with Umbridge taking over Hogwarts, they quit school in a blaze of glory – setting off fireworks and planting a swamp in a corridor on their way out – and moved to Diagon Alley to open up Weasley's Wizard Wheezes (OP29). It soon became one of the most successful shops in the Alley (HBP6), and even their mother – despite her initial worries (GF5) – eventually came around to feel proud of them (HBP5).
WHY ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT YOU-KNOW-WHO? |
Despite their jokes, Fred and George also understood the importance of the serious times; they joined Dumbledore’s Army (OP16) and took the spells taught them seriously (by their standards, anyway) (OP18). They later joined the Order of the Phoenix and impersonated Harry to help get past the Death Eaters, putting themselves at great risk; George lost an ear in this encounter (DH4, DH5). When Voldemort began planning to attack Hogwarts, they were some of the first to arrive for the fight (DH29) and took charge of defending the school’s secret entrances. When an explosion rocked the school, though, Fred was killed in the battle (DH31).
George Weasley went on to have a successful career with Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, married fellow Gryffindor Angela Johnson, and named his oldest son Fred. Sadly, though, he never completely recovered from the loss of his twin brother and best friend (BLC, YL).
FRED & GEORGE in the MOVIES
The Weasley twins are played by real-life twins James and Oliver
Phelps.
