Chapter 5 - Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

[joywitch999]

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No: HPFGUIDX C6031
From: joywitch999
Subject: Chapter 5 - Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
Date: 8/7/00 3:09 pm  (ET)

This chapter takes place entirely within The Burrow, the Weasley family's
residence, and is largely concerned with the character development of the
various Weasleys. Harry travels by Floo Powder to the Burrow kitchen
fireplace from the Dursley's house, where he has left Mr. Weasley
trying to deal with Dudley's elongated tongue - the result of eating
some candy that Fred "accidently" dropped. Fred and George are excited
to find out that, as a result of eating one of their Ton-Tongue Toffees,
Dudley's tongue became four feet long.

We finally get to meet the oldest of the Weasley children, Bill and
Charlie. Harry is surprised to find out that Bill, former Hogwarts Head
Boy and Gringott's bank employee, is nothing like he expected. Bill
turns out to be *cool*, with a pony tail, an earring with a fang,
and dragon hide boots. Percy, on the other hand, is becoming even more
pompous. He now works for the Ministry of Magic (MoM) and is busy writing
a report on the ridiculously dull and bureaucratic topic of developing
international standards for cauldron thickness. Several small incidents
in this chapter make it clear that Percy's attitudes set him apart from
the rest of the family - not only do Fred, George and Ron tease him, but
so does Bill. Percy and Mr. Weasley clearly do not see eye-to-eye about
Ludo Bagman and, possibly, the functioning of the Ministry of Magic. We
also hear for the first time of Mr. Crouch, Percy's beloved boss.

Fred and George have, as usual, been up to no good. It turns out that the
"small explosions" we have heard from their room are actually research
for their new business called, of course, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which
sells fake wands, charmed candies, and other joke items. Mrs. Weasley,
however, wants them to apply their considerable intelligence to careers
in the MoM, and has torn up all the order forms.

Most of this chapter consists of a family dinner (and the preparations
for it) with the Weasleys. We get a nice feeling of a large and loving
family in which Harry is feeling more and more at home, some great scenes
of wizard home life, complete with flying knifes and tables, and also of
possible future conflicts as the children grow up. There is dinnertime
conversation about the MoM, the Quidditch World Cup, and Sirius Black. We
are given some more interesting tidbits of information - a MOM employee
named Bertha Jorkins (who we already know has been killed by You-Know-Who)
has disappeared; there is an important major wizarding event about to
take place after the World Cup; the tiny country of Luxemburg somehow
has enough athletic witches and wizards for a world-class Quidditch team
capable of beating JKR's native Scotland; someone named Viktor Krum
is the best player on the Bulgarian team, which will face Ireland in
the upcoming Cup. Other countries whose Quidditch teams made it to the
semifinals include Peru, Uganda, Wales, and Transylvania (which is not,
of course, a separate country in the Muggle world, and implies a team
of vampires - cool!).