[HPforGrownups] Weasley family ages

Fri Aug 9 12:17:46 UTC 2002

No: HPFGUIDX 42340

Hi --

I realize I'm a little late in responding to this, but better late than never.  There is a FAQ for the Weasley Family (written by Simon), though for reasons unknown to me, it's never been uploaded. ::: looks meaningfully at the techie people::::

Anyway, I'm going to cut & paste the section from the Word version of that FAQ below, as I think it might aid in current discussions on this topic.  It's long, and it's probably outdated to some extent (as it was written in July 2001 and I know we've had some interesting theories or thoughts on this topic since then).  But, it's hopefully a help all the same.

It's cut & pasted below my signature.

Penny

How old are Molly and Arthur? [i]  While Molly and son Bill Weasley were reminiscing of their times at Hogwarts [ii], Molly remarks that Hagrid was not the gamekeeper while she and Arthur were at the school.  Molly also says that the Whomping Willow was planted after her time at the school. This indicates that Molly and Arthur are definitely more than 7 years older than the Marauders. A good estimate would be that they are in their late 40s or early 50s. 

How old are the children? [iii]  In PS/SS, we know the younger 5 children are:

Percy - 15
Fred and George - 13
Ron - 11
Ginny - 10

How old are Charlie and Bill?

"If they won their next match, against Hufflepuff, they would overtake Slytherin in the House Championship for the first time in seven years." [iv]

"And Potter - do try and win, won't you? Or we'll be out of the running for the eighth year in a row..." [v]

"Gryffindor hadn't won the Quidditch Cup since the legendary Charlie Weasley had been Seeker." [vi]

"I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came." [vii]

"It's great being back here. Haven't seen this place in five years." [viii]

These quotes have lead group member to form two possibilities for the ages of Bill and Charlie.  Neither answer seems totally satisfactory, but this is a subject, that until the author gives us an answer, will keep on surfacing. [ix] 

Since we know that Charlie and Bill are not twins, it seems safe to assume there is at least a one-year age gap between the two of them.

Case 1: Bill is 20 and Charlie 19 [x]. 

For: Bill says he was last at Hogwarts five years previous to GoF.  Therefore, this can be assumed to be when he finished his schooling.  In this case, Ginny would have been 2 when Bill started at Hogwarts and so could remember him starting at Hogwarts.

Against: Gryffindor last won the Quidditch Cup when Charlie was seeker, which was seven years before the events of PoA. According to this timeline, Charlie would have been at least a second year student at Hogwarts since Harry was the youngest player for a century according to PS/SS (evidence that Charlie started Quidditch in his second year, or later).  But why, if he was such a great player, did the team only win in this one year? We can rule out him only playing for the one year as Oliver Wood saw him play [xi] and Wood did not start at Hogwarts until a couple of years after this.

Case 2: Bill is 24 (or older) and Charlie 23 [xii].

For:  Gryffindor would have won the Quidditch Cup in Charlie's last year and maybe several years before that.

Against: Ginny would have been at most three when Bill finished Hogwarts. How can she remember him starting if she wasn't even born? This could be countered by assuming she in fact meant  that she had wanted to go to Hogwarts ever since she can remember Bill being at Hogwarts, not necessarily his first year.  However, why was Bill last at Hogwarts five years ago if he finished schooling there 10, or more, years previously?  One might assume that Bill came back for some alumni event after he had finished or that he came back to give career talks to the students.

Why the large age gap between Charlie and Percy?[xiii]

The ages leave the Weasley children as having births about 2 years apart (taking the twins as one) but with the anomaly of either an age gap of four or eight+ years between the births of Charlie and Percy. This led the group to discuss reasons why the Weasley family have no children to fill this gap. It is worth noting that Percy, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny were all born during the last few years, and the most potent years, of Voldemort's reign.

Members have put forth several explanations for this gap in the family.  One theory holds that Molly and Arthur decided at the beginning of Voldemort's reign to have no more children until after the struggles had finished. Then, unexpectedly, Percy was conceived at which point they decided to have more children.  Another theory suggests that Molly decided, after many years of looking after Charlie and Bill, that she also wanted a daughter and so tried for a few more times to have a girl, first getting Percy, Fred, George and Ron, before finally stopping after Ginny was born.  Another possibility is that Molly and Arthur split up, but then later reconciled and had more children.  Or, Arthur, or maybe even Molly, was away from home for long periods of time due to his/her career.  Yet another possibility put forth is that Molly and Arthur were just unlucky for several years.

It is also possible that Molly is in fact older than we are lead to believe. After having Charlie she thinks there is no chance of getting pregnant again and Percy is a surprise. After Percy's birth, Molly and Arthur decided to try for more children.

One of the more intriguing possibilities is that there was one or more children born between Charlie and Percy but they all died before birth or during the first few years of their lives. Molly and Arthur might not discuss these children and so the younger children know nothing about them and hence the reader has never heard about them.  This raises interesting possibilities of Ron being the 7th son of a 7th son (assuming, of course, that Arthur was a 7th son himself).

Members have also suggested that Voldemort or his Deatheaters killed some of the Weasley family, perhaps even any children born between Charlie and Percy. This seems a strong likelihood when one considers that Arthur has a very clear, and graphic, understanding of the significance of the Dark Mark.

It is also possible that Arthur and Molly decided that they did not have enough money to support any more children. This is unlikely though, as there is no good explanation as to why they suddenly had enough money to have children again.

Perhaps Molly and Arthur decided to embark on a one-family repopulation drive due to the fact that Voldemort was killing or depleting many wizarding families.

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[i] For more information look at the following messages: Yahoo Club 4797 and Yahoo Group 1712, 7879, 7895, 8324

[ii] GoF Ch 31

[iii] Ages at the start of PS

[iv] PS Ch 13

[v] McGonagall - PoA Ch 12

[vi] PoA Ch 15

[vii] Ginny - CoS Ch 17

[viii] Bill - GoF Ch 31

[ix] For more information look at the following messages: Yahoo Club 544, 566, 577, 588, 4973, 5343, 5347, 5348, 5349 and Yahoo Group 1666, 1668, 1670, 1673, 1675, 1682, 1714, 1719, 1726, 4518, 4652, 4653, 7879, 7890, 7899, 7926, 7938, 8086, 8988, 8991, 8995

[x] Ages at the start of PS

[xi] Wood - PS Ch 10

[xii] Ages at the start of PS

[xiii] For more information look at the following messages: Yahoo Club 7045 and Yahoo Group 1666, 1670, 1688, 1694, 1696, 1712, 1717, 1718, 1720, 1728, 1730, 1732

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