[HPforGrownups] Re: the Weasleys

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 42413

JOdel said, regarding Charlie Weasley's Quidditch career:
  When he was 
  Seeker, he would have been at least a 2nd year (given that Harry was the 
  youngest team member in a hundred years when he was drafted for the team in 
  his 1st year). And, since that year was the LAST year that the Gryffs took 
  the Cup, it was amost -- but not absolutely -- certain that it was the last 
  year that Charlie played that position. (Although it is just as possible that 
  he COULD have earned his "legendary" status as a Seeker through brilliant 
  play in games that Gryffandor did not win. [snip]
  Taking the suggestion mentioned above; that Charlie may not have played 
  Seeker after he got his growth, but went on to play some other position 
  (Keeper?) and to captain the team for his later Hogwarts years. If we could 
  tentatively say that Charlie graduated the year immediately before Harry and 
  Ron started Hogwarts. This would have made that last year that Gryffrandor 
  took the cup Charlie's 2nd year. 
I think canon strongly suggests that Charlie never played any position other than Seeker.  In PS/SS ch. 10, Oliver Wood tells Harry at the end of his first practice, "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons."  To me, this sentence is a comparison of Harry as a Seeker to Charlie as a Seeker that was good enough to have played for England.  After all, Wood hasn't seen Harry do anything except fly and catch golf balls pretending to be snitches.  He has no other basis for comparison.  It's highly unlikely that Charlie could have played Seeker for England if he had switched positions early on, or left the team because he had grown too stocky.

I suppose there is a slim possibility that Charlie continued to play Seeker after Gryffindor last won the Cup, but Fred tells Harry (PS/SS ch. 9) that "we haven't won since Charlie *left*," again a strong implication that Gryffindor was highly successful at Quidditch as long as Charlie was there. 

Yes, I think the Lexicon is absolutely correct; I believe there is an enormous age gap, notwithstanding Ginny's statement at the end of CoS that she's looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since Bill came.  (Regardless of the actual age gap, that statement cannot be correct because Ginny cannot possibly have remembered when Bill went to Hogwarts.)   And I believe that at some point in the series the explanatory Weasley backstory will be told.  But that won't be for a long time, leaving us with years to engage in delicious speculation.

Debbie




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