Fabian & Gideon's namesakes

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112201

> Snow:
> 
> So other than this instance in the first book, which could be 
> accepted, how do you explain Molly's behavior in OOP when she says 
> that's everyone in the family? How can you possibly explain this 
> blurted-out, caught-off-guard exclamation by Molly? Except that she 
> was caught off guard and merely blurted out "that's everyone in the 
> family". Doesn't Molly treat Harry like a surrogate son? Molly 
> truthfully cares for Harry; this isn't a fake response on Molly's 
> part. Molly is very companionate and mothering to those who are not 
> her own, even to the point of fighting Harry's true caretaker 
> (Sirius). I can see the possibility of Fred and George being adopted 
> at a young age by Molly (see post # 101911) I can also appreciate her 
> spontaneous response to Ron becoming a prefect. Slip of the tongue 
> under high pressure, sleepless, worrying over all her family 
> (including Harry) that they may die. You see how she worried about 
> Harry dieing along with her own family and he is not her son. Molly 
> is good but she is not flawless. I can defiantly see her making this 
> enormous mistake under the pressures she had been enduring.

Carol:
Although I was bothered by that comment the first time I read it (it
ignores Ginny as well as Fred and George), I don't think it needs to
be interpreted as meaning that Fred and George (about whom she's so
worried after the Tri-Wizard tournament) are not her own children.
They fit neatly into the male-child(ren)-every-two-years pattern
(disrupted by Ginny) that we see if we accept JKR's statement that
Charlie is two years older than Percy (she doesn't seem to understand
the problems involved in reconciling that statement with Charlie's
quidditch record and I don't want to get back into *that* discussion!)
and, as others have pointed out, they physically resemble Charlie. I
*do* think their initials are deliberately chosen to honor Molly's
dead brothers, Fabian and Gideon, but there's no indication that
either of the brothers was married, much less that he had twin sons
who were motherless as well as fatherless and needed to be adopted by
Molly.

So here's my explanation of her remark, "That's everyone in the
family!" She knows that Fred and George never wanted to become
prefects (assuming that both of them could have done so) and that they
consider prefects to be prats. She means everyone so far (not counting
Ginny, who'll have her chance next year) who ever had any chance of
becoming a prefect. Not very tactful, as George's "What are Fred and
I? Next-door neighbors?" reminds her, but understandable regardless.
She's proud of Ron for following (unexpectedly) in his older brothers'
footsteps, she can't help thinking about Percy (for whom I think she
still holds out hope), and the two prodigals momentarily slip from her
mind.

She's human, and the simplest explanation is probably the correct one
here.

Carol, who expects to see Ginny as prefect in the next book