In Defense of Molly Weasley (Long)

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 175102

Amiable Dorsai:
> We haven't, but we have been shown, as many others have pointed out,
> that Molly is an exceptionally handy Witch, doing nonverbals
> routinely.  It's also been pointed out that the Weasley kids got
> pretty good magic genes (as well as sweaters) from somebody.

Ceridwen:
True.  The Weasleys all seem to be fairly exceptional with their 
magic.  The twins' inventiveness isn't strictly magic, but what they do 
with it certainly is.

The thing is, duelling is a skill that has to be mastered, then 
reinforced by regular practice.  It wasn't just Molly rushing up to 
Bellatrix and zapping her: she joined in a duel, a sustained activity.

Molly has been described on the plump side, so she isn't in optimal 
physical shape.  (Disclaimer: I'm somewhat over the plump phase myself, 
in case someone wonders)  She has been fighting for hours.  She has 
lost a child, and was just scared spitless that she might lose 
another.  Being scared sends a rush of adrenalin, which was shown to 
have happened with the "daughter" comment.  I completely accepted Molly 
as the avenging angel swooping in from the heat of battle to focus on 
Bellatrix just then.  But adrenalin rushes run out, and Molly is still 
duelling.

Molly may have been in a duelling club when she was at school.  But she 
was at least twenty-seven years out of school by this time.  Ignoring 
most things said about the Weasleys and their ages, I think Molly is in 
her mid-forties.  She and Arthur got married fresh out of Hogwarts.  
Since her birthday is 31 October, she was eighteen when she got out.  
Since they got married in the fear of the times, I can buy them having 
a child immediately as well.  Besides, thirty years ago, it was often 
the case that a young family had a child straight off.  Add nine 
months, and Molly is a first-time mother at ninteen.

The Weasley kids' ages are confusing above Percy, so I'll go with the 
version I have stuck in my head.  I don't recall where I got it - 
probably one of many fan sites.  Bill born when Molly is ninteen, then 
Charlie at Molly's twenty-one; Percy, with Molly at twenty-four, the 
twins with Molly at twenty-six, Ron with Molly at twenty-eight, Ginny 
with Molly at twenty-nine and a half.  Ginny is sixteen here, and 
Molly's had her birthday for the year.  I put Molly at about forty-six, 
with discrepancy of a year on either side.

So, out of school and away from the duelling club, if she was a member, 
for twenty-seven years at least (twenty-eight in my timeline), giving 
birth six times to seven children, being described as plump, which can 
indicate not being "Hardbody" Weasley, Scourge of Death Eaters, and 
being in her mid-forties when many of the aches and pains and their 
causes begin to show up (I had arthritis already at Molly's projected 
age, and was learning that sciatica is not our friend), then she fights 
most of the afternoon, loses a child, which was emotionally and 
probably physically draining, yet she sustains a duel with a woman who 
is crzay and probably offers up any discomfort she feels to the glory 
of her lord, and yes, I'm surprised that she was successfully duelling 
at this point.

Amiable Dorsai:
> Let me also point out that Molly's been a member of a paramilitary
> resistance group for three years now; for all that time she's known
> the she and her husband and her children were potential targets of a
> gang of ruthless killers...

Ceridwen:
I can buy her possibly going to the gym for thrice-weekly duelling work-
outs, the way some people take martial arts courses.  And as a member 
of a paramilitary organization, I can see more knowledgeable members of 
the OotP  - Moody, Tonks, Snape, and Shacklebolt -offering duelling 
refreshers to other members. helping the older members who have left 
school some time ago, get back "into shape".  It would make sense for 
the organization.  The OotP doesn't have a limitless base from which to 
draw members.

You mentioned a gang of ruthless killers potentially making her and her 
family into targets.  Molly also lost two brothers in VWI.  I would see 
this as another motivation to take up duelling techniques and self-
defense classes.  The Weasleys also have the distinction of being Harry 
Potter's closest friends in the WW.  Ron is his best friend, and as of 
nearly the end of HBP, Ginny is his girlfriend.  When Snape and Draco 
left Hogwarts, Harry and Ginny hadn't yet broken up.  I get this.

Amiable Dorsai:
> It's just possible that she may have snuck in a little bit of training
> in Magical fighting techniques, in between making onion soup and
> delousing Headquarters.

Ceridwen:
But we haven't been shown this, and there has been no reference made.  
This is why it was surprising, to me, that she was able to fight all 
afternoon - because, as I said, I don't see her waiting around for the 
perfect opportunity - then suffer a devastating loss, then duel for at 
least several minutes.  Any mention, in DH or before, about training 
sessions, would have been helpful in this case.  Maybe there were 
references to classes held by Moody etc., but I don't remember reading 
them.

Someone mentioned guarding the prophecy at the Ministry as a mission 
Molly did.  But we saw what that mission entailed: sitting still under 
an Invisibility Cloak so as not to be detected, and watching who went 
into the Hall of Prophecies.  We were shown Arthur performing this duty 
in OotP.  He fell asleep.  It was not demanding on the same physical 
level as duelling.

It would have been nice to have mention of refresher courses in the 
Order, or Molly joining classes once Ginny was in school.  As it 
stands, unless I'm not remembering some reference, the sustained 
duelling part was surprising.

Ceridwen.