Weasley Family Dynamics

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 164947

James Lyon:

> Molly only seems to have two settings--mean and nasty or 
smothering.  
> She insults the twins when Ron-insecure-git becomes a prefect, 
she  
> says that now all her sons were prefects.

Magpie:
So are you suggesting that she says that to the twins because she's 
trying to make Ron less secure? Because I'd say that usually the 
twins are very close to Molly and it's Ron who's more cut down by 
Molly with the struggles over dress robes and jumpers etc. She is 
insulting the twins in that scene, and they say so, but I don't 
think it has anything to do with Ron, just that in her mind 
she's "succeeded" in getting another Prefect. I imagine that in her 
mind what she means is that all the kids who had a chance in hell of 
being a Prefect was one, since the twins let her down with the 
pranks. That's one of Molly's weirder moments, but it totally works 
for her character.

James:
> Then, poor Ron, going from the neurotic mother to the neurotic  
> Hermione. Molly wears the pants at the Burrow and, if Ron marries  
> Hermy, she will wear the pants in their house. I can just see Ron  
> being over shadowed by his successful wife while their children 
spend their childhood in various child care institutions. For all of 
us  
> that don't care for Ron that much, we see wife!hermy as the 
ultimate  
> payback.

Magpie:
I admit I agree with you there. I don't see much joy in Ron's future 
being married to Hermione--the two as a pair are depressing to me 
from Ron's pov. 

James:
> The thing in canon through the first six books is that the good 
guys  
> get punished, the bad guys skate, and no one ever comes to 
Harry's  
> defense (and I don't count Dumbles very limited defense of Harry 
to  
> the Wizengamot). But, don't get me started on all of Dumbles  
> missteps, inadequacies, cruelty, neglect, and hubris. The man 
should  
> have retired 50 years ago.

Magpie:
That's a little extreme, imo. Rowling loves administering her 
payback. The bad guys might never get punished enough so that we can 
always looke forward to more punishment, and of course Harry suffers 
as the hero, often unfairly, but if there's one problem I would 
never say Rowling has it's in not punishing her bad guys.

James:
> Draco throws Cruci- and Harry sends Sectumsempra, and Harry gets 
in trouble and nobody questions Draco or Harry over the self- 
> defense issues and the attempted unforgivable. One thing that 
Harry  
> should be very clear about by now is that there is no justice and  
> nobody sees "just Harry."

Magpie:
I really don't think Harry was so hard done by after Sectumsempra. 
Draco got sliced up as a result of his attempted Crucio, so he 
didn't get off easy. I would hope that if everyone was questioned, 
hearing about Draco's attempted Unforgivable that would not lead the 
faculty to Ginny's loyal girlfriend conclusion that oh, in that case 
it was just lucky Harry had something good up his sleeve. I seem to 
recall McGonagall responding to Harry's claims that Malfoy goaded 
him into attacking him on the Quidditch Pitch by saying he still did 
a stupid thing. 

Ironically, Snape doesn't even punish Harry at all for the 
Sectumsempra, exactly. He says he thinks Harry is a liar and a cheat 
and deserves detention every Saturday--for his year-long use of the 
book. Ultimately neither boy gets talked to about his use of Dark 
Magic, and they're both lucky about it. (If it was discussed Malfoy 
might still have gotten off easier since whatever he was going to 
do, he didn't finish the curse and possibly wouldn't have been able 
to complete it any more than Harry, who has also attempted that 
Unforgivable without reprimand, albeit only against people he thinks 
are Death Eaters.) I don't think Harry would have come off well as a 
character if after that scene he was focused on it being unfair 
because it was self-defense rather than having twinges of conscience.

That said, the thing about Molly that I love is I think that she is 
in many ways a flawed character with sometimes genuinely bad 
beliefs. Whether or not we think she was so willing to believe the 
worst in Hermione because she was Muggle-born, I do think she has 
issues with Hermione she doesn't have with Harry, perhaps because 
she's a girl, but perhaps also for other reasons. If she'd known 
about the GoF-fight I don't think she'd have taken Ron's side quite 
as clearly as she takes Harry's after reading about 
Hermione's "Scarlet Woman" behavior--yet even there she doesn't not 
send Hermione an Easter Egg, she just gives her a small one. But 
there are times where she is just blatantly insensitive, almost 
stumbling into judgements that go against what's presented as the 
attitude of the good guys. She does seem to have a sort of big heart 
and small mind--which is not to say she's always wrong. I love it 
when she calls Arthur on his writing loopholes into his laws for 
himself, and sometimes I think he's the one that can be more of a 
hypocrite. 

Perhaps this goes back to the Bennett analogy. However Molly is seen 
to wear the pants in the family, I think Arthur (unlike Ron would 
with Hermione) sees himself as the cleverer of the two (some of also 
pointed out a slight class imbalance as well). I think sometimes 
that leads him to feel okay about only consulting his own counsel on 
things where he lets himself off the hook.

-m