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Harry

Paragraph. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (published in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone), Harry Potter makes his first appearance as the novel's main protagonist. It is learned that when Harry was a baby, his parents were killed by the powerful Dark Wizard, Lord Voldemort; but for some reason, Harry survived Voldemort's Killing Curse, which rebounded and ripped Voldemort's soul from his body. As a result, Harry carries a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. According to Rowling, fleshing out this backstory was a matter of reverse planning: "The basic idea [is that] Harry … didn't know he was a wizard … and so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was.… When he was one-year-old, the most evil wizard in hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry - he tried to curse him.… Harry has to find out, before we find out. And - so - but for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead, and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard who has been in hiding ever since".[6]

As a result, Harry is written as an orphan living miserably with his only remaining family, the cruel Dursleys. On his eleventh birthday, Harry discovers that he is a wizard when Rubeus Hagrid tells him that he is to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he learns about his parents and his connection to the Dark Lord, is sorted into Gryffindor House, becomes friends with classmates Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and foils Voldemort's attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone. He also forms rivalries with characters Draco Malfoy, a classmate from an elitist wizarding family, and the cold, condescending Potions teacher, Severus Snape, Draco's mentor and the head of Slytherin House. Both feuds continue throughout the series. In a 1999 interview, Rowling stated that Draco is based on several prototypical schoolyard bullies she encountered [7] and Snape on a sadistic teacher of hers who abused his power.[7]

Rowling has stated that the Mirror of Erised chapter in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is her favourite; the mirror reflects Harry's deepest desire, namely to see his dead parents.[1] Her favourite funny scene is when Harry inadvertently sets a boa constrictor free from the zoo in the horrified Dursleys' presence.[7]



[edit] Second to fourth books In the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling pits Harry against Tom Marvolo Riddle, the "memory" of Lord Voldemort that is within a secret diary which has possessed Ron's younger sister Ginny Weasley. When Muggle-born students are suddenly being petrified, many suspect that Harry may be behind the attacks, further alienating him from the other students. In the climax, Ginny Weasley has disappeared. To rescue her, Harry battles Riddle and the monster he controls that is hidden in the Chamber of Secrets. In the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Rowling uses a time travel premise. Harry learns that his parents were betrayed to Voldemort by their friend Peter Pettigrew, who framed Harry's godfather Sirius Black for the crimes, condemning him to Azkaban prison. When Black escapes to seek revenge, Harry and Hermione use a Time Turner to save him and a hippogriff named Buckbeak. Pettigrew—and the truth—also escape, and an innocent Black remains a hunted fugitive.

In the previous books, Harry is written as a child, but Rowling states that in the fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, "Harry's horizons are literally and metaphorically widening as he grows older."[8] Harry's developing maturity becomes apparent when he becomes interested in Cho Chang, a pretty Ravenclaw student. Tension mounts, however, when Harry is mysteriously chosen by the Goblet of Fire to compete in the dangerous Triwizard Tournament, even though another Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, was already selected. It is actually an elaborate scheme by Lord Voldemort to lure Harry into a deadly trap. During the Tournament's final challenge, Harry and Cedric are teleported to a graveyard. Cedric is killed, and Lord Voldemort, aided by Peter Pettigrew, uses Harry's blood in a gruesome ritual to resurrect his body. When Harry duels Voldemort, their wands' magical streams connect, forcing the spirit echoes of Voldemort's victims, including Cedric and James and Lily Potter, to be expelled from his wand. The spirits momentarily protect Harry as he escapes to Hogwarts with Cedric's body. For Rowling, this scene is important because it shows Harry's bravery, and by retrieving Cedric's corpse, he demonstrates selflessness and compassion. Says Rowling, "He wants to save Cedric's parents additional pain.".[8] She added that preventing Cedric Diggory's body from falling into Voldemort's hands is based on the classic scene in the Iliad where Achilles retrieves the body of his best friend Patroclus from the hands of Hector. The author said: "That [Iliad scene] really, really, REALLY moved me when I read that when I was 19. The idea of the desecration of a body, a very ancient idea... I was thinking of that when Harry saved Cedric's body."[8] She also said that she cried while writing the scene when Harry's dead parents are drawn from Voldemort's wand, the first time she cried while penning her story.[8]



[edit] Fifth and sixth book In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry of Magic has been waging a smear campaign against Harry and Dumbledore, disputing their claims that Voldemort has returned. A new character is introduced when the Ministry of Magic appoints Dolores Umbridge as the latest Hogwarts' Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor (and Ministry spy). Because the paranoid Ministry suspects that Dumbledore is building a wizard army to overthrow them, Umbridge refuses to teach students real defensive magic. She gradually gains more power, eventually seizing control of the school. As a result, Harry's increasingly angry and erratic behavior nearly estranges him from Ron and Hermione. Rowling says she put Harry through extreme emotional stress to show his emotional vulnerability and humanity—a contrast to his nemesis, Voldemort. "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. And Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down, and say he didn’t want to play anymore, he didn’t want to be the hero anymore – and he’d lost too much. And he didn’t want to lose anything else. So that – Phoenix was the point at which I decided he would have his breakdown."[9] At Hermione's urging, Harry secretly teaches his classmates real defensive magic to thwart Umbridge and the Ministry, but their meetings are discovered and Dumbledore is ousted as Headmaster. Harry suffers another emotional blow, when his godfather, Sirius Black is killed during a battle with Death Eaters at the Department of Mysteries, but Harry ultimately defeats Voldemort's plan to steal an important prophecy and helps uncover Umbridge's sinister motives. Rowling stated: "And now he [Harry] will rise from the ashes strengthened."[9] A sideplot of Order of the Phoenix involves Harry's romance with Cho Chang, but the relationship quickly unravels. Says Rowling, "They were never going to be happy, it was better that it ended early!"[10]

In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry enters a tumultuous puberty that, Rowling says, is based on her and her younger sister's own difficult teenage years.[11] Rowling also made an intimate statement about Harry's personal life: "Because of the demands of the adventure that Harry is following, he has had less sexual experience than boys of his age might have had".[12] This inexperience with romance was a factor in Harry's failed relationship with Cho Chang. Now his thoughts concern Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister, a vital plot point in the last chapter when Harry ends their budding romance to protect her.

A new character appears when former Hogwarts Potions master Horace Slughorn returns to replace Severus Snape, who takes over the Defense Against the Dark Arts post. Harry excels in Potions by using an old textbook once belonging to a talented student known only as, "The Half-Blood Prince." The book contains many handwritten notes, revisions, and new spells; Hermione, however, believes Harry's use of it is cheating. Through private meetings with Dumbledore, Harry learns about Lord Voldemort's orphaned youth, his rise to power, and how he splintered his soul into Horcruxes to achieve immortality. Two Horcruxes have been destroyed, and Harry and Dumbledore locate another, although it is a fake. When Death Eaters invade Hogwarts, Snape kills Dumbledore. As Snape escapes, he proclaims that he is the Half-Blood Prince—Harry's admired mentor is actually his hated enemy. It now falls upon Harry to find and destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes and avenge Dumbledore's death. In a 2005 interview with NBC anchorwoman Katie Couric, Rowling stated that [after the events in the sixth book] Harry has, "taken the view that they are now at war. He does become more battle hardened. He’s now ready to go out fighting. And he’s after revenge [against Voldemort and Snape]."[13]



[edit] Final book In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, Ron and Hermione leave Hogwarts to complete Dumbledore's task: to search for and destroy Voldemort's remaining four Horcruxes, and then find and kill the Dark Lord. The three pit themselves against Voldemort's newly-formed totalitarian police state, an action that tests Harry's courage and moral character. According to J.K Rowling, a telling scene in which Harry uses Cruciatus and Imperius (unforgivable curses for torture and mind-control) on Voldemort's servants shows a side to Harry that is "flawed and mortal." However, she explains that, "He is also in an extreme situation and attempting to defend somebody very good against a violent and murderous opponent".[14]

Harry comes to recognise that his own single-mindedness makes him predictable to his enemies and often clouds his perceptions. When Severus Snape is killed by Voldemort later in the story, Harry realises that Snape was not the traitorous murderer he believed him to be, but a tragic anti-hero who was loyal to Albus Dumbledore. In Chapter 33 ("The Prince's Tale") Snape's memories reveal that he loved Harry's mother Lily Evans, but their friendship ended over his association with future Death Eaters and "blood purity" beliefs. When Voldemort killed the Potters, a grieving Snape vowed to protect Lily's child, although he loathed young Harry for being James Potter's son. It is also revealed that Snape did not murder Albus Dumbledore, but carried out Dumbledore's prearranged plan. Dumbledore, who was dying from a slow-spreading curse, wanted to protect Snape's position within the Death Eaters and also spare Draco Malfoy from completing Voldemort's task to murder him.

To defeat Harry, Voldemort steals the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb. It is the most powerful wand ever created, and he twice casts the Killing Curse on Harry with it. The first attempt merely stuns Harry into a death-like state. In the chapter "Kings Cross", Dumbledore's spirit tells Harry that when Voldemort failed to kill baby Harry and disembodied himself, Harry became an unintentional horcrux; Voldemort could not kill Harry while the Dark Lord's soul shard was within Harry's body. Voldemort's second Killing Curse also fails because Voldemort used Harry's blood in his resurrection. Voldemort's soul shard within Harry is destroyed because Harry willingly faced death. In the next chapter, "The Flaw in the Plan", there is a longer plot dump which establishes that Harry, not Voldemort, became the Elder Wand's true master. In the book's climax, the Elder Wand disobeys the Dark Lord's command and rebounds the curse onto Voldemort, killing him.[14] J.K Rowling said, the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry willingly accepts mortality, making him stronger than his nemesis. "The real master of Death accepts that he must die, and that there are much worse things in the world of the living."[14]

Soon after defeat of Voldemort, Harry joins the Auror Office at age 17 for a revolutionised Ministry of Magic. Ten years afterwards, Harry is appointed department head by new Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt.[15] Ron, who helped George run the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes Joke Shop for a time, is also an Auror.[16] In the end, Rowling said his old rival Draco Malfoy has overcome his animosity after Harry saved his life three times in the seventh book.[14]

In the Deathly Hallows epilogue, set nineteen years after Voldemort's death (i.e. 2017), Harry and Ginny are married and have three children: James, the eldest, Albus Severus, and Lily

Ron

Paragraph. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Rowling first introduces Ron with his family in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Harry is lost at King's Cross railway station and the Weasleys guide him through the barrier of Platform 9¾ into the wizarding world. Ron and Harry share a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, and they begin their friendship: Ron fascinated with the famous Harry, and Harry fascinated with the ordinary wizard Ron. It is here that they both meet Hermione Granger as well, who they initially dislike but who later becomes their close friend after they save each other during a dangerous encounter with a mountain troll.[1] Ron and Harry share the same classes throughout the series, and generally have similar academic successes and disappointments. Ron plays a vital part in the quest to save the Philosopher's stone. His strategy at Wizard's Chess allows Hermione and Harry to proceed safely through a dangerous life-size, animated chess game. During the game, Ron allows his piece to be sacrificed and is subsequently knocked unconscious.[2] At the Leaving Feast, the last dinner of the school year, Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts' Headmaster, awards Ron fifty House points to Gryffindor for "the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years." These last-minute points help support Gryffindor's win of the House Cup.[3]



Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets The second installment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), takes place the year following the events of the Philosopher's Stone.

Ron and the broken wand During the summer, Ron attempts to write to Harry several times. He receives no reply because Dobby the house elf is stopping Harry's wizard mail. Ron becomes so concerned that he and his brothers Fred and George fly their father's enchanted Ford Anglia car to Harry's home at his aunt and uncle's house.[4] Harry spends the next month at the Weasleys' home, the Burrow. While attempting to depart from King's Cross station, Harry and Ron find themselves unable to enter the barrier to access Platform 9¾. With Harry, Ron conceives the idea of taking the flying Ford Anglia to Hogwarts. The plan is successful, but the Anglia loses power at the end of the journey and crashes into the Whomping Willow. Ron and Harry survive the impact, but the car drives itself off into the Forbidden Forest, a forest at the edge of the Hogwarts grounds in which student access is prohibited. Ron receives a Howler from his mother, chastising him for taking the car.

Later in the novel, Ron and Harry transform themselves using Polyjuice Potion to resemble Draco Malfoy's close associates Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, so that they can spy on him, and find out what he knows about the Chamber of Secrets.[5] During the hunt to find the Heir of Slytherin, Ron is responsible for providing the first clue to the identity of Tom Marvolo Riddle, recalling that he saw the name "T. M. Riddle" on a trophy inscribed "For Special Services To The School".[6] Later Ron is forced to come face-to-face with his biggest fear, spiders, in the Forbidden Forest, where the two have ventured at Hagrid's suggestion. Giant spiders, nearly eat the two of them, but the Ford Anglia returns from the Forbidden Forest and rescues the pair. [7] Ron and Harry then discover the entrance into the Chamber, and enter it in the hopes of saving Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister, who had been kidnapped and kept in the Chamber. Due to an accident with Ron's wand, the Chamber Entrance's ceiling collapses, trapping Ron on one side and Harry on the other. Harry goes on to rescue Ginny and save the day. Ron and Harry are given Special Awards for Services to the School for this. [8]



Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Ron's role is minor compared to that in Chamber of Secrets, and Hermione's role, which was more sidelined in Chamber of Secrets, is larger.

When Ron's rat, Scabbers, already seen in Philosopher's Stone, goes missing, he blames Hermione's new cat Crookshanks, and the two have a falling out.[9] They eventually make up when Hermione has a nervous breakdown brought by taking too many classes and distress at the fate of the hippogriff Buckbeak. The animal, owned by Hagrid, has been put on trial for injuring Draco Malfoy and risks execution. Ron offers to help with the preparation of Buckbeak's defence, but this fails to help. Harry, Ron and Hermione go to see Hagrid on the execution day where they discover Scabbers hiding out in Hagrid's hut.[10] As they leave, Scabbers bites Ron and runs away. He chases Scabbers to the Whomping Willow where he is grabbed by a large black dog and dragged into a tunnel hidden below the tree.[11]

Harry and Hermione follow the tunnel, which leads to the Shrieking Shack. The dog is actually the animal form of Sirius Black (an Animagus), Harry's godfather and an escaped convict from the wizard prison Azkaban. The school's Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Remus Lupin arrives just after Harry and Hermione. Along with Black, Lupin casts a spell on Scabbers, who also turns out to be an Animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew was Black's, Lupin's, and James Potter's school friend, thought to have been murdered by Black.[11] Pettigrew, who had lived as a rat ever since faking his death, denies everything, but Sirius and Lupin piece together that he has been a servant of Voldemort, and it was he who divulged the secret whereabouts of Harry's parents, leading to their murder. Initially, Ron does not believe Sirius and refuses to turn over Scabbers to him, but he is disgusted when he learns his rat's true identity. Pettigrew escapes when the main characters lead him out of the Whomping Willow.[12] Ron, knocked out by a spell from Pettigrew, is taken to the hospital wing, and is forced to remain there while Harry and Hermione travel back in time to save Sirius and Buckbeak.[13] At the end of the novel, Sirius sends Ron an excitable little owl whom Ginny names Pigwidgeon, but whom Ron refers to as "Pig".[14]



Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), the Weasleys invite Harry and Hermione to the Quidditch World Cup. Ron is in awe of his favourite Quidditch champion, Viktor Krum.[15] Ron is even more excited when Krum, still a student at the Durmstrang wizarding school, comes to Hogwarts to take part in the Triwizard Tournament, a magical wizarding tournament opposing the top three magic schools in Europe.[16] When an underage Harry is mysteriously chosen as a Tournament champion, Ron seems to believe Harry somehow cheated to enter his name into the tournament without telling him and feels let down. Hermione, when Harry asks her about it, believes that Ron is simply jealous that Harry's overwhelming fame often puts Ron in the shadows, in the same way that Ron's brothers often put him in the shadows. The two have a falling out which lasts nearly a month.[17] They only reconcile shortly after Harry successfully gets by a fire-breathing dragon in the first task; Ron realises how dangerous the Tournament is and finally believes that Harry didn't enter himself.

At Christmas time, as per Triwizard Tournament tradition, Hogwarts hosts a Yule Ball. Ron and Harry panic at the prospect of having to secure dates for the event, and Ron appalls Hermione with his immature approach to the whole thing. She is particularly incensed that Ron does not even think of asking her because he somehow does not think of her as a girl. At the last minute; Harry saves the day by getting Parvati Patil and her sister Padma to agree to come with the duo, although Padma seems less than pleased at Ron's surly attitude and shabby dress. Ron becomes overcome with jealousy when he sees Hermione with her date: his former idol Viktor Krum. When Hermione comes over to Ron and Harry for a friendly chat, Ron loses control and accuses her of "fraternising with the enemy" and giving away Harry's Triwizard secrets. At the evening's end, the two have a heated row, in which Hermione tells Ron he should have asked her before Krum, rather than simply hoping to secure her by default. [18] Ron completely fails to get the hint and remains either in denial or oblivious to the pair's increasingly obvious feelings for each other. Ron's jealousy over Krum is mirrored by Hermione's dislike of Fleur Delacour (of the Beauxbatons Academy and a Triwizard competitor), on whom Ron has an obvious crush.[19]

In the Second Task of the Tournament, Ron is the person selected for Harry to rescue from the depths of the Hogwarts lake, as he is the one whom Harry would most miss. Harry successfully saves him and Ron mocks him gently for thinking that the hostages for the task were in actual danger. [20]



Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), Ron is appointed a Gryffindor prefect, much to the surprise of himself and everyone else, especially Hermione, the other new prefect.[21] His brother, Percy, now distant and disconnected from the family, sends Ron an owl congratulating him and advising him to "sever ties" with Harry and side himself instead with Professor Umbridge, the abominable new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts; the letter angers Ron.[22] Ron explicitly shows his support and loyalty for Harry when his classmates imply Harry is lying about the return of Voldemort, sometimes using his power as prefect to threaten them into silence.[23] Though they spend their usual amount of time bickering, Ron and Hermione present a united front endorsing Harry. Ron supports Hermione's suggestion of Harry teaching students practical Defence Against the Dark Arts, which Umbridge, using the Ministry of Magic to slowly take over the Dumbledore-run school, has all but banned. He co-founds the secret students' group called Dumbledore's Army.[23] He also joins the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but his nerves and confidence issues often get the better of him during practices and matches, causing the Slytherins to make up a song about how Ron will make sure Slytherin win the Quidditch Cup. However during the last match, Ron plays better and wins the game for Gryffindor. At the climax of the novel, Ron battles the Death Eaters alongside Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom at the Department of Mysteries. He is injured in the fight, but makes a full recovery by the end of the novel.



Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), Ron receives fair grades on his O.W.L. examinations. He passes seven subjects and only fails History of Magic and Divination, just as Harry does, but he receives no top scores of "Outstanding" like Harry (who received one) or Hermione (who received ten).[24] Ron, who has grown taller over the summer, attracts the attention of Lavender Brown. Harry, the new Quidditch Captain, picks Ron to continue as Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, over Cormac McLaggen, who is supposedly as good as Ron, but has difficulty with teamwork and following orders.[25] Upon learning Hermione most likely had kissed Viktor Krum, Ron performs increasingly badly at Quidditch, and thrown off by jealousy of his former idol, becomes unkind to Hermione. His low self-esteem is not helped much by his younger sister, Ginny Weasley, who after Ron reacts badly to finding her kissing her boyfriend, throws in the fact that of those in the group, Ron is the only one who has never had his first kiss. To bolster Ron's confidence, Harry pretends to give him Felix Felicis, a potion which makes the drinker lucky; believing he has actually taken it, Ron performs admirably and Gryffindor wins the match. However, this leads to a major row between Ron and Hermione: Hermione accuses Harry of helping Ron cheat, while Ron berates Hermione for having no faith in his abilities. At a post-game celebration, Ron kisses Lavender Brown (though Ginny describes it as "eating her face"). Hermione, jealous and seeking retaliation, takes Cormac McLaggen as her date to new Potions professor Horace Slughorn's Christmas party, but he proves to be an egomaniac.[26] After Christmas, Hermione continues to ignore Ron, stopping only to give him disdainful looks and occasional snide remarks. By now, Ron is visibly discontent with his relationship with Lavender.[27]

On his birthday in March, Ron accidentally eats love-potion-infused Chocolate Cauldrons (courtesy of Romilda Vane and actually meant for Harry). After being cured by Slughorn, he then consumes poisoned mead (courtesy of Draco Malfoy, and actually intended for Dumbledore). Harry saves his life by forcing a bezoar, a poison antidote, into his mouth, and Ron is transferred to the hospital wing. A panic-stricken Hermione arrives, forgetting her past anger. While sitting by his bed, Hermione, Harry, Ginny and the twins hear Ron mutter Hermione's name while half-unconscious. Conversely, Ron feigns sleep when Lavender visits him. Upon recovering, Ron and Hermione reconcile.[28] A little while later, Ron and Lavender break up, much to Hermione's joy.[29]

Initially, Ron does not support Harry's belief that Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater, a follower of Voldemort, but later is convinced. Before leaving Hogwarts with Dumbledore to recover a Horcrux, a piece of Voldemort's soul stored in an object, which makes him immortal, Harry arranges for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny—together with any of Dumbledore's Army they can summon—to keep a close watch on Malfoy and Snape. Harry also provides them with the remains of his vial of Felix Felicis, to aid them in the effort.[30] Despite the D.A.'s watch, Malfoy provides the Death Eaters entrance into Hogwarts, and a battle ensues. Thanks to Felix Felicis, Ron, Hermione and Ginny are unharmed by the Death Eater's hexes during the battle.[31] Snape kills Dumbledore during the battle when Malfoy proves that he is unable to.[32] During his funeral, Ron comforts a weeping Hermione. Ron and Hermione vow to help Harry find and destroy the Horcruxes and kill Voldemort, even if it means leaving Hogwarts.[33]



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Ron agrees to go with Harry and Hermione on the quest to destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes. Worried that the Ministry, now taken over by Voldemort will learn he is with Potter on a quest, Ron dresses the family ghoul up in pajamas and spreads the story he is ill with "spattergroit," a type of highly contagious magical illness. Ron disguses himself as Reginald Cattermole as the trio attempts to find the locket Horcrux in the possession of Dolores Umbridge.

Harry decides he wants someone to wear the Horcrux at all time, fearing it might be lost or stolen. This has a much more profound effect on Ron (splinched at the time due to Hermione's Disapparition) than it seems to have on Hermione or Harry. Ron ends up lashing out in frustration at the lack of comforts and a concrete plan, eventually leaving his friends behind. Distressed over his absence, Harry and Hermione do not even mention his name during the time that he is gone. However, when they finally mention his name, Ron, who had immediately regretted his decision to leave but was captured by Snatchers and then could not return due to Hermione's anti-Death Eater enchantments, was lead to Harry's location by unknown magic within the Deluminator he inherited from Albus Dumbledore. Ron dramatically returns by saving Harry from drowning when Harry is attempting to recover Godric Gryffindor's sword from an icy pool. Harry, a sudden believer in the fate created by his return, immediately forgives Ron and insists it must be Ron who uses the sword to destroy Slytherin's locket. However, the portion of Voldemort's soul inside it plays on Ron's insecurities by revealing that he thinks his mother does not love him (or that he is "least loved by a mother who wanted a daughter"), then by showing him a Harry who tells him that he was happier without him and a Hermione that does not return his affections and is involved instead with Harry. Ron breaks through the spell and destroys the locket, but is visibly shaken until Harry tells him that he thinks of Hermione as a sister and a friend, nothing more. However, Hermione, furious at Ron for his apparent refusal to return, treats Ron coldly and refuses to accept his repeated apologies.

The trio are eventually captured by Death Eaters and Hermione is tortured via the Cruciatus curse by Bellatrix Lestrange for information. This sends Ron into a panic, and continually screams and fights with all his effort to save her, despite Harry's instruction that he calm down and think of a better plan. Eventually, the trio returns to Hogwarts, hoping to find the last unknown Horcrux shown in Harry's vision. Having lost the Sword of Gryffindor to Griphook the Goblin, Ron gets an idea to procure more Basilisk fangs and manages to speak enough Parseltongue to open the Chamber of Secrets, where Hermione destroys the Horcrux in Helga Hufflepuff's cup. He begins to worry about the fate of Hogwarts' elves. Upon hearing this, Hermione drops what she's carrying and kisses him. After this, he looks as if he's been hit by a bludger. He also takes part in the battle, witnessing the death of his brother Fred, and teams up with Neville Longbottom to defeat Fenrir Greyback.



Epilogue Nineteen years after Lord Voldemort's downfall, Ron is married to Hermione (*chelsea pukes*) and they have two children - Rose, who they are sending off to her first year at Hogwarts, and a younger son named Hugo[34]. Ron has also passed a test in Muggle driving, despite Hermione's apparent belief that he could not do so without Confunding the examiner. However, Ron secretly reveals to Harry he actually did Confund the examiner. he and Harry work for the Ministry of Magic as Aurors. He and his friends have helped to revamp the Ministry, and it is far different from the one that existed before.[35] Before becoming an Auror, Ron joined George at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which became a very lucrative business.[36]



Attributes

Appearance Rowling introduces Ron as "tall, thin and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose."[1] Ron has the trademark red hair of the Weasleys and is indeed one of Harry's tallest schoolmates, even outgrowing some of his older brothers. J.K. Rowling states in the novels that Ron has freckles, but Rupert Grint, the actor who plays Ron, has none. Rowling has also stated that Ron has blue eyes.



Personality Ron about to lose his temper Generally speaking, Ron fits many of the stereotypes expected of the sidekick, though not others. He's a comical character often called upon to lighten the mood, is immensely loyal to the hero, and lacks much of the talent Harry possesses, at least in terms of magical power. However he is not goofy like many sidekicks, and in the books is not cowardly (in the movies, he can be at times). In fact he shows bravery several times, such as during the chess scene in book one, and when he goes into the Forbidden Forest with Harry in book two, despite his phobia of spiders. Although smart (as evidenced by his innate chess-playing ability and considerable wit) he is a fairly average student, and is often too lazy to bother with his studies, a habit enabled by Hermione's perfectionist need to do even other people's work for them. He is sarcastic, passionate, hot-headed and often wears his heart on his sleeve (excepting in manners of romance.) With Harry and Hermione, Ron tends to use his sarcasm to bring his friends back to reality when they are formulating far-fetched concepts; for example, when Harry and Hermione hypothesize over Tom Riddle's motives for naming Hagrid as the culprit who opened the titular chamber and attempt to find elaborate reasons for the latter's innocence, Ron comments, "how many monsters do you think this place can hold?"[37]

There is a highly ambitious side to Ron, and he wants dearly to be popular and successful, due mainly to feelings of being overshadowed by his older brothers and best friend. Despite great loyalty to his family, he occasionally shows signs of being ashamed of their economic situation. This has occasionally manifested itself into fights with Harry out of jealousy, but these issues tend to pass quickly.

Like many of the boisterous Weasley family, Ron has a tendency to argue. This trait is never so present as it is in his relationship with Hermione Granger where bickering is a staple of their relationship, and is often how they best communicate. He seems to show surprise when some, such as Harry, express annoyance at their arguing as neither he nor Hermione appear to think it's a big deal. In their arguments, while Hermione's tone tends to be patronizing, Ron is more often than not bitingly sarcastic.



Magic and skill Ron inherits Charlie Weasley's old, chipped wand, which is made out of ash and has a unicorn hair sticking out of the end. He holds the wand together with Spellotape after nearly breaking it in half at the start of Chamber of Secrets, but it malfunctions dreadfully after this, backfiring spells, making strange noises, and emitting objects out from the wrong end. It eventually exploded. Ron's new wand is fourteen inches, willow and unicorn hair. He receives this new wand before the start of his third year at Hogwarts. In the movies he is portrayed as probably the least intelligent of the main trio, although in the books he seems to be as smart as Harry. He has also shown signs of incredible tactical ability, as evidenced by his skill of Wizard's Chess (which is played exactly like normal chess but with living pieces). He is often also portrayed as the most practical or pragmatic of the trio, and less likely to lose his head in a crisis than Hermione. (Although in the movies, this was switched, Ron became more of a panicker, for comic purposes, while Hermione was far more collected.) Ron's talents are rarely shown, but he, like the other DA members, survives a violent encounter with adult Death Eaters in The Order of the Phoenix, and it is implied that during the Death Eater assault in The Half-Blood Prince he held his own quite well because he was being helped by Felix Felicis, the good luck potion. In The Deathly Hallows, Ron loses his original wand, and thus used Peter Pettigrew's wand. Following this, Ron began to demonstrate more aptitude and general knowledge, along with a sudden spurt in maturity after a terrible row with his best friend Harry Potter. For a while he effectively leads the trio in the hunt for the Horcruxes while Harry suffers a major depression.



Family Ron was born on 1 March 1980 [38][HP6] to Arthur and Molly Weasley, the sixth of their seven children, and the youngest son. His middle name, Bilius, is the same as that of a deceased uncle, who is mentioned in Prisoner of Azkaban. Ron grew up in the family home, The Burrow, near the village of Ottery St Catchpole in Devon. Ron has various siblings; his five older brothers, Bill, Charlie, Percy, twins Fred and George, and a younger sister, Ginny, each with their own distinct personality trait. One recurring factor in Ron's siblings is that they often appear to be more confident, self-assured and, to varying degrees, more outwardly talented than him.

Rowling has described the Weasleys as an old pure-blood Wizarding family. The family is relatively poor, and despite Ron's father's promotion from head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic to Head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects in 2005's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, they remain financially strained. Ron is particularly self-conscious, frustrated, and even resentful of his family's modest means;[1] indeed, his school enemies, including Draco Malfoy and his father Lucius Malfoy, taunt him for his lack of wealth. Ironically, by the sixth book, Ron's father has been promoted to a much higher-paid position and Lucius Malfoy has been thrown in jail.

Ron is distantly related to Sirius Black and is part of the famed Black family, though he and the rest of his immediate family have been considered 'blood traitors' and are disowned. Other distant relatives include Nymphadora Tonks, Draco Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Phineas Nigellus Black.

Ron later marries Hermione Granger and has two children; daughter Rose, and son Hugo.






Family tree Black family Septimus Weasley Cedrella Black Female Prewett Male Prewett Ignatius Prewett Lucretia Black Apolline Delacour Monsieur Delacour Bilius Weasley Arthur Weasley Molly Prewett Gideon Prewett Fabian Prewett Lily Evans James Potter Gabrielle Delacour Charles Weasley Fred Weasley Fleur Delacour William Weasley Percy Weasley George Weasley Hermione Granger Ronald Weasley Ginevra Weasley Harry Potter Victoire Weasley Other Children Fred Weasley Rose Weasley Hugo Weasley James Potter Albus Potter Lily Potter  

Hermione

Paragraph. [edit] Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Hermione debuts in Philosopher's Stone when she meets future companions Harry and Ron on the Hogwarts Express. She is described as having "a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth," and constantly annoys her peers with her knowledge. Harry and Ron initially consider her arrogant, especially after she criticises Ron's incantation of the Levitation Charm.[10] They heartily dislike her until she is rescued by Harry and Ron from a troll. She is so thankful that she lies to protect them from punishment, and their friendship is born.[11] Hermione's knack for logic later enables the trio to solve a puzzle essential to retrieving the Philosopher's Stone, and she defeats the constrictive Devil's Snare plant by setting it on fire.

Rowling revealed that she had an argument with her editor about the troll fight scene, and that she refused to remove it because, "Hermione…is so very annoying in the early part of Philosopher's Stone that I really felt it needed something (literally) huge to bring her together with Harry and Ron."[4]



[edit] Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Hermione develops a crush on handsome new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart.[12] During a morning confrontation between the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams, a brawl nearly ensues after Draco Malfoy shockingly calls her a "Mudblood," but she does not know what the epithet means until Ron explains it to her at Hagrid's hut. Hermione's matchup with Slytherin student Millicent Bulstrode during Lockhart's ill-fated Duelling Club ends with her being painfully wrenched in a headlock. She assembles the Polyjuice Potion needed for the trio to disguise themselves as Malfoy's housemates in order to collect information about the Heir of Slytherin who has reopened the Chamber of Secrets. However, she is unable to join Harry and Ron in the investigation after the hair she plucked from Millicent's robes turns out to be those of her cat, whose appearance she takes on in her human form; it takes several weeks for the effects to completely wear off. Hermione is Petrified by the basilisk after successfully identifying the creature through library research; though she lies incapacitated in the hospital wing, her information is crucial to Harry and Ron in their successful mission to solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione is revived after Harry kills the basilisk, but she is devastated to learn that all end-of-year exams have been cancelled as a school treat.[13]



[edit] Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban In her third year, Hermione gets a pet cat-Kneazle mix named Crookshanks, who habitually pursues Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.[14] Before the start of term, Professor McGonagall secretly gives her a Time-Turner, a device which enables her to go back in time and handle her heavy class schedule. While filling in for Remus Lupin in one Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Professor Snape labels her "an insufferable know-it-all" and penalises Gryffindor after she speaks out of turn in her attempt to describe a werewolf. While Hermione correctly deduces Lupin's secret after completing Snape's homework assignment from the class, Crookshanks proves vital in exposing Scabbers as Peter Pettigrew, a friend of James and Lily Potter who revealed their whereabouts to Voldemort the night of their murders, and was able to wrongly implicate Sirius Black (revealed to be Harry's godfather) in the Potters' deaths.[15] The Time-Turner enables Hermione and Harry to rescue Black and the hippogriff Buckbeak.[16]



[edit] Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Hermione is Bulgarian Quidditch prodigy Viktor Krum's date at the Yule Ball, much to a jealous Ron's disdain, looking unexpectedly beautiful at the ball to boot.[17] The proper pronunciation of her name (Her-my-oh-nee) is interjected into the plot when she teaches it to Krum; the best he can do is "Herm-own-ninny," but she has no problem with it.[4] She later gets into a heated argument with Ron after he accuses her of "fraternising with the enemy" in reference to her friendship with Krum. Hermione also tirelessly campaigns for the rights of house-elves by forming the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (SPEW), but she is the only vocal opponent of the enslavement of house-elves, as Ron vehemently reminds her, "They like being enslaved!" She supports Harry through the Triwizard Tournment, helping him prepare for each task. Near the end of the term, she stops fraudulent tabloid reporter and Animagus Rita Skeeter, who had published slander about Hermione and Harry during the Triwizard Tournament, by holding her captive in her animal form (a beetle) in a jar.[18]



[edit] Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Hermione becomes a Gryffindor prefect along with Ron, and befriends Luna Lovegood, even though they share the exact opposite ideologies,[19] but their friendship gets off to a rocky start after Hermione chastises Luna's father's publication: "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that." She also lambastes housemate Lavender Brown for believing the Daily Prophet's allegations of Harry fabricating stories of Voldemort's return. Later, with Luna's assistance, Hermione blackmails Rita Skeeter into interviewing Harry for an upcoming issue of The Quibbler. Attempts to ban the magazine from Hogwarts are futile as the story spreads quickly through the school. One turning point in the series is when she conceives the idea of secretly teaching defensive magic to a small band of students in defiance of the Ministry of Magic's dictum to teach only the subject's basic principles. Hermione gets an unexpectedly huge response, and the group becomes the nascent Dumbledore's Army. She is involved in the battle in the Department of Mysteries and seriously injured, but makes a full recovery.[20]



[edit] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince New Potions professor Horace Slughorn invites Hermione to join his Slug Club.[21] She helps Ron retain his spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team when she secretly jinxes Cormac McLaggen, causing him to miss his last save attempt during Keeper tryouts. Hermione begins to develop feelings for Ron, but when he romances Lavender Brown instead, she attempts to retaliate by dating McLaggen at Slughorn's Christmas party, but her plan goes bust and she abandons him midway through the party.[22] Ron and Hermione continually feud with each other until he suffers a bout of poisoning from tainted mead, which frightens her enough to reconcile with him. Following Albus Dumbledore's death, Ron and Hermione both vow to stay by Harry's side regardless of what happens.[23]



[edit] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Hermione is a valuable help in Harry's quest to destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. When the trio are captured by Snatchers who are on the hunt for Muggle-borns under the Ministry's orders, Hermione passes herself off as "Penelope Clearwater" and a half-blood to avoid persecution, but is then taken to Malfoy Manor and tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange for information on how they came to possess the Sword of Gryffindor (which Bellatrix believed Snape sent to her vault in Gringotts) before being rescued by Dobby, along with Harry and Ron. She later uses Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Bellatrix when the trio attempt to steal Hufflepuff's cup from Gringotts. Hermione and Ron share their first kiss, and they join Dumbledore's Army in the final battle against Voldemort and the Death Eaters, during which Hermione destroys the cup in the Chamber of Secrets with a basilisk fang.[24] In the final battle in the Great Hall, Hermione fights Bellatrix with the help of Luna and Ginny Weasley. However, the three of them are unable to defeat Bellatrix, and stop fighting her once Molly Weasley orders them to back off.[25]



[edit] Epilogue Nineteen years after Lord Voldemort's downfall, Hermione is married to Ron and they have two children, Rose and Hugo.[26] She begins her post-Hogwarts career by working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, where she is instrumental in greatly improving life for house-elves; she has since moved higher up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement while ensuring the eradication of oppressive, pro-pureblood laws.[27]