Fred Weasley is a character in the Harry Potter book series. He is the fourth child of Arthur and Molly Weasley, and the twin brother of George Weasley. He is known for being a born prankster and inventor. He is a friend of Harry Potter, a part of Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix. He is the co-founder Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
Fred joins the Order of the Phoenix in the Second Wizarding War and fights in key battles. He commentates Potterwatch and is killed at the Battle of Hogwarts.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Fred was the fourth child of Arthur and Molly Weasley and the elder twin brother of George Weasley. They were born on April's Fools Day in 1978. He had three elder brothers, Bill, Charlie and Percy Weasley, and a younger brother and sister, Ron and Ginny Weasley. They were raised at The Burrow in Devon and home-schooled by Molly. They were not a wealthy family, but they did have a very loving household.
Fred and George developed a penchant for pranking people when they were young, and they enjoyed being playful and teasing their siblings. When Ron was aged three, he broke Fred's toy broomtick so he transformed Ron's teddy bear into a spider. Doing so caused Ron to develop arachnophobia.[2]
In September 1989, he and George started attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They gained a reputation for rule-breaking and pulling pranks. Arthur and Molly Weasley were sent many letters over the next few years because they kept gettung into trouble.[3] Fred and George has the tendency to wander into the Forbidden Forest.[4] Rubeus Hagrid spent a lot of time keeping them out of the forest.[5]
In their first-year, Fred and George found the passageway behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy. They were both Beaters in the House Quidditch team in their second-year onwards.[6]
Philosopher's Stone[]
In September 1991, Fred and George were at King's Cross heading to board the Hogwarts Express. At the barrier, Fred pretended to be George and confused Molly until he fessed up to pranking her. Harry Potter watched him and George in wonder because he had no idea how they managed to run through the wall.[7] Fred and George helped put Harry's trunks on the train and worked out who he was. They agreed to stay out of trouble and look out for Ron. They wanted to ask Harry what Voldemort looked like, but he was shouted at by Molly not to. They found Harry and Ron's compartment on the way, telling Ron their friend, Lee Jordan, had a pet spider and wondered whether Ron would want to see it, but Ron didn't want to.[7]
Fred lied to Ron by telling him that the Sorting ceremony was to fight a troll. When Ron found out the truth, he wanted to kill Fred for lying. At the Start-of-Term Feast, Fred and George sung the tune of the school song in a slow funeral march and they kept singing when the other students had stopped. Dumbledore gave a speech, telling the students that the Forbidden Forest was out-of-bounds and glanced at Fred and George when he said it.[4]
Harry joined Fred and George in the House Quidditch team that year.[6] In their first game, he saw Harry dodge a Bludger and beat it towards Marcus Flint and asked Harry if he was okay. Then when Harry's broomstick was jinxed and kept trying to shake him until he fell off, Fred and George attempted to get hold of him and when he was hanging from the broom, they flew underneath him hoping to catch him if he fell.[8]
Fred and George bewitched snowballs to bounce off Professor Quirrell's head[9], which unbeknown to them was concealing Voldemort's face.[10] During the festive season, Fred stayed at the school and attended the feast. He and George demanded Percy not join the Prefects for the day because it was "a time for family". That evening, Fred and George took Percy's "Prefect" badge and he chased them around the room to get it back.[9]
Chamber of Secrets[]
In August 1992, Fred, George and Ron went to Harry's house to find out why he had not sent letters to Ron and had an official government warning. Fred drove Arthur's Ford Anglia. He gave Harry a rope to put on the bars on the window, and then used the car's power to pull the bars off. He and George opened the Cupboard under the Stairs using a pin through the lock to get Harry's things. Vernon woke up and found Harry escaping in the car. They had to pull Harry into the car when he grabbed Harry's ankle. On the way to The Burrow, he heard about Dobby's warning and they asked him if he could think of anyone who wanted to hurt him. Harry thought of Draco and Fred told him about Lucius, who used to support Voldemort.[11]
At The Burrow, Mrs Weasley had found out that they had taken the car and shouted at Fred. They then had to spend the afternoon de-gnoming the garden.[11] Fred, George, Ron and Harry spent the summer taking turns riding the Nimbus 2000 in their mini Quidditch tournaments. During the shopping trip to Diagon Alley, Fred and George saw their friend, Lee Jordan and they went to Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop to stock up on pranks for school. At Flourish and Blotts, he saw Arthur fighting Lucius and heard Gilderoy Lockhart telling a photographer to work it into the article about the book signing for publicity.[12]
In September, Fred and George applauded Ron and Harry for taking the Ford Anglia to fly to school, asking Ron why he didn't get them back to join him.[13] He was woken up very early the next Saturday by Oliver Wood, who had a new Quidditch training programme, but he was half-sleeping when Oliver was telling him it. They thought they could train on the pitch, only to find out Slytherin had booked it to train their new Seeker Draco.[14]
Draco teased Fred and George for having slower broomsticks, and then called Hermione a "Mudblood". Fred and George were angry and jumped at Draco but Marcus Flint body-blocked them.[14] Oliver then had Fred and George spy on the Slytherins, and they found that their new Nimbus 2001s were so good that you could hardly see them because they were a blur. During Care of Magical Creatures, Fred and George "saved" a Salamander and caused it to spin round in the common room. Percy was very angry and bellowed at Fred and George for ages.[15]
In the first Quidditch game, Fred and George saw Harry being hunted by a rogue Bludger and spent the first half trying to protect him. Due to that, they couldn't protect their Chasers and Slytherin took the lead. They had to ask for a break so they could tell Oliver what was happening and that the Bludger was faulty, but Harry was determined to continue and asked Fred and George to stop protecting him because he had no space to get the Golden Snitch.[16]
They didn't want to because Harry could get hurt, but Oliver let it happen. Harry won the game by catching the Golden Snitch but he broke an elbow. Fred and the team saw Harry in the Hospital Wing and brought cakes to eat round the bed, but Madam Pomfrey told them they had to go.[16] Later, Fred and George saw Ginny was very upset about Colin Creevey being Petrified. They thought it would cheer her up if they put fur on and jumped at her behind statues to scare her. Percy was angry and wanted to send a letter home if they didn't stop.[17]
Fred and George found it very funny that the whole school was frightened of Harry when they thought he was the Heir of Slytherin and they joked about it. They marched in front of Harry in the corridors, telling everyone that a Dark wizard was going through. Harry was glad they found it funny unlike others in the school. Fred stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays instead of going to spend it at Bill's. He and George enchanted Percy's Prefect badge to say "Pinhead".[18]
In April, Fred and George challenged Harry and Ron to play Exploding Snap and stayed up playing way past midnight unaware Harry and Ron kept losing on purpose because they wanted to sneak into the Forbidden Forest.[19] In May, Fred and George sat in the common room in silence when Ginny was taken into the Chamber of Secrets and locked up. They eventually went to bed very early.[20] In June, Ginny told her brothers and Harry that she saw Percy kissing Penelope Clearwater. Fred dropped books on George's head in shock and even though they promised they wouldn't say anything, Harry could tell they would.[21]
Prisoner of Azkaban[]
In the summer of 1993, Fred visited Bill on a month-long family holiday when Arthur won the Grand Prize Galleon Draw. Their photograph appeared on the front page of a newspaper.[22] At one point, Fred and George tried to lock Percy in a pyramid but their plan was foiled by their mother.[23] They also put beetles in Bill's soupwhich was detected by a Pocket Sneakoscope. Bill didn't notice and thought the Sneakoscope was faulty.[22]
At the end of the school holidays, the Weasleys stayed at the Leaky Cauldron with Harry. He and George greeted Harry by copying Percy's pompous behaviour. They were told to stop by their mother, who pointed out they would never be Head Boys. Fred agreed with George that they would not want to be one. Molly was frustrated at the example they were setting for Ginny. Upon hearing Percy ask why Ministry cars were taking everyone to the train station, Fred and George told him they were his reward for being a Humonguos Bighead. After dinner, they stole Percy's Head Boy badge and changed the wording to Bighead Boy.[23]
Triwizard Tournament[]
Order of the Phoenix[]
Half-Blood Prince[]
Deathly Hallows[]
Appearance[]
Trivia[]
- Fred and George are given a blue jumper every year for Christmas with letters F and G in embroidery.[9]
- Fred and George get good marks for their school work.[24]
Notes and sources[]
- ↑ Harry Potter Lexicon's archive of J.K. Rowling's old website from 2007
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 9
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 6 - "If I get one more owl telling me you've - [...]"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 7
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 8
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 9
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 6
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 11
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 12
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 17
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 3
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 4
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 5
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 7
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 8
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 10
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 11
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 12
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 15
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 16
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 18
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 1
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 4
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 6 - "Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they’re really funny."