Ginevra Weasley

Ginevra "Ginny" Molly Weasley (born August 11, 1981) is the youngest of Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley's children. She has vivid red hair and bright brown eyes, is repeatedly described as small, with long red hair and bright brown eyes. According to Fred and George, she is a deceptively talented witch in spite of her size, noted for her skill with the Bat-Bogey Hex. She is also the first female to be born into the Weasley line for several generations.

Early life
Ginny is first introduced in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (she is, in fact, the first girl of about Harry's age properly introduced in the series). Her presence in Philosopher's Stone consists of two cameos, at the beginning and ending of the book, both at King's Cross: a minor one at the end of the book where she points at Harry and essentially squeaks, "Look, it's Harry Potter," and a more substantial one at the beginning of the book, where Harry manages to see her running, half-laughing, half-crying, after the train he is on – which contains her brothers, who are leaving for Hogwarts – then falling back to wave.

Chamber of Secrets
Ginny's entrance as a more solid character into the storyline coincides with her entry to Hogwarts in 1992, a year after her brother Ron. While she appears to play a mostly behind-the-scenes role during the events of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (placed in the school year 1992 - 1993) &mdash; mainly looking mysteriously ill every once in a while, providing light comic relief resulting from her obvious crush on Harry and showing insight as to Harry's opinion of his fame ("He didn't want all that!") &mdash; she turns out to be the key to the whole mystery outlining the year, as it is revealed that an old magical school diary made by Tom Riddle (later revealed as one of seven of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes) took advantage of her insecurities and innocence, causing her to spill her soul into it, and eventually started to spill some of its own spirit into her &mdash; possessing her to access the Chamber of Secrets and unleash the Basilisk within on the school.

It turns out that Lucius Malfoy was the one responsible for making sure the diary would find its way into Ginny's hands, and that his target had not been Ginny at all, but rather to discredit her father, Arthur, who had been trying to pass a Muggle protection act. Riddle, however, put his own twist on the course of action he was predicted to take. Once Ginny tells "Tom" about Harry's survival and the destruction of Voldemort, rather than using Ginny to attack Muggle-borns and half-bloods, Riddle decides to force Ginny to walk into the Chamber itself, so he may completely absorb her spirit and become alive (leaving Ginny lying unconscious on the Chamber floor in a kind of coma) and more importantly, to lure Harry Potter himself into the Chamber. Riddle is, after all, terribly curious about how Harry has "defeated" him, and obviously wants to kill him as revenge. Harry indeed goes down to the chamber, but with indirect help from Dumbledore in the form of Fawkes and the Sorting Hat manages to destroy Riddle and thus save Ginny's life.

Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire


Ginny is not involved in the storyline as actively throughout Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire. She only directly interacts with Harry three times: in book 3 she catches his eye and they share a laugh at the train station, in book 4 they exchange grins when Harry first arrives at the Burrow, and Ron later suggests that she go with Harry to the Yule Ball, but in an impressive display of integrity, she turns Harry down because she has already accepted an invitation from Neville. She frequently appears in the background in these two books, however, either interacting with other characters or just being noted in passing. She also stands up for Neville, demanding that Ron and Harry stop laughing at him, and when the Dementors board the train in Prisoner of Azkaban, she is affected by them almost as badly as Harry is (having acquired some unpleasant "worst memories" to be forced to re-experience from her first year).

In the first four books as a whole Ginny's portrayal has a definite streak of a 'Damsel in Distress' to it, an impression created chiefly due to her role in Chamber of Secrets where the adhesion to this formula goes as far as her heroic rescuer having to slay the proverbial dragon in order to save her (Steve Kloves compares this to the legend of St. George and the dragon in the script of the Chamber of Secrets movie.) However, several other glimpses of her personality are in stark contrast to this stereotype, and function as foreshadowing of the more fully-developed character she becomes in the fifth book.

Dumbledore's Army
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix develops Ginny's character in a way only hinted at through the first four books. No longer letting a crush affect her behaviour around Harry, she emerges as a forceful personality with a no-nonsense attitude, good magical and acting ability, pride (perhaps to a fault), talent at Quidditch, and several other characteristics very unlike the average damsel in distress.

Apart from Phineas Nigellus and Hermione, Ginny is the only character in the book to directly confront Harry's inconsiderate, egocentric attitude and his wallowing in self-pity, although she tends to do this in a much more diplomatic fashion than Phineas' elaborate speeches on how Harry's attitude is the precise reason he cannot stand teenagers. Ginny is also used as a parallel to emphasise Harry's self-centeredness when he believes himself to be possessed by Voldemort. In one particularly ironic scene, Harry spends a long train ride wallowing in miserable thoughts of himself being the weapon Voldemort was using to attack people, "contaminated" and unworthy of the company of his friends. It never occurs to him that Ginny went through the exact same thing in her first year, even though she is sitting next to him through the whole ride. When she forcefully reminds him of her experience so that he will stop alienating himself from his friends, it dawns on him that he forgot all about it and he sincerely apologises, something he was not inclined to do throughout his whole fifth year in general.

When Harry receives his "life-long" ban from playing Quidditch courtesy of Dolores Umbridge, Ginny replaces him as Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She is successful, though everyone (including herself) admits that she is not of the same calibre as Harry. She says that she would rather be a Chaser than a Seeker anyway, and will probably try out for a Chaser position the next year, when two of the current three Chasers will have graduated and therefore left the team.

Ginny is a member of (and came up with the name for) Dumbledore's Army, a group started by Harry, Hermione and Ron to provide students with practical instruction in Defence Against the Dark Arts, which Dolores Umbridge had removed from that course's curriculum. This, combined with her now being a close friend of Hermione, Ron, Harry, Luna, and Neville, with their expedition to the Department of Mysteries being the final trigger, makes her a member of a more tightly-knit group consisting of the six of them, which can be viewed as an extension of the original three (Harry, Ron and Hermione).

Hermione also tells Harry in Order of The Phoenix that during the previous year Ginny gave up on Harry ever reciprocating her feelings, turning her attention to other boys. Most notable among her romantic interests is Michael Corner, whom she dates for over a year and a half, but eventually breaks up with due to him getting sulky over Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch (in an ironic twist, Michael runs to Cho &mdash; Harry's fresh ex-girlfriend &mdash; for romantic comfort). It is made clear that in spite of Ginny's feelings for Harry being apparently gone, her brother, Ron, is hoping to see them together still, and is not-so-subtly upset when Ginny throws him an off-hand remark about an alleged developing interest in Dean Thomas.

For reasons unknown, during the hextet's detour to the Department of Mysteries, Ginny is fascinated by a particular egg which keeps hatching and unhatching and is a part of the section the department uses to study the concept of time.

Ginny and Harry
In Half-Blood Prince, Ginny buys a pet Pygmy Puff which she names "Arnold" from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. She is also chosen for the Slug Club for her excellent use of the Bat Bogey Hex.

However, her main role is as a romantic interest. Firstly, it is revealed that Ginny is indeed dating Dean. While at The Burrow, she expresses her distaste for Fleur Delacour who is going to marry Ginny's brother Bill and refers to Fleur as "Phlegm". Once back at school, she becomes a Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, alongside Katie Bell and Demelza Robins. She also plays as the reserve Seeker while Harry is in detention.

As Harry witnesses Ginny repeatedly refusing his company in favour of Dean's, he starts feeling odd twinges of animosity which he fails to attribute to their source; he only finally does so during an incident where Harry and Ron run into Ginny and Dean snogging in a corridor. Ron is outraged because he feels over-protective of his sister and Harry is seized by a powerful feeling to curse Dean into oblivion. It is then that he admits to himself that he has developed a crush on her and feels "weird every time he's around her, haunted by dreams, daydreams and imaginary scenarios of them together.

At this point, Ginny gets into an argument with Ron, pointing out that he is the only one who finds snogging disgusting. Ron's attitude changes when he gets into a relationship with Lavender Brown. Harry first becomes aware of this by Ginny rather smugly calling Ron a "filthy hypocrite".

Eventually, Ginny and Dean break up (though this is partly due to Harry's Felix Felicis luck potion), and Ginny has massive arguments with both Ron and Hermione Granger. After she helps Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup, she and Harry spontaneously kiss, and Ron seems to mind nowhere near as much as when she kissed Dean. This marks the beginning of Harry's relationship with her. They have a very short relationship, but they have a great time together.

When the Death Eaters, aided by Draco Malfoy, attack Hogwarts, Ginny joins the fight, along with Ron, Hermione, Luna and Neville, each taking a small dose of the aforementioned luck potion, Felix Felicis.

After Albus Dumbledore is killed by Severus Snape, Harry decides to break off their relationship, as he knows Lord Voldemort will try to target her if he learns of such a bond between the two. Ginny is as displeased as Harry is about the necessity of this measure, but accepts it, noting that she knew that given Harry's agenda, this was an inevitability. Ginny accepts Harry's decision, but seems hopeful for their future after Voldemort is killed. She also confides that she never really gave up on him noticing her, and that Hermione had been giving her bits of advice in this area throughout the year.

Battle of Hogwarts
Ginny returns to Hogwarts to begin her sixth year and is seen very little until the battle, during which we see Bellatrix Lestrange attempt to battle her, Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood. Ginny's mother, Molly Weasley then takes over their battle, finally killing Bellatrix. In the epilogue, we learn that Ginny has married Harry and that they have three children, James, Albus Severus and Lily.

Behind the name
There was vandalism here, check it yourself.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First Appearance)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

J.K. Rowling on Ginny
"The plan was, which I really hope I fulfilled, is that the reader, like Harry, would gradually discover Ginny as pretty much the ideal girl for Harry. She's tough, not in an unpleasant way, but she's gutsy. He needs to be with someone who can stand the demands of being with Harry Potter, because he's a scary boyfriend in a lot of ways. He's a marked man. I think she's funny, and I think that she's very warm and compassionate. These are all things that Harry requires in his ideal woman. But, I felt — and I'm talking years ago when all this was planned — initially, she's terrified by his image. I mean, he's a bit of a rock god to her when she sees him first, at 10 or 11, and he's this famous boy. So Ginny had to go through a journey as well… I feel that Ginny and Harry, in this book, they are total equals. They are worthy of each other. They've both gone through a big emotional journey, and they've really got over a lot of delusions, to use your word, together. So, I enjoyed writing that. I really like Ginny as a character."

Character analysis
Fan reaction to Ginny has always been mixed. Many fans liked her prior to The Order of the Phoenix, while others either dismissed her as unimportant or a fangirl (akin to Colin Creevey). Her portrayal in Order of the Phoenix and especially Half-Blood Prince has further inflamed opinions on both sides, owing at least in part to her involvement in the resolution of the fandom's so-called "ship debates".

Some fans argue that Ginny’s "irregular" and changing personality is a sign of weak writing and character development. Others respond that the supposedly "unrealistic" nature of her character is the result of Harry being an unreliable narrator: as Rowling uses the third-person limited point of view, Ginny's development is given in subtle hints and clues throughout first six books, and the full story is only revealed at the very end of book six, where Ginny explains how she overcame her shyness and insecuritiy. In this way, Ginny's development, and her romance with Harry, is told in the style of a mystery, like much of the rest of the series.

A number of those who dislike Ginny argue that she is a Mary Sue, portrayed as being beautiful, popular with boys, funny, and athletically gifted with great magical talent, while her more unsympathetic character traits are supposedly "glossed over" by the author. These unsympathetic actions are seen by some as showing Ginny to be unnecessarily callous. Others, however, find them to be justified, and argue that Ginny's character development is more an inspiring story of a young girl overcoming debilitating insecurities and shyness, and growing into a strong and more attractive young woman because of her decisions in life. Her actions certainly speak of a hot-headed temper and a forceful personality: nicknaming her prospective sister-in-law 'Phlegm' (admittedly to Harry and Hermione's amusement), tripping her brother to embarrass him, smashing into Zacharias Smith for giving a commentary biased against her team, taunting her brother about his lack of experience with girls during an argument, and cursing Smith for persistently asking about Harry's role in the fight against Voldemort. Some claim that Ginny's actions are similar to the actions of the antagonists in the books, yet they are admired by Harry. Others argue that she is vindicated in these actions, which are unlike those of the villains, making her a playful troublemaker in the mould of her older brothers Fred and George - Ginny is indeed compared to the twins several times in the series.

While Ginny can seem hard and detached, there are also moments of compassion which indicate a gentle side to her nature. When Ron humiliates himself by asking Fleur Delacour to the Yule Ball, Ginny hides her amusement at the situation and comforts him. When her father is attacked by Voldemort's serpent Nagini she rushes to Grimmauld Place with her brothers and Harry, and stays up with them through the night. And when Ron is poisoned by Madam Rosmerta's wine in the Half-Blood Prince, she and Harry obsessively discuss the issue and she expresses a strong concern over Ron's well-being. It is also notable that, despite her popularity, Ginny is one of the few students to truly befriend and stand up for Luna Lovegood, at a stage when even Harry, Ron and Hermione look down on her as 'loony'.

Others point out signs which indicate a softer side. She is shown to be caring about her family and friends in various instances: when her father was attacked be a serpent she and three of her brothers rushed from school to the Order's headquarters and stayed up all night waiting for news about their father. When Ron was poisoned she and Harry had a heated discussion over who was behind it, and Ginny did show anxiety for her brother. When her oldest brother Bill, whom Ginny worships, was savaged by a werewolf she was shaken, and given her steely disposition, it shows the depth of her emotions. When Dumbledore died, she cried at his funeral (the first time since she was eleven years old) and couldn't fall asleep at night. Ginny also cries in Chamber of Secrets when expecting to be expelled. Ginny has also been kind to "social outcasts" such as Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, befriending Luna when the main trio of Harry, Ron and especially Hermione disregarded her; defending Neville and Luna when they are teased. Ginny does not flaunt her popularity, but befriends people on merit, whatever their position within the school.

On the whole, Ginny shows concern for her friends and family when they are in true danger, but almost always maintains her composure. The exceptions are found at the end of the Half-Blood Prince, when the eldest Weasley brother Bill (who Ginny hero worships) is savaged by a werewolf and Dumbledore dies. Ginny's voice trembles as she tells Harry of her brother's condition. At Dumbledore's funeral Ginny cries, but along with Harry, regains her composure quicker than many other attendees.

One common complaint from fans on both sides of the debate is that too much of her character development, especially the growth of her relationship with Harry, is told rather than shown.

Ginny is aptempted to have a big role in the seventh tome for she is a strong heroine who overcame possesion in her second year and went on to become a good Quidditch player; she is also celebrated for being more than a match for her often overbearing older brothers.

Ginny's portrayal in fan fiction prior to The Order of the Phoenix varied greatly, but she was most often depicted as either a naive, fresh-faced ingénue or a rugged tomboy. Since the fifth book came out she has been almost exclusively depicted as the latter, often to an extent exceeding the actual books. She is usually paired with either Harry or Draco Malfoy, or, in the context of femslash fanfiction, with Hermione.