Charles Weasley

"How's yer brother Charlie? I liked him a lot — great with animals."

- Rubeus Hagrid

Charles "Charlie" Weasley (b. 12 December, 1972) was the second eldest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley, younger brother of Bill Weasley and the elder brother of Percy, George, Ron, Ginny Weasley, and the late Fred Weasley. He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1984 to 1991 and was sorted into Gryffindor house. He was both a prefect and Quidditch Captain during his time at the school, and after graduating, he went to study dragons in Romania. During the Second Wizarding War, Charlie was a member of the second Order of the Phoenix and fought in the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998. After the war, Charlie continued his work with dragons.

Early life and Hogwarts
"My brother Charlie was always more of an outdoor type, so he went for Care of Magical Creatures..."

- Percy Weasley

Charles, better known as "Charlie", grew up in the Weasley family home, the Burrow. In September 1984, he started his first term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Gryffindor house like the rest of his family. Charlie was in the same year as Hufflepuff Nymphadora Tonks, but it is not known if they were acquaintances. In his third year, Charlie elected to take the Care of Magical Creatures class since he liked working outdoors. By his fifth year, Charlie was appointed as a prefect and eventually became Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, playing as Seeker, a position he excelled greatly in.

Charlie took his Apparition test twice. He failed on the first attempt, materialising five miles south of his target location on top of a Muggle woman doing her shopping. He passed on the second attempt. His brothers Fred and George made fun of this, but not to his face.

Studying dragons
"Keep back there, Hagrid! They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail do forty!"

- Charlie Weasley

After graduating, Charlie went to Romania to study dragons. At some point, he acquired a new wand, and his old wand was passed down to his youngest brother, Ron. However, many of his peers believed that, had he chosen to, he could have played Quidditch professionally and would have been good enough to play for the English national side.

At Christmas in 1991, Charlie was visited by his parents and his sister, Ginny. During the early part of 1992, Charlie received a letter from Ron, asking for help in getting rid of a baby dragon Rubeus Hagrid acquired off a man in a pub. The dragon, a Norwegian Ridgeback named Norbert, was being illegally kept, but Ron - along with his friends Harry Potter and Hermione Granger - did not want their friend to get into trouble. Charlie, who had always got on well with Hagrid because of their shared love of dragons, agreed to help and arranged for some of his friends to pick up Norbert and deliver him to the dragon sanctuary in Romania where he worked.

In 1993, Charlie joined the rest of his family for a holiday in Egypt after his father won seven hundred galleons in the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw.

During the summer of 1994, Charlie returned to the Burrow to attend the Quidditch World Cup with the rest of his family. He also met Harry Potter for the first time. During the Death Eater disturbance in the aftermath of the Irish victory, Charlie, along with his father, Bill, and Percy assisted the Ministry in attempting to stop it. Charlie stayed at the Burrow for the summer and accompanied his siblings, Harry, and Hermione to King's Cross Station to see them off to Hogwarts on September 1st.

During the Triwizard Tournament, Charlie assisted in bringing nesting mother dragons to Hogwarts for use in the First Task. They were transported over using a Sleeping Draught, and he didn't dare tell his mother about them considering that she was still angry about Harry being allowed to compete in the Tournament. He remained on hand during the Task in case the dragons got out of hand, and congratulated Harry on beating the Hungarian Horntail. He relayed Harry's performance to Bill, saying it was "incredible." He attempted to get time off to attend the Third Task, but was unable to.

Second Wizarding War
"Charlie's in the Order, too, but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off."

- George Weasley

Recruiting foreign wizards
When Albus Dumbledore reconstituted the Order of the Phoenix to oppose Lord Voldemort, Charlie joined alongside his family. While his brother Bill returned to England to better serve the Order, Charlie remained in Romania and was assigned to recruit foreign wizards to the cause.

Bill and Fleur's wedding
In the summer of 1997, Charlie once more returned to the Burrow, to serve as best man at Bill's wedding to Fleur Delacour. During a birthday celebration for Harry the day before the wedding, he informed Hagrid that Norbert was doing well - and was now called Norberta since they had discovered, to Hagrid's surprise, that the dragon was actually a female.

When the wedding was broken up by Death Eaters in the wake of the fall of the Ministry of Magic, he was questioned alongside his family, but was safe. He presumably returned to Romania, as both his father and brothers were allowed to return to work.

Battle of Hogwarts
While the rest of the Weasley family answered Neville Longbottom's call to arms to fight at the Battle of Hogwarts, Charlie did not join them immediately, possibly due to being out of the country at the time. However, he did arrive toward the end of the battle, leading hundreds of reinforcements consisting of the friends and family of all the Hogwarts students who had chosen to fight and the residents of Hogsmeade. Arriving just as Neville killed Nagini, he led them into battle against Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters, strengthening the weakened defenders of the castle. He also witnessed his mother killing Bellatrix Lestrange and Harry defeating Lord Voldemort once and for all. Charlie overtook Horace Slughorn as he entered the school and survived the final battle. Like the rest of his family, Charlie was devastated by Fred's death.

Later life
Following the war, Charlie did not marry or have children, as he was more interested in studying dragons than forming a romantic attachment.

Physical appearance
Charlie was short and stocky, and he had muscled arms. His face was weather beaten from working outside, and there were so many freckles on his face that he looked tanned. His fingers were usually covered in calluses and blisters, and, on one occasion during the summer of 1994, he had a large shiny burn on one of his arms. Like all the Weasley family, Charlie had red hair. It is possible he had long(ish) hair, as in 1997, on the day of Harry's seventeenth birthday, Molly forcefully cut his hair "brutally short."

Personality and traits
Charlie was described by his brother Percy as being "always more of an outdoor type." During his years at Hogwarts, Charlie liked animals and magical creatures; he later went to Romania in order to study about dragons. He also appeared to be friendly with his siblings, along with Rubeus Hagrid and Harry Potter, but he did not like the fact that his mother used to cut his hair short. Charlie was also brave, as he was sorted into Gryffindor house and fought in the Battle of Hogwarts against Voldemort. After the war, Charlie did not marry or have his own family, as he preferred to continue studying dragons.

Family
Charlie had a good relationship with his family. Arthur and Molly Weasley both were pure-blood wizards who loved their children very much and cared about them. However, they were economically poor and were considered by many as "blood-traitors," because they were not prejudiced against Muggles and Muggle-borns. Charlie's childhood might have been happy and friendly with his parents.

He also had a good relationship with his siblings. He appeared to be closest with Bill, because they were close in age. Bill was a good student, like Charlie; after Hogwarts, Bill worked for Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Egypt, and later married Fleur Delacour. Charlie was the best man at their wedding. It is possible that, after the war, they were as close as they were during their early years.

Charlie appeared to have a good relationship with his younger siblings, too. Percy believed that Charlie was "more of an outdoor type"; the reason that he liked studying dragons. Percy seemed to be proud that his brother was a good student, but they were not on good terms during the Second Wizarding War; Percy believed that his family was wrong for supporting Dumbledore. After the war, Percy changed his mind and his relationship with his siblings became better.

Fred and George, Ron, and Ginny seemed to like Charlie; they tended to look up to Charlie as much as Bill. During their early years, Charlie might have been close with them, but he left the country, in order to study dragons. Charlie met them again in 1994 and in 1997. They also fought together at the Battle of Hogwarts and survived the war; except for Fred, who was killed in an explosion.And Charlie was devastated by his death, like the other members of the family.

Rubeus Hagrid
Charlie was a friend of Rubeus Hagrid. Rubeus Hagrid was the gamekeeper and later Care of Magical Creatures professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He described Charlie as being great with animals and stated that he had missed Charlie, during the time he studied dragons. They both liked magical creatures, and they met each other several times after Charlie left Hogwarts. Charlie invited Hagrid to watch some dragons he and his friends were breeding, during the Triwizard Tournament. In 1997, Charlie stayed at The Burrow; both he and Hagrid attended Harry Potter's seventeenth birthday party and Bill and Fleur's wedding. Charlie, Hagrid, and another wizard sang along a song about Odo the hero. They also fought together at the final battle of the Second Wizarding War and survived the war.

Harry Potter
Harry Potter first heard of Charlie in 1991, during his first year at Hogwarts. Harry heard many times that Charlie was a great Quidditch player and was very happy when he and his team lived up to Charlie's reputation. Eventually, Harry became an excellent player and seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, like Charlie. They met each other in 1994, at the Burrow. Harry seemed to like Charlie, who also helped him during his first task of the Triwizard Tournament; he showed the four dragons to Rubeus Hagrid, Olympe Maxime, and Harry (under the Invisibility Cloak). Charlie also attended Harry's seventeenth birthday party and Bill and Fleur's wedding, along with Harry. They later fought together at the Battle of Hogwarts; Charlie also witnessed Harry defeating Lord Voldemort, and they both survived the war. They became brother-in-law when Harry married his youngest sibling Ginny Weasley and Charlie became the uncle of James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily Luna Potter.

Order of the Phoenix members
Charlie became a member of the Order of the Phoenix during the Second Wizarding War. However, it is possible that he had not met all the members of the order, as he lived in Romania, leading reinforcements for the order. It is possible that he knew some members, such as Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, as Lupin and Tonks attended Bill and Fleur's wedding with Charlie, and Charlie's father always spoke highly of Moody. Charlie had also been in the same year as Tonks at Hogwarts, and may have known her prior to joining the Order.

Nieces and nephews
After the Second Wizarding War, Charlie had many nieces and nephews, through the Weasley family; Bill and Fleur's children: Victoire, Dominique, and Louis; Percy and Audrey's children: Molly and Lucy; George and Angelina's children: Fred and Roxanne; Ron and Hermione's children: Rose and Hugo; and Ginny and Harry's children: James, Albus, and Lily. It is possible that Charlie had a good relationship with all of them.

Behind the scenes

 * Charlie is portrayed by British actor Alex Crockford in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In the film, he appears only briefly, in a photograph of the Weasley family holidaying in Egypt.
 * In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, a young man with red hair is seen standing beside Nymphadora Tonks at the wedding. It is likely that he is Charlie, due to his haircut (similar to the one described in the book), the fact that he is the same age as Tonks and also Tonks' alleged friendship with Charlie.
 * In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Gryffindors reminisce about his era as a distant golden age since which the Gryffindor team has known years of frustration, yet from what J. K. Rowling tells us of his age, he would only have left Hogwarts months before. However, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor McGonagall reveals that they had not been in the running for the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup for seven years. This means that Charlie would've been in his second or third year when they last won it. This may indicate a slight continuity error on J.K.'s part, perhaps indicating she originally envisioned Charlie as being older than he became.
 * At Hogwarts, Charlie was in the same year as Nymphadora Tonks. It is unknown if they knew each other prior to joining the Order of the Phoenix in 1995.
 * In J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life, J. K. Rowling was asked if Charlie was gay, to which she jokingly, and respectfully responded that he is not, just, "He's more interested in dragons than women."
 * It is possible that in Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4, the Dragon Keeper, found in the Year 4 level, Dragons, is, in fact, Charlie.

Etymology
The name "Charles" comes from the Germanic name Karl, which was derived from a Germanic word which meant "man". However, an alternative theory states that it is derived from the common Germanic element hari meaning "army, warrior".

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
 * Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4

Notes and references
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