Charles Weasley

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

- Rubeus Hagrid

Charlie Weasley was born on December 12, 1972, and is 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. He was both a Prefect and Quidditch captain during his time at the school. 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.

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

- Percy Weasley

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. Charlie was in the same year as 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 - didn't 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.

The 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

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.

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 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.

While the rest of the Weasley family answered Neville Longbottom's call to arms to fight at the Battle of Hogwarts, Charlie didn't join them immediately, possibly due to being out of the country at the time. However, he did arrive towards 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. Charlie overtook Horace Slughorn as he entered the school, and survived the final battle.

Following the war, Charlie did not marry or have any children, preferring to study dragons than raise a family.

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".

Behind the scenes

 * Charlie was played by Alex Crockford in the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He appears only briefly, in a photograph of the Weasley family holidaying in Egypt. It has not been officially confirmed if he will return for the role for the film adaptions of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
 * 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 hadn't 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 an interview for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling was asked if Charlie was gay, to which she jokingly, and respectfully responded, "He's more interested in dragons than women."

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 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

Notes and references
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