Weasley family

"My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

- Draco Malfoy on the Weasley family

Weasley is the surname of a pure-blood wizarding family, though the most recent generation has many non-pureblood members. The Weasleys are related to many other wizarding families, including the Blacks, Prewetts, Longbottoms, Crouchs, Delacours, and Potters, as well as the Muggle Granger family. Many members of the Weasley family are red-haired and sorted into Gryffindor house upon attendance of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The family home, known as the Burrow, is located just outside Ottery St. Catchpole, in Devon, England. Thus, the Weasleys live near other magical families such as the Diggory, Fawcett, and Lovegood families.

Recent Family History
"The Death Eaters know Ron's with you now, they're bound to target the family -- don't apologize. It was always a matter of time, Dad's been saying so for months. We're the biggest blood traitor family there is."

- Bill Weasley to Harry Potter in 1998

The Weasleys, unlike many other pure-blood families, willingly associate with Muggles, Muggle-borns and half-bloods, and do not consider themselves superior to others because of their blood status. Thus, elitist pure-blood families such as the Malfoys and the Blacks consider them "blood traitors" and treat them with disdain; Cedrella Black was even disowned by her family for marrying Septimus Weasley. The Weasleys' views led to their support of the Order of the Phoenix during the First and Second Wizarding Wars. During the height of the latter conflict, the Weasleys were placed under surveillance by the Voldemort-controlled Ministry of Magic because they were "blood traitors", and eventually had to go into hiding.

The Weasleys tended to have large numbers of children; an unusual trait for wizarding families, according to Draco Malfoy. The most recent generations of Weasleys have been considered poor by wizarding standards, though this likely changed with the great commercial success of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and the successful careers of various family members. By the twenty-first century, many Weasleys and their relatives worked for the Ministry of Magic, including Arthur Weasley, Percy Weasley, Ron Weasley and his brother-in-law Harry Potter as Aurors, and Hermione Weasley née Granger high up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Molly and Arthur Weasley's Family
Arthur Weasley, one of three sons of Septimus Weasley and Cedrella Black, presumably met Molly Prewett while they attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the 1960s. They married soon after finishing school and went on to have seven children, whom they loved but did not spoil. All of those who were of age, except Percy, eventually became members of the reinstated Order of the Phoenix.
 * Arthur — previously employed by the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects as of 1996
 * Molly — homemaker
 * Bill — the eldest child; works as a Curse Breaker at Gringotts Bank
 * Charlie — studies dragons in Romania
 * Percy — worked at the Ministry of Magic from 1994 to 1998 before reaffirming his loyalty to the Order of the Phoenix; later works at the reformed Ministry under Kingsley Shacklebolt
 * Fred — (died 1998) co-owner of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
 * George — co-owner of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
 * Ron — worked with George in WWW before becoming an Auror
 * Ginny — only daughter in the family; played Quidditch for the Holyhead Harpies before becoming a Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet

Other Weasleys

 * Septimus Weasley — father of Arthur and his two brothers
 * Cedrella Weasley née Black — mother of Arthur and his two brothers
 * Arthur Weasley's two brothers
 * Fleur Weasley née Delacour — wife of Bill Weasley
 * Audrey Weasley — wife of Percy Weasley
 * Angelina Weasley née Johnson — wife of George Weasley
 * Hermione Weasley née Granger — wife of Ron Weasley
 * Victoire Weasley — eldest child of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour
 * Dominique Weasley — middle child of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour
 * Louis Weasley — youngest child and only son of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour
 * Molly Weasley II — older daughter of Percy and Audrey Weasley
 * Lucy Weasley — younger daughter of Percy and Audrey Weasley
 * Fred Weasley II — son of George Weasley and Angelina Johnson
 * Roxanne Weasley — daughter of George Weasley and Angelina Johnson
 * Rose Weasley — daughter and older child of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger
 * Hugo Weasley — son and younger child of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger

Weasley Relatives

 * Mr. and Mrs. Prewett — Molly Weasley née Prewett's parents
 * Gideon Prewett — Molly's younger brother
 * Fabian Prewett — Molly's younger brother
 * Callidora Longbottom née Black — Arthur Weasley's maternal aunt
 * Charis Crouch née Black — Arthur's maternal aunt
 * Bilius — a brother or brother-in-law of Arthur or Molly
 * An uncle of the Weasley children
 * Muriel — Molly Weasley's aunt
 * Monsieur Delacour — father of Fleur Weasley née Delacour
 * Apolline Delacour — mother of Fleur Weasley née Delacour
 * Gabrielle Delacour — sister of Fleur Weasley née Delacour
 * Mr. Granger — father of Hermione Weasley née Granger
 * Mrs. Granger — mother of Hermione Weasley née Granger
 * Harry Potter — husband of Ginny Potter née Weasley
 * James Potter I — Harry Potter's father
 * Lily Potter née Evans — Harry Potter's mother
 * James Potter II — eldest child of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley
 * Albus Potter — middle child of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley
 * Lily Potter — youngest child and only daughter of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley
 * Second cousin of Molly Weasley
 * Great-Aunt Tessie — connected to the family tree through unknown ways

Author's Comments
J.K. Rowling has said that unlike with many other characters, Ron Weasley's name always remained the same. She has remarked that the surname Weasley is derived from the weasel, which is also Arthur Weasley's Patronus. About the family's name and characteristic red hair, she commented:


 * "In Britain and Ireland the weasel has a bad reputation as an unfortunate, even malevolent, animal. However, since childhood I have had a great fondness for the family mustelidae; not so much malignant as maligned, in my opinion. There are also many superstitions associated with redheaded people and most state that they are in some way unlucky (Judas Escariot was supposedly red-haired), but this is nonsense; I happen to like red hair as well as weasels."

Behind the scenes

 * There appears to be a pattern in the Weasley family of members being named after figures in Arthurian legend. Arthur Weasley, of course, shares a given name with King Arthur, the central character. His son Percy's name is a diminutive of the name Percival, which was the name of one of Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. Ginny Weasley's full name is Ginevra, the Italian form of the name Guinevere, who was Arthur's queen. Also, Muriel had a cousin named Lancelot, who was one of Arthur's knights, though it should be noted that Muriel is only related to the Weasleys by the marriage of her niece Molly.
 * Hermione Weasley née Granger's Patronus is an otter, which is in the same family as the weasel, Mustelidae. This, as well as the fact that the Weasleys live in Ottery St. Catchpole, may have foreshadowed her marriage into the family.

Notes and References
Weasley Weasley