Fred Weasley

"Give her hell from us, Peeves."

- Fred Weasley during his and George's escape from Hogwarts

Fred Weasley (1 April 1978 - 2 May 1998) was a pure-blood wizard, a son of Molly and Arthur Weasley, and twin brother to George Weasley. He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1989 to 1996 and was sorted into Gryffindor house. Both he and his twin brother were popular students, known for their sense of humour, and Beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. In their seventh year, they joined Dumbledore's Army. A brilliant prankster and inventor, Fred left Hogwarts shortly prior to graduation to become a successful entrepreneur, alongside his twin brother, and opened the joke shop Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley. Fred was also a member of the Order of the Phoenix; he fought in the Battle over Little Whinging in 1997 and was a commentator for Potterwatch during the height of the Second Wizarding War. In 1998, Fred participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, defending the castle's passageways with his twin. He was killed in a magical explosion likely caused by Death Eater Augustus Rookwood.

Early Life
"If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick..."

- Ron Weasley explaining the origin of his arachnophobia

Fred Weasley, along with his identical twin George, was born to Arthur and Molly Weasley on April 1, 1978; appropriately enough, April Fool's Day. He was raised at his family home of the Burrow, near Ottery St. Catchpole in Devon, England. In addition to his twin brother, Fred had three older brothers, Bill, Charlie and Percy, and younger siblings Ron and Ginny. The Weasley family was poor, but loving.

Fred and George enjoyed making mischief from a young age, and were quite a handful for their parents. It was not uncommon for explosions to be heard coming from the bedroom the two shared. They also greatly enjoyed teasing their brothers Percy and Ron. At the age of five, Fred transformed Ron's teddy bear into a giant spider, sparking his arachnophobia, after Ron broke his toy broomstick. When they were seven years old, Fred and George nearly succeeded in getting Ron to make an Unbreakable Vow; their father was so angry about this incident that Fred later said "his left buttock has never been the same since". One Christmas, Fred and George set off a Dungbomb under the chair of their great-aunt Muriel during a family dinner. The elderly witch most likely wrote the twins out of her will for this stunt, and stopped attending Christmas celebrations at the Burrow, which all the Weasley children were thankful for.

Early Years
"...Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny..."

- Ron Weasley on Fred and George's performance at school

Fred was educated at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1989 to 1996, and was sorted into Gryffindor House. He was very popular among the Gryffindors in school, and he and George were well-known for their senses of humours and pranks. Among Fred's many friends were Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Oliver Wood, and Katie Bell. During his first year at Hogwarts, Fred swiped the Marauder's Map from Argus Filch's office with George. In either their second or third years, Fred and George became Beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They both used Cleansweep Five broomsticks and were so skilled at Quidditch that they were both described as being like "human Bludgers".

Third and Fourth Years
Fred also became friends with Harry Potter in his third year, when Harry became friends with his younger brother Ron and the Quidditch team's Seeker. Fred and the other players believed that the addition of Harry would strengthen their chances at winning the Quidditch Cup. Around the Christmas holidays, Fred and George got in trouble for bewitching several snowballs to follow Professor Quirrell around and hit him in the back of the head. They stayed in the castle for the holidays along with their brothers and Harry, all of whom received jumpers from Mrs. Weasley. The ones she sent to Fred and George had their initials on them, prompting them to call themselves "Gred and Forge". The twins also dragged Percy away from his fellow Prefects, insisting that Christmas was time for family, and stole his Prefect badge, much to his irritation. In the summer of 1992, Fred, George, and Ron rescued Harry from his relatives' home, picking the lock on his window and flying him to the Burrow in their father's Ford Anglia. The twins soon began their fourth year at Hogwarts, and took to teasing their younger sister Ginny as she began her first year. They were trying to cheer her up, unaware that her emotional state was fragile due to the influence of Tom Riddle's diary. When many students speculated that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin that year, neither Fred nor George took it seriously, making jokes about it to lighten Harry up. They were also outraged when Draco Malfoy called Hermione Granger a "filthy little Mudblood" after she implied that Malfoy had bought his way onto the Slytherin Quidditch team, unlike the Gryffindor players. Fred and George both lunged at Malfoy, only to be blocked by Marcus Flint. That year, they were also delighted to hear that Percy had a secret girlfriend because it was an opportunity to tease him.

In the summer of 1993, the Weasley family went to Egypt, where Fred and George attempted to push Percy into a pyramid, which their mother prevented and scolded them for. They thought their older brother was acting particularly pretentious because he had been appointed Head Boy, and repeatedly mocked him for it.

Fifth and Sixth Years
In their fifth year, Fred and George gave Harry the Marauders' Map, as they already knew it by heart and Harry needed it in order to sneak into Hogsmeade. They also tried to cheer him up after he fainted near the Dementors that were guarding the school that year due to Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban. Their attempt to cheer up Ron after his pet rat Scabbers went missing was not as successful, as Fred and George reminded him that Scabbers was boring. Fred and George began inventing magical prank items in the summer of 1994, starting with the Ton-Tongue Toffee, which Fred "dropped" near Harry's cousin Dudley Dursley in order to test it out. Fred also attended the Quidditch World Cup with his parents, siblings, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger, and gambled on the outcome, which their father told them not to mention to their mother. When Ludo Bagman defaulted on his bet, Fred was furious, and suggested that it was "time to play dirty" like Bagman by informing the Ministry of Magic of his activities. George was against the idea, arguing that it was blackmail.

The twins began trying out and selling their products, such as Canary Creams, at Hogwarts as their sixth year began. That year, Hogwarts also hosted the Triwizard Tournament. Despite being underage, Fred and George wanted to put their names in the Goblet of Fire, and used an Ageing Potion in an attempt to fool the Age Line Spell, without success. When the Yule Ball was announced, Fred asked Angelina Johnson to attend with him, declaring it a "piece of cake" to ask a girl out. At the end of the school year, Fred and George were surprised and very grateful when Harry gave them the one thousand Galleons he won in the Triwizard Tournament in order for them to start their joke shop.

Seventh Year and Rebellion
In the summer of 1995, before their final year at Hogwarts, Fred and George passed their Apparition tests "with distinction", and took to Apparating and Disapparating around 12 Grimmauld Place to surprise people. They helped clean up the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, but they also pocketed Doxies from behind the curtains for their experiments and spied on the Order's meetings using the Extendable Ears they invented.

Fred and George resumed testing and selling their products at Hogwarts in their seventh year, though Hermione Granger managed to prevent them from testing out Skiving Snackboxes on unsuspecting first-years by threatening to tell their mother. The twins also joined Dumbledore's Army to oppose the dictatorial running of Hogwarts under High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge and to prepare to fight Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Umbridge kicked them both off the Quidditch team that year after George and Harry got into a fight with Draco Malfoy after he penned the demeaning song Weasley is Our King to humiliate Ron and then proceeded to insult the Weasley parents and the late Lily Potter. Fred would have participated in the fight, but was held back by three of his teammates. The Weasleys suffered a near-devastating blow that Christmas when Arthur Weasley was bitten by Nagini, Lord Voldemort's snake familiar. Fred was greatly upset by his father's injury, especially since Percy did not join his family at St. Mungo's, continuing his estrangement.

When the D.A. was discovered later in the school year, Albus Dumbledore took the blame and left Hogwarts, leaving Umbridge as Headmistress. Fred and George decided that they no longer cared about getting into trouble, and that they were going to cause as much mayhem for Umbridge as possible. When the Inquisitorial Squad was formed and one member, Montague, attempted to dock House Points from them, Fred and George shoved him head-first into a Vanishing Cabinet before he could finish speaking. They set off spectacular fireworks of their own creation, Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs, which soon became best-selling products. After taking their disruptive activities easy during the Easter holidays, Fred dropped out of Hogwarts with George in a final act of rebellion against Umbridge. They left in a flourish of vandalism, chaos, and hexing members of the Inquisitorial Squad. A small part of a Portable Swamp created in the corridors by the twins was preserved by Professor Flitwick, as he saw it as a "really good bit of magic".

Career as a Shop Proprietor
Initially, Fred and George's ambitions to open a joke shop came as a disappointment to their parents, who had hoped they would seek employment with the Ministry of Magic like their father. However, the spectacular success of the twins' business, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, located at 93 Diagon Alley, impressed his parents and made them proud. What had started out as a mail-order experiment in entrepreneurialism sky-rocketed into a very lucrative undertaking. In fact, it was so successful that in 1996, the twins had moved out of their childhood home and into a flat above the store; later, the twins considered buying Zonko's Joke Shop in Hogsmeade, which had closed the previous year.

None of this might have been possible without the funding Harry Potter had given them in 1995. For Harry's generosity, the twins allowed him to take merchandise free of charge. In the summer of 1996, Harry, Ron and Hermione Granger visited the shop and Fred showed Harry around. He also offered Hermione a Patented Daydream Charm for free after she called them "extraordinary magic", but still charged Ron for his purchases. Fred and George also questioned Ginny on her love life, much to her irritation. That Christmas, the twins stayed at the Burrow for the holidays. When Percy arrived with Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour and it became clear that the two had only come so that the Minister could question Harry, Fred threw mashed parsnips at his older brother, along with George and Ginny, causing Percy to leave swiftly.

Order of the Phoenix


Fred was a staunch admirer and supporter of Albus Dumbledore, and joined the Order of the Phoenix as soon as his parents would allow him. In the summer of 1997, Fred and George took part in the Battle over Little Whinging, becoming two of the "seven Potters" to act as decoys while the Order removed Harry from 4 Privet Drive. Fred flew with his father on a broomstick, and was upset to learn that his twin lost an ear due to a Sectumsempra curse at the hands of Severus Snape during the battle. Although initially panicked to the point of being speechless when he saw his twin's loss, as soon as George started joking about it, Fred calmed down.

That same summer, Fred eagerly flirted with two "pretty French girls" who came to the Burrow to attend their cousin Fleur Delacour's wedding to Bill. He also reminisced about his late uncle Bilius, to the entertainment of George, Ron, Harry, and Hermione.

"Point is, people, don’t get lulled into a false sense of security, thinking he’s out of the country. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but the fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to, so don’t count on him being a long way away if you’re planning to take any risks. I never thought I’d hear myself say it, but safety first!"

- Fred reporting on Voldemort's movements on Potterwatch

When the war reached its worst point in late 1997 and 1998, Fred participated under the codename "Rapier" in Potterwatch, a radio program hosted by his friend Lee that opposed Voldemort's reign of terror. They spread the truth about the Death Eater regime that was not being reported by the Daily Prophet or other news outlets, and encouraged the public to support Harry and to protect Muggles who were falling victim to the Death Eaters.

Battle of Hogwarts
Fred, along with his family and friends, returned to Hogwarts in the spring to participate in the final battle. He and George were assigned to defend the castle's secret passages by Kingsley Shacklebolt. When the Death Eaters forced their way inside, Fred fought next to his brother Percy, who had recently been reconciled with the family and combatted his former boss, Imperiused Minister for Magic Pius Thicknesse. Fred was killed in an explosion probably created by Augustus Rookwood. His death was avenged when Rookwood was captured and confined by Aberforth Dumbledore, and was presumably sent to Azkaban.

His twin brother George later had a son who he named in honour of his lost brother: Fred Weasley II.

Physical description


Fred, similar to all the Weasley children, bore a head of flaming-red hair and abundant freckles. He had a shorter and stockier build, like his brothers George and Charlie, rather than a tall, thin build like his brothers Bill, Percy and Ron. However, Fred was taller than Harry Potter, and thus was still above average height.

Personality and Traits
Fred Weasley was the more outspoken, daring, and sarcastic of the twins. During the rescue from the Dursleys in 1992, George picked the lock on Harry's bedroom door with a hairpin, while Fred insisted Muggle tricks were important to know, even if it was "a bit slow". Fred also "dropped" a Ton-Tongue Toffee for Dudley Dursley to find and eat. Fred also concocted the scheme of trying to fool Albus Dumbledore's Age Line to get into the Triwizard Tournament, though it was unsuccessful, and was in favour of blackmailing Ludo Bagman after he defaulted on a bet, while George had reservations. Fred tended to be somewhat funnier than George, and to take the ringleader role in their pranks, but was also crueler in his humour or in dealing with those he disliked. Fred could be quite callous in dealing with the victims of his pranks, particularly his older brother Percy, but was more compassionate when he did not feel that the victim deserved it; for instance, he immediately provided Hermione Granger with Bruise Removal Paste after she was accidentally given a black eye by the twins' Punching Telescope. Fred was also the first to forgive Percy when he reconciled with the family.

Both he and George were renowned for their senses of humour; they were able to make people laugh and relax even in very trying times. Neither Fred nor George took school very seriously, but they were both talented wizards, and demonstrated their ingenuity in their inventions and their business sense in running a highly lucrative shop. They were also staunchly loyal to their loved ones and very brave, having been sorted into Gryffindor and unafraid to stand up against what they thought was wrong, whether it was Dolores Umbridge's tyranny at Hogwarts or Death Eaters.

Magical Abilities and Skills
Although not a high achiever academically, Fred was a very clever, talented, and creative wizard. Skilled Flyer: Fred was a highly talented Beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team since at least his third year. Oliver Wood described Fred and George as "unbeatable" and Harry Potter thought that they flew like two "human Bludgers". Thus, Fred was an excellent flyer and also had highly precise aim.

Charms Expert: One of the few O.W.L.s Fred bothered to achieve was in Charms, a subject he and George were extremely talented in. Their skilled spellwork was necessary for many of their magical inventions for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Charms professor Filius Flitwick was so impressed by their Portable Swamp that he left a portion of it intact within Hogwarts.

Spell Invention: Fred was capable of inventing spells, Potions, and other magical products, a highly advanced and rare skill. Along with George, Fred invented a wide variety of items for their shop. Some notable items include Extendable Ears, which can be used to spy on others, a series of sickness-inducing sweets, and Patented Daydream Charms, which Hermione Granger called "extraordinary magic".

Nonverbal Magic: Fred was skilled at nonverbal spells, indicating a high degree of talent and discipline with magic. He once transfigured a knife Ron threw at him into a paper airplace "with one lazy flick of his wand".

George Weasley
"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things, we thought they just liked the noise."

- Ginny Weasley on the twins' experiments

George Weasley was Fred’s twin, best friend, and partner in crime. The two were very close and did just about everything together. They often finished each other’s sentences and spoke in a back and forth way that could confuse others at times. Together, Fred and George designed many ingenious pranks and shared the ambition to found a joke shop together. They were also both Beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and close friends with Lee Jordan.

George was devastated by the death of his twin in the Battle of Hogwarts, and would never truly get over this loss. He eventually named his son after Fred.

Other Siblings
Like his younger siblings, Fred tended to look up to his older brothers Bill and Charlie. However, he and George delighted in teasing Percy, who was closer to their age and very different from them in personality. Their mother was always encouraging the twins to be more like Percy, who was responsible and academically motivated, but Fred and George thought him to be stuffy and arrogant. Thus, they frequently mocked any behaviour they saw as arrogant on his part, such as his pride in his Prefect position. The twins were the angriest with Percy when he became estranged with the rest of the family over their support of Albus Dumbledore instead of the Ministry, but also seemed the most inclined to ask about him during his estrangement, as Fred asked their mother if Percy was coming home for the Christmas holidays in 1996. Fred was the first to accept Percy's apology during the Battle of Hogwarts, and he and George subsequently acted as if the split had never happened. During the battle, Fred and Percy fought side by side, and Percy was devastated over his brother’s death, fiercely protecting his body and furiously pursuing Augustus Rookwood.

The twins also enjoyed teasing their only younger brother, Ron. Notably, Fred transfigured his teddy bear into a spider after Ron broke his toy broomstick, once nearly manipulated him into taking an Unbreakable Vow with him and George , and teased him over his embarrassing crush on Fleur Delacour. Fred and George sometimes pestered Ron to the point of infuriating him, such as when they mocked him for becoming a Prefect, a position Ron never tried to use against them. However, they also helped Ron out, such as by giving him a copy of Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches and aiding him in transfiguring the Weasley family ghoul to resemble Ron with spattergroit as his cover while he was hunting Horcruxes with Harry and Hermione. Fred was quite close to his sister Ginny, who was similar to the twins in temperament, and sometimes joined them in teasing others, especially Ron. They were protective of her, as well, and disapproved of her love life.

Harry Potter


Fred first met Harry Potter in his third year at Hogwarts, when Harry was beginning his first year and became friends with Ron. The twins became friendly with him when he joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team as their Seeker, giving them hope to win the House Cup. The following year, Fred and George cheered Harry up when many of the students believed that he might be the Heir of Slytherin, which they scoffed at, and the year after that, they gave him the Marauder's Map to help him sneak into Hogsmeade. They also stood up for Harry when others doubted his claim that Lord Voldemort had returned or challenged his authority in Dumbledore's Army, and assisted him in contacting Sirius Black when he told them and Ginny of his desire to speak to his godfather. Both twins risked their lives in the operation to remove Harry from his relatives’ home in 1997. They seemed to regard Harry almost as another younger sibling, and were inclined to both be protective of him and teasing of him. Harry eventually became Fred's brother-in-law through his marriage to Ginny.

Hermione Granger


Fred became friendly with Hermione Granger after she became a second best friend to his younger brother Ron. Although Hermione disapproved of some of the twins’ antics, since she was a Prefect, she generally got on fairly well with them. They were outraged when Draco Malfoy called her a “Mudblood” in 1992, to the point of attempting to physically attack him. Fred and George also tried to get Hermione to relax, joking around with her about things such as their late uncle Bilius’s penchant for making mischief at weddings. Hermione also admired the twins’ cleverness and creativity in their spell work, once remarking that they could do some "extraordinary magic", though she did not agree with how they put it to use. Hermione was also one of the few people willing to stand up to Fred and George when she disagreed with them. For example, when she caught them testing sweets from the Skiving Snackbox on first-year students with Lee Jordan, she was furious, and told them off for what she considered taking advantage of innocent children. Fred and George initially scoffed at her concerns and at her ability to make them stop, but backed down when she threatened to tell their mother. However, the twins did not seem to hold a grudge, as they continued to be friendly; Fred even later gave Hermione material from the joke shop free of charge. Hermione would eventually become Fred's sister-in-law through her marriage to Ron.

Angelina Johnson


Angelina Johnson was a Gryffindor in Fred's year at Hogwarts, and was on the house Quidditch team with him and George. They were good friends who eventually developed a romantic relationship after attending the 1994 Yule Ball together; Fred asked her with complete confidence and rather casually, and she accepted nonchalantly, but with "a bit of a grin on her face". The two were subsequently seen holding hands and linking arms frequently. The following year, Angelina became Captain of the Quidditch team and was annoyed with Fred and George when they were kicked off the team by Dolores Umbridge, as it hurt the team's chances. It appears that Fred and Angelina ended their romance sometime after Fred left Hogwarts, since Angelina did not attend Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding as Fred's date, and he flirted with cousins of the bride while there. However, the two seemed to still be on friendly terms, as they fought alongside one another during the Battle of Hogwarts. Angelina would go on to marry George, and they named their son after Fred.

Etymology
The name Fred is generally considered a short form of the name Frederick. It is the English form of a Germanic name meaning "peaceful ruler", derived from frid, "peace", and ric, "ruler, power". It has been a very common name for rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, Germany, Austria, and Scandinavia, such as Frederick the Great of Prussia. Fred is also sometimes used as a diminutive of Alfred, derived from the Old English Ælfræd, meaning "elf counsel", or Alfrid, meaning "old peace". Alfred the Great was a ninth-century king of Wessex who battled the Danes and translated many Latin books into Old English. In Norweigan, Danish, and Swedish, Fred means "peace".

There has been some suggestion that Fred and George are named after their maternal uncles, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, who were killed in the First Wizarding War, who may have been twins, and who share Fred and George's first initials.

Author's Comments
J.K. Rowling has commented that she always knew Fred was going to be killed in the series, though she guessed that readers would have expected George to die first, since he was the "gentler" of the two: ''“Fred is normally the funnier but also the crueler of the two. So they might have thought that George would be the more vulnerable one and, therefore, the one to die... Either one of them would have been terrible to kill. It was awful killing Fred. I hated that.” She also described Fred and George as "the risk-takers in the family...who just take a totally different life path and were prepared to risk everything"''.

Rowling has also stated that Fred and George are among her favourite characters.

Behind the scenes

 * Fred is played by James Phelps in the film adaptations of the series.
 * Fred and George each earned fewer O.W.L.s than the rest of their brothers.
 * In the Goblet of Fire film, the old Fred Weasley was portrayed by actor Christian Simpson.
 * When Harry Potter and his friends lost 150 House points in 1991, he lost favour with the Gryffindor Quidditch team. While understandable, it seems odd that Fred and George turned on him.
 * In the novels, the twins are described as being "shorter and stockier" and Percy and Ron as "long and lanky", but in the films, Fred and George are taller and leaner than Percy and Ron.
 * In her drawing of the Weasley family tree, J.K. Rowling put the year of Fred's death down as 1997. In canon, he actually died in May of 1998.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
 * 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 Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup

Notes and references
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