to think the Weasleys arent poor, they are just shit with money?

[Bogeyface]

Inspired by the HW thread, I have been thinking about this for a while.

Arthur works for the MoM so wont be on a pittance as a head of department, even a minor one as there would surely be grades?

They eat massive amounts of expensive food having three courses at every dinner, cooked breakfast every day. When they win a load of money, instead of saving it in the knowledge that they have 4 kids still at school they blow the lot on a holiday of a month in Egypt! At the beginning of CoS Mrs W takes some silver sickles and ONE gold galleon from their vault, and then happily blows 1000 galleons on a holiday rather than see them financially secure for the next few years.

Seems to me that the reason their kids are in second hand robes and reading second hand books is because they are shit with money, not that they dont have enough.

Books.....They have to have a new Miranda Goshawk book each year, so when F&G have finished with them they could have passed one to Ron who passed it to Ginny and the older ones shared the remainder if they needed it, which is unlikely. Why have several unused copies of the same book in the family and still buy another one for the youngest student? Same with robes. Rons dress robes are second hand, but Mrs W says that Arthur has some for parties so why not lend him those (with some magically performed alternations if needed) rather than pod out for horrible second hand ones? Actually, thinking further, Mrs W is supposed to be a whizz at household stuff so why doesnt she transfigure the second hand stuff to look better?

They just throw good money after bad!

[LRDPomogiMnyeSRabotoi]

Gamp's third law - you can't make something out of nothing.

But you can transfigure it once you've got it, or make more of it. So no excuse.

I think Ron is wearing the lace stuff because we know Molly secretly wanted a girl, so really doesn't give a shit. She also cooks massive portions because she's been at the sherry (I love how alcoholics go for sherry in Rowling's world, like no real world alcholic ever), and can't remember how many sausages she's already put in the pan.

[LRDPomogiMnyeSRabotoi]

Oh, bugger. Should have known you'd steal my thunder, ABF. And get it right when I fucked it up.

[OverTheFieldsAndFarAway]

Rons a wallpaper child. Poor bugger, I've been there. I feel his pain.:(

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

[UnicornsNotRiddenByGrownUps]

AndHarry maybe it was a sauce she has made already in a kitchen.

LRD Molly has a girl!!! She has Ginny!!! The girl Harry marries eventually

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

Molly is a feeder.

[LRDPomogiMnyeSRabotoi]

I know.

The books repeatedly make the point (rather nastily) that she kept on grimly trying for a girl and Ron was the last boy, so very definitely feels he's a disappointment.

[Colyngbourne]

Agree. Bad with money, and with all the kids at school, what does Mrs Weasley do all year? It doesn't take all year to knit seven jumpers.

A good place to go for decent Harry Potter essays on this kind of thing (and the How Many Students at Hogwarts etc) is Red Hen's essay collection (there is one on How Large is the Wizarding World, for a start, but I would recommend all of them): www.redhen-publications.com/canon.html

[IThinkOfHappyWhenIThinkOfYou]

YANBU. Ditto the Barlow's in coronation street.

[LRDPomogiMnyeSRabotoi]

It's the hint about Molly and Arthur's sex life that bothers me the most, to be honest.

I've never dared google 'mollywobbles' to see what comes up, but I'm sure it ain't pretty. Knowing how everything deviant in HP world seems to stay current gossip pretty much forever (cf. Aberforth and the goats), I wonder if Molly and Arthur slipped up at the dogging site and have been paying off Rita Skeeter ever since?

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

Poor Ron.

Always feels like he has to compete. Elder brothers being Head boys/ Quidditch captain and super popular genius troublemaking prankster entrepreneurs. Not to mention his best friend is the boy who refused to die!

No wonder he was a bit grumpy and unreasonable at times.

I can see what Lavender saw in him. I'd do Ron (ron, ron a do ron ron)

[CorrinaKedavra]

LRD

[KirjavaTheCat]

I'd do Ron (ron, ron a do ron ron)

[marriedinwhiteisback]

We know some families rather like the Weasleys. Middle class poor senior civil servants with too many children and uc backgrounds with lots of siblings so the unearned money ran out with their generation.also know some v rich people who pretend to lve like it because it's how they were brought up.

The Weasley's wealth was love. On the HP quiz of who you are most like (93) questions I am Molly Weasley @roud emoticon) Mundingus Fletcher is my alter ego.

Moving from the Burrow next month to somewhere cheaper but cooler :)

[Beastofburden]

Molly is a lazy cow. All her kids are at boarding school, why doesn't she bet a job?

[nomorecrumbs]

LRD!!! You're perverted!!

I always imagined Molly getting involved in the wizarding equivalent of the WI or local Neighbourhood Watch or whatever while her kids were at school.

[Sophita]

In regard to the holiday to Egypt, I suppose there are worse things you could do with your freshly traumatised youngest daughter than take her on a nice distracting trip to be with her family (is there a suggestion somewhere that Bill is one of Ginny's closer brothers?) - given that no one in the Potterverse ever gets the therapy they are all so desperately in need of, it's not a terrible substitute!

[CorrinaKedavra]

Right I have asked DH what she does all day and he says, "they have an enormous house and somebody has to be there to cast the spells"

I expect the house is their pension and they are expecting to downsize considerably when Ginny has left.

[LumpySpace]

I always pictured Neville's Nan as a member of the witches institute, definately a high ranking member.

[hermioneweasley]

Loving this thread. Don't really want to think of my PILs dogging though.

[nomorecrumbs]

marriedinwhiteisback I need to try that 92 questions quiz you mentioned! I googled and couldn't find it :(

[Bogeyface]

If Nevilles Nan was ever in the films she should have been played by Stephanie Cole.

[LumpySpace]

Yes! I can just picture with the red handbag!

[bsc]

What married said- my family was the Weasleys!