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!

[marriedinwhiteisback]

She was - she was an elderly ldy in lace up high heels, fruit covered hat and ancient coat with a fur stole. Terrifying.

[Bogeyface]

Wasnt that a boggart though?

I was thinking of the scenes in the hospital with his mum and dad, in Diagon Alley and in the battle of Hogwarts.

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

She was only really ever spoken of in the books though wasn't she.

Shame she could have been an excellent character.

[CorrinaKedavra]

That was Alan Rickman in that outfit. Neville saying that his greatest fear was Professor Snape was marvellous then, "but I don't want it to turn into my grandmother either" was hilarious!

[mrsjay]

wouldnt they just magic food and stuff and why does ROn have such crap clothes he could just get the wand out

[Toadinthehole]

They have lots of children. Mr Weasley is a civil servant, therefore not extravagantly paid. Mrs Weasley doesn't work at all. They are obliged to send their children to a flash boarding school.

Therefore they aren't flash, although neither of them come across is particularly good at financial planning.

[HorryIsUpduffed]

Food is one of the three unmagickable things IIRC - you can use magic to prepare or move it but not create it out of nowhere.

[ReindeerBollocks]

To be fair to Molly, she had just got all of her children into boarding school when bloody Lord Voldemort comes back onto the scene and forces her to go work her arse off being an unpaid scivvy to the Order.

Poor cow probably wanted a wizarding job after raising seven children.

I agree with a PP above that it was probably Arthur wasting all the money on muggle crap instead of saving it, and by the time the Eygpt trip came around they technically only had two children to care for as all the others were doing their own thing by then surely?

[mrsjay]

but at hogwort does the feast not just appear sometimes ? maybe they all got a scholarships to hogworts

[dancingwithmyselfandthecat]

The richest people I know live like the weasleys. Enormous house (in Highgate) which is totally ramshackle. Eight children, all at private schools, in motheaten blazers. Cars are never new, but kooky vintage models. Money spent on exciting trips and musical instruments...

[RedPencils]

Haven't finished reading the other thread, but did they establish whether they have to pay for Hogwarts

In the book Ron fixes his robes before the Yule Ball.

[cory]

The thing that really annoys me is that Mrs Weasley lets Ron go on and moan about them being poor and never SHUTS HIM UP!!!

She even acts guilty and apologetic about them being short of cash, at last in the books.

Fair enough about Ron, he is a silly immature little boy, but his mother must have been around enough to know that there are genuinely poor people in this world and having to wear a hand-me down uniform while your father is in steady employment and there are 3 filling meals a day on thet able is not it.

J.K. Rowling has said in an interview that Ron was spoilt and that was why he coped so badly with being on the run in book 7, his mother hears him voice his whingey little thoughts throughout 7 books and NEVER DOES ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

If he was my son...

[ProudAS]

When food magically appears on the tables at Hogwarts it has been prepared by house elves in the room below and sent upstairs by some charm or other. It is not literally produced out of nowhere.

[mrsjay]

When food magically appears on the tables at Hogwarts it has been prepared by house elves in the room below and sent upstairs by some charm or other. It is not literally produced out of nowhere.

OH i see ,

I think weaslys are just eccentric and molly isn't down with the kids and thinks it is fine to send them centuries old robes, and yes Ron is an ungrateful brat

[Annunziata]

I don't think they got scholarships because Drago would have made fun of them if they did.

Can wizards use contraception?

[mrsjay]

maybe hogworts was a free school

no they wave their wands at their bits Annuziatia instant contraceptives

[cory]

Voldemort got a bursary, though possibly only to buy books and things- it's in the sixth book.

[mrsjay]

i havnt read any of the books just seen the films

[Annunziata]

I always wondered. I read them all with the DC, but I kept falling asleep in the cinema.

I think the big dinners are tactical to avoid snacks. My 6 could eat all of Asda as a snack.

[HorryIsUpduffed]

I don't think any of the Weasleys would have been bright enough for scholarships - not academic enough anyway.

There are definitely fees though - Harry worries about that in the first book and film but is then told about his Vault of Much Dosh at Gringotts.

Lily wasn't rich so the money must have been inherited Potter dosh. I don't think we know where that came from or why Harry had zero paternal family, do we? The money seems like a convenient plot device one of many, hmph.

[CorrinaKedavra]

The Potter cottage was pretty luxurious for a very young couple with a baby. When I saw it on the tour I got a bit teary

[homebakedflapjack]

What is a wallpaper child?

Harry's paternal grandparents were elderly - James was a child born late to them which explains why he was a bit spoiled and arrogant at school - and they died presumably before or just after Harry was born.

[CorrinaKedavra]

... and his Fred West wedding outfit.

[homebakedflapjack]

Poor ron!