Ginny Weasley from Harry Potter is one of the side characters who doesn’t always get as much fan admiration as she deserves. That’s inevitable, really. Given that the series is about Harry, with the main focus on the trio, it’s understandable that some of the other side characters don’t get as much attention.
However, Ginny Weasley is actually a multi-faceted character who had a lot of fantastic moments in the movies and books, who often gets underrated because of her status as Harry’s love interest and eventual wife. While characters like Neville and Luna are talked about often, Ginny is often ignored. Here are the ten most underrated Ginny Weasley moments, then, to remind fans that she was a real firecracker.
GROWING INTO HER SELF-CONFIDENCE
When Ginny is younger, she is rather timid and shy. This is especially true when she’s around Harry, as she has a huge crush on him. In her first year, she’s lonely and insecure enough that she accidentally purs too much of her soul into Tom Riddle’s diary.
However, as she grows older, Ginny becomes fiercer, confident in who she is. She learns to love herself and the difference this makes is huge. She’s definitely a character who can hold her own.
GOING WITH THE TRIO TO HELP RESCUE SIRIUS
While many props are given to Ron and Hermione in the series for all they do to help Harry (and understandably so), some of Harry’s other friends are just as loyal. Luna, Neville, and Ginny are the three other people in Harry’s life who clearly have his back no matter what.
They insist on going with Harry, Ron, and Hermione to help them save Sirius when Harry believes he’s been captured by Voldemort. Ginny is clearly willing to put her own life at risk to do what she thinks is the right thing.
HOW GOOD SHE WAS IN DUMBLEDORE’S ARMY
It’s made clear as the series goes on that Ginny is quite a capable witch. We don’t see a lot of this since she isn’t in the same year as Harry, but there are glimpses. This fact is made clear when Ginny joins Dumbledore’s Army. The books note that she is good at defensive magic and has fast reflexes.
We also see, in the movies and books alike, that she’s extremely good at the Reductor Curse. Overall, it’s clear that Ginny has skills with magic even if she doesn’t have the chance to show them off as often.
CALLING RON OUT WHEN HE WAS WEIRD ABOUT HER DATING
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is definitely the installment in the Harry Potter series that deals the most with teenage romance. It’s clear that Ginny is someone who a lot of people want to date, and this fact doesn’t make Ron very happy.
When he gets too overprotective about this, Ginny calls him out on it. She basically tells him that it’s not any of his business and that he’s just being weird about it because he’s inexperienced. In the movie, she dismisses Fred and George’s insinuations about her love life while she’s browsing love potions in their joke shop.
CRASHING HER BROOMSTICK IN THE BOX AFTER ZACHARIAS SMITH WAS RUDE ABOUT THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Ginny is playing as Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. After their first match with Slytherin, Ginny gets mad and crashes her broom into the commentator’s box because Zacharias Smith (the commentator) had been making rude remarks about Gryffindor throughout the match.
While this might be a little bit reckless, it definitely shows that Ginny has grown into a character who doesn’t take anyone’s nonsense. She also clearly has a lot of Gryffindor traits. This would’ve been a hilarious little scene in the movie!
GOING TO THE YULE BALL WITH NEVILLE
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Ginny is only in her third year. This means she’s not old enough to go to the Yule Ball unless she’s asked by one of the older students. When Neville asks her to go with him, she says yes.
While Neville might have been considered the furthest thing from cool at the time, Ginny always seemed to be nice to him and was willing to go to the dance with him. While she might have gotten teased a little for it, it was a nice thing for her to do. As they’re both vital allies of Harry’s, this was great to see.
HER PROFICIENCY WITH THE BAT-BOGEY HEX
Given the fact that Ginny was the youngest child in a family of seven (including a lot of brothers with strong personalities), Ginny definitely had to learn to stick up for herself.
Fred and George first mention how good she is at this spell and how even though she’s small, she has a lot of power. Then, when Horace Slughorn witnesses her casting this spell on someone who’d crossed her, he is so impressed by her skill that he even invites her to the ‘Slug Club.’ The movies also demonstrate Ginny’s prodigious magical ability, but we’d like to have seen the Bat-Bogey Hex on screen!
HER QUIDDITCH SKILLS WHILE AT HOGWARTS
While Harry might be the one who gets the most attention for being a good Quidditch player, but he’s not the only one with skills. Readers will know that, when Harry is suspended from the team in Order of the Phoenix, Ginny takes his place as Seeker.
While she’s perhaps not as good in the role as him, when she becomes a Chaser in the next year, she’s a great Quidditch player. It’s clear that she has the ability, just like her older brother Bill did.
PLAYING FOR THE HOLYHEAD HARPIES
Ginny’s talent at Quidditch didn’t just end at school, however, While Harry went on to focus on being an Auror, Ginny’s career path was a lot more fun.
She actually went onto play for the Holyhead Harpies, a team composed only of women who play in the British/Irish league. It’s pretty awesome to imagine her doing this as a job, and she was clearly super skilled to be able to land a place on a professional team.
STARTING DUMBLEDORE’S ARMY AGAIN WHILE THE SCHOOL WAS UNDER VOLDEMORT’S RULE
Not many details are known about what life at Hogwarts is like while Harry is away destroying Horcruxes, but we do learn that Neville, Luna, and Ginny reinstate Dumbledore’s Army.
This would be even more daring and scarier than the first time the organization was created. These three were definitely at real risk of being killed for what they were doing to undermine Voldemort. The movies make very clear how harshly Neville was being punished for his defiant ways.
