For Harry Potter fans, choosing a favorite Weasley could be as difficult as choosing a favorite child… especially if you throw in Weasleys from prequels or sequels, like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, or those who’ve married into the clan, like Fleur Delacour or Hermione Granger. Even sticking to the Weasleys we’ve met in the original Harry Potter works presents a difficult challenge.
It’s much easier to rank them in terms of who they are as people, including contributions they’ve made to the wizarding world, their general importance and how they’ve treated everyone from family to friends. In those terms, it’s much easier to pinpoint who the best Weasleys are, in order.
Muriel Weasley
Luckily we don’t have to spend too much time with Ron’s great-aunt Muriel Weasley, a terrible gossip and judgmental old lady whom we briefly meet at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, where she enjoyed drinking a lot and sneering at all of the guests.
Muriel did allow the Order of the Phoenix to utilize her home as a safe house during the Second Wizarding War, which makes her braver than many a witch or wizard, and she introduced us to the idea that Dumbledore certainly wasn’t the perfect wizard many made him out to be, but she is ultimately too snobby and abrasive to really make it any further than the bottom of the Weasley list.
Percy Weasley
It’s easy to cast Percy Weasley off of the family tree after all of the pain and suffering he put his parents through, disowning them and following the Ministry instead of believing Harry and Percy’s own little brother Ron about everything from Voldemort’s return to the Ministry’s corruption.
Percy’s ambition should have landed him in Slytherin rather than Gryffindor, but he ultimately does redeem himself during the Battle of Hogwarts, where he returns to assist his family in defending the school and fighting against Voldemort’s forces. Since then, Percy has had two kids, named one after his mother, become Head of the Department of Magical Transportation and hopefully remained close with his family.
Charlie Weasley
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Charlie Weasley; we simply don’t know enough about him since he’s only been around to provide dragons for the Triwizard Tournament and to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts. Charlie seems like a cool guy, between his work with dragons in Romania to his legacy as Quidditch Captain at Hogwarts, but that’s all the info we have.
Some fans think that Charlie could represent an LGBTQ+ character, given the fact that he didn’t marry or have children but remained in the lives of his nieces and nephews. He may be an asexual wizard, or simply one who is too busy for romance. It’s easy to imagine Sam Neil’s Dr. Grant of Jurassic Park as Charlie Weasley, grown up.
Fred Weasley
Before all of the Fred lovers lament over his inclusion at number seven, remember the requirements: we aren’t going by the funniest, most charming or most handsome Weasleys, but the ones who are most helpful, caring wizards who matter most in terms of the story. Poor Fred was all of the above, and we miss him terribly, but we also must admit something that J.K. Rowling herself pointed out: he was possibly the meanest Weasley.
Fred wasn’t an actual bully, although if we’d witnessed him cajoling kids at Hogwarts to “test” his Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, we might find something that makes us uncomfortable. Still, he was often primed with a catty remark or gesture, much like Harry’s own father James during his days at Hogwarts.
George Weasley
George scores higher among the Weasley clan due to his kinder nature, but he was often as mischievous as his twin brother. The shyer of the twins, George still carried out as many mean pranks with his brother, from burning a hole in Ron’s tongue with an acid pop to turning his teddy bear into a giant spider.
Many of George’s remarks, however, were more of the silly kind, such as joking that due to their sweater initials, their names were “Gred and Forge.” Along with Fred, George was instrumental in helping to break Harry free from the Dursleys, carry out missions for the Order and, most importantly, annoy one Dolores Umbridge beyond reason.
Bill Weasley
Bill Weasley might seem less important than the twins, given that they were more involved in Harry’s life, but Bill was more involved with the Order. Like his brothers, he sacrificed a lot in the process, becoming scarred for life courtesy of Fenrir Greyback. Bill sheltered Harry, Ron and Hermione during his early married days with Fleur.
Bill is one of the most responsible members of the Weasley clan, and it’s likely that he’ll grow up to be quite like his parents, if not a bit hipper, since he also happens to be one of the coolest Weasleys, between his long hair that his mother constantly chides him about and the fang earring he wears.
Ginny Weasley
Ginny Weasley often gets the short end of the stick, with fans lamenting that she’s nothing but a “Mary Sue.” Not only was this the witch who could outperform Harry on the Quidditch field, but she also matched him wit for wit, refusing to tolerate his whiny teen behavior when his friends tiptoed around him, reminding him that she was the only one who’d been possessed by Voldemort before.
Ginny is brave, fierce, and funny, and while she’s made her share of mistakes, she also defended Hogwarts while Harry and the trio were away, all while being youngest member of the family. Ginny’s experience is one we would still love to read about.
Arthur Weasley
Arthur Weasley may seem like a silly, bumbling dad who stepped right out of a TV sitcom. On the other hand, he’s also ferociously protective member of his family and Harry, even coming to blows with Lucius Malfoy in the books. Arthur is also hurt on duty for the Order and nearly succumbs to his injuries.
Arthur sacrifices much for the Order, but also Harry, often putting his family at risk in order to protect the boy. He acts as a surrogate father to the Boy Who Lived and frequently escorts him, cares for him and provides him with the home he never had and always wanted–outside of Hogwarts, that is.
Molly Weasley
Even when she lost her brothers and her son, even when a boggart showed her the worst of her fears come to life, and even when Death Eaters showed up at her home, Molly Weasley never stopped fighting to protect the people she loved. She acted like a surrogate mother to Harry so fiercely that she even moved him to tears.
Molly is the official mother to everyone in the Order, ensuring that all are healthy as they can be, eating, sleeping and living as normally as possible even when in hiding. While Molly did try to thwart the trio’s plans to leave the Burrow to find Horcruxes, it was completely out of love, and she was the witch who took down Bellatrix Lestrange.
Ron Weasley
Like his sister, Ron Weasley gets a bad rap for not being enough: in his case, it’s not being serious enough, particularly when it comes to being a match for Hermione. But anyone who has read the books knows the extent of what Ron has done, from fighting for his friends even with a broken leg, facing his fears time and time again to help save the people he cares about and even outsmarting McGonagall’s wizard’s chess set.
Ron loves Hermione with everything he has, and the scene where he cries and screams while she is being tortured is one of the best and worst Rowling has ever written for that reason. He’s a loyal friend who would do anything for Harry and has helped defeat evil just as often as Hermione has.
