Ronald Weasley

 

Basic Information    
Birthday March 1st 1980
Marital Status Married
Birthplace Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon, England, Great Britain
Wand 12", Ash, unicorn tail hair
Boggart Aragog
Corporeal Patronus Jack Russell terrier

Overview

Ronald Billius Weasley is the sixth-born child of Arthur and Molly Weasley. A member of the English Pure-blood Weasley family, Ron grew up in Ottery St Catchpole with his siblings and pet rat, Scabbers. Ron attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he played Quidditch for Gryffindor, became a Prefect, helped establish Dumbledore’s Army, and was instrumental in the defeat of Lord Voldemort in 1998.

Born at the height of the First Wizarding War, Ronald Billius Weasley was the sixth-born son of Arthur and Molly Weasley. Ron grew up with older brothers Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, and George, as well as younger sister Ginny in Ottery St. Catchpole, in a home referred to as The Burrow. When Ron was young, he lost two uncles in the war before the fall of Lord Voldemort led to its end. As a child, Ron did not grow up with the same level of wealth that most pureblood families do, nor did his family subscribe to the same anti-muggle views as other families such as the Malfoys or the Blacks.
As children tend to do, the Weasley siblings often played tricks on each other, and Ron grew up as a favorite target of his older brothers, Fred and George. As a child, they transfigured Ron’s teddy bear into a giant spider, leading to a lifelong fear of spiders. Other tricks played on Ron by the twins included an acid pop that burned a hole through his tongue, as well as trying to trick him into making an Unbreakable Vow.
Because the family financially struggled, Ron grew up with many hand-me-downs, including a wand that once belonged to Charlie and a rat that had previously belonged to Percy.

Appearance

Like most in his family, Ron was known for his red hair and fair complexion. He was rather tall for his age, thin, and had blue eyes. Following an injury sustained in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in 1996, Ron developed scars around his forearms.

Personality

Loyal, brave, and true, Ron Weasley is a Gryffindor through and through. When Ron first began his education at Hogwarts, Ron felt he had big shoes to fill due to the legacies of his older brothers. Initially he fills the role of the comedic best friend to Harry, but it doesn’t take long before we see him prove his loyalty to his fellow Gryffindor. Ron sacrifices himself without a second thought during the chess match on their way to the Sorcerer’s Stone, and warns in the shrieking shack that if Sirius Black wants to get to Harry, he’d have to go through him first. In his later years, Ron matured into a leader in his own right as a founding member of Dumbledore’s Army, and in the horcrux hunt. While Ron was known for many positive attributes, he’s equally known for his insecurity, stubbornness, and jealousy. His jealousy was known to rear its head when it came to Hermione Granger, but also toward his best friend, when Harry Potter’s name was pulled from the Goblet of Fire.

Family                                       
Arthur Weasley Father
Molly Weasley (née Prewett) Mother
William Weasley Brother
Charles Weasley Brother
Percy Weasley Brother
Fred Weasley Brother
George Weasley Brother
Ginevra Potter (née Weasley) Sister
Hermione Granger Wife
Rose Granger-Weasley Daughter
Hugo Granger-Weasley Son

History

Early Years at Hogwarts

Ron began his first year at Hogwarts like most children, by taking the train from Kings’ Cross Station in London, and it’s this journey that set the rest of his life into motion. When the Weasley boys board the Hogwarts Express, Ron finds a difficult time finding an open seat. He eventually comes across a young boy he’d met briefly on the platform, and asks to sit with him. This boy, Harry Potter, would quickly become Ron’s closest friend. That evening, the boys would be sorted into Gryffindor house together, and become roommates for the rest of their time in school. A few weeks into school, Ron insults classmate Hermione Granger after she embarasses him in Charms class. Hermione, who spent the evening crying in the bathroom over it, is unaware when a troll is let into the castle. Ron and Harry find Hermione and save her from the troll, Ron knocking it out with its own wooden club. After the events of Halloween, the three become a tight-knit friend group. During this year, the new trio discover a cerberus being kept in a locked room on the school’s third floor. After investigating further, they learn of an object called The Philosopher’s Stone. They later come to find that someone is trying to steal the Stone to use its magical abilities to bring back a fallen Lord Voldemort. The three young friends set off to stop the Dark Wizard from achieving his goals. During this, Ron’s chess skills solve one of the challenging puzzles they face along the way. He’s injured during the match, but recovers in the hospital wing. At the End of Term feast, Ron’s chess proficiency earns his fifty bonus points for Gryffindor, and helps his house win the House Cup for the first time in years.
The summer leading into Ron’s second year sees him rescuing Harry from his aunt and uncle’s house with the help of older brothers Fred and George. After spending the rest of the holidays together at the Burrow, the boys travel to Hogwarts in a flying car after they miss the train to school. The car, which was spotted by muggles, crashed into the Whomping Willow, leading to Ron’s wand snapping nearly in half, and detention in the Trophy Room. As the year ticks on, the Quidditch season begins once more, and Ron is again ready to support his best friend on the pitch. Following an altercation with Draco Malfoy, who has joined his own house team, Ron attempts to curse the Slytherin, but his broken wand causes the spell to backfire on himself, causing him to vomit up slugs. These slugs make his final detention that much more difficult, having to re-polish the same awards again and again. Later on in the year, Ron and his friends come across a mysterious and menacing message on the walls: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR…BEWARE. And the trio immediately suspects Draco Malfoy as having left the message on the wall, and caused harm to the slowly growing number of victims being found petrified throughout the school. They brew a Polyjuice Potion and he and Harry sneak into the Slytherin Common Room to get answers. They learn that Draco is not behind the attacks, but the Slytherin’s comments about Hermione anger him once again. As the attacks continue, Hermione falls victim to the mysterious affliction, inspiring Harry and Ron to seek out the help of Hagrid, the Groundskeeper, who they have been told through a mysterious diary, opened the Chamber of Secrets once before. As they are not the only ones who suspect the half-giant may know something, they find the Minister for Magic, Professor Dumbledore, and Draco’s father at Hagrid’s hut, and the Keeper of Keys is arrested. Following his instructions before being taken away, Ron and Harry investigate further into the forest and learn of Hagrid’s innocence before being attacked by a swarm of Acromantulas. Shortly after, the boys find a page from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them on Hermione in the Hospital Wing and decipher that the monster in the chamber is a Basilisk. Armed with this information, and pushed by Ron’s sister’s disappearance, they seek help from their Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor, who turns out to be a phony, but helps them anyway at wand point. Together, the three wizards open the entrance behind a bathroom sink, and journey for the chamber, but after his wand is stolen by Lockheart, Ron and the disgraced professor are left behind while Harry continues on to the chamber. Clearing the rocks while Harry deals with the Basilisk and the Heir of Slytherin, Ron helps his friend rescue Ginny and they all escape.
In the summer of 1993, Ron’s family won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw, an annual raffle of seven-hundred galleons, run by the popular newspaper. With this money, the Weasley family traveled to Egypt to visit eldest son, Bill. Later that same summer, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban prison, putting the English Wizarding World in a state of alert. As Ron and friends returned to Hogwarts for their third year, they learned that the school would have dementors posted at all entrances to the school grounds. As third years, new classes were made available to them, and Ron added Care of Magical Creatures and Divination as electives. A second benefit to being in third year meant that weekend visits to Hogsmeade, the village just outside of the school, was available to him. While Harry had not been permitted to visit the village, Ron and Hermione would go and buy sweet treats, drink butterbeer, and take in the sights. Just before Christmas, Ron’s rat, Scabbers, disappeared. Blaming Hermione’s cat for killing him, the two had a temporary falling out.
As the year ticked on, the threat of Sirius Black became more real when Ron awoke in the middle of the night to the sight of the escapee towering over him with a knife. Towards the end of the year, Ron learned the truth about not only Sirius, but his beloved pet, who was revealed to be very much alive. The crimes that Sirius had been convicted of were actually done by Scabbers, who was secretly a man named Peter Pettigrew in animagus form, who was a servant of Lord Voldemort during the Wizarding War. Pettigrew escaped, and Sirius went on the run, unable to clear his name.

Later Years at Hogwarts

Following a trip to the Quidditch World Cup with his family and friends, Ron returns to Hogwarts to learn that their fourth year will be like no other. Playing host to the Triwizard Tournament, students from Beauxbaton and Durmstrang spend the year at Hogwarts, learning alongside and befriending one another, all the while, champions from each school compete in the competition to see who is the strongest and most resilient witch or wizard. Due to an age restriction on the contest, only those of age are permitted to enter, but when Harry’s name mysteriously is pulled to compete, Ron becomes jealous of his friend once again being in the spotlight. Eventually they come back together, but Ron then falls out with Hermione shortly after when she attends the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, the Durmstrang champion. When Harry’s second task in the competition comes around, Ron is taken as Harry’s “prized possession” and kept in a magic sleep at the bottom of the lake for his best friend to find a rescue.
Ron’s fifth year at Hogwarts is one of change. After spending the last bit of his summer at 12 Grimmauld Place with the newly reformed Order of the Phoenix, Ron and friends return to Hogwarts where they learn that their new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor has been set in place by the Ministry. He also becomes a prefect for Gryffindor House this year, and later joins the Gryffindor Quidditch team as Keeper. As Professor Dolores Umbridge continues to rise in power at the school and implement more and more rules, limiting the knowledge that students are allowed to obtain, Ron joins his friends, Harry and Hermione, in founding a secret group to learn defensive magic, fueled by the growing threat of Lord Voldemort’s return to power. As the year comes to an end, Ron joins Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood on a daring rescue mission of Sirius Black, who they believe is being tortured by Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. The attempt turns out to be an ambush however when nearly a dozen of Lord Voldemort’s followers attack them. The battle that ensues leaves Ron injured, and Sirius dead.
Ron goes into sixth year having received far more O.W.L.s than he’d ever imagined, opening up many potential career opportunities to him. At school, he joins the Quidditch Team for a second year after defeating Cormac McClaggan during try-outs with the help of Hermione. The romance between Ron and Hermione really develops this year as both parties become jealous over romantic interests of the other. Ron becomes jealous when Cormac expresses an interest in Hermione, and Hermione becomes jealous when Ron starts dating Lavender Brown shortly after a Quidditch match. It doesn’t take long however for Ron to realize that he doesn’t truly have feelings for Lavender, and he begins looking for a way to end it. When Ron’s birthday rolls around, he finds a box of chocolates that he believes are meant for him, and eats them, unknowingly consuming a love potion that was meant for Harry. His best friend takes him to the newly appointed potions instructor, Professor Slughorn, who counteracts the effects of the Amortentia, and the three celebrate with a drink, but when Ron drinks his, he finds that it has been poisoned, and ends up in the Hospital Wing. Ron and Lavender break up shortly after.
Sixth year also sees Ron, along with many of his classmates, learning how to apparate. Ron, unfortunately, does not pass his test, as he left half of his eyebrow behind during the final exam, in a small case of splinching. As the year reaches its close, another great battle falls upon them, this time, at the school. When Death Eaters invade Hogwarts, with the help of Draco Malfoy, Ron joins the resistance alongside Hermione and Ginny, and takes Felix Felicis for a bit of extra luck. The battle sees the falling of Hogwarts’ Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and Ron learns that his older brother, Bill, has been attacked by a werewolf. Following the funeral of Professor Dumbledore, Ron swears his intention to join Harry in defeating Voldemort once and for all.

Post Hogwarts

In order to accomplish their goals in stopping Voldemort, Ron, Harry, and Hermione leave school before their seventh and final year can begin, and start a hunt for Horcruxes, a series of object that have been cursed with a part of Voldemort’s soul. But first, they need to safely move Harry out of his aunt and uncle’s home without the detection of the Death Eaters. Ron and Hermione join the Order of the Phoenix in a rescue mission that sees the death of Alastor Moody. Later, after the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour is attacked, the trio make their escape and begin the long journey of finding and destroying the Horcruxes. After finding one, a locket, on Dolores Umbridge’s neck, they steal it during an infiltration of the ministry, and struggle to find a way to destroy it. The locket, which contains a part of Voldemort within it, slowly starts to corrupt whoever is wearing it, and they take turns passing it around for a few weeks. But Ron starts to succumb to its darkness, and it leads him to leave the group after an argument. While Harry and Hermione continue their search, Ron finds himself being interrogated by snatchers before making his way to Bill and Fleur’s home. No longer under the influence of the locket’s dark magic, Ron longs to find his way back to his friends, and with the help of the Deluminator, a special tool left to him by Dumbledore, he is able to find his way to the Forest of Dean, where Harry and Hermione are now staying. Ron finds Harry and rescues him from drowning, and together they retrieve the Sword of Gryffindor from the bottom of an icy lake. Ron uses the sword to destroy the locket, and they are one step closer to their goal.
Hermione finds a strange symbol drawn inside her own gift left by Dumbledore, and the trio sets off to see the father of their friend Luna, who was wearing the same symbol the night of the wedding. Xenophelius Lovegood tells them the story of The Deathly Hallows, before selling them out to Death Eaters in a hopeful exchange for his daughter, who they have captive. They narrowly escape and continue their search with this new information at hand. They are later captured by snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor, where they find Luna and Mr. Ollivander. While Hermione is tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, the Death Eater who killed Sirius, Ron and Harry work with Dobby the House Elf to help them all escape, but Dobby is killed in the process. They hold a small funeral ceremony for him by the sea. Following the escape from Malfoy Manor, Ron, Harry, and Hermione are joined by a goblin named Griphook as they attempt to steal the next Horcrux, which is being held in Bellatrix’s vault at Gringotts. With the assistance of Polyjuice Potion, Hermione poses as Bellatrix, and they descend into the lower vaults. Griphook eventually betrays them when they reach the vault, and they lose the Sword of Gryffindor, but escape with the Horcrux in hand. Having lost their only method of destroying it, they make for Hogwarts.
At Hogwarts, a fierce and final battle is waged as Voldemort and his Death Eaters attack the castle. Ron joins Harry, Hermione, the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore’s Army, and others as the fight to destroy the remaining horcruxes continues. Ron and Hermione make their way to the Chamber of Secrets where they destroy Hufflepuff’s Cup with a basilisk fang, before sharing their first kiss. Later, in the Room of Requirement, they are ambushed by Draco Malfoy and his gang, before a Fiendfyre spell gone wrong forces them all to evacuate. Ron and friends save Draco and Gregory Goyle at Harry’s request, and rejoin the larger battle. Ron’s brother, Fred, is killed in combat, as well as his ex-girlfriend, Lavender Brown. After a brief pause in the battle, Ron brings down Fenrir Greyback with the help of Neville Longbottom, while his best friend defeats Voldemort one last time.
After the fall of Lord Voldemort, and the end of the Second Wizarding War, Ron Weasley begins a career as an Auror, foregoing his final year of schooling. Alongside the Ministry, he captures the surviving supporters of Voldemort who have gone into hiding after the war. After parting ways with the Auror’s Office, he takes on a new role, running Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes alongside brother, George. Ron eventually marries Hermione Granger, and they have two children together: Rose and Hugo.
For his heroic efforts and part in saving the Wizarding World, Ron is featured on a Chocolate Frog card, a trading card set that he’d started collecting as a young boy many years ago.

Credits/References

WoP US Library Book "Mini Biography: Ron Weasley"

Written by Declan Murphy
Base code by Andrew Sutherland, edited by Iselin Merilä and Desmond Gray.