Ronald Weasley

"*Don't let the Muggles get you down.*"
— Ron Weasley's support for Harry Potter.[src]

**Ronald Bilius**  **"Ron" Weasley** is a character in the *Harry Potter book series*. He is Harry Potter's best friend who was brought up in the wizarding world at The Burrow. He and Hermione Granger help Harry save the Philosopher's Stone and find the Chamber of Secrets. He is a co-founder of Dumbledore's Army who fights at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. He helps to defeat Voldemort and the Death Eaters by hunting down Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. He fights at the Battle of Hogwarts.

## Biography

### Early life

Ron was the sixth of seven children born to Arthur and Molly Weasley. He had five elder brothers, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, and one younger sister, Ginny. He was raised at The Burrow and educated by Molly until he began attending Hogwarts. They were not very wealthy and Ron was given nearly everything second-hand from the elder children.

When he was younger, he took Charlie's broom and nearly crashed and hit a hang-glider.

### Philosopher's Stone

Ron was introduced to Harry Potter at King's Cross when he asked the Weasley family for help finding Platform 9 and 3/4. Ron joined Harry in a compartment in the train, and they immediately became friends. He told Harry that the family had no money. Harry bought every single sweet and chocolate off the lunch trolley, and Ron taught Harry about the wizarding world. At one point, Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger asked if they had seen a pet toad. Hermione asked Ron to show her a spell, which Ron then found out was fake. Hermione was condescending and they found her annoying.

When Draco found their compartment, he told Harry to befriend the right sort of people but Harry declined Draco's offer of frienship in favour of Ron. Draco continued to be rude to Ron and eventually they had a fight until Scabbers bit Gregory Goyle and they run away. Ron thought he had fight a troll in the Sorting ceremony because Fred had lied, but the Sorting Hat sorted him in Gryffindor like Harry.

Ron was happy when he found out Harry was going to be the youngest Seeker in a century for the house team. Draco challenged Harry to a duel at midnight, and Ron signed up to be Harry's second. Hermione wanted to stop it, causing her and Neville to have to join them. They found Filch trying to catch them and they run away. They accidentally run onto the out-of-bounds third-floor corridor, being confronted by Fluffy.

Hermione pointed out Fluffy was guarding a trapdoor, which he and Harry thought could be an object Hagrid had collected and thief had tried to steal. Hermione upset Ron when she was telling him how to pronounce the Levitation Charm, causing her run away in tears. At the Hallowe'en feast, she didn't attend and a troll was let loose in the school. Harry and Ron went to save her, which he did by the Levitation Charm. Hermione told Professor McGonagall she went to find the troll and they saved her, and they became friends.

Ron watched the first Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Slytherin and when Harry's broom began bucking, they thought Professor Snape was cursing it. Hermione intervened and stopped Professor Quirrell in the process. When they found out through Hagrid that Fluffy was he's guarding a secret known only to Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel, they began searching for books about Flamel to find out what the object could be.

In December, Ron spent the holidays at Hogwarts. He taught Harry how to play Wizard Chess, which Ron was an expert in. One evening, Harry woke Ron up and took him to the Mirror of Erised under the Cloak of Invisibility. Ron saw himself being a Quidditch Captain winning the Quidditch Cup and shaking Dumbledore's hand. He deduced that the mirror showed them what they wanted. Ron thought Harry needed to let go and stop going back to the mirror to see the family he never knew.

In the new year, Neville was cursed by Draco with the Leg-Locker Curse. Ron told him that he needed to stand up and fight back properly when people make fun of him, but then Harry worked out who Nicolas Flamel was when on the back of Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog Card. They found out that Nicolas was the creator of the Philosopher's Stone. At the next Quidditch game, Ron and Neville fought Draco when taunted them. He and Draco punched each other until Harry caught the Snitch.

When they found out that Hagrid was given a dragon egg, they pointed out he couldn't keep a dragon in a hut. Hagrid paid no attention because he had always wanted a dragon. They watched when the egg was hatching, but soon persuaded Hagrid to let Ron send a letter to Charlie so he could take Norbert. Norbert bit Ron and he had to stay in the Hospital Wing. Draco stopped by to find out why and took a book that had Charlie's letter, causing Harry and Hermione to get caught out of bed by Professor McGonagall.

Harry was confronted by a cloaked figure in the Forbidden Forest that wanted to hurt him, and that it was implied that it was Voldemort. Ron told him that Hermione was right in saying nobody could hurt him when Dumbledore was around. Then Harry had a epiphany about why a stranger would give Hagrid a dragon egg and Hagrid confessed that he told the stranger how to get past Fluffy. They suspected that Snape was trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, and they had to save it.

Harry, Ron and Hermione snuck past Fluffy when he was sleeping, and went through the trapdoor. They fell into the Devil's Snare but Hermione panicked because she couldn't think of a way out. Ron encouraged her, and she thought of a way out. Ron led the group on a giant chessboard for Wizard Chess. He was the Knight and he lead the group to victory, by sacrificing himself so Harry could checkmate the enemy King. Ron was knocked and stayed behind when the others moved on.

Harry found out that Professor Quirrell was working for Voldemort by trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone. Harry defeated him and the Philosopher's Stone was saved. Ron went to see Harry in the Hospital Wing. At the end of the year, Ron was awarded fifty points for playing a best game of chess that Hogwarts had ever seen, winning the first House Cup for Gryffindor in seven years.

### Chamber of Secrets

In the summer of 1992, Ron sent Harry letters asking him to go and stay at The Burrow. However, he was never sent a letter back and Ron thought that it was Errol's fault. But Dobby had intercepted them and when Ron found out that Harry was sent an official government warning, he joined Fred and George in taking the Ford Anglia and going to Harry's house to speak to him. He woke Harry up by knocking on a window that had bars on it. They told him that they were taking him back to The Burrow and helped him gather the luggage he needed. Vernon woke up and grabbed Harry's ankle when he was getting in the car, but Fred, George and Ron pulled him in the car and escaped.

Ron told him about the letters he had sent him and that they were worried about him, and Harry told them about Dobby and the warning he gave him about a danger at school that year. They debated who the Dark wizard plotting it that Dobby was speaking about could be. They took Harry to The Burrow but Mrs Weasley had found out that they had taken the car, and she shouted at everyone. Fred, George and Ron then had to de-gnome the garden and Harry joined him. Harry spent the summer at The Burrow and stayed in Ron's room, calling it the best house had ever known.

Ron, Fred and George took turns riding Harry's Nimbus 2000 during mini Quidditch tournaments. Ron and the Weasley family later took Harry to Diagon Alley to get their new school books for that year. Harry, Ron and Hermione spent an hour together and Harry bought ice-creams for them. However, at Flourish and Blotts during Gilderoy Lockhart's book signing, Ron saw Lockhart drag Harry to the front for publicity, and then saw Harry, Ginny and Draco arguing. Draco insulted Ron and Hermione and that caused Ron to try and fight Draco. Harry and Hermione held him back, and then Ron watched Arthur and Lucius fight instead. They later took the Floo Network back to The Burrow.

Ron headed back to the second-year at Hogwarts School that September. They were nearly late to getting the train and when they finally got to King's Cross, Harry and Ron were the final ones to go through the wall but Dobby blocked it. Both Harry and Ron hit the wall and missed the train. Knowing they had to find another way to school that year, they decided to fly the Ford Anglia to the school. However, upon flying, Ron went to push the Invisibility Booster button and it would not work properly. Because of that, they were saw by several Muggles, broke the International Statute of Secrecy and the law for underage sorcery.

Not knowing they were saw, Ron and Harry tracked the train to school but they eventually found it boring. They eventually finally got to the school but the power cut in the car and they fell from the sky and landed in the Whomping Willow. Ron's wand was damaged when it was snapped nearly in half. The car eventually sprung back to life and they escaped, but it then kicked Harry, Ron, Hedwig and their trunks out and drove into the Forbidden Forest.

Unfortunately, they were then found by Professor Snape and taken to face punishment for what they had done. Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore had not wanted to expell Ron and Harry, but gave them detention. They were not able to join the feast that evening, and ate in an office. Eventually, they went back to their common room and Hermione was unhappy about what they had done, but everyone else applauded them when they went in. Ron admitted that even though he knew he shouldn't, he loved the admiration.

Ron was sent a Howler by Mrs Weasley and it was heard by everyone in the Great Hall. Ron was teased about what happened but Hermione was happy because she thought he was punished properly. He attempted to use Spellotape to put the broken wand back together again but it continued sparking and not working properly. During Professor Lockhart's first Defence lesson, he abandoned Ron, Harry and Hermione to round up the Creatures he let loose and put them back in their cage. Ron was the only person who was sceptical about Lockhart and thought he was incomptent enough to be a fraud.

Ron and Hermione went to watch Harry training at the Quidditch pitch and saw the Slytherin team take control of the pitch because they had special permission to train their new Seeker, Draco. Hermione told Draco that at least everyone else were able to get in team for talent and not bribery, and Draco called her a "Mudblood". Ron understood what it meant, and was angry enough to try and curse Draco using the Slug-vomiting Charm but because he had a broken wand, it bounced back and hit him instead. Harry and Hermione took him to Hagrid's when the whole Slytherin team were laughing.

Hagrid told Ron that it would eventually stop and he should just keep throwing up until then. Ron and Hagrid told Harry and Hermione what the word meant and spoke about Lockhart. Eventually, Hagrid showed them the pumpkins he was growing in the vegetable patch and they deduced he used an Engorgement Charm. Later, they went back to the school and Ron found out he had detention helping Filch clean the trophy room. He spent the whole evening there, coughing up slugs when he was cleaning the Special Award for Services to the School and had to buff the Quidditch Cup fourteen times until Filch was happy.

He went back to the common room nursing a tired arm and saw Harry was awake. Harry told him about the whispering, ice-cold voice he heard during Lockhart's detention. It spoke about killing but Lockhart could not hear it. Ron thought it was strange but they could not think of who it could be that had spoken.

Ron attended Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday Party but found it dreary and dull. He, Harry and Hermione left the party early but Harry then heard a voice in the corridor that he and Hermione could not hear. Harry hunted the voice and they found Mrs Norris Petrified and hung by her tail near a warning that "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir beware". Ron wanted to just go because he thought it wouldn't look good if anyone saw them at the scene, but it was too late because a crowd of students walked through the corridor.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were suspected of being involved but Dumbledore had known the truth about the Chamber of Secrets and told everyone they could not be involved. Harry asked Ron if he should have told everyone about the voice he heard, but Ron told him that hearing voices even in the wizarding world was not a good sign. Ginny was very fraught about Mrs Norris's fate and Ron unsuccessfully tried to cheer her up by joking that Mrs Norris was not very nice and it was a good thing.

Ron heard that students at the school thought Harry was the Heir of Slytherin and thought it was crazy. They heard the story of the Chamber of Secrets and noticed spiders fleeing the school in a hurry. Ron admitted to Harry and Hermione for the first time that he had a fear of living spiders. They then worked together to think of a person who could be the Heir of Slytherin. Ron thought of Draco and Hermione hatched a plan to prove it by using Polyjuice Potion to pose as Slytherin students and ask Draco. They persuaded Professor Lockhart to grant them permission to get a book of the recipe and searched for the ingredients.

Ron and Hermione took Harry to the Hospital Wing when he broke an elbow during Quidditch and Lockhart used the wrong spell to heal the bone. Ron asked her how she could continue to defend Lockhart when he was incompetent but she told him that everyone gets things wrong. Later, Harry, Ron and Hermione joined a Duelling Club founded by Professor Lockhart. He proved incompetency during a teaching of how to duel properly, and then Ron and Seamus Finnegan were put in a pairing to duel together. Because of Ron's broken wand, Seamus ended up ash-faced.

Ron then saw Harry unknowingly speaking Parseltongue for the first time when Harry and Draco were asked to duel in front of the club. Harry used it to tell a snake not to hurt Justin Finch-Fletchley but Ron and Hermione saw how confused Harry was by how shocked everyone acted. They took Harry and told him about the language and that to everyone else it looked that Harry was encouraging the snake. Ron told Harry that speaking Parseltongue was a bad thing because it was connected to Dark magic and he thought the whole school was going to think it was proof Harry was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin.

Ron, Harry and Hermione stayed at school for the holidays when they found out that Draco was staying. They completed the Polyjuice Potion and Ron took the appearance of Vincent. However, Hermione accidentally took a piece of cat hair and transformed into a half-cat, half-human and Harry and Ron had continued on their own. They found Draco but he told them that he was not the Heir of Slytherin. But through him, they found out that the Chamber of Secrets was first opened 50 years ago, a student was killed and that whoever was supposedly responsible was expelled. Later, Harry found Tom Riddle's Diary and it told him that Hagrid was the student thought to be responsible.

Ron, Harry and Hermione say nothing to Hagrid about what the Diary told Harry, but eventually it was stolen. Hermione was then Petrified when researching in the Library, forcing Harry and Ron to finally confront Hagrid. He tells them he was innocent but they had to hide under the Invisibility Cloak when Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge and Lucius showed up. Fudge took Hagrid to Azkaban and Lucius told Dumbledore that the Board of Governors had sacked him for incompetency. Hagrid final words to Harry and Ron were to "follow the spiders".

Eventually, Ron and Harry saw the spiders acting strangely again and follow them into the Forbidden Forest, taking Fang. The spiders lead them to Aragog, an Acromantula that belonged to Hagrid 50 years ago. Aragog tells them that he and Hagrid were innocent, and that the true creature found in the Chamber of Secrets was a thing that spiders fear and do not speak of. Harry deduced who the student was that was killed the first time, but Aragog would not let them go. He told the younger Acromantula to eat them and Ron and Harry fought them until they were saved by a feral Ford Anglia.

Days later, Ron and Harry had to go to the Hospital Wing to see Hermione, and they found a piece of paper in her hand. Her final research led her to the conclusion that the creature was a Basilisk. Ron and Harry headed to the staff-room to tell the teachers but heard them talking about a final warning sent by whoever had opened the Chamber of Secrets. Ginny was taken into the Chamber by the creature and the school was going to be closed. Professor Lockhart was given the task of saving her, and since Hermione's paper and Aragog had given Harry and Ron clues for where to find it, they went to join him but when they found him, he was packing up to run.

Lockhart admitted to being a fraud and that he had no clue what to do. Ron and Harry forced Lockhart to help them and they spoke to the ghost of the student who was killed, Myrtle Warren who told them where the entrance was. Harry spoke Parseltongue to open it and they headed into the caves under the school. During the search, Lockhart managed to get Ron's broken wand and attempted to use it erase their minds but it bounced back and hit Lockhart. The force caused rocks to fall and separated Harry and Ron. Harry continued on his own and Ron stayed with a confused Lockhart.

Harry later slayed the Basilisk and saved Ginny, heading back to Ron and Lockhart using Fawkes who took the four back to the school. Dumbledore was reinstated Head of the school, and he awarded Ron 150 points for helping save the school. By the end of the year, Hermione was brought back using the Mandrake Restorative Draught and they won the House Cup for the second year.

### Prisoner of Azkaban

During the summer holiday, Ron decided to try phoning Harry. He received the phone number for 4 Privet Drive. Being a wizard, he didn't own a phone nor had he ever used one so Arthur helped obtain one. However when Ron phoned for Harry, Vernon Dursley picked it up. Ron thought he had to shout to be heard, telling Vernon he was a friend of Harry's at school. He caused Vernon to get very angry and shout at Ron. Vernon shouted at Ron to stay away, that he doesn't even know a Harry Potter and that he should never phone back. Ron knew he had gotten Harry into trouble because he didn't try phoning anymore.

At one point, Arthur won the Grand Prize Galleon Draw and took their family on holiday. They got on the front page of the newspaper. He sent a copy to Harry with a birthday card and a Sneakoscope. In the card, he apologised for phoning and knew now that he shouldn't have shouted. He also sent a letter to Hermione to tell her what happened. He invited Harry to go shopping for school when he got back. In the meantime, Harry ran away from Privet Drive to stay at the Leaky Cauldron. On the final day of the holidays, the Weasleys stayed there. They were also accompanied by Hermione.

Ron and Hermione hung out with Harry in Diagon Alley for the day. They had ice-cream together and then shopped in the Magical Menagerie. While she tried to find an owl to purchase, Ron had Scabbers checked out because he was looking very sick. He was advised to buy Rat Tonic. While they were there, Crookshanks launched at Scabbers. He escaped but Hermione adopted Crookshanks to Ron's frustration.

On the first of September, Harry kept trying to tell Ron something he learned the night before but they were too busy getting ready to return to Hogwarts. When he was boarding the train, he received sandwiches from Molly. They had to share a compartment with Remus Lupin who was sleeping. Harry finally told Ron and Hermione that escaped prisoner, Sirius Black, apparently wanted to kill him. While they talked, the Sneakoscope started screeching to signify someone untrustworthy nearby but they thought it was faulty.

When they were nearly at Hogwarts, the train suddenly stopped. The compartment was entered by a dementor searching for Black. He felt weird, like he could never be cheerful. It attacked Harry until Lupin intervened. Ron helped get Harry up and when he asked Ron who was screaming, he replied that nobody else heard anything. He defended Harry when Draco tried to laugh at him for fainting. At the Start-of-Term Feast, Ron pointed out that Professor Snape didn't look happy that Lupin was teaching there.

## Appearance

At age eleven, Ron was very tall and lanky with red hair and blue eyes. He had a pale, freckled complexion, a long nose and big hands and feet.

## Trivia

* Mrs Weasley made Ron a maroon jumper every year for the holidays but in *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, he ("half-heartedly") claimed he hated that colour.
* Ron's bedroom was decorated in support of the Chudley Cannons.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 12
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 6
3. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, Chapter 16
4. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, Chapter 9
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 7
6. ↑ JKRowling.com (archived)
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 4
8. ↑ J.K. Rowling's Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet interview
9. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 7
10. ↑ Finished 'Potter'? Rowling tells what happens next
11. ↑ J.K. Rowling's Bloomsbury Web Chat
12. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, Chapter 7
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 9
14. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 8
15. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 10
16. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 11
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 12
18. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 13
19. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 14
20. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 15
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 16
22. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 17
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 3
24. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 4
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 5
26. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 6
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 7
28. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 8
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 9
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 10
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 11
32. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 13
33. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 14
34. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 15
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 16
36. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 18
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 1
38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 5
39. ↑ The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Three
40. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 10 - "Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron."
41. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 5 - "Harry and Ron stared at each other, white-faced."