After an incredibly long and tiring day, it was absolutely lovely to come home and dive into a Weasley-centric chapter. Who doesn't love a good Weasley chapter?
This one starts with Ron, Fred and George showing up in the flying Ford Anglia to spring Harry from the Dursleys. I love when Fred and George are at the Dursleys, it's always excellent. This is obviously the most tame time, they just pull iron bars out of the window, pick the door lock, sneak downstairs, pick the cupboard lock, drag Harry's things upstairs and out the window and then yank Harry from Vernon's grasp as they fly away. Tame.
Seriously, I love the idea that Fred and George have taken the time to learn "Muggle ways" of mischief. I imagine their dad had a little something to do with that, not on purpose of course, but surely Arthur's obsession with Muggles filtered through to Fred and George, who then interpreted it the only way they could. Trouble.
Things get even better when they actually reach the Burrow. As I read, I'm just as fascinated as Harry with this wizard house. I day-dream about being able to flick my wand and do the dishes or create a 1-minute feast. It is interesting to note that the clock is different here. Obviously Rowling knew she wanted an interesting clock, she just hadn't quite figured out how to do it yet.
The garden de-gnoming is a fun slice of wizard life. I love that Molly describes it as "boring", I think it sounds pretty fun!
Finally we get to meet Mr. Weasley. What can I say about old Arthur? As Rowling has pointed out, he's the only decent father in the entire series. I fell in love with him the second he asked his sons how the flight went instead of punishing them.
What about you? What are your feelings about the Weasleys? Love them? Hate them? (If you hate them, I'd be interested to hear why....and I expect your last name is Malfoy.)
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I do love the Weasleys! I come from a fairly big family so I could relate to them - with the chaos and financial scrimping and the hand-me-downs that comes with lots of siblings - almost more so that I could relate to Harry. I think Fred & George are impossible not to love - or at least be amused by - and I think Arthur and Molly are a great couple as well as being really awesome parents.
ReplyDeleteAnd since you mentioned the Malfoys, I think Rowling makes a good contrast between Arthur/Molly and Lucius/Narcissa. She draws the line pretty clearly between upper and lower class, good and evil - but at the same time we see both couples trying to do what's "best" for their kids. That might be a discussion for later in the series though when we've seen more of the Malfoys.
I so want to live at the Weasleys House!
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