Fred and George and the Order of the Phoenix

I just finished the fifth book of this marvelous Harry Potter series, entitled Order of the Phoenix. Now, some people call the Harry Potter books as a children’s series, and sure, some parts of it, like the ardent belief in a different world, a different school, where magic and supernatural prevails and life is a battle between the good and the bad, seems like a childlike fairytale. How is it not a fairytale, I ask you? There is a good guy, our baby Harry Potter, whom we follow through his eventful school years, an eleven year old adolescent to a seventeen year old man, prematurely aged because of the tragedies that befall him. There are those several numerous friends around him – whether it is Fred and George Weasley – my personal favorites, or Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, his preferred sidekicks.

Let me take this moment to dwell on – or rather, as my best friend would put it, obsess over – Fred and George Weasley. From the first book that I read, I’ve been in love with these two boys. In the first book they are portrayed as cheerful thirteen year old boys, their debut appearance in the first movie shows them as mocking their mother for forgetting who was who again – as identical twins, J K Rowling seems to be the only one who can actually distinguish one from another.

But that’s not why I love them. J K Rowling, as an omnipresent observer in Potter’s life, has truly never described any boy to be astonishingly good-looking or handsome, not truly. She has, yes, described a younger Sirius Black and a younger James Potter, as well as a now-decaying and old Remus Lupin as handsome, true. But in the case of my beloved characters, she has not once described them as handsome.

And yet, there is something so handsome about these two. There is something that really attracted me to their characters. Their mischief, maybe, the way they caused mayhem – not actual mayhem, as George pointed out. They knew when to draw the line, explained Fred, and they never crossed it, stepped over it occasionally, yes, but never got expelled, said George. And what makes them such wonderful – and much needed – men in the make-believe world of Harry Potter is that they are, yes, they are, a relief.

That’s how I would describe Fred and George Weasley. A relief.

Although this book is clearly fiction – most of us Potterheads would hope, hope against hope that it wasn’t, that yes, our Hogwarts letters were truly lost in the mail, we are actually Muggle-born witches and wizards, but let’s be, brutally yes, but honest. If this wizarding world existed, nobody would have let J K Rowling write about it so publically and allow the Muggle world to become aware of their existence. She would have been subject to various curses by now, for I’m certain there would be some Decree or Law in the Ministry of Magic that wouldn’t allow any Muggle – or witch, if Joanne would like to push this point – to write so freely about their secret world.

Anyway, what is visible in this fictional universe is that somewhere, it rings true to us. How is it that we believe so much in this world? Why do we believe it so much? Because like the Dark Lord, there are dark forces here too. Not everybody in this world we inhabit are good people, though it is my belief that, just like Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy, there is some good in everybody. Lord Voldemort might be a bad person – putting it mildly – but not thoroughly so….

Um, he’s a creation of the mind, so even if he is all dark, it’s not because there are people in this world who are all dark.

And Fred and George Weasley light up this world that is darkened by Voldemort with their jokes and their humor, their pranks and their mischief. And although Fred dies in the end, a tragic, sad, but beautiful death as he dies with his last laugh still etched upon his face – the intensity and the uproar of emotions I feel, any reader feels, is remarkable. It’s remarkable the number of feelings this story has made me feel. It touches one’s heart in all the right places. You feel the bravery, you feel the love, the utmost devotion, the humor and the laugh, friendship so strong, relationships that can actually stand the tests of time.

And oh, how beautiful is this all. Whether it is the relationship between Harry and his Godfather, or the emotions that you can see between Lupin, Sirius and Harry – the depth of it is spellbinding. Imagine how it is. These two are men who watched their best friend die at the hands of another of their friends. Peter was obviously just a hanger-on, but keeping him in their midst turned out to be a fatal flaw. Yet, with Harry they see a regular glimpse of James – James, who was handsome and majestic and cool, popular and wonderful, just like his two friends, and in the end, dead for a noble cause.

The love of a father for his son, the love of a mother for her son, as Lily Potter dies to save him and leaves a special protection over Harry, which actually enables him to fight off Voldemort later. What part of this can we not understand, can we not empathize with? Don’t we see this love in our own lives? Don’t we see this protection, and know it from our own experience?

What, I believe J K Rowling did, was add magic to the ordinary happenings of our days. She did it in such a beautiful manner however, that it took the world by storm. She does not go into depth of what the characters feel – she doesn’t need to. You just need to search Harry Potter posts on Tumblr or Pinterest to see how every other Potterhead – yes, like you and me – have analyzed and re-analyzed and understood and written and felt what she wanted to convey.

Not just the love between friends, love that could be brotherhood, as these two men try to save and be there for the son of their fallen friend, but a love that sprouts between families. Sirius himself never belonged much to his family of Blacks, he was not like them. He tells Harry in the fifth book that he would, many times escape to the Potter’s house, and although there is as of yet no mention of James’s family, and Harry’s paternal grandparents, it shows a love of an entirely different level, of family that accepts a friend as one of their own.

Just look at how welcomed Harry feels in The Burrow, amidst Ron’s family. Mrs. Weasley accepts both Harry and Hermione, not knowing, of course, that these two would later marry into her family and truly become her children. She is a woman of such strength and love, she witness horror and tragedy, loss and fear, yet she stands strong amidst a crowd of sons way taller than she is, yet looking at her for support and comfort. The image of a Mama Bear comes to mind, and yet when I watch her tears when Fred dies, the tragedy drives home.

The death of Fred Weasley was tragic, not just for me, for other Potterheads who love the Weasley Twins, but for J K Rowling herself. She has admitted Fred was one of her favorite characters, and she too cried when he died. Many readers like me have taken his story forward, the story of the Weasley twins, both so cheerful, dauntless and rebellious, both so brave and courageous in their foolhardy tricks, and yet, so poetically tragic.

On their graves placed next to each other, Fred’s has the word ‘MISCHIEF’ written on it, for he died when he was just twenty, he died when he was yet in the mischievous days of his youth. On the grave next to his is the word ‘MANAGED’ written under George’s name, for he lived till the ripe age of eighty, for he, managed to live his life without his twin, his other half, his brother. Fred lived in mischief, George managed. Fred died laughing, George died crying. There are so many posts I can find about Fred that make me so emotional, at first I blamed my own hormones wreaking havoc and then reasoned that, it must have been something else that made me cry over this fictional death so much.

I grieved Fred Weasley like the next reader, but I grieved the loss also of a significant yet innocent life in a war that had nothing to do with him personally. Why does this realization make it even more difficult for us to part ways with this boy? Because, although we ourselves might not know a Fred Weasley, but his story is not uncommon in our Muggle world either. For in every war, there is a boy, a man, a child, who dies an unwarranted death.

After every war, there is a family that grieves the untimely death of their son.

There are friends, who suffer the loss of their mate.

We all know it. Thankfully, many of us have not experienced this, but we know it. 

That’s why this haunts us.

Fred Weasley, as a character Rowling created, along with his twin George Weasley, are perfect examples of brothers, troublemakers, and sons. They care for their family, they are the perfect big brothers to Ron and to Ginny. When Ron makes it on the Gryffindor team and performs miserably, these brothers make sure he never forgets his abysmal performance. When Ginny is nearly killed by Lord Voldemort, these brothers are, like any other elder brother, as worried as could be. There is a scene in the fifth movie of the Harry Potter saga, where the twins are shown to be comforting a young kid who is crying because Umbridge’s punishment is giving him pain. That was one scene I really liked, because it showed that, at the end of the day, these two are brothers, elder brothers, and they know how to act like them.

These boys are shown not to complete their education. They leave without giving their N.E.W.T.S (I propose) and they leave Hogwarts as champions, legends, as two men who had the guts to stand up against something they didn’t like, and follow through. Once leaving school they do not return, they do not regret, they mark their destiny in the occupation they desire. They show that academic excellence does not equate to achievement and success, they show that you don’t always have to take things lying down. They were in Gryffindor for they were brave, their courage and wit might not have been portrayed in ways similar to that of Harry and Hermione, but yes.  

In a world where being sad is so easy, it is actually really difficult to be, and remain, happy. Fred and George showed us how to bring light into the darkness, in more ways than one. They brought laughter, cheer and happiness, they made us chuckle, giggle, and smile, not just in the book, but even in the movies, as portrayed by the handsome James and Oliver Phelps. Many, like me have harbored crushes on them from book one, and many, like me, will not forget them even after Fred takes his last breath, even after the end of the last page of Deathly Hallows.

Rowling said that whenever we want it, Hogwarts will be waiting for us. Hogwarts has become home to so many of us, home of our imagination, home of people we have loved and followed and looked after in our own ways. We thank Rowling for the beautiful journey she enabled us to experience, but most importantly, we thank Rowling for the characters she gifted us, none of whom we’ll ever forget or ever love less.

As for me, I’ll always imagine Fred and George Weasley living till a ripe old again, even today, sitting somewhere together with their children and their grandchildren, tricking them, playing with them, yet the heroes of every child’s childhood.