veronicasummersfelton:

headcanonsandmore:

veronicasummersfelton:

headcanonsandmore:

harrypotterconfessions:

As a person with lots of brothers I can imagine how awful Ron probably felt when he went to his first year Hogwarts with a hand-me-down wand while his older brother got new robes and an owl just because he became a prefect. Favoritism is awful, and he was already really self-concious.

PREACH.

I wouldn’t call it favouritsm because my sister and I are equal for our parents. It’s just my stuff, were reusable, went to my sister and instead of thrown away or discarded. But everything she owned wasn’t hand me downs. Just the regular things, books toys pyjamas etc. And now that I am capable of earning a little she is the one who gets to make demands (because I can’t deny my baby sis, I dare anyone out there to try that), and she claims everything I own as her own. What happened with Ron wasn’t favouritsm, it’s just that they didn’t have the money. The moment fred & George could earn, they bought him a robe. Whether they would’ve done it without harry’s intervention is debatable.

I would agree with you on that, but I’d also like to point out that Ginny got to start Hogwarts with a brand-new wand in her first year, whilst Ron was still having to use a second-hand one (as far as I’m aware, Ron was the only Weasley sibling to start Hogwarts with a second-hand wand). 

Not to mention the fact that Percy was given new robes and a new owl in fifth year, despite the fact that the money could have used to buy Ron a wand (quite possibly the most important item for a new Hogwarts student to have). Heck, when Ron gets made a prefect in his fifth year, he has to convince his mum to get him just one present (and, even then, she only relented after he made it clear he didn’t want an expensive one). 

The robes for the Yule Ball made this even more obvious. Ron needed dress robes for his fifth year, but was given bad-looking second-hand ones. Ginny didn’t even require dress robes that year, but was still given a nice set to wear, despite the fact that girls robes would likely be more expensive. 

I personally find it unlikely that Fred and George would have bought Ron decent dress robes if Harry hadn’t mentioned it. I think Harry was more aware of how humiliated Ron felt wearing those robes than Fred and George were. 

I don’t remember(holy shit, couldn’t remember hp facts, the atrocity!) it being mentioned that Ginny got a new wand or Ron being the only one getting an used wand.

As far as replacing a wand is considered, again the money factor comes in. So is case of broom. The weasleys had one single income but 9 mouths to feed. That’s a lot. When you have 7 children & their future to think about, you prepare what we middle class people call a monthly budget. We try to maintain it, and not strech it. But if something happens out of the blue, we can’t help but wait for the next month’s budget to adjust this anomaly. Think it like this, my watch suddenly stopped working. The repair cost will increase this month’s planned amount. If I repair this now, this extra expense will be adjusted by next month’s payment, which turn will affect the next month’s budget and so on. So, instead of repairing it now and increase the debt, I simply go watch less for a month. The same thing happened with Ron. Money was already spent on Percy. So, there was nothing left for Ron. Now, the question arises why didn’t the parents save money for Ron? Because they never thought that Ron would break his wand. Another possibility is that Ron didn’t tell them that the wand is broken.

When I read OotP, I felt like Molly was rearranging the budget to adjust Ron’s demands because this boy rarely asked anything and she would rather hungry than not give him a broom. But, the fact that the broom might result in her other family members being hungry cause her pain. Hunger being an analogy here shows other basic & immediate needs.

Yule ball dress was….let’s just not go there. Didn’t make sense why Ron was given such a ugly dress while Ginny got a beautiful one.

I agree with a lot of your points, although I should stress that Percy’s new things were likely bought at the same time as Ron’s things. 

The first-year acceptance letters tend to be sent out at roughly the same time as prefect letters. Percy would have likely recieved his prefect badge at the same time (possibly even on the same day) as Ron’s Hogwarts acceptance letter. 

Mrs Weasley still went ahead and bought Percy his presents of a new owl and new robes, when Ron needed a new wand. True, first years don’t usually do much magic in first year (usually sticking to theory and low-level spells), but I personally think Molly’s decision would probably have played into Ron’s insecurity about being ‘the least loved’ of his siblings. 

This insecurity was likely confirmed even more when Ginny gets her own wand the following year. First year was one thing, but second years are actually having to use magic a lot more. It must have been very grating for Ron having to perform magic with a wand that wasn’t his, whilst seeing his little sister doing virtually no magic but having a wand to call her own. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Molly to buy Ron a brand-new wand, and give Ginny the second-hand one? 

The Weasley’s weren’t to know that they’d win money the next year (which is how Ron eventually got a wand to call his own after spending two years with a second-hand one), but it seems unfair to have one sibling struggle with a second-hand wand when they needed a new one, whilst buying another sibling a new wand when they didn’t really need it. 

I personally haven’t ever had to deal with poverty, and I understand that the Weasleys were incredibly short on money. But what happens with Ron (to my eyes at least) indicates that Molly often prioritised her other children over Ron. Obviously, there are five children of roughly-school-age when the series starts, but with Percy, Molly prioritised Percy’s want over Ron’s need. I can understand Percy wanted new robes and new owl to reflect his status as prefect, but these presents took away money from something Ron actually needed. 

I see your point about the money. Although I do recall that Percy was gifted two expensive presents in Ron’s first year, and that was when five children were still living at home. By Ron’s fifth year, Percy had moved away, meaning there was one less mouth to feed. When you factor in the money the Weasleys won in POA, it’s possible that they were marginally wealthier than they were in Ron’s first year. I understood that brooms are expensive, but Molly didn’t seem to have any such qualms with buying Percy new robes and a new owl at a time when they likely had less money (plus more things to buy including a wand for Ron). 

Yeah, I never understood the Yule Ball thing either. It’s messed up that Ron was given ugly robes when he needed decent ones, but Ginny was given a nice dress (which was likely more expensive) when she didn’t actually need a dress that year. Ron does tend to get the short end of the stick most of the time during the HP series.