Harry Potter Which Weasley?

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#1
Random thought that popped into my head, what would happen if we switched the weasley kids around?  How different would the story be if Ron was firstborn, or the Twins were the youngest?  What effects do you think switching them up would have on canon?

Ron:
First: Probably similar to canon, but without the inferiority complex.  I could see him still joining the Quidditch Team, though I don't see him becoming a prefect at any point.  He's too much of a slacker, and won't have the fame and glory of Harry's adventures to bolster him.
Second: Depending on who came before him, Ron could be more driven.  If the eldest was a Quidditch player, Ron might aim for good grades.  If they were prefect, he'll probably go for Quidditch again.  Here, he still has options that his siblings haven't done, so he'll probably go after those, if only to set himself apart.
Third: Here it gets a little murkier, since we don't know who came before him.  It could proceed like being born second, assuming there are still avenues to distinguish himself.  If Bill and Charlie were before him, I could see him either going for Head Boy and Quidditch Captain, or deciding to just coast through Hogwarts, just without complaining about how his family has done everything already.
Fourth: As the middle child, I could see Ron just coasting along regardless of everything else.  He might put effort into some things, enough to get by anyways, but liek canon, he would lack the drive to accel and would probably be quite passive without some outside influence.
Fifth: Well, at least he's not the youngest.  I could see Ron being somewhat like Percy, just focused on his family instead of everyone.  I could see him looking out for/bossing aroudn his younger siblings, and that might result in him putting more effort into things, if only so they don't call him out for slacking more than they do.
Sixth: Canon, depending on the rest of the family.
Seventh:  As the baby, I don't really see Ron being too much different.  His mom might coddle him a  lot more, and the rest of the boys might look down on him as the baby, could mean he's a momma's boy, or it could mean that he gets into more trouble because he's tired of being the baby/knows he can get away with it.

Maybe I should have done it with the whole fmaily, instead of just one at a time, the order would proabbly really affect how they all develop.
 
#2
I think the twins were the worst influence on Ron so if Ron was firstborn I think he would need a good head start (eg, Bill's age,) because even Percy didn't escape their jibes and cruel jokes. Imagine Ron as he is now: twin-bonded bullies dragging him down daily through all his formative years. It's a miracle that Ron emerged as decent and loyal and noble as he did.
I've already worked this into a future chapter of my own story where the twins repeatedly-crushing behaviour is diverted and Ron reaches Hogwarts having a little more self-respect.
 
#3
Even with Harry's rose-colored glasses it's really clear that the twins are a source of a huge amount of the stress in the Weasley household. And it gets worse as they age -- in book one when they're third-years and still essentially good-natured, Molly is already exasperated to some degree with their conduct. And as they get older, they get meaner, and Molly gets angrier.

It seems clear to me that Fred and George vs Molly, Fred and George vs Percy, possibly Fred and George vs Ginny, and certainly Fred and George vs Ron (the twins were vicious to Ron when he was younger). and basically Fred and George vs the world -- were all major arguments that raised the tension in the Weasley household. Even through Harry's rose-colored glasses we can see that it just gets worse with every book, and then suddenly in HBP when they've moved out,, they're no longer as big a source of tension for Molly.

Somewhere along the way in all that chaos that came with boys four and five, Ron was just lost. If the twins did not exist, the Weasley household would be a shit-ton calmer, there's absolutely no doubt whatsoever in my mind.

I have had the pet idea for a while about Ron only having two older brothers (Bill and Charlie) but still being in the same year as Harry. I could see Ron being a much stronger character; he'd still be the youngest son, but only being the third instead of the sixth should be a huge change. IMO a great part of what made Ron tick was that he saw no way for himself to shine before meeting Harry -- Bill had been Head Boy, Charlie was captain of Quidditch, Percy was repeating Bill's path, and the twins were in the process of ruining any good reputation the family name had. Plus, with only having had two older brothers and a much bigger gap, Ron would probably see fewer hand-me-downs as the family's budget would have been less stretched (this is a weaker supposition though).

You can tell I've thought about some of this before.
 

fitzgerald

Well-Known Member
#4
nuclear death frog said:
You can tell I've thought about some of this before.
A variant on this:

Shortly after Ron's born the Prewitt brothers end up looking after the twins for an afternoon/morning and end dying via Death Eaters attack.

Apart from the grief of losing both her brothers and her twin boys Molly's affected by this and Ron essentially grows up knowing that Slytherins are utter because who ever murdered his family got away with it afterwards.

He's not hooking up with Harry with hero worship in mind, instead Ron's there going "I want a piece of the bastards who helped kill your parents"
 

Shirotsume

Not The Goddamn @dmin
#5
That would set the stage for a very dark story very quickly. Harry has very few morals before he spends time around Ron and Hermione, and is fairly desperate for attention.

Replace a darker, more poisonous influence in Ron and things would get nasty very quickly. It would probably start with either knowingly or unknowingly leaving Hermione to die in the bathrooms.

Unless that knocked them to their senses it would only escalate from there. I give it more of a chance of it knocking them to their senses if she's only injured and they interact with her afterwards.
 

fitzgerald

Well-Known Member
#6
Shirotsume said:
That would set the stage for a very dark story very quickly. Harry has very few morals before he spends time around Ron and Hermione, and is fairly desperate for attention.

Replace a darker, more poisonous influence in Ron and things would get nasty very quickly. It would probably start with either knowingly or unknowingly leaving Hermione to die in the bathrooms.

Unless that knocked them to their senses it would only escalate from there. I give it more of a chance of it knocking them to their senses if she's only injured and they interact with her afterwards.
That assumes stations of canon must be followed.     Ron with a properly matched wand (without the twins the Weasleys budget can cover that) is also going to be starkly different.    He's motivated and quite likely to recruit Neville as well.

Mostly to learn defense, but he's still got that small nugget of rage/hurt to have a fire lit underneath him to learn magic.       

Envy isn't Ron's sin in this setup, Wrath is.      

Which makes Hermione a somewhat interesting view point character, she's the relatively normal one whose stepping into magic with all sorts of positive expectations.    Ron however picks up the thread that no matter how awesome magic is, its been used for horrible horrible things
 
#7
I had another thought, one closer in line to canon. The twins are basically the lynchpin for Harry getting the map; without them pulling it out of Filch's office, it would have remained stuck there unless someone else pulled it out. Harry didn't know about it and when he was in Filch's office in second year, he didn't open the drawer it had been in -- the Qwikspell letter on the desk distracted him because it was shiny and purple.

So picture this: Harry in third year, no map. No map means he doesn't make it to Hogsmeade at the visit where Fudge comes to dine with the staff, meaning he doesn't learn that Sirius Black is the one who personally betrayed his parents -- which he wasn't anyway, but Harry spent five plus months thinking it was the case. No map means he doesn't get caught with it by Snape after another illicit Hogsmeade visit, and it doesn't get taken off him by Lupin. Lupin wouldn't have it at the end of the year, unless *he* might have rescued at from Filch's office as a way to watch out for Sirius. I think that Pettigrew faked his death via Crookshanks because he realized the map was back in play and knew it could expose him. Without the twins giving Harry the map, without Snape involved in the climax, how would third year's events play out? I think it would be exceedingly interesting.
 
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