She was the strong-willed mother of seven children and welcomed Harry into The Burrow as though he were one of her own. Her Christmas jumpers were legendary and the Battle of Hogwarts proved just how skilled a witch she was. Here are some of her defining moments.

Outrage

Nobody did outrage like Mrs Weasley. So when Ron, Fred and George stole Mr Weasley’s flying car, she gave them a piece of her mind in the morning.

‘Beds empty! No note! Car gone ... could have crashed ... out of my mind with worry ... did you care? ... never, as long as I’ve lived ... you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy ...’
‘Perfect Percy,’ muttered Fred.
‘YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY’S BOOK!’ yelled Mrs Weasley, prodding a finger in Fred’s chest. ‘You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job –’
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

And, of course, the famous Howler Ron received for crashing the car into the Whomping Willow.

‘... ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED, YOUR FATHER’S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT’S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE’LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME.’
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Crushing on Lockhart

Gilderoy Lockhart gave the first glimpse into a younger, sillier Mrs Weasley who giggled like a schoolgirl when faced with his gleaming grin. She was shown patting her hair and tidying up with a blush at Flourish and Blotts at the beginning of Harry’s second year at Hogwarts.

Harry, Ron and Hermione squeezed inside. A long queue wound right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. They each grabbed a copy of Break with a Banshee, and sneaked up the line to where the rest of the Weasleys were standing with Mr and Mrs Granger.
‘Oh, there you are, good,’ said Mrs Weasley. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. ‘We’ll be able to see him in a minute ...’
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Questionable taste in music

Molly was an avid fan of old-fashioned crooner Celestina Warbeck.

‘Oh, come and stir my cauldron,
And if you do it right
I’ll boil you up some hot, strong love
To keep you warm tonight.’
‘We danced to this when we were eighteen!’ said Mrs Weasley, wiping her eyes on her knitting. ‘Do you remember, Arthur?’
‘Mphf?’ said Mr Weasley, whose head had been nodding over the satsuma he was peeling. ‘Oh yes … marvellous tune …’
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Tasty wand work

Nobody could whip up a delicious dish with wonderful wand work like Mrs Weasley. She was a dab hand at feasts with just a swish of her wand.

By seven o’clock, the two tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mrs Weasley’s excellent cooking, and the nine Weasleys, Harry and Hermione were settling themselves down to eat beneath a clear, deep-blue sky. To somebody who had been living on meals of increasingly stale cake all summer, this was paradise, and at first, Harry listened rather than talked, as he helped himself to chicken-and-ham pie, boiled potatoes and salad.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Exceptional mothering skills

This moment needs little introduction and captured the powerful love Mrs Weasley had for Harry, and her innate understanding of exactly what he needed to feel better.

Mrs Weasley set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and put her arms around Harry. He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as though by a mother. The full weight of everything he had seen that night seemed to fall in upon him as Mrs Weasley held him to her. His mother’s face, his father’s voice, the sight of Cedric, dead on the ground, all started spinning in his head until he could hardly bear it, until he was screwing up his face against the howl of misery fighting to get out of him.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Boggarts

After Voldemort’s return, Mrs Weasley was understandably worried about her children. A simple Boggart defeated her usually first-rate skills.

Someone was cowering against the dark wall, her wand in her hand, her whole body shaking with sobs. Sprawled on the dusty old carpet in a patch of moonlight, clearly dead, was Ron.
All the air seemed to vanish from Harry’s lungs; he felt as though he were falling through the floor; his brain turned icy cold – Ron dead, no, it couldn’t be –
But wait a moment, it couldn’t be – Ron was downstairs –
‘Mrs Weasley?’ Harry croaked.
‘R – r – riddikulus!’ Mrs Weasley sobbed, pointing her shaking wand at Ron’s body. Crack.
Ron’s body turned into Bill’s, spread-eagled on his back, his eyes wide open and empty. Mrs Weasley sobbed harder than ever.
‘R – riddikulus!’ she sobbed again.
Crack.
Mr Weasley’s body replaced Bill’s, his glasses askew, a trickle of blood running down his face.
‘No!’ Mrs Weasley moaned. ‘No … riddikulus! Riddikulus! RIDDIKULUS!’
Crack. Dead twins. Crack. Dead Percy. Crack. Dead Harry …
‘Mrs Weasley, just get out of here!’ shouted Harry, staring down at his own dead body on the floor.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Mollywobbles

And what password made everyone giggle and see Mrs Weasley in an entirely new light?

Mrs Weasley nodded and turned the doorknob, but apparently Mr Weasley was holding tight to it on the other side, because the door remained firmly shut.
‘Molly! I’ve got to ask you your question first!’
‘Arthur, really, this is just silly …’
‘What do you like me to call you when we’re alone together?’
Even by the dim light of the lantern Harry could tell that Mrs Weasley had turned bright red; he himself felt suddenly warm around the ears and neck, and hastily gulped soup, clattering his spoon as loudly as he could against the bowl.
���Mollywobbles,’ whispered a mortified Mrs Weasley into the crack at the edge of the door.
‘Correct,’ said Mr Weasley. ‘Now you can let me in.’
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Accepting Phlegm

Mrs Weasley wasn’t completely enamoured with her son Bill’s part-Veela fiancée Fleur Delacour, until one fateful night.

‘You thought I would not weesh to marry him? Or per’aps, you ’oped?’ said Fleur, her nostrils flaring. ‘What do I care how ’e looks? I am good-looking enough for both of us, I theenk! All these scars show is zat my husband is brave! And I shall do zat!’ she added fiercely, pushing Mrs Weasley aside and snatching the ointment from her.
Mrs Weasley fell back against her husband and watched Fleur mopping up Bill’s wounds with a most curious expression upon her face. Nobody said anything; Harry did not dare move. Like everybody else, he was waiting for the explosion.
‘Our Great Auntie Muriel,’ said Mrs Weasley after a long pause, ‘has a very beautiful tiara – goblin-made – which I am sure I could persuade her to lend you for the wedding. She is very fond of Bill, you know, and it would look lovely with your hair.’
‘Thank you,’ said Fleur stiffly. ‘I am sure zat will be lovely.’
And then – Harry did not quite see how it happened – both women were crying and hugging each other.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Duelling with Bellatrix

Perhaps Molly’s finest hour was when she took on Bellatrix Lestrange when the Death Eater fired a Killing Curse an inch from Ginny.

‘NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!’
Mrs Weasley threw off her cloak as she ran, freeing her arms. Bellatrix spun on the spot, roaring with laughter at the sight of her new challenger.
‘OUT OF MY WAY!’ shouted Mrs Weasley to the three girls, and with a swipe of her wand she began to duel. Harry watched with terror and elation as Molly Weasley’s wand slashed and twirled, and Bellatrix Lestrange’s smile faltered, and became a snarl. Jets of light flew from both wands, the floor around the witches’ feet became hot and cracked; both women were fighting to kill.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows