7. Percy Weasley
Coolest moment: ‘Hello, Minister!’ …. ‘Did I mention I’m resigning?’
Verdict: We’re absolutely not saying you can’t be cool and be a Prefect, but Percy wasn’t exactly the most gracious of authority figures. He regularly threatened Ron with detention, and liked to remind everyone exactly what his title was – whether that be Prefect or Head Boy. And after he left Hogwarts and joined the Ministry, it was very not cool to be in league with Fudge and Umbridge and turn his back on his family. He definitely redeemed himself in the end, and the moment he announced his resignation in a duel was fantastic, but unfortunately that wasn't enough to tip the balance of Percy ending up at the bottom of the pile in the coolest Weasley child rankings.
6. Ron Weasley
Coolest moment: ‘Weasley can save anything, He never leaves a single ring, That’s why Gryffindors all sing: Weasley is our King.’
Verdict: Ron had a tough time staying cool under pressure, and we don’t blame him: three-headed dogs, giant spiders, Azkaban escapees – he really did have a lot to deal with during his time at Hogwarts. The great thing about Ron was that he had true courage – he was often afraid but conquered his fear and fought for good anyway. Unfortunately, that meant he wasn’t always exactly cool – remember those slugs? And it was supremely uncool of him to abandon Harry and Hermione on their Horcrux hunt. That being said, he did have some pretty cool moments – saving Harry from freezing water and destroying a Horcrux, that epic chess game in Philosophers Stone – but we picked the moment that the song – started as a taunt by the Slytherins – was taken over by Gryffindors to reflect Ron’s Quidditch Keeping success.
5. Charlie Weasley
Coolest moment: ‘How are you? Thanks for the letter – I’d be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won’t be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week.’
Verdict: This quote is taken from a letter Charlie wrote to Ron, who had asked him for help with Hagrid’s pet dragon. Pretty cool of an elder brother not to question this odd request, and ever cooler just to be able to just casually mention that you have friends who can help out with a Norwegian Ridgeback! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see too much of Charlie, although we heard all about him working with dragons in Romania (also a very cool job!). He isn’t much higher on the rankings as we just can’t judge how cool he really was from the information we have – however according to Fred he did have to take his Apparition test twice because he ‘Apparated five miles south of where he meant to, right on top of some poor old dear doing her shopping, remember?’ Not cool, Charlie. Not cool.
4. George Weasley
Coolest moment: ‘Saint-like,’ repeated George, opening his eyes and looking up at his brother. ‘You see ... I’m holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?’
Verdict: Even after losing his ear, this Weasley twin was cracking jokes and trying to make everyone laugh – can you get any cooler than that? That being said, the rankings are getting pretty close together on the cool factor front as we reach the twins – though they did many of their coolest deeds together, so we’ve penalised them slightly for that (remember giving Harry the Marauder’s Map? Umbridge and the fireworks? Leaving that swamp in a corridor at Hogwarts with no instructions for how to get rid of it?). Legends.
3. Fred Weasley
Coolest moment: ‘George,’ said Fred, ‘I think we’ve outgrown full-time education.’
Verdict: Fred just edges ahead of his twin brother in these rankings, as he is often the ring-leader of the two. He’s usually the one with the witty one-liners, and therefore comes across as ‘cooler’ in his confidence – the quote above is said directly to Umbridge before they leave Hogwarts behind on their broomsticks. He’s also often the instigator – for example, he was the one driving the flying car in Chamber of Secrets, and it was his idea to use an Ageing Potion to try to enter their names in the Goblet of Fire. You might not think that makes him cooler – but we had to decide whether Gred or Forge came higher in the rankings somehow! If you want to find out more about the differences between Fred and George, you can read an article we wrote about them here.
2. Ginny Weasley
Coolest moment: ‘The thing about growing up with Fred and George,’ said Ginny thoughtfully, ‘is that you sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.’
Verdict: Ginny almost makes it to the top of the Weasley rankings for coolness. She trained herself at Quidditch when her brothers never let her play, she had the meanest Bat Bogey Hex around (and wasn’t afraid to use it), and continued to cause havoc at Hogwarts to rebel against the Death Eaters in Deathly Hallows. She befriended Luna Lovegood, and stuck up for her, even though she wasn’t exactly the coolest Hogwarts student around, and when asked if Harry had a tattoo, completely styled it out and told everyone it was a Hungarian Horntail. Need we go on?
1. Bill Weasley
Coolest moment: ‘However, Bill was – there was no other word for it – cool.’
Verdict: He was always going to win this one, wasn’t he? He was a curse-breaker for Gringotts – how cool does that sound? And that was after being Head Boy and getting about a million OWLs, as well as sporting that ponytail and fang earring. This kind of pirate-style coolness was evident in something he said to Mrs Weasley when she was fussing over his appearance: ‘Mum, no one at the bank gives a damn how I dress as long as I bring home plenty of treasure,’ – so casual. Not to mention he married someone equally as cool and attractive as himself – Fleur Delacour – who was a Triwizard Champion and half-Veela. If that wasn’t enough, he took being attacked by Fenrir Greyback completely in his stride: … ‘in personality he seemed just the same as ever. All that appeared to have changed was that he now had a great liking for very rare steaks.’ Bill, we bow to your superior coolness.