Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Charlie Weasley

Overview
Charlie Weasley is the second son of Arthur and Molly Weasley. He is three years older than Percy, the Weasley's third son. He was a Prefect in his fifth year at Hogwarts, and Quidditch Seeker on the Gryffindor house team. After graduation, he went to work with dragons in Romania. If he stayed for the full seven years, he would have left Hogwarts the year before Harry arrived.

According to the author, Charlie's birthday is 12 December. His birth year is not given in the series, but internal evidence suggests 1972, since he would need to be age 11 before start of his first school term at Hogwarts on September 1, 1984.

Philosopher's Stone
Charlie is mentioned in passing on the Hogwarts Express as Ron lists his brothers who have attended Hogwarts before him.

At tea with Hagrid on the Friday of their first week, Hagrid asks Ron how Charlie is doing, saying that he always liked Charlie, who was good with animals.

In commenting on Harry's proficiency on a broom, Professor McGonagall says "He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive. Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it." Later that day, Fred and George tell Harry that they've heard about him; they are on the team as well, they're Beaters, and George tells Harry, "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant." A few times after that, Oliver Wood compares Harry's skills as Seeker favourably with Charlie's.

The Weasley children, Percy, Fred, George, and Ron, stay at Hogwarts over Christmas because their parents are visiting Charlie in Romania.

When it becomes apparent that something is going to have to be done about Hagrid's pet dragon, Norbert, Harry hits on the idea of sending Norbert off to Ron's brother Charlie. Though he does respond to Ron's letter, Charlie does not directly appear, but four of his friends do end up spiriting Norbert away in the night.

Goblet of Fire
Charlie is waiting at the Weasleys' kitchen table when Harry arrives by Floo powder from the Dursleys'. It is mentioned here that he has a large, healing burn on one arm.

Charlie is at home because Arthur Weasley has managed to get tickets to the Quidditch World Cup, and will be going to the Cup with the rest of the family. Being old enough to Apparate, he does so, arriving at the campsite about noon with Percy and Bill. He goes to the stadium with the rest of the Weasley family, and apparently enjoys the match, discussing it at some length with the rest of the family on their return to the campsite. When the riot breaks out that night, he goes with Bill, Percy, and Arthur to try to break it up before the Muggles get injured, and in the process collects an injury.

In the following week and a bit, we see him a few times around the Weasley family home, doing homely tasks like darning a fireproof balaclava. When Amos Diggory calls Arthur to tell him about Mad-Eye Moody, Charlie is part of the conversation where we learn about Moody's history.

Charlie travels with the rest of the group to the Hogwarts Express, and alludes to something mysterious that will be happening at Hogwarts. Apparently Bill and Mrs. Weasley, who have accompanied the group to the platform, know about it as well, but none of them will say anything, much to the annoyance of Harry, Ron, Fred, and George.

We see Charlie again at the run-up to the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament, where he is one of the wizards brought in to wrangle the dragons needed for that task. He speaks briefly to Hagrid, unaware of Harry's presence under the Invisibility Cloak, but suggesting that Hagrid was unwise to bring Madame Maxime to see what her champion would be facing.

Following the First Task, Charlie runs up to Harry to congratulate him after getting past the Hungarian Horntail, and tells him he's tied in first place with Viktor Krum.

Right before the Third Task, when Harry meets Bill and Mrs. Weasley, Bill tells Harry Charlie had wanted to come too, but he couldn't get time off work.

Order of the Phoenix
While Charlie Weasley is mentioned as being in the Order of the Phoenix, Arthur Weasley says that they have chosen to leave him in Romania, so that he can bring wizards from other countries into the organization.

Deathly Hallows
Charlie first appears at Harry's 17th birthday party, the day before Bill and Fleur Delacour's wedding, as he's to serve as best man. Upon seeing being asked about Norbert by Hagrid, Charlie tells him they call her Norberta now, as it turns out the dragon's a girl, to everyone's surprise.

Apparently, Charlie is unable to return to Hogwarts from Romania in time to play a part in the first part of the Battle of Hogwarts, but he arrives with the reinforcements and is part of the forces who eventually defeat the Death Eaters.

Strengths
Charlie has a gift with animals, especially dragons. He was also a skilled seeker, with Oliver Wood believing he could have played for England if he had chosen to.

Analysis
One issue that has been mentioned repeatedly on the Harry Potter fan sites is that, as stated here, Charlie is three years older than Percy, so possibly the last time he will have flown as Seeker for Gryffindor would be in his seventh year, the year immediately preceding Harry's arrival. In that case, the Twins' statement in the first book that they haven't won a game since Charlie left, would be true only because they hadn't played any games since Charlie left. While this does rather nag at the reader, and the author has never explained it, there is one unexplored possibility: Charlie's chosen profession does not seem to require any NEWT-level studies. So Charlie, as the Twins did after him, might not have chosen to wait out the seventh year of school. In fact, as he would have come of age shortly before Christmas of his sixth year, he could well have left school then, leaving Gryffindor without his services as Seeker for the last two matches of that year and the three matches immediately before the series opens. It is more likely, though, that if he had chosen to leave school early, he would have left at the end of his sixth year, leaving Gryffindor 0 for 3 in Quidditch the year before Harry arrived.

The narration in general seems to imply that Charlie is four or five years older than he actually is. This is highly unlikely, though, given other events in the series: if Charlie were four or five years older than this stated age, then Bill as the older brother would need to be at least three or four years older than his stated age, so would have been born at the latest in 1968, while his wife (still at school when the Triwizard Tournament takes place) is at the most three years older than Harry Potter, hence born at the earliest in 1978. This ten year gap in ages is not impossible, but one that would have probably been commented upon. This is likely to be a simple mistake much like with the age of Bellatrix Lestrange.

It is also said in the first three books that Gryffindor hasn't won the Quidditch cup in seven or eight years, amounting to Charlie's entire tenure at the school based on his stated age. One would think that if Charlie was as good as he was said to have been, Gryffindor would have won at least a few times during that period. Of course, we don't know whether other Houses had similarly stellar players. As the Quidditch Cup seems to be based on total points in the tournament, it is of course possible that other Houses, faced with dismally weak opposition from teams other than Gryffindor, would take the opportunity to pump up their winning scores and their Cup standing by unnecessarily extending their games. It is suggested that the most usual winner of the Quidditch cup is Slytherin, and this does seem to be a strategy that House would be willing to employ.

Questions

 * 1) Why do you think Hagrid liked Charlie so much?