Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Jimmy Peakes

Overview
Jimmy Peakes joins the Gryffindor team in Harry's sixth year. He is short and broad-chested, and although three years younger than Harry he is strong and quite fierce.

Half-Blood Prince
Jimmy Peakes tries out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and is accepted as one of the two Beaters, the other being Ritchie Coote.

When Cormac McLaggen is put in as Keeper to replace the poisoned Ron Weasley, he does not seem to understand the difference between practice and a real game, and borrows Peakes' Beater's bat to demonstrate the proper way to hit a Bludger towards the approaching Cadwallader. Mis-hitting the Bludger, he knocks Harry out instead, and as a result Gryffindor suffer a horrible defeat.

Deathly Hallows
Many underage Gryffindors try to stay for the battle at Hogwarts, and Professor McGonagall must order them to leave; she calls out the names Creevey and Peakes when doing so.

Strengths
Jimmy is evidently good at Quidditch, being a capable Beater. He is a Quidditch champion, being part of the Gryffindor team when it wins the Quidditch Cup during Harry's sixth year.

Due to the fact that Jimmy tries to stay and fight in the Battle of Hogwarts, we must assume that he has considerable strength of mind, which is typical for a Gryffindor.

Weaknesses
Jimmy is too young to fight in the Battle, and he is never mentioned after his brief appearance in Deathly Hallows.

For some reason, Cormac McLaggen was able to take Jimmy's bat during a Quidditch game. Jimmy would not have simply handed it over, so it's likely that McLaggen just snatched it during a quiet moment.

Relationships with Other Characters
Jimmy gels quite well with the rest of the Quidditch team. He is, unlike some other members of the team, in it for the entirety of the year, including their victorious final.

Analysis
Jimmy is a good example of a stock Gryffindor: brave, loyal, talented and showing exception in one particular ability: Quidditch. He is, in some ways, the antithesis of former Gryffindor Beaters Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper, neither of whom are particularly good at Quidditch.

Questions

 * 1) Do you think Jimmy might remain on the Quidditch team after the events of Half-Blood Prince?
 * 2) If Jimmy is three years younger than Harry, he was clearly underage during the Battle of Hogwarts. Why did he try to stay in the Hall?

Greater Picture
Harry is, of course, the Quidditch Captain who selects Jimmy Peakes as a Beater on his new team. The events of the year are tumultuous, and throughout it, members of the team come and go, including Ron, McLaggen, Dean, and Harry himself. Peakes, however, remains where he is and does his job well. This brings the reader to infer that, despite not always being present, Harry is a good Quidditch Captain when it comes down to the crunch.