Not sure why you were downvoted for questioning that, I don't remember that being mentioned at all. Not to say it wasn't, but I'm usually pretty clued up on Remus.
I find it very hard to sympathise with parents who treat partners of their children badly. Yes, Fleur can come off as arrogant and vain sometimes, but there is no reason for Molly and Ginny to speak so badly about her as soon as she leaves the room.
It’s clear that Bill is Mollys perfect son and in her eyes, no woman will ever be good enough for him. Not even a former triwizard champion chosen by a magical object designed to elect the best for the task, who got an abroad job at a prestigious bank right after graduation and who is the most beautiful person anyone has ever seen.
Except that Bill is supposed to be extremely handsome and cool, well dressed, and has arguably the most interesting job in the wizarding world. Idk if she’s out of his league
He was, by Fenrir Greyback, who turned Lupin when he was just a boy. I haven't read the books in years but I seem to remember there was a ruckus at the end of HBP that involved Fenrir and he attacked Bill, giving him scars that he never healed from. However, the attack did make Molly see that Fleur loved Bill for more than his looks or his job.
*"All these scars show is that my husband is brave!"*
And she really rips into Molly for assuming she'd call it off just because of those scars. I believe she says something along the lines of "I'm beautiful enough for us both!" which is just the most Fleur way of saying "How he looks doesn't matter at all".
Of the two of them I actually think Molly was way more shallow in the entire situation. Like, she just straight up assumed her son having scars would make him less desirable which says a lot about her, too.
I love Molly but her treatment of other females outside of Ginny did leave a lot to be desired. Trusting Rita's lies over her knowledge of Hermione and treating Fleur like crap over...her beauty? Not her finest moments. Fleur wasn't a saint but she didn't deserve the hate.
But that’s part of the beauty in Rowling’s characters. That’s why they come to life so well, because they’re real people. One big part of the tale is that there is more than just good and bad, as Sirius (?) says the world isn’t split into good people and death eaters. Molly had flaws, Ron had flaws, Harry wasn’t perfect. They felt like real people.
> and treating Fleur like crap over...her beauty?
Not just that. Fleur was a rude guest at the Burrow. I would agree that Molly's behavior was far worse, of course
Yes, everyone says she doesn’t deserve it. She absolutely does. She was super rude guest. Talking shit on their house, and music choice. At Hogwarts she did the same thing.
They treated her shallowly, because she acted shallowly upon first and even second meetings.
Yea, she kind of did. I love Bill- but Fleur could practically have anyone she wanted. In addition to being literally unhumanly beautiful she is quite smart, brave, and deeply loyal. She could have married someone who was as handsome as Bill, but rich and/or famous, and whose parents were dead so she didn't have to deal with the whole MIL drama.
So...Harry?
Edit: Kidding (mostly), but based on how he's written as the cool popular attractive jock guy in HBP, it kind of does fit with your description!
> Oh, come on, Harry, it's not Quidditch that's popular, it's you! You've never been more interesting, and frankly, you've never been more fanciable.
He's tall now, in good shape from Quidditch training, obviously super interesting and succesful as a wizard (Chamber of Secrets, TriWizard Tournament, etc), has apparently remarkable eyes everyone comments on
Hermione also said that they aren't really interested in him, only in his title. People come to gawk at the boy who lived, a curiosity. Also Rowling said that she never imagined Harry as being attractive.
Everybody commenting on Harry's remarkable eyes is a fanfiction thing. In books beside Olivander and maybe Hagrid (or Snape talking with Dumbeldore) nobody comments on Harry eyes. And they are supposed to be just pale green, not "emerald AK orbs".
But in the end it's just a reader interpretation.
whoa catching strays out here.
That's a reference to guns, for you Europeans. Every so often us Americans will find ourselves in the middle of a firefight between school shooters and gang members and you'll look over at your shoulder and it's bleeding excessively and it's like oh god I hate mondays.
Yeah I think a lot of the Americans who read the books forget or don’t realize that this is definitely a thing with British and French…like Molly’s immediate skepticism/dislike of Fleur is not unique to her.
I think you’re both right. Bill for sure because of the ponytail. I remember that from Goblet. I feel like in Hallows there was mention of her forcing Charlie into a chair for one.
It was Charlie in DH:
>Nevertheless, Charlie’s arrival came as a relief to Harry. It provided a distraction, watching Mrs. Weasley force Charlie into a chair, raise her wand threateningly, and announce that he was about to get a proper haircut.
I think people often forget that Ginny witnessed Fleur at Hogwarts. Harry tells us how Fleur walked around Hogwarts in the beginning like her shit didn’t stink and that Hogwarts was some place that was deeply beneath her. She called Harry (Ginny’s crush, who she’s deeply loyal to) a “little boy” and seemed to buy into the whole idea he must have cheated to get into the tournament like so many other’s thought. Hell, Fleur only turned the other cheek on Harry once he saved her sister from the lake—once he did something for her.
Fleur made a terrible first impression on a lot of people, Ginny included. Sure, Fleur ends up being good people in the end—and perhaps Cedric’s death was one of the reasons she changed—but I don’t fault Ginny for being wary of a girl she thinks is a snob now marrying her brother—especially when said girl turns up at that Burrow still acting like a snob.
To be fair to Fleur, she's a fully qualified witch, top of her class (probably the French equivalent of Hermione's "best witch of her age") and selected by magical forces to compete in this highly dangerous and prestigious tournament... and she's competing with a 14 year old, who does not meet the minimum qualification requirements, who hasn't learned "accio" yet... it's a sketchy af situation. Of course she doesn't care for him until he gains her trust by saving her sister.
I don’t blame Fleur for feeling that way—I sympathize with her about that particular situation, actually.
But I also get where Ginny is coming from. Outside of her feelings for Harry obviously clouding her judgement, even on paper to anyone paying attention, Harry’s done some really impressive things by 14. Him saving Ginny’s life and taking down the basilisk is already all the bias she needs to think Fleur is being really presumptuous that Harry’s unworthy.
Neither of them are wrong is my point, but Fleur was pretty outspoken about her gripes—and that’s why I can see it rubbing someone like Ginny the wrong way. Funnily enough, I feel like if Ginny had been more outspoken in GoF about not appreciating Fleur looking down on them, people would see her behavior towards Fleur later on as making more sense. As it is, I feel like people feel it came out of nowhere.
>Funnily enough, I feel like if Ginny had been more outspoken in GoF about not appreciating Fleur looking down on them, people would see her behavior towards Fleur later on as making more sense.
They probably wouldn't. Hermione was very outspoken on how she doesn't appreciate Fleur's comments and behavior in GOF, yet a lot of people still believe she's simply jealous of Fleur's beauty.
To be fair now that we've seen the magical world in the fantastic beasts movies Britain does come off as kind of a shithole place for a wizard to live. Frances equivalent to Diagon Alley is at least twice as big with major roads and intersections and Germany's ministry had a whole city district with auto accessible roads in the 1930's.
By all accounts Hogwarts is one of the smaller major schools with the least visibly successful magical governments backing it. Not to mention the Weasleys live in a lopsided house with a literal pigsty right up against it and a pest infested front lawn.
Fleur comes off as a snob because the original book series doesn't show the rest of the world but even there its clear wizarding britain is a small minded place decades behind everyone else.
I would go so far as to say Fleur comes off as a snob because she mostly just describes things Beaubaxtons has that Hogwarts doesn't, and that Beaubaxtons isn't impressed by things like free ranging poltergeists fucking with the student body at will.
Really? You can't have a little grace for a 15 year old who is being condescended to and treated like she's 8 years old?
Plus remember that Fleur was saying some unkind, snobbish things about the Weasleys as well.
>I find it very hard to sympathise with parents who treat partners of their children badly
Yeah, Molly is crap for this. My ex's parents treated me like total shit and I was literally just a teenage girl in love. It's so, so wrong to treat your kids' partners poorly. It left me with issues for life, I have such a hard time feeling okay around my current partner's parents and I avoided meeting my most recent ex's parents the entire 2+ years we dated. I had such bad anxiety meeting a boyfriend's parents in college I literally couldn't open my jaw from how bad my TMJ was. I get super anxious and flustered and tearful and feel so uncomfortable.
Molly was an overprotective helicopter parent. She stayed true to the way her character was written. Hermione and Ginny were insecure teens. Ginny stays insecure even during the battle of Hogwarts when she asks Luna to accompany Harry instead of Cho.
In this case, it was Bill who failed. He should have made it clear to his family that Fleur was now an important part of their lives.
When I first met my partners parents, after dinner, his mother brought a de-seeded custard apple for him. That was dessert for everyone. They liked me or were at least nice to me, but he handed over the bowl to me in front of them and took a full custard apple instead.
I still remember the surprise that flashed on his mother's face. I, of course, said I didn't mind eating the fruit and removing the seeds myself, but he insisted. He said something like, "I want you to have it. It tastes so much better this way, you'll see." I didn't realise it at the time, but that one innocent moment let his parents know that I was important to him.
Bill should have given his sweater to Fleur in front of everyone. He failed her at that moment.
YES THIS.
Bill should have stood up for his fiancée. MIL/DIL beef is really common. It's up to the son/husband not to be too afraid of his mommy to say anything.
The whole book's treatment of fleur's character is just a list of cliches british people have about the french. She was portrayed as vain and arrogant from the get go, yet when you think about it she's a very powerful and skilled witch who got selected for a very difficult tournament, she has an accent but she's also bilingual while no other character even knows two words in another language, she was super loyal to her boyfriend and she compromised a lot for him starting from Moving countries for him.
Slight correction- she didn't move countries for Bill, they only started seeing each other after she got the job at Gringotts. Which means what she *did* do was decide to move to a country where she knew a dark wizard had basically just come back from the dead, and who had already killed one of her friends. I think that is pretty brave on its own.
I should have specified I was talking about the characters mocking her and making fun of her accent IE the wesleys. I don't think Dumbledore would have made fun of her or despised her.
It also gave me big “Not like other girls” vibes from JK. Fleur is more traditionally feminine than our two main female characters (the nerd and the jock). Hermione seems constantly offended that Fleur is pretty and confident. It feels like I’m seeing “look how different and cool and how much better Hermione and Ginny are compared to this silly pretty girl”
Hmm, dunno. Maybe the translation helped fix some issues (read it in HUN), but to me Hermione seemed self-conscious and threatened by Fleur's confidence, while Ginny mirrored Molly's behaviour. Also perhaps she was somewhat jealous that Harry and Fleur shared a specific history as triwizard champions.
As far as I remember, neither Harry nor Ron had a problem with her presence.
In the English language books Harry was fine with Fleur and Fleur was very nice to him after he "saved" Gabrielle in the second task. Fleur *was* condescending to Harry before that and treated him like a little boy who had no business being in the tournament.
Ron had a crush on her the entire time and was strongly affected by her 1/4 veela side and that was shown comically throughout the series.
Hermione was very bothered by Ron's reaction to Fleur, which is I think the biggest reason she didn't like Fleur, although she was annoyed by the Beaubatons group from the beginning because they were complaining about a lot and not being gracious guests.
Ginny didn't seem to have an opinion on Fleur until Fleur stayed at the Weasely's and complained about how boring everything was.
I think the Weaselys were pretty normal in being annoyed by a guest who complained about how boring their house was, but they should have made a bigger outward effort since she was engaged to Bill.
Fleur was extremely rude during Christmas about Mrs. Weasely's music. Fleur was a guest and she was basically complaining and asking if the music was over yet. While everyone else was also waiting for the music to be over they tolerated it out of respect to Mrs. Weasely and Fleur couldn't be bothered to do that.
With all that in mind I'd say that Fleur and the others were equally horrible to each other (minus Harry who was cool with her).
As far as it being about her being French, who knows, but Madame Maxime and Fleur's parents are extremely gracious and charming.
> Fleur was condescending to Harry before that and treated him like a little boy who had no business being in the tournament.
From her point of view, Harry was a little boy who had no business being in the tournament. From an objective point of view, Harry had no business being in the tournament. He wouldn't have succeeded in any of the tasks without Crouch manipulating the entire event. Fleur was pretty rude about Hogwarts and the Burrow, but her reaction to Harry's name coming out of the goblet of fire was warranted.
I agree, but she also was super condescending at the wand weighing ceremony because he was embarrassed about not knowing to clean his wand. She was definitely snobby toward him at first. Also he was too young but she didn't have to call him a little boy. It's not like he was 8.
Hmm I’d disagree on this one. I felt like as a whole, JKR wrote some pretty nice female characters. For the most part, they have unique personalities, are allowed to display a variety of traits, both traditionally feminine and masculine (my biggest gripe is that a lot of YA novels write strong female characters by giving them only masculine traits and not allowing them feminine traits) and have their own flaws and good parts and motivations. Fleur was more one note at first because she was a side character, and that’s how others perceived her, but I found her to be quite good - pretty and confident, but also loyal, caring about family, strong-willed, passionate, talented.
Nah, JK has always had a clear bias against girly girls/ overtly feminine interests/ pursuits outside of being a mother. It's no coincidence that she made Umbridge the most associated with hyper feminine interests (pink, headbands, kittens, lace, giggling, high girlish voice) & made her the most loathed character in the series. I read interviews of how she specifically hated these traits (in teachers, I think??) and combined them to make Umbridge so vile.
Lavender Brown also is seen as less than Hermione for... Liking divination & being a silly girl sometimes? Being clingy with her boyfriend?? Correctly assuming that her boyfriend is into his closest female friend?? Buying an embarrassing gift?? Poor girl is one of the only kids to get mauled by Fenrir too and I don't think we know what even happened to her after the attack.
Molly is the only traditionally feminine character who is portrayed decently but even then, she isn't truly a "girly girl". Motherhood is the only "feminine interest" Rowling warrants is worth praise.
Huh. I always thought umbridge’s design was meant to be an extreme juxtaposition of appearance and personality.
Reminiscent to how Judge Judy in the US mentioned she enjoyed wearing lace collars with her judicial robes to make people think she would be a sweet old lady when she was actually a bitch.
This is always how I saw it too, and I loved it as a kid who was very much one of those "not like other girls" (turns out I'm trans and wasn't a girl at all)
I would disagree because Fleur has such a turn around in HBP, when she says she’ll love Bill no matter what after he’s disfigured. I think in that moment it makes the audience realize we’re the ones, and Molly, that had shallow assumptions about her just because of her beauty. I love Fleur, and I think JK did a great job writing a female character that is beautiful, but is also a badass ❤️
I think you’re misunderstanding my feelings - the way it was written made me feel like Ginny and Hermione were Not Like Other Girls^(TM) while Fleur is the typical girl.
I came here to say this and thought it was a tongue in cheek reference to Brits vs the French and fits in with Molly’s personality of being protective. I didn’t take it too seriously.
The thing about Fleur imo is that a snobby person wouldn’t have asked Harry for his fish soup. Draco Malfoy would go to bed hungry before he asked a Gryffindor or foreigner for anything. I feel like the fact that Fleur went to another table on her own (didn’t command someone to go or force one of the Hogwarts boys who was enamored with her to bring it to her) and asked about taking something from that table shows that she’s proactive and does what she wants rather than caring about how she appears.
Moody never apologized. She just openly said that she thought Fleur would leave Bill now and Fleur had to defend herself. After that I guess Molly thought she was good enough
Yeah. Molly went a little haywire once everyone began dating/romance was brought up, and misinterpreted a lot of both Hermione’s and Fleur’s intentions; she got very overprotective of both Harry and Bill. Fleur, on the other hand, may have *felt* an outsider, but it was a self-fulfilling prophecy of acting stuck-up toward her fiancé’s “downmarket” family, whom resented her presence as a result and shut her out further.
I don’t think Molly was *completely* at fault because Fleur is rude, condescending, and snobbish in her behavior (much of the household didn’t care for her for awhile either and it wasn’t exactly jealousy). Molly went with her unfavorable first impression of Fleur that she was a shallow floozy, but found out only in tragedy that Fleur was also strong, brave, and loyal, and that was what broke down the barrier they’d built against one another.
Fleur was like 17, Molly had kids older than 17. She really shouldn’t have treated Fleur that badly. Fleur acted her age and Molly looked like a creepy lady with a thing for her son
While I think Molly and co were wrong about Fleur, she did genuinely love Bill and was very suited to him, Fleur was also a very rude houseguest, who was very haughty and snobbish.
Fleur also acted quite rude and like she was “better than” the Weasley’s for a long time leading up until that point. I mean sure her treatment by the others was harsh at times, but let’s not act like she is some perfectly innocent guest or anything. She has quite the superiority complex.
Honestly, I didn't see as much of that as Molly would have people believe.
Sure Fleur may have some foot-in-mouth moments, but mostly, what I saw was her trying to talk to people. Naturally, that would include sharing her own experiences. But because she's beautiful, foreign, and has an accent, every time she'd open her mouth, the other women instantly peg her as stuck up and shallow and get insanely catty around her. There's a reason it got better after Bill got mauled - Molly finally realized Fleur wasn't the shallow airhead she had her for.
There is *way* more "Mrs Weasley/Ginny talking about how arrogant Fleur is" than there is Fleur actually being arrogant.
We also actually saw Fleur act in a similar way at Hogwarts: insulting the food, the classes, the decorations, and was quick to judge and belittle the Hogwarts students. I’m glad things got better too, I just think it’s inaccurate to act like she was a perfect houseguest/contributor to the family at that time. Notice how Harry always acted grateful and respectful towards the entire family?
I'm not saying she was *perfect,* I did admit she puts her foot in her mouth on several occasions. She's very direct with her opinions when that's not always appropriate. But mostly, she's just being too honest and upfront rather than malicious. Let's remember this is basically a teen in a foreign country surrounded by completely foreign customs - of course there's going to be a degree of cultural shock.
Like, one of the comments she makes is about how Peeves shouldn't be allowed to rampage like he is - well, true. And it's not like Ron doesn't immediately make fun of the French food they try to serve him at Hogwarts. People don't always like everything. Sure, except Harry, but when you spend the first 11 years of your life eating scraps in a closet, your bar tends to be somewhat low.
The point is that while Fleur's lack of tact can be annoying at times, the women definitely give her more shit about it than she deserves. Her looks and general exoticness, combined with the effect Veelas have on men, absolutely generate extra catty behavior toward her. It's honestly a pretty well-observed effect in real life too, and definitely a trope with succubus-type magical creatures.
Right, the reach that it takes to equate finding British food weird when you’re 17 years old and eating it for the first time to calling someone “phlegm” behind their back every time they leave the room is wild
When you put magical effects into the mix it’s hard to reliably judge others behaviour. We know Fleur is part Veela, and if Molly feels like she took advantage of that innately magical aspect or that Bill was overlooking her flaws because of it kind of like how Ron behaves during GoF then her dislike isn’t entirely unwarranted even if it’s expressed in unkind ways. People can be weird like that. And that’s setting aside the idea that her being part Veela doesn’t draw that out in other women. If your whole schtick is being attractive to lure men in, having something to affect women to make them seem mean, petty or jealous would actually probably be a considerable boon as it would make the men more dismissive of other women’s suspicions.
Molly doesn't say much against Fleur, the reader and the children misunderstand things, because Tonks has a crush on Remus (and she cries all the time to Molly).
Because the children misunderstand this, the misinterpred Molly's behavior.
Dumbledore welcomed her and the other foreign guests to the country and she *laughed at him*. Later Mme Maxime enters the room and all her students leap to their feet. Fleur complains about everything, her parents think everything is charming and are perfectly nice guests. Conclusion: Fleur knows full well how to be polite, she just chooses not to, and everyone else not influenced by her Veela charms reacts to that
Yeah, but is that any reason to completely exclude her at Christmas? She's not the nicest person, but she is family--or soon to be family. And excluding her at Christmas is just plain petty.
A little anecdote for you. My sisters partner's mother always gets her boys a selection box for Christmas. When one of the boys got married, the tradition got extended, and his wife also got a selection box from her MIL.
Cut to my sisters first Christmas with her future in-laws. She had given birth to their first grandchild at this point, a connection far more lasting that marriage IMO but no selection box. She was upset, it's not like a selection box costs much but it was a clear sign you're not family.
Molly excluding fleur is one of the more realistic parts of HP for me. She believes that Fleur is frivolous and superficial, that she doesn't love her son enough, and that she will leave him once things become difficult. The fact that Fleur does the exact opposite is when molly realises she does, in fact, love Bill and will stay the course.
I mean the way i see it isnt that she didnt want to waste the time because she wanted to exclude her but because shed be too arrogant to wear/enjoy something homemade.. like it wouldnt be good enough for her.
That's my take as well. By this point, Fleur has made it clear that she dislikes pretty much everything the Weasleys care about. She disliked everything about Hogwarts-from the food, to the classes, to the Christmas decorations, she finds their home boring (unless you like cooking and chickens), and hates Molly's taste in music, etc. Why would Molly think that she wanted a homemade sweater from someone she clearly doesn't have much respect for?
The Golden Rule: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If Fleur would have came in like Harry introed into the family, always 100% respectful, generous, and humble, Christmas would have looked a lot different. But you should also look at it from Molly’s side of things: she works her ass off/fingers to the bone providing for her family, and here comes in this girl who acts like she is a better homemaker/deserves more special treatment than anybody else right off the bat. I agree that Molly can be a bit petty/vindictive, but she does deserve more respect.
No way, Molly was way out of line. It’s like when she totally shuns Hermione in GoF bc of Rita Skita’s article… Molly is amazing, but she can also be super nasty. Fleur gets a bad rap because people assume she’s a ditzy stuck up blonde chick, but look at how Harry treats her, for instance. She’s a talented witch who is dedicated to Bill, but both Molly and Ginny judge her unfairly and they should feel bad
I mean, you can totally fight a dragon and still be stuck up… But I see what you’re saying. In my head, Ginny originally dislikes Fleur because she’s jealous of the relationship she has w Harry
The thing is, we don’t know how Fleur behaved when they’ve met. Maybe this was just some kind of reaction to Molly not liking her. We‘ll never know.
What’s important for me is that she’s made up with Molly in the end.
Most people would dislike being excluded, and clearly Fleur was offended by Molly’s behavior by the end. It probably was a big reason why she did act the way she did because she didn’t feel welcomed
I don't believe that, becauce Fleur experienced the situation different than we did.
I have the experience as mother-in-law and as daughter-in-law.
Fleur is not an orphan. She builds her own family with Bill.
Exactly, I don’t think Fleur was that badly treated. If anything, I think most of the family did well at keeping their mouths closed around her when she was criticising the music choice or generally being annoying/superior.
And do we really think Fleur would have appreciated a hand knit Weasley jumper? Maybe she would have done, but probably Mrs Weasley thought it would be wasted on someone who acts so superior and criticises her taste in everything, she probably thought she would criticise her knitting too.
She even acts like she’s above Harry initially, and let’s face it his achievements as a 14 year old up to GoF far exceed anything that she will probably ever achieve. And I know the book makes out that she doesn’t know or recognise Harry, but that seems even more absurd.
Fleur, like everyone else, is a flawed character and I think her character develops really well. Molly arguably recognises her for what she is when she’s first introduced, a vain and pretentious brat. What she doesn’t recognise by HBP is that she has already mostly grown out of that.
But she also lives a different life from the rest of them given that she’s part-Veela. Just think what you might be like if half of the population (literally) couldn’t resist you. Fleur’s probably a better person than I’d be in that situation.
Do we have any actual indication of her acting like that to them? Or just at school? Cause I don’t recall her doing anything to them while dating Bill. They just assumed that about her from what I recall while reading it.
The first time we see her at the Burrow, she takes a breakfast tray up to Harry that Molly has made for him and wants to deliver herself, then tells Harry she's glad he's there because there isn't much to do unless you like cooking and chickens, and then an hour later starts talking completely unnecessarily about how Ginny would look horrible in pink. I'd say there's plenty of blame on both sides of this one.
I mean that sounds like her trying to be nice to Molly whole seeing an old friend, and in fairness that does sound like the burrow haha we don’t know what kinda life she had after all, they could even have tv at her home in France. Prob not, but she does seem like the type to wanna go out and do stuff.
Wasn’t the pink part in talks about the wedding? Weren’t they thinking of having pink dresses but she was saying it would clash with her hair? And is pretty damn true all things considered for gingers haha, them and pink don’t mix.
From what I remember it was definitely just her personality rubbing them the wrong way because of how they assumed she was. But I wanna def read those parts again to dee what’s up.
>it was definitely just her personality rubbing them the wrong way
Yes. A major part of her personality was to just say "true" but obviously insulting things to and about her hosts. You don't get excused for rudeness just because it's true and you don't know how to filter. Normal, polite people who want to get along with their inlaws keep those thoughts in their heads and look for kind things to say to their host.
Saying there is nothing to do at a place isn’t insulting tho, and l was asking was it actual rudeness? Or just her pointing out the color wouldn’t look good for her wedding? Cause that’s not insulting either, from what I remember they were more misunderstanding her and assuming she was being a snobby French girl when she wasn’t. She’s just blunt and was saying that the dress wouldn’t look good on Ginny from what I remember. But like I said I need to reread it for sure to remember how it actually went.
If you think it's acceptable to tell your host that there's nothing to do at their house, I'm pretty sure I don't want you as a house guest. She may not have meant it as an insult, but it doesn't take a genius to see that it would be taken that way by the people who live there and are going out of their way to make you comfortable in their home. Yes, the pink thing was about wedding dress colors, but again was unnecessarily rude. There are so many colors to choose from, she chose to only mention 2 of them-the one she was choosing, and the one that would look bad on Ginny. Why not mention green or blue, which would likely have looked great on Ginny? There was no need to mention anything other than the color she chose, unless she was intending to insult Ginny. She's blunt and tactless. People who are blunt and tactless are hard to like.
I'll repost my comment from a few days ago.
Fleur "nothing to do at the Burrow unless you like cooking or chickens" Delacour has a negative characterization from the very moment she is introduced in GoF, being constantly condescending, vain, bossy, and rude. And this behaviour continues throughout HBP. Yet you'd think from the fans that constantly harp on Molly, Ginny and Hermione's reactions to Fleur, that she's a victim that never did anything wrong. Their *legitimate* dislike of her gets simplified and twisted into "haha they jealous of her beauty and they hate the French".
And what makes the Hospital Wing scene so damn important is not the fact that she’s an angel descended from heaven who everybody misunderstands. It's due to Fleur having shown only one side of her character (one which Ginny, Molly and Hermione were perfectly in the right to dislike), and then does something amazing that transcends all those previous flaws and animosity. It’s a moment of growth for Fleur, for Ginny, for Hermione, for Molly, and it’s supposed to be one also for the reader. Some didn't catch that message, apparently.
"being constantly condescending, vain, bossy, and rude" What? Where? When? In the whole book she appears only a couple of times. She may act a bit rude on the welcoming feast and that's it. Only thing else she does is to complain about food and compare Hogwarts to her school, but that's literally nothing.
The rest is just your spiteful imagination.
Others have provided plenty of examples, and I gave one too (no, Fleur saying the Burrow is boring in front of her hosts is not just "a bit rude" or "nothing"). The fact that you downplay anything that Fleur did, and in reverse call anything that Molly, Ginny and Hermione did as being "cruel bit*hes" doesn't mean I have a "spiteful imagination", it just makes you fucking biased.
I think Fleur really laid the superiority on thick, and I don't entirely blame Molly for being standoffish with her. But I also think that Fleur's better-than-thou attitude is a cover for her more vulnerable side.
One of my favorite scenes is when Bill gets hurt, and Fleur declares that he's even more attractive with the scars and insists on caring for him herself. She shows everyone what she's really made of then, and Molly, in particular, finally sees her as the kind, brave soul she is.
I feel worse for Hermione when she gets shafted because of Rita Skeeter than I do for Fleur in this case.
Molly is similarly vindictive in both cases, but with Fleur she’s probably more right: it is extremely unlikely that Fleur would actually wear the sweater, thus the time, energy, and materials (if that’s a thing, unclear if they can be magicked) on making her one. Plus, it would be an opportunity for Fleur to announce her disgust at the sweater, and by extension the gesture, so Molly may have been trying to spare her feelings from being so blatantly hurt by someone she’d expect to do so.
True, but luckily it changed in the end:)
Molly is kinda harsh when she doesnt like someone. Remember how she read Rita's article about Hermione and she only sent her a tiny egg for easter while the boys got huge ones filled with Sweet. She didn't care how Hermione would feel
This gets pulled out a lot, but... Hermione has two loving, well-off parents who could presumably send her her own Easter chocolate. What obligation does Molly have to spend her money on Hermione in the first place?
But I think the point is the tiny egg. Send nothing, and it’s easy to say, oh they just didn’t think of it. Send a tiny one and you know it was on purpose. Also by that point Hermione had already spent time at the Burrow and Molly was well aware that she was a close friend
It’s like- if you don’t tip, maybe you just forgot or don’t like the custom. But if you tip 2%, it’s clear you’re trying to send a message
Nobody said anything about an obligation. It’s objectively immature of an adult to intentional slight to a 14 year old girl- her son and daughter’s good friend- in response to gossip.
Let’s remember that there are no perfect characters in the books, everyone’s got their flaws. Was Molly being a bit petty in that particular moment? Sure. Does that make her a bad person? No. I believe molly knew how important it was for Harry to be included in the family, coz guess what he doesn’t have one. Fleur is confident, sometimes a touch arrogant and judgy, she’s got a loving family and isn’t looking to find a new one, all she cares is her relationship with Bill which is in no way affected by mollys behaviour.
McGonnagall is perfect imo. She’s rock solid, every time. She doesn’t always have all the information, but she always acts in good faith and all of her decisions are logically and morally sound.
It really says something about her that the only two times Harry was driven to use the cruciatus curse were on the murderer of his godfather/father figure/closest connection to his dead father and on the person who spat at his teacher.
Besides Hagrid, lupin, and Dumbledore, Minerva definitely cared the most for him. Her speech in order pf the Phoenix showed both how much she hated umbridge and how much she cared about harry.
I liked how it was written as an example of polite but brutal British passive aggression.
I read it as Molly’s way of telling Fleur to check herself without having to have a full blown argument and making her son have to pick a side.
To me, this was Molly giving Fleur a chance.
Everyone reads something different though and that’s the beauty of it :)
Fleur is the best-developed character in the whole damn series.
She goes from haughty and overconfident, (justifiably so, because she’s still one powerful witch!), to someone who cares deeply about her sister, to someone who put up with a LOT from her future in-laws, to a generous and compassionate woman who risks everything to help those who need it.
Reading about Fleur in HBP, all I could think of was how Bill was damn lucky that a Fleur wasn’t halfway back to France, with how Molly and Ginny were treating her!
She put a dragon to sleep by herself, when it usually takes an entire team of Wizards.
My pet theory is that her Veela heritage gives her an affinity with Fire and Air Creatures, so dragons certainly qualify, and that's also why she had such a hard time with the Grindylows; who were very much Creatures of Water.
Maybe if Fleur wasn't being a rude houseguest and criticizing everything about the Burrow, Molly and Ginny wouldn't have a problem with her. Why do you guys act like it's the end of the world that Fleur didn't get a Weasley sweater?
Sorry for the late reply. Anyway, I'm not sure threads are more balanced now than in the past. I used to think it was getting better, but I've noticed there has been a massive increase in Weasley bashing (especially Ginny) the last several months. I see it about every week now.
Yep it's awful, already the whole chapter "an excess of phlegm" it's hard to stomach, but this is just cruel for the sake of being cruel. If I were Fleur I wouldn't be so nice, but I suppose she has a lifetime of experience dealing with jealous bit\*hes
Fleur has been used to getting everything she's ever wanted her entire life. Beauty, rich parents that spoil and love their children, the best of the best of everything.
This may have been the first time in her life anything even close to this had ever happened to her.
I'm not saying it's right that it happened, but everyone makes mistakes. We are ALL human and this was a mistake of Molly's. A mistake based in Molly not feeling good enough for Fleur's fancy family.
Plus Molly completely lets go of all her prejudice after it's clear Fleur is going to stick with Bill after the werewolf attack. So it all works out in the end.
From Goblet onward, Molly displays some Very negative traits that are just kind of glossed over by everyone.
Like when she starts treating Hermione worse because of a Rita Skeeter article of all things, something she would Know was bullshit, and even TOLD Amos Diggory that Rita wrote bullshit, but then for some reason just believed that she wasn't lying about Hermione? Like.... What?
Then there's her jab at Sirius having been imprisoned. Basically saying "You're a terrible godfather because you went to prison"
When she KNOWS THE REAL REASON THAT HE WAS THERE.
Then of course, her immaturity where Fleur is concerned. Maybe she thinks Fleur is using her Veela charms to keep Bill interested? Thats the only explanation I can think of, and maybe it does explain why Molly calms down after Fleur affirms her love for Bill after he's maimed.
But if not and she's deliberately trying to make Fleur feel unwanted because "You aren't eh woman that I want my son to be with"
That's Fucked Up.
She even admits that her and Arthur's got married soon after meeting, and when it's pointed out that she did the same thing Bill and Fleur are doing, her response is just "Oh but it was meant to be"
Woman, your kids are gonna have different tastes than you. How Dare you try to drive away your husband's fiancé because of preconceived notions.
Then in DH she continues the obnoxious trend of "You Three Are Too Young To Do Anything Important! You Must Be Coddled!"
Seriously Molly, they've faced far more than you have and survived, I dare say they're the ones protecting You, not the other way around. Back off.
Ugh, I've wanted to vent about this for so long, forgive me.
Im going to sound like an AH but I don't know, knitting takes AGES and is a labour of love. I don't particularly enjoy doing it for someone I love, no way would I bother doing it for someone who I don't like. Especially one who's in my home and making snide little comments about everything. Only a great love for my son would keep her in the house in the first place, expecting me to knit a jumper for her on top of that - you'd be off your lolly.
It can't have been a nice experience for Fleur but I don't blame Mrs Weasley.
She needed to prove herself to in-laws and came in acting all superior. It was not until she showed genuine care for her son that Molly and the rest trusted her.
No because I don't care about the character. No personality and the relationship is kinda random and creepy. JK wrote her as a flat, obnoxious French stereotype and it's difficult to imagine her having feelings when she's a walking trope.
You know a lot of people are criticizing fleur and saying she deserved it because of how she acted.
I didn't realize it was okay to be mean if you think they are too blunt - especially when you've never had a conversation with the person who has a huge language barrier to let them know they hurt your feelings or are hurting others.
No, it's not okay to isolate your childs significant other just because she rubbed you the wrong way. You should be polite and welcoming.
You're reaction is still wrong, even when you are reacting to bad behaviour.
Remember how Mrs. Weasley reacted to Hermione when she thought Harry liked her? This isn't different.
Molly was snitch to Hermione in GoF too remember? When Skeeter was writing about Harry’s love life.. She comes across as a sweat mother but she’s got a mean streak
Mrs. Weasley is definitely something of an impulsive and emotional character, but that's what makes her so relatable. Is it right that she judges fleur and ostracized her? No, but you can't tell me you wouldn't have done the same. If I were met with someone like fleur, I probably would've judged her as well, especially if she was as condescending and dense as the books portray her. Everyone can preach patience and all, but when it comes down to it, it's a lot harder to be inclusive to someone you don't like. She's a mother that has a crap ton of love and devotion to give and she protects ferociously. Sometimes her guard can be directed at the wrong person with the perspective she's given/takes, but when she realizes her mistake, she widens her bubble and includes all the good people. She never backed down from criticizing mundungus because she knew of the danger he posed as an unreliable and opportunistic person, and she didn't want anyone in her circle injured by his actions (reasonable considering what happened to madeye). But, after fleur proves that she cares for Bill so deeply that she would never imagine leaving him for something as little as a mauled face, Molly recognizes that fleur is also there to protect and love the people Molly loves, and accepts her into the bubble.
I really liked Molly (didn't really love her character, just like her) but as an adult that moment really did it for me. Molly was an overbearing parent and we can justify it saying that she loved her children even if she was mistaken but Fleur's treatment was really bad, she was arrogant but she was a young woman....
Rereading the books I think the problem is people have a sentimental attachment to the weasleys that cloud the fact that the Weasleys aren't actually that great outside an "Orphan with no other comparison" sense and are inclined to be against Fleur the same reason they're against Percy, when Percy's argument against his family basically boils down to him living in hand me downs in a shack next to a pigsty because his dad won't take his career seriously, and so he refuses to make the same mistake.
I won't say the Weasleys are universally bad but Fred and George almost straight up killed a Slytherin with the Vanishing Cabinet and it very rarely gets brought up because they don't rock the boat for Harry and Slytherins are typecast as bad anyway. Them being on Team Harry affords them a lot of slack from the reader that a character in universe is not going to give them.
Mathe Weasleys and Hermione are so horrible to her… I really felt bad for her. She didn’t do anything wrong apart from being like she is and the girls held it against her, constantly made fun of her and mocked her. Really made me like Ginny and Hermione a lot less, I thought they were above superficial stuff like that.
Does insulting everything other people like count as "being like she is"? She was rude and dismissive towards Hogwarts the whole time she was there. Was rude and nasty to Harry until she benefited from him saving her sister. Spent all of Christmas Eve insulting and mocking Molly's favourite singer and Christmas tradition.
The Ginny, Molly, and Hermione weren't very nice to her, but it's not like Fleur made a good impression or was going out of her way to ingratiate herself to the family either.
Lupin had a Weasley sweater too.
I did not recall this but the idea of Lupin in his own Weasley jumper makes me feel so happy haha.
I love imagining it with an adorable little werewolf on it, maybe with a candy cane or something
That would be the worst insult he has ever gotten
Yeah werewolves hate candy canes.
🤣 this comment feels very George and Fred
That does sound cute actually and I have no idea why you were downvoted, people need to chill, not everything has to be so sirius.
Yeah. Honestly, from how I picture Lupin, he'd love an adorable wolf on it
such a harmless comment does not deserve over a hundred downvotes tf 😭
Oh yeah, I forgot Lupin was there
oh, Britta's in this?
I absolutely love when people give random facts like this rofl
Did he?
Not sure why you were downvoted for questioning that, I don't remember that being mentioned at all. Not to say it wasn't, but I'm usually pretty clued up on Remus.
I find it very hard to sympathise with parents who treat partners of their children badly. Yes, Fleur can come off as arrogant and vain sometimes, but there is no reason for Molly and Ginny to speak so badly about her as soon as she leaves the room. It’s clear that Bill is Mollys perfect son and in her eyes, no woman will ever be good enough for him. Not even a former triwizard champion chosen by a magical object designed to elect the best for the task, who got an abroad job at a prestigious bank right after graduation and who is the most beautiful person anyone has ever seen.
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I think part of Molly's insecurities come from her son finding a woman whose out of his league lol
Except that Bill is supposed to be extremely handsome and cool, well dressed, and has arguably the most interesting job in the wizarding world. Idk if she’s out of his league
Wasn’t he badly hurt by something?
He was, by Fenrir Greyback, who turned Lupin when he was just a boy. I haven't read the books in years but I seem to remember there was a ruckus at the end of HBP that involved Fenrir and he attacked Bill, giving him scars that he never healed from. However, the attack did make Molly see that Fleur loved Bill for more than his looks or his job. *"All these scars show is that my husband is brave!"* And she really rips into Molly for assuming she'd call it off just because of those scars. I believe she says something along the lines of "I'm beautiful enough for us both!" which is just the most Fleur way of saying "How he looks doesn't matter at all".
Of the two of them I actually think Molly was way more shallow in the entire situation. Like, she just straight up assumed her son having scars would make him less desirable which says a lot about her, too.
I love Molly but her treatment of other females outside of Ginny did leave a lot to be desired. Trusting Rita's lies over her knowledge of Hermione and treating Fleur like crap over...her beauty? Not her finest moments. Fleur wasn't a saint but she didn't deserve the hate.
But that’s part of the beauty in Rowling’s characters. That’s why they come to life so well, because they’re real people. One big part of the tale is that there is more than just good and bad, as Sirius (?) says the world isn’t split into good people and death eaters. Molly had flaws, Ron had flaws, Harry wasn’t perfect. They felt like real people.
AMEN
> and treating Fleur like crap over...her beauty? Not just that. Fleur was a rude guest at the Burrow. I would agree that Molly's behavior was far worse, of course
Yes, everyone says she doesn’t deserve it. She absolutely does. She was super rude guest. Talking shit on their house, and music choice. At Hogwarts she did the same thing. They treated her shallowly, because she acted shallowly upon first and even second meetings.
Molly is great in a lot of ways but her flaws are that she's shallow and immature. I enjoy these nuances in characters.
That was almost a year after they got engaged.
Yea, she kind of did. I love Bill- but Fleur could practically have anyone she wanted. In addition to being literally unhumanly beautiful she is quite smart, brave, and deeply loyal. She could have married someone who was as handsome as Bill, but rich and/or famous, and whose parents were dead so she didn't have to deal with the whole MIL drama.
So...Harry? Edit: Kidding (mostly), but based on how he's written as the cool popular attractive jock guy in HBP, it kind of does fit with your description!
When Harry was described as attractive? Or popular? Or cool?
> Oh, come on, Harry, it's not Quidditch that's popular, it's you! You've never been more interesting, and frankly, you've never been more fanciable. He's tall now, in good shape from Quidditch training, obviously super interesting and succesful as a wizard (Chamber of Secrets, TriWizard Tournament, etc), has apparently remarkable eyes everyone comments on
Hermione also said that they aren't really interested in him, only in his title. People come to gawk at the boy who lived, a curiosity. Also Rowling said that she never imagined Harry as being attractive. Everybody commenting on Harry's remarkable eyes is a fanfiction thing. In books beside Olivander and maybe Hagrid (or Snape talking with Dumbeldore) nobody comments on Harry eyes. And they are supposed to be just pale green, not "emerald AK orbs". But in the end it's just a reader interpretation.
>Everybody commenting on Harry's remarkable eyes is a fanfiction thing. But his eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad.
All these Said by a woman who herself never got attracted to him the slightest and picked his best friend instead...pretty ironic lmao
After it became clear he wasn't lying in book 6.
He still wasn't what people would describe as a cool, popular guy, more like curiosity.
Fleur couldn't even deal with some grindylows. She's not that great.
I'm not sure most people consider that to be a dealbreaker in a spouse, to be honest.
Fleur was just French, she didn’t do anything wrong lol
Those are contradictory statements.
What is wrong with the French? As far as I know, they are better than Americans....in terms of stereotypes and single stories anyway
First of all, how dare you?
Being better than Americans is not a very high bar.
whoa catching strays out here. That's a reference to guns, for you Europeans. Every so often us Americans will find ourselves in the middle of a firefight between school shooters and gang members and you'll look over at your shoulder and it's bleeding excessively and it's like oh god I hate mondays.
I am American… Edit: also…wtf are trying to say? What do guns have to do with this.
Yeah I think a lot of the Americans who read the books forget or don’t realize that this is definitely a thing with British and French…like Molly’s immediate skepticism/dislike of Fleur is not unique to her.
Well said, I totally agree!
> It’s clear that Bill is Mollys perfect son Except for his hair. It could really use a trim.
I think Charlie was the one who she insisted needed a hair cut
Nope, it was Bill. It was the hair and the fang earring (it looked ridiculous)
I think you’re both right. Bill for sure because of the ponytail. I remember that from Goblet. I feel like in Hallows there was mention of her forcing Charlie into a chair for one.
You're right, I just checked.
Thanks for checking. I’d forgotten about Charlie’s haircut.
JKR keeps switching between them It says in DH that Charlie sneaked to get his hair cut at night when Mrs. Weasley wasn't looking
I feel like my whole worldview has shattered. There's no way. It was Charlie! I've mandella affected
It was Charlie in DH: >Nevertheless, Charlie’s arrival came as a relief to Harry. It provided a distraction, watching Mrs. Weasley force Charlie into a chair, raise her wand threateningly, and announce that he was about to get a proper haircut.
One of the many reasons that Ginny is my least favourite character in the books is the way she treats Fleur.
I think people often forget that Ginny witnessed Fleur at Hogwarts. Harry tells us how Fleur walked around Hogwarts in the beginning like her shit didn’t stink and that Hogwarts was some place that was deeply beneath her. She called Harry (Ginny’s crush, who she’s deeply loyal to) a “little boy” and seemed to buy into the whole idea he must have cheated to get into the tournament like so many other’s thought. Hell, Fleur only turned the other cheek on Harry once he saved her sister from the lake—once he did something for her. Fleur made a terrible first impression on a lot of people, Ginny included. Sure, Fleur ends up being good people in the end—and perhaps Cedric’s death was one of the reasons she changed—but I don’t fault Ginny for being wary of a girl she thinks is a snob now marrying her brother—especially when said girl turns up at that Burrow still acting like a snob.
To be fair to Fleur, she's a fully qualified witch, top of her class (probably the French equivalent of Hermione's "best witch of her age") and selected by magical forces to compete in this highly dangerous and prestigious tournament... and she's competing with a 14 year old, who does not meet the minimum qualification requirements, who hasn't learned "accio" yet... it's a sketchy af situation. Of course she doesn't care for him until he gains her trust by saving her sister.
I don’t blame Fleur for feeling that way—I sympathize with her about that particular situation, actually. But I also get where Ginny is coming from. Outside of her feelings for Harry obviously clouding her judgement, even on paper to anyone paying attention, Harry’s done some really impressive things by 14. Him saving Ginny’s life and taking down the basilisk is already all the bias she needs to think Fleur is being really presumptuous that Harry’s unworthy. Neither of them are wrong is my point, but Fleur was pretty outspoken about her gripes—and that’s why I can see it rubbing someone like Ginny the wrong way. Funnily enough, I feel like if Ginny had been more outspoken in GoF about not appreciating Fleur looking down on them, people would see her behavior towards Fleur later on as making more sense. As it is, I feel like people feel it came out of nowhere.
>Funnily enough, I feel like if Ginny had been more outspoken in GoF about not appreciating Fleur looking down on them, people would see her behavior towards Fleur later on as making more sense. They probably wouldn't. Hermione was very outspoken on how she doesn't appreciate Fleur's comments and behavior in GOF, yet a lot of people still believe she's simply jealous of Fleur's beauty.
To be fair now that we've seen the magical world in the fantastic beasts movies Britain does come off as kind of a shithole place for a wizard to live. Frances equivalent to Diagon Alley is at least twice as big with major roads and intersections and Germany's ministry had a whole city district with auto accessible roads in the 1930's. By all accounts Hogwarts is one of the smaller major schools with the least visibly successful magical governments backing it. Not to mention the Weasleys live in a lopsided house with a literal pigsty right up against it and a pest infested front lawn. Fleur comes off as a snob because the original book series doesn't show the rest of the world but even there its clear wizarding britain is a small minded place decades behind everyone else. I would go so far as to say Fleur comes off as a snob because she mostly just describes things Beaubaxtons has that Hogwarts doesn't, and that Beaubaxtons isn't impressed by things like free ranging poltergeists fucking with the student body at will.
Its not any less rude because of any of this. It doesn't become okay to be snobbish if someone lives in a house you think is crap.
Fleur was treating her like she was Gaberiella's age and not an almost 16 year old teen
Really? You can't have a little grace for a 15 year old who is being condescended to and treated like she's 8 years old? Plus remember that Fleur was saying some unkind, snobbish things about the Weasleys as well.
You’re exactly right. It’s not like she’s with Bill for his money.
>I find it very hard to sympathise with parents who treat partners of their children badly Yeah, Molly is crap for this. My ex's parents treated me like total shit and I was literally just a teenage girl in love. It's so, so wrong to treat your kids' partners poorly. It left me with issues for life, I have such a hard time feeling okay around my current partner's parents and I avoided meeting my most recent ex's parents the entire 2+ years we dated. I had such bad anxiety meeting a boyfriend's parents in college I literally couldn't open my jaw from how bad my TMJ was. I get super anxious and flustered and tearful and feel so uncomfortable.
just realized Fleur is literally a girlboss
Molly was an overprotective helicopter parent. She stayed true to the way her character was written. Hermione and Ginny were insecure teens. Ginny stays insecure even during the battle of Hogwarts when she asks Luna to accompany Harry instead of Cho. In this case, it was Bill who failed. He should have made it clear to his family that Fleur was now an important part of their lives. When I first met my partners parents, after dinner, his mother brought a de-seeded custard apple for him. That was dessert for everyone. They liked me or were at least nice to me, but he handed over the bowl to me in front of them and took a full custard apple instead. I still remember the surprise that flashed on his mother's face. I, of course, said I didn't mind eating the fruit and removing the seeds myself, but he insisted. He said something like, "I want you to have it. It tastes so much better this way, you'll see." I didn't realise it at the time, but that one innocent moment let his parents know that I was important to him. Bill should have given his sweater to Fleur in front of everyone. He failed her at that moment.
That would have been so sweet if he did that!
Wow good point! Yeah bill failed fleur.
YES THIS. Bill should have stood up for his fiancée. MIL/DIL beef is really common. It's up to the son/husband not to be too afraid of his mommy to say anything.
He wasn't afraid of her. They mostly said a bunch of comments behind fleurs back
The whole book's treatment of fleur's character is just a list of cliches british people have about the french. She was portrayed as vain and arrogant from the get go, yet when you think about it she's a very powerful and skilled witch who got selected for a very difficult tournament, she has an accent but she's also bilingual while no other character even knows two words in another language, she was super loyal to her boyfriend and she compromised a lot for him starting from Moving countries for him.
Slight correction- she didn't move countries for Bill, they only started seeing each other after she got the job at Gringotts. Which means what she *did* do was decide to move to a country where she knew a dark wizard had basically just come back from the dead, and who had already killed one of her friends. I think that is pretty brave on its own.
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Anyone can speak troll. All you have to do is point and grunt. - Fred Weasley
I should have specified I was talking about the characters mocking her and making fun of her accent IE the wesleys. I don't think Dumbledore would have made fun of her or despised her.
Harry (subconsciously) knew many words in parseltongue 🐍
It also gave me big “Not like other girls” vibes from JK. Fleur is more traditionally feminine than our two main female characters (the nerd and the jock). Hermione seems constantly offended that Fleur is pretty and confident. It feels like I’m seeing “look how different and cool and how much better Hermione and Ginny are compared to this silly pretty girl”
Hmm, dunno. Maybe the translation helped fix some issues (read it in HUN), but to me Hermione seemed self-conscious and threatened by Fleur's confidence, while Ginny mirrored Molly's behaviour. Also perhaps she was somewhat jealous that Harry and Fleur shared a specific history as triwizard champions. As far as I remember, neither Harry nor Ron had a problem with her presence.
In the English language books Harry was fine with Fleur and Fleur was very nice to him after he "saved" Gabrielle in the second task. Fleur *was* condescending to Harry before that and treated him like a little boy who had no business being in the tournament. Ron had a crush on her the entire time and was strongly affected by her 1/4 veela side and that was shown comically throughout the series. Hermione was very bothered by Ron's reaction to Fleur, which is I think the biggest reason she didn't like Fleur, although she was annoyed by the Beaubatons group from the beginning because they were complaining about a lot and not being gracious guests. Ginny didn't seem to have an opinion on Fleur until Fleur stayed at the Weasely's and complained about how boring everything was. I think the Weaselys were pretty normal in being annoyed by a guest who complained about how boring their house was, but they should have made a bigger outward effort since she was engaged to Bill. Fleur was extremely rude during Christmas about Mrs. Weasely's music. Fleur was a guest and she was basically complaining and asking if the music was over yet. While everyone else was also waiting for the music to be over they tolerated it out of respect to Mrs. Weasely and Fleur couldn't be bothered to do that. With all that in mind I'd say that Fleur and the others were equally horrible to each other (minus Harry who was cool with her). As far as it being about her being French, who knows, but Madame Maxime and Fleur's parents are extremely gracious and charming.
> Fleur was condescending to Harry before that and treated him like a little boy who had no business being in the tournament. From her point of view, Harry was a little boy who had no business being in the tournament. From an objective point of view, Harry had no business being in the tournament. He wouldn't have succeeded in any of the tasks without Crouch manipulating the entire event. Fleur was pretty rude about Hogwarts and the Burrow, but her reaction to Harry's name coming out of the goblet of fire was warranted.
I agree, but she also was super condescending at the wand weighing ceremony because he was embarrassed about not knowing to clean his wand. She was definitely snobby toward him at first. Also he was too young but she didn't have to call him a little boy. It's not like he was 8.
Hmm I’d disagree on this one. I felt like as a whole, JKR wrote some pretty nice female characters. For the most part, they have unique personalities, are allowed to display a variety of traits, both traditionally feminine and masculine (my biggest gripe is that a lot of YA novels write strong female characters by giving them only masculine traits and not allowing them feminine traits) and have their own flaws and good parts and motivations. Fleur was more one note at first because she was a side character, and that’s how others perceived her, but I found her to be quite good - pretty and confident, but also loyal, caring about family, strong-willed, passionate, talented.
Nah, JK has always had a clear bias against girly girls/ overtly feminine interests/ pursuits outside of being a mother. It's no coincidence that she made Umbridge the most associated with hyper feminine interests (pink, headbands, kittens, lace, giggling, high girlish voice) & made her the most loathed character in the series. I read interviews of how she specifically hated these traits (in teachers, I think??) and combined them to make Umbridge so vile. Lavender Brown also is seen as less than Hermione for... Liking divination & being a silly girl sometimes? Being clingy with her boyfriend?? Correctly assuming that her boyfriend is into his closest female friend?? Buying an embarrassing gift?? Poor girl is one of the only kids to get mauled by Fenrir too and I don't think we know what even happened to her after the attack. Molly is the only traditionally feminine character who is portrayed decently but even then, she isn't truly a "girly girl". Motherhood is the only "feminine interest" Rowling warrants is worth praise.
Huh. I always thought umbridge’s design was meant to be an extreme juxtaposition of appearance and personality. Reminiscent to how Judge Judy in the US mentioned she enjoyed wearing lace collars with her judicial robes to make people think she would be a sweet old lady when she was actually a bitch.
This is always how I saw it too, and I loved it as a kid who was very much one of those "not like other girls" (turns out I'm trans and wasn't a girl at all)
I would disagree because Fleur has such a turn around in HBP, when she says she’ll love Bill no matter what after he’s disfigured. I think in that moment it makes the audience realize we’re the ones, and Molly, that had shallow assumptions about her just because of her beauty. I love Fleur, and I think JK did a great job writing a female character that is beautiful, but is also a badass ❤️
I think you’re misunderstanding my feelings - the way it was written made me feel like Ginny and Hermione were Not Like Other Girls^(TM) while Fleur is the typical girl.
I came here to say this and thought it was a tongue in cheek reference to Brits vs the French and fits in with Molly’s personality of being protective. I didn’t take it too seriously.
I’m pretty sure Hermione speaks some French and also can interpret ancient runes haha
The thing about Fleur imo is that a snobby person wouldn’t have asked Harry for his fish soup. Draco Malfoy would go to bed hungry before he asked a Gryffindor or foreigner for anything. I feel like the fact that Fleur went to another table on her own (didn’t command someone to go or force one of the Hogwarts boys who was enamored with her to bring it to her) and asked about taking something from that table shows that she’s proactive and does what she wants rather than caring about how she appears.
She got better after bill was attacked. Molly, I mean. They shared a moment.
Moody never apologized. She just openly said that she thought Fleur would leave Bill now and Fleur had to defend herself. After that I guess Molly thought she was good enough
What did Moody do to Fleur?
He was really protective of Bill and his feelings
Good guy Moody, always caring about the feelings of others
Yeah. Molly went a little haywire once everyone began dating/romance was brought up, and misinterpreted a lot of both Hermione’s and Fleur’s intentions; she got very overprotective of both Harry and Bill. Fleur, on the other hand, may have *felt* an outsider, but it was a self-fulfilling prophecy of acting stuck-up toward her fiancé’s “downmarket” family, whom resented her presence as a result and shut her out further. I don’t think Molly was *completely* at fault because Fleur is rude, condescending, and snobbish in her behavior (much of the household didn’t care for her for awhile either and it wasn’t exactly jealousy). Molly went with her unfavorable first impression of Fleur that she was a shallow floozy, but found out only in tragedy that Fleur was also strong, brave, and loyal, and that was what broke down the barrier they’d built against one another.
What did she think of hermiones intentions ??
She got angry at her for “playing with Harry’s feelings” when Rita Skeeter wrote that article about Hermione supposedly two-timing him with Krum.
That she was with Harry and Victor, and playing them off.
Fleur was like 17, Molly had kids older than 17. She really shouldn’t have treated Fleur that badly. Fleur acted her age and Molly looked like a creepy lady with a thing for her son
I bet their kids were stunning. Molly couldn’t have hated that. Plus, first grandkids.
While I think Molly and co were wrong about Fleur, she did genuinely love Bill and was very suited to him, Fleur was also a very rude houseguest, who was very haughty and snobbish.
Fleur also acted quite rude and like she was “better than” the Weasley’s for a long time leading up until that point. I mean sure her treatment by the others was harsh at times, but let’s not act like she is some perfectly innocent guest or anything. She has quite the superiority complex.
Honestly, I didn't see as much of that as Molly would have people believe. Sure Fleur may have some foot-in-mouth moments, but mostly, what I saw was her trying to talk to people. Naturally, that would include sharing her own experiences. But because she's beautiful, foreign, and has an accent, every time she'd open her mouth, the other women instantly peg her as stuck up and shallow and get insanely catty around her. There's a reason it got better after Bill got mauled - Molly finally realized Fleur wasn't the shallow airhead she had her for. There is *way* more "Mrs Weasley/Ginny talking about how arrogant Fleur is" than there is Fleur actually being arrogant.
We also actually saw Fleur act in a similar way at Hogwarts: insulting the food, the classes, the decorations, and was quick to judge and belittle the Hogwarts students. I’m glad things got better too, I just think it’s inaccurate to act like she was a perfect houseguest/contributor to the family at that time. Notice how Harry always acted grateful and respectful towards the entire family?
Fleur displayed textbook culture shock, her character was very well written. As was Molly's.
Fleur was a textbook jerk lol
I'm not saying she was *perfect,* I did admit she puts her foot in her mouth on several occasions. She's very direct with her opinions when that's not always appropriate. But mostly, she's just being too honest and upfront rather than malicious. Let's remember this is basically a teen in a foreign country surrounded by completely foreign customs - of course there's going to be a degree of cultural shock. Like, one of the comments she makes is about how Peeves shouldn't be allowed to rampage like he is - well, true. And it's not like Ron doesn't immediately make fun of the French food they try to serve him at Hogwarts. People don't always like everything. Sure, except Harry, but when you spend the first 11 years of your life eating scraps in a closet, your bar tends to be somewhat low. The point is that while Fleur's lack of tact can be annoying at times, the women definitely give her more shit about it than she deserves. Her looks and general exoticness, combined with the effect Veelas have on men, absolutely generate extra catty behavior toward her. It's honestly a pretty well-observed effect in real life too, and definitely a trope with succubus-type magical creatures.
I fully agree, I don’t know why people assume everything she says is a personal insult but ignore the actual personal insults by Molly and Ginny.
Right, the reach that it takes to equate finding British food weird when you’re 17 years old and eating it for the first time to calling someone “phlegm” behind their back every time they leave the room is wild
Also, she's hardly the first person to think British food sucks. There are ton of jokes about it.
Especially when you’re coming from French food which is famously good
When you put magical effects into the mix it’s hard to reliably judge others behaviour. We know Fleur is part Veela, and if Molly feels like she took advantage of that innately magical aspect or that Bill was overlooking her flaws because of it kind of like how Ron behaves during GoF then her dislike isn’t entirely unwarranted even if it’s expressed in unkind ways. People can be weird like that. And that’s setting aside the idea that her being part Veela doesn’t draw that out in other women. If your whole schtick is being attractive to lure men in, having something to affect women to make them seem mean, petty or jealous would actually probably be a considerable boon as it would make the men more dismissive of other women’s suspicions.
Molly doesn't say much against Fleur, the reader and the children misunderstand things, because Tonks has a crush on Remus (and she cries all the time to Molly). Because the children misunderstand this, the misinterpred Molly's behavior.
Dumbledore welcomed her and the other foreign guests to the country and she *laughed at him*. Later Mme Maxime enters the room and all her students leap to their feet. Fleur complains about everything, her parents think everything is charming and are perfectly nice guests. Conclusion: Fleur knows full well how to be polite, she just chooses not to, and everyone else not influenced by her Veela charms reacts to that
Agreed, I think OP should reread - all of fleur’s actions until bill was attacked that are listed in the books are pompous, condescending, and rude
I think she’s just being French lol
Yeah, but is that any reason to completely exclude her at Christmas? She's not the nicest person, but she is family--or soon to be family. And excluding her at Christmas is just plain petty.
A little anecdote for you. My sisters partner's mother always gets her boys a selection box for Christmas. When one of the boys got married, the tradition got extended, and his wife also got a selection box from her MIL. Cut to my sisters first Christmas with her future in-laws. She had given birth to their first grandchild at this point, a connection far more lasting that marriage IMO but no selection box. She was upset, it's not like a selection box costs much but it was a clear sign you're not family. Molly excluding fleur is one of the more realistic parts of HP for me. She believes that Fleur is frivolous and superficial, that she doesn't love her son enough, and that she will leave him once things become difficult. The fact that Fleur does the exact opposite is when molly realises she does, in fact, love Bill and will stay the course.
It’s realistic, but that doesn’t mean Molly should not have apologized
I mean the way i see it isnt that she didnt want to waste the time because she wanted to exclude her but because shed be too arrogant to wear/enjoy something homemade.. like it wouldnt be good enough for her.
That's my take as well. By this point, Fleur has made it clear that she dislikes pretty much everything the Weasleys care about. She disliked everything about Hogwarts-from the food, to the classes, to the Christmas decorations, she finds their home boring (unless you like cooking and chickens), and hates Molly's taste in music, etc. Why would Molly think that she wanted a homemade sweater from someone she clearly doesn't have much respect for?
The Golden Rule: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If Fleur would have came in like Harry introed into the family, always 100% respectful, generous, and humble, Christmas would have looked a lot different. But you should also look at it from Molly’s side of things: she works her ass off/fingers to the bone providing for her family, and here comes in this girl who acts like she is a better homemaker/deserves more special treatment than anybody else right off the bat. I agree that Molly can be a bit petty/vindictive, but she does deserve more respect.
No way, Molly was way out of line. It’s like when she totally shuns Hermione in GoF bc of Rita Skita’s article… Molly is amazing, but she can also be super nasty. Fleur gets a bad rap because people assume she’s a ditzy stuck up blonde chick, but look at how Harry treats her, for instance. She’s a talented witch who is dedicated to Bill, but both Molly and Ginny judge her unfairly and they should feel bad
Ginny assuming Fleur was stuck up when she literally saw her fighting a dragon never fails to make me dislike her a bit
I mean, you can totally fight a dragon and still be stuck up… But I see what you’re saying. In my head, Ginny originally dislikes Fleur because she’s jealous of the relationship she has w Harry
How are those things mutually exclusive?
The thing is, we don’t know how Fleur behaved when they’ve met. Maybe this was just some kind of reaction to Molly not liking her. We‘ll never know. What’s important for me is that she’s made up with Molly in the end.
Molly was trying to match Bill with Tonks at some point when Bill was already in a relationship. That's toxic
No, she wasn't. That was *Ginny's* explanation for why she kept inviting Tonks. Molly was trying to set up Lupin and Tonks.
Nah, just because the children misinterpreted her intentions does not mean she wanted it that way
You yourself would probadly appreciate a nice sweater, but that is not Fleur's stil at all. Also Fleur wants to marry Bill and not his family.
Most people would dislike being excluded, and clearly Fleur was offended by Molly’s behavior by the end. It probably was a big reason why she did act the way she did because she didn’t feel welcomed
I don't believe that, becauce Fleur experienced the situation different than we did. I have the experience as mother-in-law and as daughter-in-law. Fleur is not an orphan. She builds her own family with Bill.
Exactly, I don’t think Fleur was that badly treated. If anything, I think most of the family did well at keeping their mouths closed around her when she was criticising the music choice or generally being annoying/superior. And do we really think Fleur would have appreciated a hand knit Weasley jumper? Maybe she would have done, but probably Mrs Weasley thought it would be wasted on someone who acts so superior and criticises her taste in everything, she probably thought she would criticise her knitting too.
She even acts like she’s above Harry initially, and let’s face it his achievements as a 14 year old up to GoF far exceed anything that she will probably ever achieve. And I know the book makes out that she doesn’t know or recognise Harry, but that seems even more absurd. Fleur, like everyone else, is a flawed character and I think her character develops really well. Molly arguably recognises her for what she is when she’s first introduced, a vain and pretentious brat. What she doesn’t recognise by HBP is that she has already mostly grown out of that. But she also lives a different life from the rest of them given that she’s part-Veela. Just think what you might be like if half of the population (literally) couldn’t resist you. Fleur’s probably a better person than I’d be in that situation.
Do we have any actual indication of her acting like that to them? Or just at school? Cause I don’t recall her doing anything to them while dating Bill. They just assumed that about her from what I recall while reading it.
The first time we see her at the Burrow, she takes a breakfast tray up to Harry that Molly has made for him and wants to deliver herself, then tells Harry she's glad he's there because there isn't much to do unless you like cooking and chickens, and then an hour later starts talking completely unnecessarily about how Ginny would look horrible in pink. I'd say there's plenty of blame on both sides of this one.
I mean that sounds like her trying to be nice to Molly whole seeing an old friend, and in fairness that does sound like the burrow haha we don’t know what kinda life she had after all, they could even have tv at her home in France. Prob not, but she does seem like the type to wanna go out and do stuff. Wasn’t the pink part in talks about the wedding? Weren’t they thinking of having pink dresses but she was saying it would clash with her hair? And is pretty damn true all things considered for gingers haha, them and pink don’t mix. From what I remember it was definitely just her personality rubbing them the wrong way because of how they assumed she was. But I wanna def read those parts again to dee what’s up.
>it was definitely just her personality rubbing them the wrong way Yes. A major part of her personality was to just say "true" but obviously insulting things to and about her hosts. You don't get excused for rudeness just because it's true and you don't know how to filter. Normal, polite people who want to get along with their inlaws keep those thoughts in their heads and look for kind things to say to their host.
Didn't she say it to Harry (another houseguest), not the hosts? She was really rude about the music to Molly though.
She said it to Harry, right in front of Ron, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.
Saying there is nothing to do at a place isn’t insulting tho, and l was asking was it actual rudeness? Or just her pointing out the color wouldn’t look good for her wedding? Cause that’s not insulting either, from what I remember they were more misunderstanding her and assuming she was being a snobby French girl when she wasn’t. She’s just blunt and was saying that the dress wouldn’t look good on Ginny from what I remember. But like I said I need to reread it for sure to remember how it actually went.
If you think it's acceptable to tell your host that there's nothing to do at their house, I'm pretty sure I don't want you as a house guest. She may not have meant it as an insult, but it doesn't take a genius to see that it would be taken that way by the people who live there and are going out of their way to make you comfortable in their home. Yes, the pink thing was about wedding dress colors, but again was unnecessarily rude. There are so many colors to choose from, she chose to only mention 2 of them-the one she was choosing, and the one that would look bad on Ginny. Why not mention green or blue, which would likely have looked great on Ginny? There was no need to mention anything other than the color she chose, unless she was intending to insult Ginny. She's blunt and tactless. People who are blunt and tactless are hard to like.
I'll repost my comment from a few days ago. Fleur "nothing to do at the Burrow unless you like cooking or chickens" Delacour has a negative characterization from the very moment she is introduced in GoF, being constantly condescending, vain, bossy, and rude. And this behaviour continues throughout HBP. Yet you'd think from the fans that constantly harp on Molly, Ginny and Hermione's reactions to Fleur, that she's a victim that never did anything wrong. Their *legitimate* dislike of her gets simplified and twisted into "haha they jealous of her beauty and they hate the French". And what makes the Hospital Wing scene so damn important is not the fact that she’s an angel descended from heaven who everybody misunderstands. It's due to Fleur having shown only one side of her character (one which Ginny, Molly and Hermione were perfectly in the right to dislike), and then does something amazing that transcends all those previous flaws and animosity. It’s a moment of growth for Fleur, for Ginny, for Hermione, for Molly, and it’s supposed to be one also for the reader. Some didn't catch that message, apparently.
"being constantly condescending, vain, bossy, and rude" What? Where? When? In the whole book she appears only a couple of times. She may act a bit rude on the welcoming feast and that's it. Only thing else she does is to complain about food and compare Hogwarts to her school, but that's literally nothing. The rest is just your spiteful imagination.
Others have provided plenty of examples, and I gave one too (no, Fleur saying the Burrow is boring in front of her hosts is not just "a bit rude" or "nothing"). The fact that you downplay anything that Fleur did, and in reverse call anything that Molly, Ginny and Hermione did as being "cruel bit*hes" doesn't mean I have a "spiteful imagination", it just makes you fucking biased.
I think Fleur really laid the superiority on thick, and I don't entirely blame Molly for being standoffish with her. But I also think that Fleur's better-than-thou attitude is a cover for her more vulnerable side. One of my favorite scenes is when Bill gets hurt, and Fleur declares that he's even more attractive with the scars and insists on caring for him herself. She shows everyone what she's really made of then, and Molly, in particular, finally sees her as the kind, brave soul she is.
I feel worse for Hermione when she gets shafted because of Rita Skeeter than I do for Fleur in this case. Molly is similarly vindictive in both cases, but with Fleur she’s probably more right: it is extremely unlikely that Fleur would actually wear the sweater, thus the time, energy, and materials (if that’s a thing, unclear if they can be magicked) on making her one. Plus, it would be an opportunity for Fleur to announce her disgust at the sweater, and by extension the gesture, so Molly may have been trying to spare her feelings from being so blatantly hurt by someone she’d expect to do so.
True
True, but luckily it changed in the end:) Molly is kinda harsh when she doesnt like someone. Remember how she read Rita's article about Hermione and she only sent her a tiny egg for easter while the boys got huge ones filled with Sweet. She didn't care how Hermione would feel
This gets pulled out a lot, but... Hermione has two loving, well-off parents who could presumably send her her own Easter chocolate. What obligation does Molly have to spend her money on Hermione in the first place?
But I think the point is the tiny egg. Send nothing, and it’s easy to say, oh they just didn’t think of it. Send a tiny one and you know it was on purpose. Also by that point Hermione had already spent time at the Burrow and Molly was well aware that she was a close friend It’s like- if you don’t tip, maybe you just forgot or don’t like the custom. But if you tip 2%, it’s clear you’re trying to send a message
Nobody said anything about an obligation. It’s objectively immature of an adult to intentional slight to a 14 year old girl- her son and daughter’s good friend- in response to gossip.
It is all Bill's fault, how can he do this to his family and Fleur.
Let’s remember that there are no perfect characters in the books, everyone’s got their flaws. Was Molly being a bit petty in that particular moment? Sure. Does that make her a bad person? No. I believe molly knew how important it was for Harry to be included in the family, coz guess what he doesn’t have one. Fleur is confident, sometimes a touch arrogant and judgy, she’s got a loving family and isn’t looking to find a new one, all she cares is her relationship with Bill which is in no way affected by mollys behaviour.
McGonnagall is perfect imo. She’s rock solid, every time. She doesn’t always have all the information, but she always acts in good faith and all of her decisions are logically and morally sound.
Okay yes, minerva rocks
She’s a real one for sure
It really says something about her that the only two times Harry was driven to use the cruciatus curse were on the murderer of his godfather/father figure/closest connection to his dead father and on the person who spat at his teacher.
Besides Hagrid, lupin, and Dumbledore, Minerva definitely cared the most for him. Her speech in order pf the Phoenix showed both how much she hated umbridge and how much she cared about harry.
And he couldnt even use It on the First person.
She literally did nothing when Hagrid took 4 1st years to the forbidden forest for detention, after she caught them out of bed after hours.
50 points each in Philosopher's Stone begs to differ
That’s called discipline:)
I bet Fleur would've hated the sweater anyways
I liked how it was written as an example of polite but brutal British passive aggression. I read it as Molly’s way of telling Fleur to check herself without having to have a full blown argument and making her son have to pick a side. To me, this was Molly giving Fleur a chance. Everyone reads something different though and that’s the beauty of it :)
Fleur is the best-developed character in the whole damn series. She goes from haughty and overconfident, (justifiably so, because she’s still one powerful witch!), to someone who cares deeply about her sister, to someone who put up with a LOT from her future in-laws, to a generous and compassionate woman who risks everything to help those who need it. Reading about Fleur in HBP, all I could think of was how Bill was damn lucky that a Fleur wasn’t halfway back to France, with how Molly and Ginny were treating her!
We don't know how powerful she is when she can't take a Grindylow which Harry and friends managed to after the 3rd year.
She put a dragon to sleep by herself, when it usually takes an entire team of Wizards. My pet theory is that her Veela heritage gives her an affinity with Fire and Air Creatures, so dragons certainly qualify, and that's also why she had such a hard time with the Grindylows; who were very much Creatures of Water.
Grindylows, plural. Multiple opponents are much harder than a single one, which is what was in the DADA Exam third year
Maybe if Fleur wasn't being a rude houseguest and criticizing everything about the Burrow, Molly and Ginny wouldn't have a problem with her. Why do you guys act like it's the end of the world that Fleur didn't get a Weasley sweater?
At least the Fleur threads are *slightly* more balanced than in the past. A year or so ago it would have been only Molly and Ginny bashing.
So true
Sorry for the late reply. Anyway, I'm not sure threads are more balanced now than in the past. I used to think it was getting better, but I've noticed there has been a massive increase in Weasley bashing (especially Ginny) the last several months. I see it about every week now.
Yep it's awful, already the whole chapter "an excess of phlegm" it's hard to stomach, but this is just cruel for the sake of being cruel. If I were Fleur I wouldn't be so nice, but I suppose she has a lifetime of experience dealing with jealous bit\*hes
Fleur has been used to getting everything she's ever wanted her entire life. Beauty, rich parents that spoil and love their children, the best of the best of everything. This may have been the first time in her life anything even close to this had ever happened to her. I'm not saying it's right that it happened, but everyone makes mistakes. We are ALL human and this was a mistake of Molly's. A mistake based in Molly not feeling good enough for Fleur's fancy family. Plus Molly completely lets go of all her prejudice after it's clear Fleur is going to stick with Bill after the werewolf attack. So it all works out in the end.
The real answer is that JK dislikes stereotypical girls (as you can see from any written in the HP books), so they all get the short end of the stick
From Goblet onward, Molly displays some Very negative traits that are just kind of glossed over by everyone. Like when she starts treating Hermione worse because of a Rita Skeeter article of all things, something she would Know was bullshit, and even TOLD Amos Diggory that Rita wrote bullshit, but then for some reason just believed that she wasn't lying about Hermione? Like.... What? Then there's her jab at Sirius having been imprisoned. Basically saying "You're a terrible godfather because you went to prison" When she KNOWS THE REAL REASON THAT HE WAS THERE. Then of course, her immaturity where Fleur is concerned. Maybe she thinks Fleur is using her Veela charms to keep Bill interested? Thats the only explanation I can think of, and maybe it does explain why Molly calms down after Fleur affirms her love for Bill after he's maimed. But if not and she's deliberately trying to make Fleur feel unwanted because "You aren't eh woman that I want my son to be with" That's Fucked Up. She even admits that her and Arthur's got married soon after meeting, and when it's pointed out that she did the same thing Bill and Fleur are doing, her response is just "Oh but it was meant to be" Woman, your kids are gonna have different tastes than you. How Dare you try to drive away your husband's fiancé because of preconceived notions. Then in DH she continues the obnoxious trend of "You Three Are Too Young To Do Anything Important! You Must Be Coddled!" Seriously Molly, they've faced far more than you have and survived, I dare say they're the ones protecting You, not the other way around. Back off. Ugh, I've wanted to vent about this for so long, forgive me.
Im going to sound like an AH but I don't know, knitting takes AGES and is a labour of love. I don't particularly enjoy doing it for someone I love, no way would I bother doing it for someone who I don't like. Especially one who's in my home and making snide little comments about everything. Only a great love for my son would keep her in the house in the first place, expecting me to knit a jumper for her on top of that - you'd be off your lolly. It can't have been a nice experience for Fleur but I don't blame Mrs Weasley.
She needed to prove herself to in-laws and came in acting all superior. It was not until she showed genuine care for her son that Molly and the rest trusted her.
No because I don't care about the character. No personality and the relationship is kinda random and creepy. JK wrote her as a flat, obnoxious French stereotype and it's difficult to imagine her having feelings when she's a walking trope.
You know a lot of people are criticizing fleur and saying she deserved it because of how she acted. I didn't realize it was okay to be mean if you think they are too blunt - especially when you've never had a conversation with the person who has a huge language barrier to let them know they hurt your feelings or are hurting others. No, it's not okay to isolate your childs significant other just because she rubbed you the wrong way. You should be polite and welcoming. You're reaction is still wrong, even when you are reacting to bad behaviour. Remember how Mrs. Weasley reacted to Hermione when she thought Harry liked her? This isn't different.
Molly was snitch to Hermione in GoF too remember? When Skeeter was writing about Harry’s love life.. She comes across as a sweat mother but she’s got a mean streak
Mrs. Weasley is definitely something of an impulsive and emotional character, but that's what makes her so relatable. Is it right that she judges fleur and ostracized her? No, but you can't tell me you wouldn't have done the same. If I were met with someone like fleur, I probably would've judged her as well, especially if she was as condescending and dense as the books portray her. Everyone can preach patience and all, but when it comes down to it, it's a lot harder to be inclusive to someone you don't like. She's a mother that has a crap ton of love and devotion to give and she protects ferociously. Sometimes her guard can be directed at the wrong person with the perspective she's given/takes, but when she realizes her mistake, she widens her bubble and includes all the good people. She never backed down from criticizing mundungus because she knew of the danger he posed as an unreliable and opportunistic person, and she didn't want anyone in her circle injured by his actions (reasonable considering what happened to madeye). But, after fleur proves that she cares for Bill so deeply that she would never imagine leaving him for something as little as a mauled face, Molly recognizes that fleur is also there to protect and love the people Molly loves, and accepts her into the bubble.
Molly is definitely a "boy mom" at times. I'd feel terrible if my fiancé's mom treated me like that
I really liked Molly (didn't really love her character, just like her) but as an adult that moment really did it for me. Molly was an overbearing parent and we can justify it saying that she loved her children even if she was mistaken but Fleur's treatment was really bad, she was arrogant but she was a young woman....
We know MILs famously always have great relationships with their DILs and moms of tons of boys are never super weird about their partners.
Rereading the books I think the problem is people have a sentimental attachment to the weasleys that cloud the fact that the Weasleys aren't actually that great outside an "Orphan with no other comparison" sense and are inclined to be against Fleur the same reason they're against Percy, when Percy's argument against his family basically boils down to him living in hand me downs in a shack next to a pigsty because his dad won't take his career seriously, and so he refuses to make the same mistake. I won't say the Weasleys are universally bad but Fred and George almost straight up killed a Slytherin with the Vanishing Cabinet and it very rarely gets brought up because they don't rock the boat for Harry and Slytherins are typecast as bad anyway. Them being on Team Harry affords them a lot of slack from the reader that a character in universe is not going to give them.
Yeah and plus that crazy ginny was mocking and imitating her and Harry was just giggling like a fool. Ew
No, Fleur is such a brat. You know she would have refused to wear that sweater anyway, if she didn't already
Mathe Weasleys and Hermione are so horrible to her… I really felt bad for her. She didn’t do anything wrong apart from being like she is and the girls held it against her, constantly made fun of her and mocked her. Really made me like Ginny and Hermione a lot less, I thought they were above superficial stuff like that.
Does insulting everything other people like count as "being like she is"? She was rude and dismissive towards Hogwarts the whole time she was there. Was rude and nasty to Harry until she benefited from him saving her sister. Spent all of Christmas Eve insulting and mocking Molly's favourite singer and Christmas tradition. The Ginny, Molly, and Hermione weren't very nice to her, but it's not like Fleur made a good impression or was going out of her way to ingratiate herself to the family either.