#3 by s.s. The Burrow

I feel very badly about being so blah about the last few posts. But it really is like crunch time with lots of essays and classes and projects and club meetings and so on but that is NO EXCUSE for being blasé about Harry Potter. I only have a few minutes before I have to leave but here goes.

Number three, the Burrow. And, of course, the family that inhabits it. The Burrow is this super cool place that is everything that #4 Privet Drive is not. It is weird and messy and homey. It is full of family and love and pets and weeds. It's the kind of home that nurtures a family. Growth, exploration and creative are not trimmed (symbolism of overgrown garden?) The Weasley children are all confident and happy people, walking through life with the aplomb of being well-loved. The Burrow is the family environment that we all want. Big and loud, full of knitted things and sumptuous hardy food. The Burrow is that second family & home to Harry that a lot of people seek and find in their youth.

Things like weeds and wellies clogging the garden are not important. What is important is that a family be full of love and laughter and warmth. Really, the Weasley family gives me hope for the whole institution of marriage and family. So many familiess are broken or full of anger or sadness. But they shouldn't be! They don't need to be! With humor and love and big knitted sleeves and a lot of fried eggs...the home is a haven.

Harry is an orphan, raised by abusive and cold relatives. The Burrow is the best place he's ever been. Mrs Weasley. Bless her, she's the absolute best. She should be the model for homemakers--screw martha stewart. She can cook and hug like no other and also is a complete badass and killed a bitch that tried to kill her daughter. Molly Weasley is such a great character. I think that JKR knows from experience that loving mothers like Mrs Weasley would literally murder to protect their family. I like how Mrs Weasley is a housewife, but she's a total BAMF. Mrs Weasley treats Harry like a son. She's the mother he never had. Everyone needs adult figures that love them and care about them in their life. I think that JKR really wanted to grow up in a Weasley family, even though she didn't. Harry's subtle longing for such a family comes across rather poignantly in the story.

Also, great name, the Burrow! Makes me think of lil bunnies cuddling together in their bunny home. Also makes me think of The Wind in the Willows. That sort of super Englishness with the tea and the toast and so on is similar in the Burrow. Ish.