Fantasy Valentine's Day Countdown, Day 2: The Weasley Family

Let's be honest. If there were a single central theme to the Harry Potter series, it would be love. Love of a mother protects and empowers the titular character. Harry's love for Hogwarts allows him to protect its defenders in the seventh book. And, of course, we can name people who fell in love with each other, from Tonks and Lupin to Ron and Hermione. Today, I want to appreciate the family that everyone seems to be adopted into: the Weasleys.

"He's as good as."

You don't have to lack a family to be taken into one. I'm one of four kids, still have my parents, and am the cool aunt to over a dozen nieces and nephews. But I've got found family from my fiercely-loyal friends in Michigan to high school friends whose kids call me Auntie Kaki. You can be the family someone else needs as well as appreciating being treated like an extra cousin.

The Weasleys don't seem to give people a choice on whether they're part of the clan. We can see Molly showing people onto Platform 9 3/4 along with her own kids. She makes food for everyone in the Order of the Phoenix and makes the headquarters a home for those who could use one. Long before that, we know that Harry is somewhat overwhelmed by how much he's given a place at The Burrow. Chapter Four of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets relates that "Mrs. Weasley fussed over the state of his socks and tried to force him to eat fourth helpings at every meal" while Mr. Weasley shows his affection so "he could bombard [Harry] with questions about life with Muggles." We see throughout the series that loving Harry like their own isn't a part of a checklist, but something that turns into an instinct.

Most importantly, the Weasleys love each other. It's true that this sometimes manifests itself in Percy forcing Ginny to take better care of herself or Fred and George pranking her when she's upset. I love that everyone keeps each other humble, whether keeping Ron from being too proud of being a Gryffindor prefect or subtly teasing Percy about his first job. They don't let Charlie live down his failed Apparition test and don't let Bill too much leeway when he first starts dating Fleur. There's a kind of social contract that they can band together to be the kids in defiance of Mrs. Weasley, but they are all defiantly on Mr. Weasley's side when Percy attacks his priorities in life.

We could all learn to love our neighbor as the Weasleys love their own.