Character:Bilius

From UnknowableWiki

Bilius was an uncle of the Weasley children. We do not know whether he was a brother of Molly's (making him a Prewett) or Arthur's (making him a Weasley)^[1]. Bilius was a favourite of Fred and George's at parties, where he used to entertain the crowd by downing a whole bottle of Firewhisky, running onto the dance floor, hoisting up his robes and pulling out bunches of flowers from somewhere down there. He never married, and went a little odd in old age. In the end, he believed he saw a Grim and died twenty-four hours later (PA6, DH8).

Ronald Bilius Weasley is named after Bilius. He cited his uncle's death as a reason for Harry Potter to take a Grim seriously (PA6).

The twins lamented Bilius' death at Bill and Fleur's wedding and claimed that he had been "a right laugh at weddings." When Hermione Granger inquired after the story with the Grim, the twins conceded that Bilius became a bit loopy towards the end. Fred redeemed his uncle by telling the flower story, sending all of them into roaring laughter (DH8).

References

1. ↑ It seems more likely that Bilius was Arthur's brother; Molly's two known brothers—Gideon and Fabian—were cited by name, and the rest of her family (with the exception of Muriel) was never mentioned. Arthur, on the other hand, has two brothers, thus far unnamed.