People keep leaving “Isn’t Bill’s first name Bilius?” comments on one of my HP posts and the answer is no. I checked before I posted. Bill Weasley’s first name is actually William.
“Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle….?”
– Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 8. The Wedding
People are getting the name Bilius from a Weasley uncle, the one who saw a Grim and died twenty-four hours later. Ron’s middle name is also Bilius. Ron presumably was named for this uncle.
“Talking about Muriel?” inquired George, re-emerging from the marquee with Fred. “Yeah, she’s just told me my ears are lopsided. Old bat. I wish old Uncle Bilius was still with us, though; he was a right laugh at weddings.”
– Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 8. The Wedding
It’s kind of funny to imagine, though, that Bill could have grown up thinking that his name was Bilius. Kids often don’t know the “correct” names for things because the adults in their life refer to these things incorrectly as an in-joke or by nicknames. If everyone called him Bill and Bill grew up knowing his Uncle Bilius, then he could have very plausibly been under the impression for many years that his name was also Bilius.
Until, of course, September of 1982 rolls around.
Professor Minerva McGonagall opens a scroll and begins reading off the names of the first-years who are to be Sorted. She gets to the very last name on the list (entirely possible with a W name) and calls out: “WEASLEY, WILLIAM!”
11-year-old “Bill” Weasley, who has just this second found out that his first name is actually William: “…Who?!”
You can probably bet that Bill’s siblings sometimes called him Bilius as a joke too. Like, “BILIUS ARTHUR WEASLEY, HOW DARE YOU!”
Bill, unperturbed: “Yes, how dare I, Bilius Weasley, do this.”
Or maybe:
Charlie, speaking for all the Weasley siblings at the wedding: “YOUR NAME IS WILLIAM? SINCE WHEN???”
Bill: “Since always, apparently.”
Molly & Arthur: “What did you think his name was?”
Charlie: “I THOUGHT IT WAS BILIUS. LIKE UNCLE BILIUS.”
Arthur: “…No.”
Molly: “Why would you think that?”
Charlie: “WE’VE ONLY EVER CALLED HIM BILL?!?”
Charlie: “OH SHIT, WHAT’S MY NAME? DO I HAVE A SECRET NAME TOO?!”
Molly: “…You don’t… you don’t have secret names.”
Ron: “I want a better secret name than Ronald.”
Fred: “DIBS ON MANFREDO.”
Ginny: “I will now only answer to Ginwumpkinwinsalot.”
Tags:
#Harry Potter #fanfic #headcanons #embarrassment squick #anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog #names
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