This Weekend, Read This
The Unofficial Harry Potter Bracket Part 6
By Curt David and Emily Gibson
May 18, 2020
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Tough lady

Who is going to join Ron Weasley, McGonagall, Snape, and Shacklebolt in the Elite 8 of the Unofficial Harry Potter Bracket? We find out today in the results of the second half of the Sweet 16.

To see the 32 seeded wizards and witches, and more info about the tournament, click here.

To learn how the previous duels went down, click here.

Note: All of these Harry Potter columns might contain spoilers from the series.

The rest of the Sweet 16 duels have happened and I am going to share with you the results here. If you would like to vote for the remaining duels, feel free to follow along on Twitter @himmelberger_c and Instagram @curt_himmelberger.

Also, the amazing and wonderful Emily Gibson (FB: emily.gibson.12) has created the dueling stories you’ll see below.

Without further ado, here are the results:

MATCH 1: Who would win in a duel between George Weasley (6) and Nymphadora Tonks (2)?

Nymphadora Tonks received 85% of the votes vs. 15% for George Weasley, so Tonks moves on to the Elite 8.

How did the duel go down? Emily explains:

Official: “Up next George Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks.”

George strides up to the foot of the stage from the back, where he is met by another George from the left side of the stage, one of them must be Fred. But they both claim to be George. Oh, wait! From the right comes a third George Weasley! George #3 is examining George 1 and George 2. Mrs. Weasley comes to the front. She points at George 2, “ This is George,” she points at George 3, “And this is Fred.”

George 1 says, “Honestly, you call yourself our mother. I am George!” And he walks up to the stage.

George 3 says, “He is Fred.”

Now, that leaves George 2. Mrs. Weasley and Fred look at him, he laughs and says, “I am Tonks!” And walks up to the stage!

Officials, “The combatants face each other, bow, and then attempt to disarm, injure, or kill each other in order to force submission, and thus a winner is decided.”

George on the left says, “Could you remove my face so I am not dueling myself?!?”

George smirks. “How do you know you are not dueling yourself?”

Official: “On the count of three…”

Both Georges raise their wands and sparks fly; they are circling each other. George on the left tosses something in the air, and everything slows down to a crawling pace. Then, George on the left lets another powder go and they both start laughing uncontrollably. Both Georges are speeding up and still laughing uncontrollably. George on the left fumbles for another option and takes his eyes off George on the right for a split second. George on the left gets hit with a stunning spell.

Official: “George did you win? Or are you TONKS?”

George on the right’s hair starts to fade from bright red to bright pink.

“Nope, it's me, Tonks!!”

Official: “Tonks wins!!

Match Analysis:
Out of the voters who commented, the main reason behind voting for Tonks was that she has more experience (a trained Auror, member of the Order, more training, etc.). Interestingly, the second most popular reasoning mentioned in this match-up was used for voters on both sides: George would have some tricks up his sleeve in the match, especially if he had time to prepare for the duel. Whether his tricks caused him to win or if he still lost was up to the vote of the beholder. A small number of folks voted for Tonks because she has pink hair, which I declare is not indicative of winning a duel, but pink hair was probably symbolic of a strong female character in their minds.

Tonks beats George Weasley and moves on to the Elite 8 where she will duel either Molly Weasley or Fleur Delacour (keep reading this article to find out that winner).

My conclusion: I have one and only one conclusion from this duel. Natalia Tena, the actress who played Tonks in the Harry Potter movie, is the absolute best and now Tonks is my new favorite character in all of Harry Potter. You see, I posted on Twitter asking who would win in a duel between George and Tonks, and Natalia Tena liked my post!!!!! I assume that means we are best friends now. And a fun fact I learned, Tena is in a band called Molotov Jukebox and you can buy the album now, which is a really good album I discovered. (Follow them on Twitter @NatTenaLady and @molotov_jukebox).

MATCH 2: Who would win in a duel between Luna Lovegood (2) and Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody (2)?

Mad-Eye Moody received 65% of the votes vs. 35% for Luna Lovegood, so Moody moves on to the Elite 8.

How did the duel go down? Emily explains:

Official: “Up next is Luna Lovegood and Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody.”

Luna drifts up and down. She is muttering about nargales being all over the place and how she should have worn more butterbeer cork necklaces to ward them off.

Mad-Eye has his gnarled hand on his gnarled cane limping to the stage. They both make it there about the same time. Mad-Eye's eye is going crazy, spinning all over.

Luna: “Do you see the nargales all over too?”

Mad-Eye: “I don't know what you're talking about.”

Official: “The combatants face each other, bow, and then attempt to disarm, injure, or kill each other in order to force submission, and thus a winner is decided. On the count of three…”

Luna is drifting around her side of the stage not paying attention.

Official: “One. Two. Three.”

Mad-Eye: “Come on, girl. Pay attention.”

Luna: “There must be wrackspurts here, too!”

Incarcerous ropes wrap around Luna and she falls to the ground.

Luna: “This is a much better vantage point to see wrackspurts.”

Official, “Mad-Eye wins!”

Match analysis:

Out of the voters who commented, there was a three-way tie between the main reasons given on who would win the duel. A third of those commenters chose Moody because he has more experience than Luna (surviving as long as he has, one of the best aurors, coming out relatively unscathed from the trunk, etc.). A third chose Moody because of Luna being a quirky teenager, absent-minded, and most likely skipping off during the match. And a third chose Luna Lovegood for all of her good qualities (much smarter than we give her credit for, new ideas, Moody was captured and Luna never was, etc.). Unfortunately, two-thirds of those reasons went to Moody, which explains the voting percentage.

Mad-Eye Moody moves on to the Elite 8 where he will duel Kingsley Shacklebolt.

My conclusion: NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOoooooooooo. I wanted Luna to make it to the Final Four! She is one of my favorite characters, and quite a brilliant witch! All the arguments against Luna seemed to be quite matter-of-fact: certainly she would do this and of course she wouldn’t be able to do that. But I think her entire character arc shows she is underrated, powerful, and finds out-of-the-box solutions. She should have won! So what is my final conclusion? I guess my conclusion is 65% of the voters were misguided and 35% were very smart. Just sort of kidding. My real conclusion is that JK Rowling created such an amazing universe that we fell in love with, and that people have very strong opinions about her characters. I also predict the comment sections will get more vicious as we go farther into the tournament and the matches get even harder.

MATCH 3: Who would win in a duel between Molly Weasley (1) vs. Fleur Delacour (5)?

Molly Weasley received 88% of the votes vs. 12% for Fleur Delacour, so Mrs. Weasley moves on to the Elite 8.

How did the duel go down? Emily explains:

Official: “Up next, Molly Weasley and Fleur Delacour.

Fleur kisses Bill and says not to worry. She will take it easy on her mother-in-law. Mrs Weasley rolls her eyes and straightens her dress as she makes her way to the stage. Behind her, Fleur blows kisses to Bill with every step she takes.

Official: “The combatants face each other, bow, and then attempt to disarm, injure, or kill each other in order to force submission, and thus a winner is decided. On the count of three…”

Fleur: “Don’t worry. I told Bill I would take it easy on you!”

Mrs. Weasley smiles sweetly. “Thanks, dear.”

Official: “One. Two. Three.”

Mrs. Weasley’s wand shoots red right as the official says three. Fleur jumps out of the way. Fleur’s wand shoots sparks toward Mrs. Weasley as Mrs. Weasley shoots water towards Fleur; the sparks are put out and Fleur is all wet. (You can tell Fleur didn't like that.) She gets mad and stomps off the stage.

“That is it! You never really wanted me to marry Bill! she yells as she leaves the building. Bill follows her, explaining that it's just a little water and she still looks beautiful.

Official: “Mrs. Weasley is the winner!!”

Match analysis:

Out of the voters who commented, the main reason to vote for Molly Weasley was her being a very “tough mama” (was in labor six times, had to deal with George and Fred for years, multi-tasked a household of eight, loves her children dearly). The main reason to vote for Fleur was her dueling skills (was chosen to be in Triwizard tournament for a reason, trains specifically for duels, as much a fairy princess as Mad-Eye Moody). And of course, people on both sides of the duel used their mother and daughter-in-law relationship in their reasoning.

Molly Weasley moves on to the Elite 8, where she will duel Nymphadora Tonks.

My conclusion: Molly was correct to be one of the #1 seeds in this tournament. She seems unstoppable. But based on the comments of this duel, it sounds like her (spoiler in the next sentence!) beating Lestrange to protect her daughter, which proves she’s the ultimate mother, is the main reason she will go far. But as one of the voters pointed out in this round, to which I fully agree, Molly is much more capable than we give her credit for (this particular voter actually copied the text from that Bellatrix scene and gave a detailed analysis on how Mrs. Weasley is not panicking or just having a mother’s instinct, but is confident and calculating that she can win this duel, while refusing help from additional students in the process). Therefore, I believe Molly can go far, but may only be able to win the whole tournament if people give her the credit that she deserves.

MATCH 4: Who would win in a duel between Hermione Granger (1) and Remus Lupin (4)?

Hermione Granger received 64% of the votes vs 36% for Remus Lupin, so Granger moves on to the Elite 8.

How did the duel go down? Emily explains:

Official: “Remus Lupin and Hermione Granger.”

Hermione walks to the front and checks her watch as it is dusk outside.

Lupin: “We should really make this quick so I can get on with some other things I have to do.”

Official: “The combatants face each other, bow, and then attempt to disarm, injure, or kill each other in order to force submission, and thus a winner is decided. On the count of three…”

Hermione: “Should we hold this off till tomorrow?”

Lupin: “No, we have time.”

Official: “One. Two. Three.”

Both wands light up. They begin circling each other and sending curses followed by counter-curses. Both seem to be two steps ahead of the other one in the duel. Before long, it's dark outside and Lupin howls in pain as moonlight comes through the clouds.

Hermione: “I knew this was going to happen, Lupin can you hear me?!?”

Lupin transforms into a werewolf before everyone's eyes.

Official: “I don't know if this is legal in the duel?”

Lupin looks around licking his jaws and looking at all the people.

Hermione: “Lupin, you're still in there! I know you are you can fight this!”

Lupin looks at Hermione, growls and snaps. Then he shakes his head and runs off the stage and out the door.

Official: “Hermione wins.”

Match analysis:

Out of the voters who commented, the most popular reason to vote for Hermione was her skill and cleverness (smart, wise, brilliant, etc.) and for Lupin because of his skill and dueling experience. Some people, on both sides, still mentioned Lupin being a werewolf as an advantage or disadvantage.

Hermione Granger moves on to the Elite 8 where she will duel Severus Snape!

My conclusion: I have never sweated so much thinking about Harry Potter. This duel was so close; much closer than the voting tally shows. Hermione pulled through with some last-minute votes, but this was neck and neck throughout. There was A LOT of love for the character of Remus Lupin. I declare Hermione was probably one of the few people in the Sweet 16 that could have defeated him. I was also encouraged that less people mentioned him being a werewolf, which shows that for these harder matches, people are going to think more deeply about these characters and not just vote for the first characteristic that comes to mind when they think of the character. Now, Granger’s next match is Severus Snape. I am at a loss for who to predict will win. I’m leaning towards Granger, who is unstoppable and my favorite character in the series. (Wait, did I say that about Tonks and Luna too? Well, I’m also going to say it for Granger as well. And McGonagall).

Next column: the results of the Elite 8!