Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Alicia Spinnet

Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character
Alicia Spinnet
Gender Female
Hair color Unknown
Eye color Unknown
Related Family Unknown
Loyalty Gryffindor

Overview

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Alicia Spinnet is a member of Gryffindor House. She is two years ahead of Harry. She plays Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

Role in the Books

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Beginner warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level.

When the Gryffindor Quidditch team take to the air for their first match, against Slytherin in November, it turns out that Lee Jordan is the announcer. He identifies the Chasers on both teams who are holding the Quaffle. This is the first time we hear Alicia Spinnet's name, although presumably she has been practicing with Harry and the other members of the Quidditch team since Harry was made Seeker in mid-September. Lee mentions in passing that Spinnet had been a reserve player the previous year, which would have been her second year. When Harry is fouled by Marcus Flint, it is Alicia who puts in the penalty shot.

We see her in the Gryffindor Quidditch team, playing Chaser alongside Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson. The Quidditch season is abbreviated, so we see relatively little of her.

She again plays Quidditch for Gryffindor as chaser alongside Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson.

There is no Quidditch in this year because of the Triwizard Tournament, so we see very little of Alicia.

Fred off-handedly invites Angelina to the Yule Ball; she briefly breaks off her conversation with Alicia to accept, equally lightly.

The first time we see Alicia Spinnet is at the first Quidditch practice of the year. While she has been active in the practice, the first real interaction with Harry is when Angelina stops the practice. Harry asks why the practice has been stopped, and Alicia points at Katie Bell, who is suffering from blood loss. When Fred and George take Katie to the hospital wing, Angelina dismisses the other team members from practice.

We hear from Fred and George that Professor Umbridge, in her new role as Hogwarts High Inquisitor, had been examining Professor Flitwick's class. In the process, she had asked Alicia some questions about the class, which she had answered positively.

Alicia is one of the students who attends the first meeting of what becomes Dumbledore's Army, in the Hog's Head. She also attends meetings regularly.

As the first Quidditch game of the year approaches, Alicia is sent to the Hospital Wing as her eyebrows are growing so quickly that they are obscuring her vision. It seems Miles Bletchley, the Slytherin Keeper, had jinxed her from behind in the library.

Alicia plays in the match with Slytherin, a match which ultimately Gryffindor wins, despite Ron's poor Keeping, as Harry catches the Snitch for a final score of 160 to 40. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie then hold Fred back from attacking Draco Malfoy, who is taunting the entire Weasley family, while Harry holds George. When Draco starts insulting Harry's family as well, Harry is unable to restrain himself, and he and George attack Draco, while Fred remains restrained by the three Chasers.

At the last meeting of Dumbledore's Army before the Christmas break, Angelina tells Harry that she has finally managed to find new Beaters and a Seeker for the Quidditch team. The Seeker is Ginny Weasley, who is surprisingly good, though not a patch on Harry. It is Alicia who tells Harry the names of the new Beaters: Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper. She adds that they are not brilliant, but compared to the other idiots who showed up . . .

Harry's interaction with Alicia on the Quidditch pitch has largely ended with the lifetime ban he has received, and though we can safely assume that she continues to attend meetings of Dumbledore's Army, her work there is not singled out, so we see very little of her in the remainder of the book.

Alicia has graduated, and plays no role in this book.

Neville Longbottom uses the linked Galleons to recall the members of Dumbledore's Army when Harry arrives at Hogwarts. Alicia is one of the ones who responds to the call. We see her later with Fred Weasley guarding one of the entrances to the secret passages into Hogwarts.

Strengths

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The Chaser positions in Quidditch require excellent broom control, situational awareness, and in a game where substitutions are not allowed, a great deal of stamina. As Alicia excels in this position, we can safely assume that her reaction time and physical condition are extremely good.

Weaknesses

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Relationships with Other Characters

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Although there is never any mention, direct or otherwise, in any of the books, there was much speculation in the fan community that Alicia would get together with George. Fred's death in the Battle of Hogwarts at the end of the seventh book apparently resulted in Angelina and George marrying, according to a family tree produced by the author; this does not seem to sit well with the fan community, who have produced fan fiction with alternate outcomes for the Battle of Hogwarts in which Fred survived, apparently solely so that George would be free to marry Alicia.

Alicia also seems to have a close relationship with most of the Quidditch team, especially with her two fellow chasers Angelina and Katie Bell.

Analysis

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Questions

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Study questions are meant to be left for each student to answer; please don't answer them here.

  1. Why was Alicia picked to be a Chaser?
  2. Do you think she went on to play for a national Quidditch team, or do you think she went down a different path?

Greater Picture

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Intermediate warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level.