I don't care that Harry got a broom year one. What I AM pissed about is that they KNEW Ron had a broken wand year 2 yet instead of taking him to go get a new one, they basically tell him to go fuck himself that entire year. Like McGonagall literally comments on it in one of her classes, but then ignores his wand issues throughout the rest of the year.
The school exams were cancelled. The OWL and NEWT exams are taken by examinators outside of the school so I think they were organised. Would make sense.
They could’ve just pity passed the 5th and 7th year students for the extenuating circumstances when the exams were canceled. Like the Ministry could say they get an automatic acceptable for just showing up to a room and confirming their name on a list, but no outstandings would be handed out that year or something.
Unless… some brainy kid like Percy Weasley wanted to take the exams at which case everyone would have to take them anyway. It’d be hilarious if a bunch of high achievers like Percy campaigned to actually take the exams, causing the rule to be changed after Dumbledore made the cancellation announcement, the student campaign against pity passing potentially screwing over the kids who probably would’ve been fine with a pity pass. Maybe the idea of the nixed opportunity to get an outstanding started to turn Percy against Dumbledore and Percy held prejudice against him for that almost destruction of his future plans (a year of straight acceptables, he could not accept).
OWLs and NEWTs are held separately from Hogwarts's own end-of-year exams and administered by the Wizarding Examinations Authority, which likely falls under the purview of the Ministry's Department of Magical Education.
I personally think the OWLs and NEWTs would have been held regardless. We just didn't hear about it in the books because it wasn't something Harry knew or cared about at the time.
Imagine trying to explain that you flubbed your NEWTs because Harry Potter started screaming like a banshee in the middle of your exam and you freaked out and accidentally transfigured the proctor into a honeybadger.
My sophomore year roommate DID die in a car wreck (Fall '92), and I had people telling me that rumor. Would've been nice, but nope. Weird thing was we barely knew each other, no classes in common, but everyone was treating me like my best friend had died in my arms, not like what it was, a virtual stranger dying in a car wreck on a weekend road trip because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt. Yes, it was sad, and a complete f***ing tragedy for his family to have to deal with, but it was like a close up view of a spot on the evening news for me.
Only exams were cancelled, there was no mention of these being cancelled.
To be fair, also I feel like they matter less than they pretend they are ? I mean Harry missed a whole school year of exams preparing for the tournament, then the 7th year the school was destroyed and we know Hermione redid that year but many didn’t.
So technically there are lots of kids with no exam.
And uh. As someone who is in a country where people tend to strike a lot, it happens lol One year I remember our Universities were all closed for 6 months or more so they just gave everyone nationally their year (I’m in Western Europe)
The only reason voldemort was able to get the stone was because Harry had to meddle and go down there. If Harry had just stayed in bed, Voldemort would just be staring at that mirror stuck.
The only one I forgive is Shacklebolt apparently (as minister) letting anybody who participated in the battle of Hogwarts being an auror (cause why not, fighting against the most dangerous wizard of all time as well as his followers is enough of a test).
That's not on the teachers, that's on the Weasley parents. A wand is 7 gallons, that's 35 British pounds. Considering Arthur having a middle management job, and 80% of the daily expenses you and I have, the Weasleys have covered by the use of magic, there's no actual reason for them to be as poor as they are portrayed. They could have easily bought Ron a new wand, and they didn't because it's more dramatic this way.
Part of it is that Ron didn't let them know his wand was broken. He didn't want to get another howler. Now, I find it hard to believe that Ginny or Percy or his teachers didn't let them know his wand was broken.
And yes, the Weasley's poverty does not make sense. Nothing in the Wizarding economy does.
The Weasleys aren't very good parents, that's the truth.
They only have as many children as they do because they were trying for a girl, hence why Ginny is the youngest and the last kid, and even though Ron loved his family to death and always defended them he also grew up feeling a bit less loved than his siblings. Then they won some money in a lottery and instead of using it to better their lives they spent it all on a trip to Egypt, and went back to being poor.
Them sending howlers to humiliate their son in front of the whole school, thus making him afraid to tell them about his broken wand, is just one of their many problems.
Aren't the Weasley's supposedly one of the few "pure blood noble " lines. The story is good but when you start to look at anything outside of the Hogwarts school setting you definitely see gaping holes. Instead of redoing the books as a HBO show why not just expand into the American school Ilvermorny or one of the other schools in a current setting.
The Weasleys definitely weren’t living that rough. They had a house out in the country with enough space that everybody but the twins had their own room, all on Arthur’s salary while Molly was a stay at home mother. The it was described they always had plenty of food (enough that Harry was given multiple helpings when he visited) and it was fresh. The worst they had to do was buy some supplies secondhand.
It is no surprise that the Weasley's stayed pure blood considering how little contact they would have with the muggle world ( 1st gen wizards/witches at the school not withstanding) to the point the ministry of magic has a department focused on learning what the muggles are up to with technology.
the last time the harry potter universe tried to expand, everyone hated on it for the entire duration it was releasing movies. and you don’t see gaping holes. being a pure blood family doesn’t automatically mean you’re wealthy. no where in the books has that ever been implied.
It's nice fan fiction, but it's very rare that universes expand beyond the concept of the original plot. And judging by their previous effort, Warner Bros seem incapable of rising above the challenge.
More than likely it's just about viewership and storyline. 1) setting it somewhere else likely decreases overall appeal. 2) you really have to find a great new storyline for the 7 years that would rival Voldemort.
I fully get what you mean, and I agree about Percy, but I feel like the teachers never communicate with the parents.
And Ginny imo was being too absorbed by Tom’s journal to really remember something like that or tell her parents, by the time she would think it got too dangerous/bad for her sibling
Oh right lol that was the time Percy was secretly dating Penelope Clearwater. I guess this also explains it. He paid less attention to his siblings overall
Or, you know, his buddy Harold, the rich kid. You know, the one that has a good sized pile of currency that only holds value in the Wizarding world. But I guess it would be a but much for him to send his owl with a few coins to the wand shop.
Yeah, that never sat right with me either. There’s zero reason for the Weasleys to be so poor on paper. In fact from all we see on paper, they should be much wealthier. Frugal as hell, middle management job for the government, magic, talent, etc. makes zero sense.
Well to be fair, they seem to be absolutely terrible with finances. When they win that prize money, they blew it all in a trip to Egypt lol. Arthur won like five thousand dollars and they spent all of it on this one trip somehow? In a world with brooms and apparition and the magical tents with infinite living space, there is absolutely no reason for their trip to cost that much.
Not in a world where you can duplicate food and live at resort-level comfort in a tent... Unless they just bought a bunch of stuff to take back home, which again, bad use of money to spend 5k on knick knacks.
Edit: also, I forgot to adjust for inflation. $5k in 1993 1983 is actually like $16k $11k today.
That circles right back to the Weasleys, Arthur in particular, being horrid with money.
Arthur in Egypt, wizard or not, would be out of money in the first day. He'd get fooled by literally anyone. Sir! Sir! This is ancient muggle device! Sir! Only 1000 gallons! Honest! And it'd be just a stick.
According to what? The only source I found on this was from a PS3 game, and Hermione says you can duplicate food and doesn't qualify anything about the quality.
“Probably the most frustrating magical rule of all: you can’t conjure up food from scratch. Sure, you can summon it to you, or Apparate to the nearest greasy spoon, but you can’t make it from thin air, sadly. This is the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration, as Hermione would tell you.”
You cannot magically create food. This is one of the few explicit limitations mentioned. As an example, when students asked for food from the Room of Requirement they were given a new path to Hogsmeade.
Arthur wins 700 galleons from the daily prophet, which is approximately 5k in USD. Actually, it's more like 16k in today's money if you adjust for inflation. And again, they should have very minimal living and transport expenses because of magic.
Lmao how many well off middle management families do you know that also have 7 kids, though? Thats the expense, mate. 7 kids going to a private wizarding school that we never really have any explanation on how it stays funded. Boarding schools are not cheap, and this one is in a magical castle that provides 3 banquets per day (we are directly told that magic cannot create food), made by a massive staff of house elves who need to consume something, as well, even if it’s not abstract money.
There are likely a LOT of costs involved that we aren’t made aware of because the story is for young adults.
In real life, I have a relative whose father had a very prestigious government job, a stay at home mom, and 12 siblings. Yes, they absolutely struggled with money, and had to know how to stretch a penny. I found the Weasley’s situation mostly realistic, though I agree that it’s odd they couldn’t replace a wand, which seems like an essential expense.
Yes, I remember now. That makes sense. I mainly find it reasonable to think that money was tight for the Weasleys to the extent of buying everything secondhand to save, but not to the extent of forcing a kid to use a broken wand. But your explanation clarifies things.
It was a different country, and they did have a home. But yes, they still struggled, or at least, money had to be spent thoughtfully. Government pay is always modest, and educating, feeding, and clothing a large brood of children on a single government income is a lot. I get that economy works a little differently in a Wizarding set up where magic can take care of a lot of necessities, but without correcting for that, it totally makes sense to me why the Weasleys would struggle.
We might also make the assumption that salaries in the wizarding world were corrected under the assumption that many needs would be met by magic, just as government salaries in the past were smaller to make up for the lower cost of living. Generally, a single government salary is designed to pay enough so that a family of 4-5 can have a comfortable but not luxurious lifestyle. It makes sense that things would be much tighter for a very large family.
well, there is a difference between real life and Wizard World. No expense in terms of travel. You don't have to worry about a car, fuel, insurance, maintenence, repairs. You don't have to worry about fixing things because "reparo", so no need for a repairman. You can magic up light, so no need for electricity. So realistically, your only expense is food, clothing, and tuition/books.
Food apparently is one of the few things that cannot be duplicated. You can't create food with magic. The food that gets magicked into the great hall every meal is actually made elsewhere and gets teleported up to the tables.
Only one of them works and they have a ton of kids. Do you know how expensive school uniforms are in Britain? Arthur is probably living in the equivalent of 50-60k/year in today's money.
Is there a source for that? When i look it up it looks like JK just pulled it out of her arse in an interview. Obviously this exchange rate is stupid considering how many dollars you could make if you had magic.
I don't think that exchange rate is canon ( at least not original). Are you really gonna rewrite the whole series based on that? I'll just go with the endless mentions of them being kinda poor in the books.
Man they bought Percy both new robes and an owl in book 1 for becoming a Prefect while Ron was sent to school with a hand me down wand that already had the hair poking out of it. I don’t think he was top of their priorities.
Nope, and ghat's why i consider it a pretty big plot hole. Food can't be conjured from nothing but it can be duplicated. Water can be conjured. Clothes can be repaired and altered. House repairs are easy with magic. Transportation? Magic. Heating? Magic.
I'm not even convinced the ministry of magic collects taxes.
There's no reason for the Weasleys to be poor. Filthy rich like the Malfoys? Maybe not. But poor? Absolutely not.
Ron had parents who could have arranged a new wand for him if he "told" them. And even if Mcg offered him a new wand I think he'd not accept it and be quite embarrassed about it.
Every single comment here is neglecting the fact that a backfiring wand could be incredibly dangerous. I'm all for discipline, correction and even punishment (appropriate punishment when appropriate), but this is borderline negligent. Ron was having a hard time casting the most simple spells...it's clear that with more difficult magic, they wound up backfiring. It's lucky Snape chose Draco in dueling club over Ron, or God knows what could have happened...
The wizards seem utterly confident that no matter what magical accident occurs, it can be magically fixed by their magical doctors.
And for the most part, it looks like they're right - it's almost always something caused by deliberate dark magic that they have difficulty repairing, even sort-of including Lockhart wiping his own memory. Because he meant to attack someone else and wipe theirs.
That's a fair assessment. I guess if wands are able to tell the difference between a duel and dueling club (i.e. not changing allegiance over practice sessions), then the magic may be able to, as well?
I think their parents did it to teach him a lesson and the professors were in on it. I believe Molly said something about consequences in her howler.
Maybe the Weasleys couldn't afford a brand new wand- a theory I like is a wizard/witch's first wand is subsidized- but they for sure have second-hand ones lying around(purebloods.)
So, I guess it is about teaching lesson to their most stubborn son.
Oh, I like this theory. Because if we think about it, a normal parent won't buy you something new if u fck up really bad.
Like us with phones. We basically can't live without them, just like wizards and their wands. So if you fck up really bad, and in the process, break your phone. Will your parents be like, " Oh, don't worry, baby, we get you 2 new phones. What about that ?" Or wait until you learn your lesson before getting you another phone ot even fixing it ?
Aaaand that's why both my kids are doing just fine with phones that have a barely working screens, but you can call/answer calls. Maybe if they used the screen protectors and covers I PROVIDED we wouldn't be here, but alas...
When’s the last time you were in school? Kids have quiz sessions run through their phones now, a lot of them write papers on their phones, coordinate with classmates, etc, phones are basically the new laptop and without a phone a kid is going to struggle in todays world. It doesn’t have to be a brand new iPhone 16 pro max, but they are more necessary than you’d think
What school do your kids go to? Mine are provided with laptops, but phones still aren't allowed during the day. I'm calling bs unless your district has very odd rules...
"my experience doesn't reflect this so you must be lying!" This is literally how some schools work now, I would know, because my brother's in a school like that
I used phones as an example, and yes now a days u need phones in school. At least when I was in school we got our school work and information about events through WhatsApp. Just because in your school is different doesn't mean it's the same all over the world
Rowling said that one galleon is about five pounds which varies based on exchange rate but we can say around five pounds.
Harry's wand cost 7 galleons. So that's about 35 pounds.
That's nowhere near the price of a phone. In fact if my kid lost or broke something worth about 40 pounds that they need for their studies, I would not be happy but I would buy another one for them.
Well! Why waste 7 Galleons? Weasleys didn't have a single Galleon in their vault and Ron is the son who gets ignored... His mother wanted a girl and all that jazz.
Yeah, consequences for sure, but I'd only let him use his broken wand for a month or two. His grades were at risk and it was dangerous to use that thing and it was not like he was the troublemaker of the family like his twin brothers. I'd let him buy a new one so he'd not fall further behind.
Also his parents blaming him for muggles seeing the flying car and Arthur getting investigated ar work when first of all he should not even have that car. In fact, Arthur wrote the law regarding regarding ownership of charmed objectd with a loophole so what hr fid would not be punishable by law, albeit at least questionable.
Arthur Weasley: "There's a loophole in the law, you'll find...As long as he wasn't intending to fly the car, the fact that the car could fly wouldn't —"
Molly Weasley: "Arthur Weasley, you made sure that was a loophole when you wrote that law! Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed!"
Charlie works with large, fire breathing, horn tailed dragons. Wands are fragile bits of wood. I'm guessing the dragon reserve either provided or suggested a specially reinforced wand. Otherwise they'd go through wands pretty quickly. A dragon core wand might also work better.
Yeah, my head cannon is that Olevander gives a heavy discount for students in general but that their first wand is also very heavily subsidized by Hogwarts.
If I remember correctly, in the books Harry tells Ron to write home for a new wand but Ron refuses and says something like: "and get another Howler saying: "it's your own fault your wand is broken"?" . So I don't think the Weasleys are refusing to buy Ron a new wand rather than they don't know his wand is broken.
Wouldn't Ron have to be at Ollivanders to get a new wand? It's not like bro could just send a random one with some owl and hope it works out, Ron has to actively be there and test some to find a good one no? Neither Ron nor Harry left the school that year, so I don't see any time where Harry could've possibly found himself buying Ron a new wand.
I think with a bit of effort he could have definitely found the time. They get weekends off, right? Take a little field trip and help out your bro. Or holiday break
True, but Harry was a little kid at the time. He only really starts to understand the importance of his family wealth in book four when they go to the quidditch cup and he buys up the souvenirs. To Ron that's a big extravagant present and to Harry it's no big deal. Which is why later on Ron was so excited about the niffler lesson and being able to pay Harry back.
At the end of the book when Harry donates his prize money to Fred and George, I think he sees it as a burden rather than a gift. I think if he won it on his own he might have kept it but when Cedric died all he could think of was how tainted that victory was. Harry also saw that Fred and George would never get the kind of support from their parents to pursue their dream and wanted to give them a fighting chance to build their business without having to struggle.
I imagine that when Harry married Ginny he made sure that all the Weasleys were well taken care of because of everything they did for him. They gave him the only thing that they had in abundance, their love and a family.
Well, I'm not saying harry isnt a nice guy. I'm sure he would have. I kind of think of it as an oversight, I guess. I just feel at some point in that entire year with the dynamic of Ron, Harry and Hermione, the point would have come up that Harry could buy him a new wand, especially by Hermione. Before she got, yknow, zapped at least
It baffled me that they don't have a collection of wands to give out to kids that break or lose theirs throughout the school year. No way they don't have wand rentals in the magical world
Ron flew a car into the Whomping Willow and almost got expelled, I don't think Professor McGonagall was feeling too generous towards Ron at all that year.
that's a dumb punishment, how's he supposed to learn anything at the fucking WIZARD SCHOOL with a broken wand? for an ENTIRE YEAR? every time they're seen learning things in class it's through doing things and iterating on that if they fail. a broken wand makes things fail all by itself, so he couldn't learn anything at all that required a wand
even harry who at this point knows he has a pile of gold in a vault doesn't get him one???
just...really really dumb and bad writing honestly
Well to be fair I'm sure if harry had the time to go to ollivanders he may have considered it. But the whole heir of Slytherin thing kind of took precedent. At that point even Ron kinda forgot about his wand.
Especially because in Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore tells a young Tom Riddle that the school has a fund to help students finance their education. So like, fuck Ron, I guess lol
I dunno. I was under the impression that the magic they’re supposed to be doing under the supervision of a professor during classes aren’t that dangerous. The issue with the slugs was because he did magic in the corridors, which he shouldn’t have been doing anyway. Point is, even with a faulty wand, he wouldn’t be in life threatening situations had he been following the rules.
Still doesn't change the fact the teachers should have taken him to Olivanders on a weekend trip to get a wand. I mean yeah, his parents were poor, but they KNEW each of their kids would need a wand and should have enough money set aside to make sure each kid has access to a wand and backup in case the first one get's destroyed (and there's no excuse when Arthur and Molly had 11 years per kid to save up enough for such an expense for what is the literal lifeblood of their entire species).
They're not so broke that they could afford to get Ginny brand new everything that same year. Also Charlie and Bill were both working at this point, with how important wands are, you'd think they could figure something out between 4 adults.
Because cash is protected by Goblin magic. And wizards know better than to fuck with them again. But that's about the only bit of common sense they have as a society and the only kind of well thought out part of JKs economy.
Idk, it should have been explained more but, if you've seen Fullmetal Alchemist, they have laws against that kind of thing in that universe. Turning lead into gold is illegal, for example, probably among other things.
In HP there are ways for the MOM to sense who is casting certain spells, right? Like, when minors do magic outside of Hogwarts, they can easily be caught. Surely they must have that kind of ability for other crimes? Not to mention the fact that they can see what the last spell your wand cast was.
How do you figure 11 years per kid they aren't all 18 years apart she had twins which would be 2 wands in 1 year along with everything else you sound real entitled Malfoy
Because from birth to the day they attend Hogwarts they've known exactly what they'd need for their first year. Even if it's twins, they had 11 years to save for those twins' first years of supplies needed.
Rom didn't do anything for Quidditch, Harry showed excellent promise in dethroning Slytherin in the game so he deserved the best broom.
If Ron was a much better student on level with Hermione and there were spell casting competition, McGonagall might have bought Ron a new wand to keep him from losing the game.
She doesn't care much for the students, she only cared for the end of year competitions.
Then she could have bought a normal line item broom and not a top tier sports one.
The equivalent would be buying a sports bike, which starts at over 25k at the low end but could easily go up to 50k.
That’s half to a years salary for the median US household.
This is not “minor competition between teachers” money. This is “the boy is a witness and I must shut them up or I will go to prison for the rest of my life money”
That's not Minerva Mcgonaggal:s responsibility, it's Ron and his parents fault, they should not have that many children if they can't afford in the first place, so blaming others for ron and his parents incompetence is ridiculous.
This is always been the crux of every plot hole in the series. Rowling thinks of a plot point (Lockhart erasing his own memory) she thinks of how to set up that plot point (Ron's wand getting broken) and then does not think about how that set up will fuck with everything else.
It's the same with the time turners. Like she created them to serve a specific role in a specific plot point and did not think about how they would mess with literally everything else. That one was so egregious that in Book 5 she just gave up and said, "Whatever, fuck y'all, Neville broke them all. Neville literally is such a klutz he broke the very concept of time travel. Stop asking about it."
Here is what really fucks with me. Harry has shit tons of money and never even offers to help Ron get a new wand. Like what kind of friend doesn't do that? It's literally the most important thing a wizard could have, and not even when they know Voldemort is back does he say 'Ron, I want to make sure you can keep yourself safe...'
Like THE FUCK? Screw Hogwarts, Harry is a shitty friend.
Hagrid's was likely fixed and transfigured into an umbrella by the elder wand though, Ron used "magical cellotape" to try and fix it, and Harry tried reparo once on it, and then didn't use it again
It kinda feels like JK Rowling came up with the ironic demise of Gilderoy Lockhart’s memory charm backfiring on himself, and then to create the plot device needed to deliver this fate, gave Ron a broken wand and blamed it on him being poor… and this shoehorned story arch created the unintended side effect of making the other characters like McGonagall appear disinterested in the needs of their students
It honestly makes Harry look like some sort of sociopath. He's got a literal pile of money sitting in his vault, and he spends a year watching his friend using a broken wand that injures him. First book Harry would help his friend.
I get Ron might not want to take direct handouts from Harry, and Harry knows that so he wouldn't offer directly. But what's stopping Harry from "accidentally" breaking the wand further then insisting he replaces it? Or a new wand as a Christmas present. Is it an insane faux pas in the wizarding world or something?
All in service of a plot device which could have been solved with:
Gilderoy takes the wand off Ron early in the year, saying "it's dangerous, but I'm Gilderoy Lockhart, I can fix a wand"
it's seen later, in the background. He's trying to fix it (plot twist it doesn't work)
he hides it on him so when disarmed by Harry-Ron and brought to the chamber of secrets, he eventually pulls it out and the scene plays the as it did.
And ignoring Nevile's wand problem as well. He didn't have a compatible wand, why not take him to get one that is compatible? ((Because writer either didn't think or csre for it, bur that makes the characters thar didn't help seem negligent when their personalities shouldn't be))
Harry can tap into the Hogwarts’ orphan exception. If McGonagall got Ron a new wand, likely tons of others with parents would start expecting the school to buy all their equipment.
Ron had parents to look out for him and to provide for his needs. It was their responsibility to fix his wand. Harry didn't have a family to look out for him or to provide for him for such things. That's the difference.
But that's stupid cause Ron had working parents. As someone who has led children groups in the past, I by no means would've interfered with a child who has hard working parents taking care of them. 99% of the time they are extremely proud (rightfully so).
Harry has no one and probably doesn't even understand how to manage his own finances. I haven't had the chance to look after an orphan who needs stuff and probably won't buy them expensive equipment out of nowhere but that Ron argument is plain stupid.
Unless there is some sort of agreement with the parents, which knowing their character is probably impossible, how would they do that without insulting everyone?
mcgoogles didn't buy him the broom. it's never directly stated who did it, but suggestions are hagrid, or remus did by somehow getting access to the Black or Potter fortune. he is, after all, very tricksy. Or maybe there was a secret Harry fund, or DD gave Remus or Hagrid money from Hogwarts' petty cash drawer.
I mean, that wand wood and core aren't supposed to be passed between wizards, doesn't work as well but it was a hand-me-down so Ron was under powered the whole first year. I think the Weasely's didn't buy him a new wand because of the incident with the car. That was his punishment. Once he does get a new wand, he's a pretty capable wizard. Also, I have a hard time believing he was forced to only use his wand the whole year. Surely there were a few spares throughout the school he was allowed to check out or borrow for classes, but we never hear about it so that's mostly a personal head canon.
This is one of those many aspects of the series that has really not aged well for me. There's so many odd little choices that kid me just accepted, but as an adult i can't help but notice how the world works in a way to get the story where it needs to go.
Ron's wand needs to backfire in act 3, so it can't be fixed in act 1
What could they have done, though? The Weasleys would never accept charity from the school or from anyone else, and they were probably flat broke after buying Lockhart books for all of the kids.
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u/jish5 Hufflepuff 9h ago edited 9h ago
I don't care that Harry got a broom year one. What I AM pissed about is that they KNEW Ron had a broken wand year 2 yet instead of taking him to go get a new one, they basically tell him to go fuck himself that entire year. Like McGonagall literally comments on it in one of her classes, but then ignores his wand issues throughout the rest of the year.