[HPforGrownups] Ron needs a niche: (was re: H/H and why it's just wrong)

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 2287



Dr M M wrote:

> I have to say I agree with a lot of the things you said.  One of the
> things I've thought for quite a while now is that people underestimate
> Ron.  Because he doesn't seem to have the "smarts" that Hermione does or
> Harry's Quidditch skills and scar and isn't the focus of the books,
> people always assume that he's weaker than either one of them.  While I'm
> not claiming that Ron's the most powerful wizard in existance, I do think
> that he's quite powerful in his own way.

This is really an interesting thread.

One thing I've been wondering: could Ron have some kind of area where he
could shine that he just hasn't discovered yet?  For example, how would he do
at Quidditch if someone gave him a Firebolt?  Could he join the team next
year?  The problem, as you point out, is that all the areas he can think of
where he could shine, his brothers have gotten there first, and the best he
might hope for is "you're a Quidditch star, just like Charlie" or "you're as
good at curse-breaking as Bill" or "great job on the test, Ron--if you keep
up the work, you'll shine at your studies as much as Percy did!"

What areas COULD he excel in that he hasn't tried yet?  I think it would
really help if he could find something (the way that Neville, for example, in
GoF realized that he is really is good at herbology--this discovery gave him
a desperately needed boost.)  Or is Ron doomed to stay in the shadow
forever?  He certainly has the thirst to distinguish himself (remember his
vision in the mirror of Erised?), to the extent that I wonder whether the
sorting hat might have offered him a place in Slytherin, too!

Wondering . . .
Peg