Ron Week : More Questions

[arabella at sugarquill.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 16355

>>IMO, Harry is the one who doesn't look
> > before he leaps.
> 
> Harry wades into danger without giving it alot of thought.  That's
> true.  But, Ron has a tendency to pass judgment quickly, leap to
> ill-considered conclusions (others have said, he said alot of really
> illogical & stupid things in GoF, trying to be noticed, trying to 
draw
> attention to himself). 

I agree with both those character presentations.  Both boys, 
differently motivated, have shown a tendency toward rash action at 
one point or another.

> I think it's possible that if the Dark Side
> targeted him and knew his weaknesses, he could unintentionally fall 
into
> their trap through carelessness.  I'm not saying Hermione is 
absolutely
> immune from the same thing, but honestly, if you were a DE who knew 
the
> both of them, which one would you say was more vulnerable to
> manipulation?  I know which one I'd pick.
> 

Well, it depends which DE, IMO.  Lucius Malfoy, getting his 
information from Draco, would probably go after Hermione first.  This 
is IMO, I'm imagining myself Evil - and I'm seeing that Hermione is a 
Muggle-born whose parents are magically unprotected 10 months out of 
the year, whereas Ron's got a ton of people looking after him - the 
Weasleys are rooted and versed in the magical world and are capable 
of fighting for their lives.  The Grangers, OTOH, are much more 
vulnerable to straight on threats and attacks, which IMO, makes it 
much easier to trap Hermione and to make her feel unsafe - at least, 
materially.  *Emotionally* (IMO) the easier target is Ron.  Although 
I don't know which DE could possibly know this.  Excepting, of 
course, Scabbers/Pettigrew/Wormtail, who was privy to the ins and 
outs of the Harry/Ron/Hermione relationship for three years.  (This 
is assuming that the Animagus brain retains all informations 
received, which is an arguable point in and of itself, now that we 
have QTTA as a reference.)  And why is Ron the easiest emotional 
target? IMO, it's very well summed up by Penny here:

>I'm saying that impulsiveness &
> rash judgments could cause Ron to fall unwittingly into the hands 
of the
> Dark Side. Falling into a trap is not at all the same thing as
> affirmatively taking action to *go over to* the other side.

Exactly.  "Falling" and "going over to" are totally different.  I'd 
actually *welcome* a scenario in which Ron's loyatly is tested - 
greatly.  I think that would be dramatic and fabulous.  We know he 
wants money, we know he wants attention - how riveting would it be to 
see him make the choice between what he *thinks* he wants (fame and 
fortune) and what's truly valuable to him (his friends)? (IMO) And I 
think Ron is more than up to the challenge - in my opinion he'd 
choose to be true to his heart, and therefore to Harry and Hermione.  
But I'm just thinking and hoping and supposing based on what I've 
read so far, which is that Ron is the kind of character who can stand 
up with a broken leg with a green face against a 'mass murderer' and 
willingly defend his friend.  I'd LOVE to see what kind of chess 
moves Ron would pull out in a DE hostage situation!