SHIP: H/H: Muddying the pool

[cassandraclaire73]

No: HPFGUIDX 31397

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "bbennett320178" <bbennett at j...> wrote:
> ***
> I mentioned this the last time this topic came up - why *would* 
> Hermione talk about Ron? Harry is the one she and Viktor have in 
> common, and when talking with someone you don't know well, a polite 
> conversationalist looks for topics in common to discuss (in 
> particular, I don't think you discuss someone you may have just 
> realized you're sweet on with someone you barely know). I don't 
> question that Harry is on Hermione's mind (he is; she's helping 
with  the Tournament), and if she and Viktor were intimate friends 
and she  continued to speak only of Harry, then I'd see this as 
evidence of a  crush. But as it is, I only see proof that Hermione is 
a well-  mannered girl determined to be friendly with Viktor; that 
she hasn't  picked up on Viktor's jealously can't be held against her.
> 
> ***

:D Shockingly, I disagree (everyone faints in shock) although not 
violently or anything. To me this is along the lines of the argument 
that Hermione must be interested in Ron precisely because she 
*didn't* kiss him at the end of GoF. ("She must be too shy! Look, she 
loves him!) *giggles* Poor Hermione, her every action analyzed in 
such detail by all us rabid shippers.

I think it would be quite easy for her to chat about Ron around 
Viktor -- Ron is a huge Quidditch fan, he really admires Viktor (or 
did at one point.) It isn't as if there's nothing to say about Ron, 
and Harry and Viktor are hardly close; there's not much Harry-related 
to say other than Tournament chat. Also, she spends almost all her 
time with Ron and Harry -- they are her best friends. It is natural 
to talk about your best friends. I do not think it is weird or 
indicative of romantic interest that she would talk about either Ron 
or Harry to Viktor, although I do think that Viktor was perhaps 
picking up on something there...he doesn't strike me as a dim bulb, 
or someone who would make up jealousy out of whole cloth. I am of the 
opinion that there is something in the way she talks about Harry that 
struck a nerve with him.

Either way I chew on the fact that Viktor is jealous of Harry, I 
cannot see it as an argument *for* Hermione being interested in Ron 
that she does not talk about him much. What's next? "Ron asked her 
out and she said no. Aha! She's interested! If she really didn't like 
him, she'd say yes!"

:D

Cassie

NB: We really are not in any way clear on how close Hermione and 
Viktor are, are we? I'd be curious as to what people think...I mean, 
she was considering visiting him in Bulgaria...