SHIP: Ron & the Yule Ball

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 13626

Hi --

Continue to read R/H shippers.  Believe it or not, I'm largely on your
side on this one.  <g>

Star wrote:

> Ron thought of Hermione as a last resort, if he liked her why didn't
> he ask her before hand, he could have 'pretended' he wanted to go as
> friends but no, he didn't even think of her till it was too late.

Well, he's 14 yrs old, and I don't think he knew on any conscious level
that he had feelings for Hermione.  He's just sort of bumbling along
(like Harry) into the whole "girls are more than just the opposite sex"
idea.  I don't think that, at the end of GoF, Ron even yet really knows
what's going on as far as his feelings go.  He was astonished that she
was going with someone else, but I think this is more to do with his
perception that she was just "good old Hermione" who wasn't really a
"girl" in his mind until it was becoming clear that he was going to have
trouble getting a date at the 11th hour.

Kathy said:

> JKR herself has said that Ron doesn't know what's going on yet.  I think
> it's pretty clear he just hasn't admitted his feelings, even to himself, yet.
>
I agree with Kathy on that one!  I'm *not*, however, expressing any
agreement with the position that JKR has said that it *will* be R/H or
any of that nonsense.  Her statement was "Yes, there's something going
on between them, Ron just doesn't know it yet."  I still say that it's
arguable that the "something going on" is one-sided.  I think JKR's
statement was sufficiently ambiguous. But, it's clear that Ron just
hasn't admitted his own feelings.  We're in agreement on that much
anyway.

> Also, Ron didn't seem mad that she was going with some one else before
> the dance at all, if it would have been just another student I don't
> think ROn would have gotten mad.

I agree with Kathy that his repeated questioning of her was not just
casual curiosity.

> I think Ron got mad b/c he was jealous not of not going with Hermione
> but b/c Hermione got to go with his 'hero'.  Ron couldn't believe that
> Hermion went with Krum and she wouldn't even tell him, this is the guy
> he wanted an autograph from and here his friend his going to the dance
> with Krum and didn't even tell him.  I see Ron's anger and jealousy
> coming not from like for Hermione but his like (hero type peoples) of
> Krum.

I do think it's interesting that the fact that she went with Krum was a
particular sticking point for Ron.  I think that's a good observation.
It doesn't negate Ron's own feelings for her though; I think it just
made the situation worse than if she'd gone with Neville or someone
else.  Hmm ....now I'm curious to know what would have happened in this
case:

*****************************

"Hermione, you are a girl .. . . " [changed this line somewhat -- assume
Neville didn't ask Hermione first -- but he did ask Ginny]

"Oh, well spotted," she said acidly.

"Well -- you can come with one of us!"

"What as a last resort?" Hermione retorted furiously.

"Oh come on," Ron said impatiently, "we need partners, we're going to
look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has ...."

Hermione's eyes were still flashing dangerously but she shrugged
slightly.  "Fine," she muttered stiffly.

"Right," said Ron quickly.  "So, Ginny you can go with Harry and . . . .
"

"I can't," Ginny muttered, looking utterly miserable.  [I'm assuming
here that Neville asked Ginny as a first choice rather than 2nd
choice].  She exits, looking dejected.

Harry turned to Hermione.  "Great, so you'll come with me then?" Harry
said, relieved that his search for the required dance partner was over.
"I have to have a partner, remember?" he muttered to Ron.  [......]

**********************

What would Ron have thought if Hermione had gone with Harry?  One point
I'll make at this stage is that it is interesting that Ron does *not*
specifically ask her to ball.  He at first says, "Well, you can come
with one of us."  If she had said fine, it would be logical that she
would have gone with Harry because of his heightened need for a
partner.  Even Ron would have seen that.  Later in the conversation, he
says, "Okay, okay, *we* know you're a girl.  ... That do?  Will you come
now?"  He's *still* not out & out asking her to be *his* date.

I like Bbennet's observation that he may have, in the back of his mind,
assumed that they would both go stag and "hang out" at the Ball.

Anyway, back to the Hermione goes with Harry scenario.  I think Ron's
reactions might have been very interesting, but I don't think the
post-Ball row would have occurred if she'd gone with Harry.  Reason: I'm
still not convinced that Ron said anything personal to Hermione in the
common room.  I think he continued to fling the "consorting with the
enemy" stance at her just as he had at the Ball (of course, this is just
masking his real feelings but I think he doesn't recognize his feelings
for what they are).  I've said many times before that we don't know what
Ron said to her before Harry enters the room & overhears the last bit of
their row.  But, consider this (a point I don't think I've made):

["Well," he spluttered, looking thunderstruck.  "well --- that just
proves ---- completely missed the point."]

Okay R/H types: if Ron *did* say something personal ("why didn't you go
to the Ball with me rather than Krum?"), why in the world would he think
she'd missed the point?  Why would he look thunderstruck?

No -- it seems to me that he said pretty much what he said to her at the
Ball, "You're consorting with the enemy by going with Krum.  How could
you do that to Hogwarts?  To Harry?"  The dialogue we hear from that
point forward makes sense with that sort of an argument.  It does *not*
make sense to me that he said something like "I asked you -- why didn't
you break your date to go with me?" or anything even remotely personal.
First, he really *didn't* ask her to be *his* date, and second, I can't
imagine why he would say that she'd missed the point if he did say
something personal to her.

Harry's observation about Hermione getting the point more than Ron had
is, I think, just making it more clear that Harry himself has figured
out that Ron likes Hermione.  But, her feelings are still a mystery to
us all.

> ROn wa This is just part of an argument at one sense that is used for
> supporting ROn likes Hermione.  I have a lot of arguments against this
> I suppose b/c I've been in this type of thing with a guy friend of
> mind.  He acts towards me just like ROn acts towards Hermione and I
> know he doesn't have a crush one me for a fact so I suppose that tends
> to reflect my views.

Well, to most of us who have fully traversed those adolescent years
(long ago for many of us), it does appear pretty clear that Ron likes
Hermione.  <shares Bbennett's wink to Star about her "friend">

But, you can't look at the Yule Ball incident in isolation.  His
feelings have been becoming increasingly apparent, starting back in CoS
actually.

See -- I do believe that canon supports the notion that Ron likes
Hermione.  I just don't believe her feelings are clear either way.  <g>

For once the R/H shippers shouldn't be too up & arms about one of my
shipping posts --

Penny



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