SHIP: re: Ron & the Yule Ball

[bbennett at joymail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 13640


Penny wrote:  

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.

At this point, I think Ron thought (or it may be more accurate to say 
didn't *think*), that Ginny could go with Harry and he could go with 
Hermione. As Penny pointed out, he never actually asked Hermione, and 
this would in a way absolve him of that task ("Well, I had to go with 
her, I couldn't very well go with my sister!"). Ginny already having 
a date messed that up. It would have been quite interesting if the 
scene had worked out as Penny just described. My interpretation of 
Harry is that he recognizes Ron's interest in Hermione, but not until 
a bit later (Ron asking Hermione repeatedly about her date, Ron 
pitching a fit over Viktor, Ron pouting during much of the dance). I 
don't think Harry would have asked had he thought Ron liked Hermione 
(keeping in mind my stance that the book is limited omniscience 
Harry's POV, and we would know if he recognized an attraction on his 
part toward Hermione), but if he had no idea Ron likes Hermione
 It 
would have been very interesting to see how Ron would have responded. 

Penny also wrote:
> 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?

I don't think he did say anything personal, although by this point he 
may have started to recognize the cause of his jealousy (although 
Penny's idea that he doesn't really know his own feelings by the end 
of GoF is certainly plausible). Ron being so stunned by 
Hermione's "Well, you know what the solution is 
" line supports the 
argument from Ron's side remained about Krum, I think – she got that 
it was personal before he did, threw it back at him, and he went into 
a big denial loop ("Well ---that just proves---completely missed the 
point").  I also agree that Ron wouldn't have ranted if it'd been 
Harry – what would he have done? Again, this would have been an 
interesting scenario!

As an aside, Moey wrote an interesting post ball story (The Yule 
Brawl, which I know is at SugarQuill and maybe at FF.net) where 
during Ron's rant over Viktor, he slipped in something along the 
lines of "and you go and make yourself all pretty for *him*, don't 
you have any sense whatsoever? I can't believe you went with him, 
he's Harry's rival...". In the story, this comes across as an 
unrecognizable slip on Ron's part, which doesn't take away from his 
shock at Hermione's comment. It's a believable, entertaining story. 

Star wrote: 
> Oh dear, I fear that I've opened a can of worms here but oh well.  
I know that everyone disagrees with me, that's why I started this 
> simply to see if one other person thought along similar lines, I 
> guess not, oh well I'm used to being the odd ball. 

Not a can of worms, Star –I just happen to disagree with you :*) This 
is good thread!

> One reason why I  think that we differ so much is that I'm bot an 
adult, yes I know 
> there are otehr teenagers on here but for the most part it's 
adults.   I'm only 15 (16 in May YAY!) so I can see other sides to 
what is 

<sigh> I wish I could get this excited about my upcoming 31st. Why is 
this bugging me so much more than 30? Well, happy birthday in 
advance. 

> You've all been saying things along the line of  `Ron is a 14 year 
old boys he 
> doesn't know he has feelings for Hermione, he hasn't figured it out 
> yet' well I suppose sense I view Ron as being emotionally imature 
(less then Hermione and Harry) that could be but I don't really see 

Why? I do see Hermione as a mature young lady, but I don't see Ron as 
unusually immature in comparison to Harry. He has his hangups, but so 
does Harry. 

> that sense I have many 14 year old guy friends who know exactly 
> what's going on, they know who they like and some even have steady 
> girls friends,

And I have 30 year old friends who are still trying to figure things 
out :*) Please don't think I was trying to say 14 year olds don't 
know what's going on, Star. What I think is based on memories of 
myself and my friends at that age. Everyone is different. 

> I think that in realness Ron would be more in tune with 
> his feelings judging by the people around me but I know `we' are 
> thought of as younger minded then what we are and I'm sure the same 
> goes with how Jo views `us' therefor that is how it's written in 
her books.

Do you think JKR writes her characters as young? In general, or only 
in regard to relationships? My impression is that they are a bit more 
savvy than I was at that age, and their struggles as they try to 
figure out feelings for the opposite sex seem quite realistic to me - 
but it's been a while. 

<Smile, everyone, and be happy!>

Of course! We're debating Harry Potter – how could we not be happy?

Best,
B