Shippers and Non-Shippers (in defense of Ron)

[bbennett at joymail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 28160

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., lady.nymphaea at f... wrote:

<This is kind of funny, because I was having this discussion with my 
13-year-old cousin, who is definitely in the H/H camp. (Harry and 
Hermione are closer friends than Ron and Hermione, after all.) She 
likes Ron and thinks he's funny, but she feels he has a bit of 
growing up to do before he'd make a decent boyfriend, especially for 
Hermione. He's too fixated on looks at this point.>

I'm amused when I hear statements like "Ron is too fixated on looks 
at this point". Yes, Ron made the comment regarding poor Eloise's 
crooked nose, but Ron is obviously the one that has an interest in 
Hermione - bushy haired, pre-teeth straightened and all. Harry is the 
one with the crush on the exceptionally pretty Cho, yet Ron is always 
accused of being the superficial one. Really, this makes no sense to 
me.

And since I'm being argumentative :*), I'll also say that I don't see 
evidence that Hermione is a much closer friend to Harry than she is 
to Ron. Remember, the books are from Harry's POV, so we see the time 
he spends with Ron and with Hermione, but we don't hear about the 
time Ron and Hermione might be spending together, unless Harry 
happens to allude to it. Ron and Hermione bicker, but Harry 
frequently agrees with Ron's position - he just doesn't open his 
mouth to agree. I don't see the bickering between Ron and Hermione as 
evidence of a less intimate friendship than the one Harry shares with 
Hermione; Hermione seems to me to be the type who loves a good 
debate, and Ron is the one who'll "fight" with her, not Harry (in 
other words, while she often expresses vexation at Ron's opinions, 
she doesn't seem put that out that Ron *expresses* his opinions). I'm 
not at all arguing that Hermione and Ron are closer than Hermione and 
Harry, just that there's no evidence Harry and Hermione are closer 
than Hermione and Ron.

My, I haven't defended Ron in quite a while - that felt good <g>.

B