Harry and the Weasleys (Was Cutting Ron A Break)

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 26682

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amber ?" <inviziblegirl at h...> wrote:
> I think JKR is going to further emphasize the jealousy that Ron 
feels for 
> Harry, which is a ripe area for conflict. She could also emphasize 
the 
> jealousy that Harry feels towards Ron's family.

This comment really made me think.  The thought has never crossed my 
mind that Harry could be jealous of Ron and his family - and I'm 
pretty convinced that he is not.  In fact, apart from Harry's little 
burst of jealousy over Cedric and Cho, which was not something that 
seemed to eat away at him as Ron's jealousies do, I would have said 
that jealousy was an emotion which doesn't bother Harry to much at 
all.

Sure, he thinks that Ron is lucky to have a family like the Weasleys, 
and probably finds it hard to understand why Ron doesn't seem to 
appreciate them.  I'm also pretty sure that he would like to spend 
more time at the Burrow (most of my favourite scenes which are of 
substantial length are those which take place a the Burrow – I think 
it's wonderful).   However,  just look at Harry's own position in the 
household, compared to Ron's – it seems much better in many ways:

Mr and Mrs Weasley obviously adore him - Mr Weasley, partly because 
he is a mine of information on Muggles (see the first visit when he 
sits Harry next to him at every mealtime, purely so that he can grill 
him on plugs and eceltricity, or whatever),  Mrs Weasley because she 
feels sorry for him because of his upbringing with the Dursleys and 
because of who he is.  Her attitude often seems sentimental, but is, 
IMO, grounded in common sense and  compassion for his plight.  She 
mothers him (Harry always gets extra hugs from her - see beginning of 
PoA) as though to compensate for the lack of a mother in his life, is 
there for him at the end of GoF, fusses over his clothes, sends him 
Christmas presents which are as good as, if not better, than Ron's.

The twins.  They have always, apart from the time in PS when Harry 
lost all the points from Gryffindor, been his friends, allies, court 
jesters
they don't tease Harry in the same way they do Ron, they are 
impressed by his Quidditch prowess, and, what I think is the most 
significant, they gave him the Marauder's Map, not Ron.  Ron remarks 
upon this himself, "How come they didn't give it to me, I'm their 
brother!" (para).  It could be argued that they gave the map to Harry 
because he needed it to get into Hogsmeade and Ron didn't – but this 
is a nonsense really, because they could have given it to Ron and 
told him to let Harry use it.  I would therefore go as far as to say 
that if Ron thinks about this at all, he is probably jealous of the 
relationship Harry has with the twins, not the other way round.

Charlie and Bill.  Again, they treat Harry like a favoured younger 
brother, not like a run-of-the-mill-indistinguishable-from-the-rest 
younger brother.  Bill takes time off work in order to support Harry 
during the Third Task, and is by Harry's bedside after the 
confrontation with and escape from Voldemort.  Charlie is also very 
impressed with Harry's flying, and rushes off to owl Mrs Weasley, so 
she can stop worrying about Harry – again, such concern for someone 
who is ostensibly her youngest son's best friend.

Percy and Ginny.  Well, nothing more needs to be said about Ginny 
beyond mentioning her name.  Percy as well, treats Harry well.  
Courteous, verging on friendly, protective of him such as when "he 
was tailing him everywhere like an extremely pompous guard dog" (PoA: 
Ch 9) allegedly on his mother's orders, but we don't actually know 
this, and the fact is that is proof again of Percy's heart of gold 
(sorry, had to get that in there somewhere).  This might seem 
tenuous, but during the Yule Ball, as well, it is Harry Percy wants 
to sit next to, not Krum, not Fleur Delacour,  he also doesn't seem 
interested in toadying to Ludo Bagman during dinner either (and this 
isn't because he doesn't want to – he does, later).

Therefore, in a rather, unsophisticated, rambling way, I'm trying to 
show, that besides the fact that Harry doesn't feel jealousy for Ron 
over his family, nor does he need to.  His place in the household is 
very much as an honorary member, and I can't see any of their 
attitudes to him changing in the foreseeable future, unless Ginny 
loses her crush. 

It is possible that Harry could see as his position there as being 
tenuous, and he probably thought about this when Ron and he had the 
falling out in GoF.  This thought process could have resulted in him 
feeling that he would wish to be part of the family in his own right, 
without it being reliant on his friendship with Ron.  But Harry does 
love Ron, and as much as I have disliked Ron in PoA and GoF, I can't 
see them ever wanting to prolong an argument.  It would be 
interesting to see if in the future if, when an argument has occurred 
because Ron is in the wrong (I am sure he would be and not Harry!), 
Harry would back down regardless.  If he does, I think that it would 
partly be to do with the relationship he has with Ron's family.  

It is not inconceivable though, that even if he did have a seemingly 
irrevocable break with Ron, that the rest of the Weasleys would still 
treat him the same.  One final word – it could be said that the 
Weasleys treat Harry so well, not just because of his being Ron's 
friend, but because he is "the famous Harry Potter."  It is possible 
there was an element of this very early on.  However, the family just 
aren't like that on a day to day basis.  As Harry notices on his very 
first visit to the Burrow – they all seem to like him.

Catherine