SHIP: Why Ron is wrong for Hermione; NOT!! ...Really NOT!!

[Jim Ferer <jferer@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48739

Steve:"Next, the part you left out, is the part where I answered your
question. Both Harry and Hermione are way too serious; they are both
too far on one end of the scale."

Can't agree with that, Steve. Harry really wishes he was more
ordinary. Hermione *is* serious by nature.  When Harry is serious,
it's because somebody's idea of good fun is to kill him and take over
the world.  What is he supposed to do, put a whoopie cushion in a
dementor's chair? But it's true, Harry would really like to play
Quidditch, duel Ron with a rubber haddock, and get decent grades
without going nuts about it.

Steve:"He, Ron,brings the joy to their lives, he brings the fun, he
teaches them to play. HE BRINGS BALANCE."

I agree, partly, but I believe you're overstating it a little. He does
that for Harry, who's eager for that balance, but I don't see Hermione
swinging the rubber haddock much.

Steve:"Harry and Hermione together are less than the sum of their
parts; they drag each other down. Ron lifts them both up. They both
desperately need Ron in their lives."

I disagree very much that Harry/Hermione are less together or drag
each other down.  They are much greater than the sum of their parts. 
Hermione, the intellectual, the researcher, both encourager and
conscience, and Harry, the instictive talent, the "man of action."  We
don't see them having fun together that much, it's true, but it's
likely to happen offpage. In the pages they're usually trying to keep
Harry in one piece.

Harry DOES need Ron in his life. Ron is Harry's balance, Ron is the
one who gives him normalcy (by himself and as a member of OBHWF), and
his foxhole buddy. (Let's hope we see that again in OotP.)  In
addition, Ron acts as Harry and Hermione's native guide to the wizard
world.

Steve:"Because of this element of balance or perhaps counterbalance
that I see between H/R, I think a long term or permanent relationship
could occur successfully, but I don't think that is where the story
will go."

I don't see R/H as successful in the long term, and I agree this isn't
where the story will go.  What I can't imagine is any of them getting
a mate outside the Trio. After you've spent your adolescence in a
maelstrom worthy of a Norse saga, how can an ordinary person compete?