[HPforGrownups] Ron Going To The Dark Side

[heidi.h.tandy.c92 at alumni.upenn.edu]

No: HPFGUIDX 35056

In a message dated 2/11/2002 8:52:55 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
Chelsea2162 at aol.com writes:


> Ah, another person believing that Ron will, ahem, go over to the dark 
> side. While it IS a possibility, I don't think that it will actually 
> happen. 
> I DO believe however, that Ron will be tempted, and someone with possibly 
> try 
> to lure him onto LV's side, but in the end, Ron will prove himself loyal to 
> 
> Harry, as he has done so many times before. A good example of this, is when 
> 
> Ron willingly sacrifices himself during the chess game in CoS. Only someone 
> 
> utterly loyal to his friends would do such a thing.

I am not sure that Ron is permanently stuck on the Side of the Good because 
of something he did when he was 12 (Ron's birthday is March 1, according to a 
JKR chat). I am sure that Wormtail would've sacrificed himself for his 
friends at 11 or 12 too - perhaps he did and that's why James trusted him 
wiht his life - but that doesn't protect him for all eternity. People grow 
from 12 to 18, 19, and beyond, and their personalities go through fundamental 
changes - and some that are less material. If you asked someone who just 
finished Book 1 whether Ron would ever stop speaking to Harry for about a 
month, they would laugh at you. They'd also laugh at the idea that Ron's pet 
rat is an evil wizard. But both of those are canon - they're facts in JKR's 
universe. I worry that Ron is either going to do something very damaging to 
Harry (and Hermione, too) or that he's already evil, having been corrupted 
somehow by the influence of his rat. I used to love that kid - but in PoA his 
actions regarding Hermione made me jittery, and I still read parts of GoF, 
especially the one where he is glad that he made Hermione cry at the Yule 
Ball*, and I cringe away from him.


* I don't really see how the post-Yule Ball argument can ever be read as 
saying that Hermione was suggesting that ROn ask her out some time. He'd made 
her *cry* a few hours before - how can she foregive him so quickly?


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