SHIP: JKR & Ron/Hermione, H/H converging

[pippin_999 <foxmoth@qnet.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50057

Penny:
 >>
If you re-read the conversation, Ron contributes nothing to that 
solution; [in coS= Harry is thinking out loud and he puts it all 
together. <<

Eh?
The way I read it, it's Ron who associates the word "pipes" and 
the bathroom. Harry's lost in thought remembering the voice, and 
Ron has to grab his arm to get his attention. Harry finishes Ron's 
sentence as friends often do, but Ron got the idea first. It's also 
Ron who thinks of using Parseltongue to activate the tap, and 
Ron who deduces that Ginny was taken because she knew 
something about the Chamber.

As for the conversations with Moody  in GoF, though Harry and 
Hermione work out more plausible scenarios for what happened 
to Crouch, it happens they are just as wrong as Ron is. 
Guessing that Crouch had been pulled onto a broom and 
abducted, as Ron does, is a lot less far-fetched than what 
actually happened...who knew Moody had killed Crouch, turned 
him into a bone and buried him in Hagrid's garden? Ron seems 
to have a hard time remembering that you can't Apparate from 
the grounds, but then Hermione has the  Wrongski Faint thing, 
and we know she's read QTTA, because she's the one who lent 
it to Harry in the first place.

In  Padfoot Returns, it is more like Ron is on the right track and 
Harry, Sirius and Hermione are ignoring him. Ron keeps 
returning stubbornly to his conviction that there's some 
connection between Karkaroff, Crouch and Snape, that there's 
something important about Snape's office, and that the culprit 
could be fooling Dumbledore. He's right, but nobody's listening. 

Penny: 
> Well, I think encouraging and supporting your partner is 
completely different from "babying."  In fact, I don't think Ron 
needs babying at all.  That's the last thing he needs.  What he 
really needs is to sort out his self-esteem problems and *then* 
he'll be ready for a romantic relationship with someone like 
Hermione.  At the present though, I think he would need to see 
himself as the dominant or more successful party<<

 If dominant successful women turn Ron off, he wouldn't be 
panting after Fleur. He's obviously appreciative of Madame 
Rosmerta, who could probably eat him for lunch. And Padma's 
no doormat.

I do admit there's some resentment of Hermione on Ron's 
behalf in GoF, but I don't think it's because she's becoming a 
dominant woman. I think it's because she's becoming a woman, 
period. Ron would have been perfectly happy for her to stay one 
of the boys, and he resents her for changing, IMO, though it's 
dawned on him that there are some delightful possibilities in the 
offing.

 I think the Trolls remark got made because it honestly *didn't* 
occur to him that Hermione was a girl herself, not because he 
didn't care about her feelings. Yeah, he should speak more 
sensitively whether there are girls present or not. Right, and *we* 
never need to delete any posts from the MEG list, because we 
MEGs express ourselves with sensitivity at all times. <veg>.

Penny:
>> Harry is the hero, and so there's that danger of hero-worship 
for whoever his romantic partners are.  But, Hermione would 
quite clearly not fall into that category, which is one of the many 
reasons that H/H has always appealed to me.
 
Maybe it's the feminist in me that gets all riled up about R/H.  It's 
been my experience that many R/H'ers have a tendency to focus 
on Ron's feelings and conclude that because Ron likes her, it's 
a given that there will be a romance.  "But, it's *obvious* that Ron 
liiiiiiikes her."  To which I say a big giant: "So.  What."  It takes 
two. <<<

Ahem. It's  been my experience that many H/H'ers have a 
tendency to focus on Harry's situation and conclude that 
because Harry depends on her, it's a given that there will be 
romance. "But it's *obvious* that  Harry neeeeeeeeeeeeds her."  
To which I say a big giant:"So. What." It takes two. <even bigger 
grin>

 Yes, she knows Harry  and she adores putting her considerable 
knowledge and skills at Harry's disposal.  Yes, she knows the 
real boy and she likes him. To which I also say: So. What. What 
is she supposed to get out of it all? Why does she need *him*? 
Romantically, I mean. What encouragement and support has he 
offered *her*? Except in the general way of saving her from bad 
guys, but that's being a hero, and I'm told that's not what H/H is 
about <g>.

 Yes, he's famous, so she won't ever have to worry about 
overshadowing him. But why should she have to worry about that 
in the first place? Is there some reason a woman shouldn't be 
the dominant partner?

And while I don't expect Harry would be impressed by anyone 
who was star-struck and simpering, (when has Ginny ever 
simpered, anyway?) what's wrong with being adored? Yeah, 
Ginny will have a hard time convincing Harry that she adores 
him, not the Boy Who Lived, if that ever becomes the case.

 But I'm not convinced that Hermione adores Harry as much as 
she adores Fighting the Good Fight. Does she talk to Viktor 
about Harry because Harry excites her, or because  Harry and 
Quidditch is a safer topic than the Trio's adventures, which are 
mostly secret. She's not going to tell Viktor about saving Sirius, 
or setting Snape on fire, or the time she turned herself into a 
catperson while trying to illegally enter the Slytherin Common 
Room, now is she?

Pippin