The Yule Brawl/Ron -- and Hermione, too

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 50203

I very much enjoyed Ebony's disection of the interdynamics of the HRH trio 
during the Yule Ball sequence of GoF.

And I agree. This apparant shift in Ron's character is not something that is 
just going to go away.

My own diagnosis is that the kid is reacting very badly to puberty and it 
wouldn't be going at all too far to say that he is suffering from some level 
of "testosterone poisoning". And his upbringing as the youngest of six 
brothers hasn't given him much resistence to it. He is clearly acting out all 
the very worst cultural stereotypes of expected-or-at-least-tolerated male 
behaviour. 

Given time, he will almost certainly grow out of the worst of it. He did have 
a good upbringing in a good family with decent values. But we are going to 
have to suffer through the next couple of years along with his classmates. 
And I quite confidently predict that we will want to smack him upside the 
head on a regular basis over the next two books. I suspect that we won't get 
much of a glimpse of the engaging youngster that we all liked so much in 
PS/CoS until fairly late in book 6. He may gradually re-emerge through book 
7. And no SHIP that he tries to sign on with in the interim is going to last. 
(Nor should it.)

For the record; 

I think that Hermione *did* fancy Ron on the train to Hogwarts in their first 
year. Which is why she pestered him so much in her oh-so-inept way right up 
until his comments (which at the time were probably fair enough -- no one 
*did* much like her at that point) drove her into the loo to cry through the 
Halloween Feast. After the three of them became friends, this sort of 
try-it-on-for-size faux "romance" did not have enough ground to sustain 
itself in the face of a genuine friendship. I think that at that point, if 
Hermione was going to fall in love with anything it was with and 
honest-to-ghod-right-here-in-your-face adventure, not some vague culturally 
sanctioned notions of romance. Hermione likes taking actions that *matter*. 
And she's bright enough to be able to see the difference between things that 
*do* matter and things that her culture is only claiming *ought* to, because 
she's female.

Since then, Hermione has looked outside the trio for any exercise of 
"romance" scenarios. After the Lockhart fiasco (a hard lesson when you're 13) 
if she has been harboring any sort of fancies in that line, I think may have 
been nursing a crush on Remus Lupin. (Whose secret she protected for several 
months, not even hinting of it to her two best friends -- although if the 
three of them hadn't been at loggerheads over the 
Crookshanks/Scabbers/Firebolt incidents for much of the year, this may not 
have been the case.) So far, the indication is that she is the kind of 
student who gets crushes on teachers, rather than schoolmates. But this may 
also simply mean that she went through this stage earlier and more quietly 
than Ron is managing to do.

By fourth year, she seems to be emerging from this stage of development. 
Although it is also possible that this didn't so much change as to be set on 
the back burner. Crouch/Moody was not a desirable crush object, and helping 
Harry survive the tournement and liberating the house elves had higher 
priority. The Skeeter articles made a fine irritation and counterincentive as 
well. She is no longer the socially inept little girl she was in PS. She's 
grown up a lot, and Harry hasn't noticed, so the reader hasn't had this 
pointed out to him.There is no indication that Hermione formed any sort of 
"crush" on Viktor Krum. Instead, she seems quite genuinely to have *liked* 
him, accepted him exactly as he was and felt flattered by the fact that a 
wizard of his prominence had deliberately sought her out. 

If Kurm does return to England after their 4th year. I suspect he may very 
well remain in the picture for a while, although I seriously doubt that 
Hermione is going to settle down permanently with anyone that she dated while 
she was still in school. Or, not without a decent interval of several years 
between the two points. She really doesn't seem that type at all. 

And if she does end up marrying a Weasley, JKR is going to have to tap dance 
pretty skillfully to make the match seem plausible if the Weasley turns out 
to be Ron. Bill or Percy seem a good deal better candidates. At least at this 
point in the story arc.

-JOdel


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