SHIP: That Darned Kiss--The Problem With Reading R/H in GoF

[anguaorc <fausts@attglobal.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50281

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Ebony <selah_1977 at y...>" 
<selah_1977 at y...> wrote:
> (Second half of my essay excerpts.  I'd post more of it, but I just 
> saw my previous post was over 30K, and now must accordingly hide 
from 
> the Mod Squad and everyone on digest.  --Eb, going back to lurkdom.)

Erk! and I see that mine was (blush) 47K.  Mea culpa.  Mea maxima 
culpa.  But this one will be shorter – I swear.  This is a reply
to 
Ebony's second post, #50157, titled "That Darned Kiss--The
Problem 
With Reading R/H in GoF."  It, too, will be eventually
cross-posted 
on the accursed FictionAlley Debate Thread.

> PADFOOT RETURNS—THE SECOND RITA SKEETER ARTICLE
> 
> *********************
> "I told you!"  Ron hissed at Hermione as she stared down at the 
> article.  "I told you not to annoy Rita Skeeter!  She's made you 
out 
> to be some sort of- of scarlet woman!"
<snip quote>
> She looked over at the Slytherins, who were all watching her and 
> Harry closely across the room to see if they had been upset by the 
> article.  Hermione gave them a sarcastic smile and a wave, and she, 
> Harry, and Ron started unpacking the ingredients they would need 
for 
> their Wit-Sharpening Potion.  (GoF  p. 445 UK paper)
> **********************
> 
> Wow.  I have to say this, as a tangential observation--one of the 
> reasons why I just love Hermione for Harry is because she is 
> definitely the only girl in canon who's strong enough to handle
> the 
> press and the pressure that would result from being Harry's girl.

Well, so far as we know
 I truly doubt that she's the only
girl at 
Hogwarts with such strength.
 
> Anyway, I love how Hermione deals with the rumors summarily

but 
> never outright denies them.  She declares this Skeeter article to 
> be "rubbish"—which it is, after all.  In it, she's
> accused of two- timing Harry for Krum's sake.  This is so 
antithetical to her 
> character that it doesn't make her angry.  She finds it funny. 
> So she dismisses the article as completely ridiculous.

> Note that she *never* calls the first article "rubbish",
> though. 

Ahh, but because of the Ron-Harry fight, we don't see what she
says 
about it in front of Ron.  ;)

More seriously, under what circumstances would you expect to see 
Hermione denying it?  To Harry?  He knows it's not true.  To the 
Slytherins?  It's none of their business.  Where is her
*opportunity* 
to set the record straight?

> Just "ignore it" is her only suggestion for Harry
 not
> vehement protest of the kind she showed at the Yule Ball, or the 
amusement 
> she's expressing at this point.  Hermione doesn't even seem 
> incredulous when faced with that first article.  She doesn't get 
> angry as she did when Ron accused her of being disloyal to Harry at 
> the Yule Ball.  Instead after that first autumn article she just 
> holds her head high and keeps right on hanging with Harry
 and
> her grace under pressure is something that he admires.

Yes.  In fact, her behavior is perfectly consistent with a person who 
has nothing to hide and nothing to be embarrassed about.  Not at all 
the behavior of someone whose secret wishes have just been exposed to 
the public eye!  

> *********************
> "There's something funny, though," said Hermione ten minutes later, 
> holding her pestle suspended over a bowl of scarab beetles.  "How 
> could Rita Skeeter have known . . . ?"
<snip quote>
> "Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is. Miss Granger," 
> said an icy voice right behind them, and all three of them 
jumped, "I 
> must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from 
> Gryffindor." (GoF  p. 445-446 UK paper)
> **********************
> 
> Is Hermione blushing because of some more-than-friendship feeling 
for 
> Ron?  Nope.  

Yep.  Embarrassed yet again to be seeming to try to make him feel 
jealous, when *really* she's just trying to discuss the Rita
Skeeter 
problem.  It's Ron's eye she's "determinedly
avoiding" in the 
blushing sentence.  That's a *clue*, folks.

> Remember, she didn't blush under his intense scrutiny 
> when it had nothing to do with Krum .  Yet here again she's
> blushing hotly
 *but they're talking about Krum again*.  

Yes, talking about the very subject that made him so jealous at the 
Yule Ball, the very subject that caused her to so forget herself as 
to say, "next time ask me before somebody else does and not as a
last 
resort."  Very, very embarrassing subject to talk about with Ron!
 A 
lot has happened since the time Ron looked at her as if seeing her in 
a whole new light.  *Then* she managed to hold off the blush for a 
few seconds.  *Now* she blushes scarlet as she says it, BEFORE he 
even starts looking at her.

The idea that she's blushing for Krum's sake seems very
far-fetched 
to me.  She wasn't blushing at the second task, when Krum
actually 
invited her to Bulgaria and told her he'd never felt like this 
before.  She wasn't blushing when Krum came over to say his
goodbyes 
in Chapter 37, or when they returned from their private talk.  She 
wasn't blushing when *she saw Krum in his swimsuit* in Chapter
24!  I 
think it's pretty clear that Krum, qua Krum, is not
blush-inducing.  
It's only *when talking about Krum to Ron* that the blushes come,
and 
then, only when she's sharing *new* information about how much
Krum 
likes her.

>Not only that
 and I know I'm going to get yelled at for this
one
 
Harry is once
> again sitting right there!  It was he who was mentioned in the 
article

> not Ron.  Hermione is embarrassed to talk about Krum and blushes - 
which 
> could be that she doesn't want to admit it in front of Ron *or* 
Harry.

I'm not yelling – I'm yawning.  Yeah, *sure* it's
about Harry.  
That's why she's avoiding *Ron's* eye.  If it was about
Harry, why 
didn't she blush earlier?  As you said, the *article* is about
Harry –
 and Krum.  But no – no blush for that.  It's only when
she's talking 
to *Ron* about Krum that she blushes.  Krum, the cause of the Yule 
Ball fight.  Krum, the one that made Ron so jealous he made a 
complete fool of himself.  Krum, the dangerous subject.

> And then Ron starts pounding the counter with his pestle half a 
foot 
> from his beetles.  She avoids his eyes because he's looking at her 
> and crushing the desk with a pestle.  If I were her, I'd avoid 
> looking at someone in the eye who was acting like that too.  

Hermione starts avoiding Ron's eye *before* he drops the pestle, 
*before* he starts looking at her and pounding the counter.  That 
can't be the reason.

> Another reason why Hermione looks away is because she looks away 
> because she knows that mentioning Krum leads to arguments with 
Ron.  
> I bet she's trying to avoid a row this time.  Like Harry, I think 
she 
> likes being on speaking terms with Ron
 because Ron is her
> *friend*.

The last time she mentioned Krum (when they saw him jumping in the 
lake during their walk to Hogsmeade), it didn't lead to an
argument 
with Ron.  And does she really think that avoiding his eye will 
help?  The normal, usual reason that you avoid someone's eye is
that 
you don't want them to read *your* expression.  What is Hermione 
trying to hide, huh?  I think *I* know.

You do not mention R/H-shipper Snape here.  :)  Why does Snape 
separate *all three of them*?

*****
"Well, I think I had better separate the three of you, so you can 
keep your minds on your potions rather than on your tangled love 
lives."
*****

It sounds like Snape has once more put two and two together as only 
he can.

> THE THINGS HERMIONE DOES NOT DO
> 
> Nothing else about the Harry Potter series makes me feel as if
> we're 
> reading two different books more than this argument does.  H/Hers 
> have been told repeatedly by R/H shippers that the reason for 
> everything from Hermione grabbing Harry in the Top Box at the 
> Quidditch World Cup (94) to her constant talk about him to Viktor 
> Krum (479-480), to That Kiss (636), is evidence of a comfort and an 
> ease with Harry that she does not feel with Ron.  In other words, 
> Hermione is comfortable touching, kissing, and talking about Harry 
> because she sees him as a brother, whereas the fact that she does 
not 
> touch, kiss, or talk about Ron in the text quite as often is seen 
as 
> tacit R/H subtextual evidence.
> 
> Okay.

Well, we don't *all* say those.  I think Hermione grabbed Harry
in 
the Top Box because he was seated next to her, talked about both Ron 
and Harry to Viktor Krum, and kissed Harry because he had a horrible 
experience and was going to spend the summer at the Dursleys.

> I would totally buy that if I saw anywhere in canon that Hermione 
is 
> uncomfortable talking to Ron or any other reason other than Viktor 
or 
> avoiding an argument in general.  She simply isn't.  She is more
> than willing to engage with Ron if she thinks he is wrong.  She is 
willing 
> to give as good as she gets.  Other than the two reasons listed 
> above, she does not back down from Ron.

Well, we don't see her telling Harry *and Ron* about the
Sleakeazy's 
Hair Potion (Ch. 24) – only Harry.  Hermione acts "strangely
formal" 
with Ron, and turns away to hide her smile when Ron asks Krum for an 
autograph in Chapter 37.  She doesn't say anything about Mrs.
Weasley 
and the Easter eggs.  I'm not sure how uncomfortable you expect
her 
to get – she and Ron have been best friends for over three years.

> She isn't uncomfortable hugging Ron.  She hugs him in PoA and in 
> GoF.  Both times it is Ron who is uncomfortable, not her. 
> Where's the physical awkwardness on her part?

Overcome with strong emotion, both times.   Interestingly, both times 
the source of the emotion is the same – an emotional reunion with
Ron 
(one with her, one with Harry).

> On the other hand, I see evidence in canon that Hermione is very 
> conscious of what Harry thinks.  Other than the Firebolt incident, 
> Harry's opinion of Hermione appears to be very important to
> her
 and 
> is generally very high.  In PoA, he stops a tirade of hers with a 
> single statement, checks on her when she is swamped with work 
> (whereas Ron could care less), and encourages her to have fun.  In 
> GoF, he stops her from saying anything about Hagrid with a look.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and Hermione looks "hurt" when Ron implies
that he 
doesn't like Tom Riddle because he's head of his class, looks
"rather 
flattered" when Ron compliments her on her daring in PoA, stops
at a 
few words from Ron when she is ragging on Harry about lying to 
Sirius, says "*he* doesn't want me to join in" when Harry
invites her 
to join the Quidditch party in PoA (and runs sobbing from the room 
when Ron proves her statement true), is pleased as can be when Ron 
notices her new teeth, beams at Ron's open admiration for her
capture 
of Rita Skeeter, giggles when Ron calls her a "scarlet
woman," throws 
her arms around Ron's neck and sobs when he vows to help her with
the 
Buckbeak case, smiles secretly when Ron shows respect for Viktor 
Krum, accepts an invitation to spend two weeks with Ron's family, 
behaves in a very friendly fashion to Ron's father, seems quite
hurt 
at coldness from Ron's mother, confides in Ron's sister,
allows Ron 
to move her hands and see her teeth after Malfoy hits her with the 
Densaugeo curse, takes a strong dislike to the girl Ron has a crush 
on (Fleur), shuts Ron up when his Yule Ball date (Padma) starts 
hanging on his words after the Second Task, is quick to contradict 
Ron when he says that she likes Cedric Diggory because he is 
handsome, and, oh yeah, is really hurt by the notion that Ron
doesn't 
think she's attractive.

So I'd say there is evidence in canon that Hermione is very
conscious 
of what Ron thinks, too.  :)

> And we still don't know what Hermione's boggart is, do we? 
> We have to take her word for it.  Is it really failing every 
subject
 or
> is it finding Harry dead?
> One wonders why Lupin didn't let her attack the boggart during
> the classroom lesson.  That's significant.

You can't see me, but I'm rolling my eyes like crazy. 
Isn't it fun 
making up imaginary evidence?  We R/H shippers like to imagine the 
touching scenes when Hermione woke Ron up after the chess game and 
when Ron was there as Hermione woke up from being Petrified, but we 
don't usually unleash our sappy fantasies onto the unsuspecting 
general public.  I wish you would use the same restraint.

> Back to The Things Hermione Does Not Do.  I think this is 
definitely 
> related to The Dates and Fun Times that Ron and Hermione Have That 
We 
> Do Not See, 

What?  But we do see them – that's the whole point!  We see 
them "looking like they'd had the time of their lives,"
we see them 
eating ice cream, brown and freckly and talking happily of new wands 
and biting books.  We see them buying gifts for Harry together.  We 
see them playing chess and testing Ron on Astronomy and sitting in 
the best chairs in front of the fire doing star charts and munching 
on toast and marmalade in the empty Quidditch stands.  I'm not
sure 
why you see this as a "myth."  Looks like plain and simple
black and 
white text to me.

> The Other Kiss at the End of GoF, 

Now, that one *is* a myth, and shouldn't be brought up.  The only 
problem is that H/H shippers keep saying "she didn't kiss
*Ron* now, 
did she?  Nyah, yah, yah."  And we can't help saying,
"well, not as 
far as we *know*" since Ron and Hermione were still together when 
Harry walked off with Vernon.  But, really, we don't think she
did.

Anyway the "Other Kiss" is surely as canonical as the
"Harry's Death 
Boggart," Harry's "hidden feelings" when he hears
Hermione talking to 
Ron about "you're a girl," and other speculative froth
you have 
brought up here.

> R/Hers think that when Ron and Hermione are together, they have fun 
> that isn't very Harry-related.  Well.  We've seen several
> instances 
> throughout the text of Ron/Hermione together without Harry. 
> We've caught glimpses of them, especially in PoA and GoF.  In PoA 
(again, 
> forgive me for dipping back a book), there's Ron and Hermione at 
> Honeydukes, together
 but when Harry comes over, they don't
> act weird 
> or awkward.  They yell for him to come over, obviously very happy 
to 
> see him.  They're all glad to be together after a long
> summer
 that's 
> the impression I get from that scene.  

I think you mean at Florean Fortescue's.  Uhh, yeah, we
didn't say 
Ron and Hermione were having secret snogging sessions.  Why would 
they act weird or awkward?  All we say is that they have fun together 
by themselves, and I think that it's clear that they do.  I'm
not 
sure how them also continuing to have fun together after Harry joins 
them is a problem.  Of course they're glad to see their friend!

> And then when we 
> see Ron and Hermione together in Honeydukes, they're having yet 
> another conversation about Harry!

Umm, so?  Hermione was delighted to go to Hogsmeade with Ron (PoA Ch. 
10):

*****
"We can do all our Christmas shopping there!" said Hermione. 
"Mum 
and Dad would really love those Toothflossing Stringmints from 
Honeydukes!"
*****

And, sure enough, when Harry arrives he finds them at Honeydukes, 
buying presents, though they seem to be discussing gag gifts for 
Harry, rather than serious gifts for Hermione's parents.  I'm
still 
unclear about why the mention of Harry's name somehow discredits
the 
fact that they're having fun together.  It's one of those
Pumpkin Pie 
things that I've never quite understood.

I notice that you skipped right over the *first* trip to Hogsmeade, 
the "time of their life" one (PoA Ch. 8).  Here's what
they have to 
say about it:

*****
"Thanks," said Harry, picking up a packet of tiny black
Pepper 
Imps.  "What's Hogsmeade like?  Where did you go?"

By the sound of it, everywhere.  Dervish and Banges, the wizarding 
equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, into the Three Broomsticks for 
foaming mugs of hot Butterbeer, and many places besides.

"The post office, Harry!  About two hundred owls, all sitting on 
shelves, all colour-coded depending on how fast you want your letter 
to get there!"

"Honeydukes have got a new kind of fudge, they were giving out
free 
samples, there's a bit, look –"

"We *think* we saw an ogre, honestly, they get all sorts at the
Three 
Broomsticks –"
*****

I'm sorry, I find it impossible to believe that they talked of 
nothing but Harry, Harry, Harry through all this:


"Look, Ron, behind that boy who looks like Harry -- I think
that's an 
ogre!"

"Gosh, too bad Harry's not here to see it!"

"Yes." (sigh)  "Shall we go to the post office?  Maybe we
could send 
a letter to Harry!"

 "Yeah!" (brightens up) "Nothing's any fun without
Harry."


But, you know what, even if they did, I don't care.  At least
they 
have fun together.  I actually know some other people who have fun 
together talking of nothing but Harry Potter.  Us, for instance.

> It's the same at the Quidditch World Cup, when Harry gets to the 
> Burrow.  Hermione isn't with Ron; she's with Molly and Ginny.

Umm, Ebony, I think you've forgotten something – Ron
wasn't there!  
He was off picking up Harry, remember?  Maybe you should ask why 
Hermione chose tother hang around with Ginny rather than go pick up 
Harry too.

>  Of course she sits with Ron during all those Quidditch games and 
> Triwizard Tournament matches—there is absolutely nothing in
canon
> to indicate that she ever is anything other than totally Harry-
focused 
> during his games and the Tournament.  

Sure there is.

*****
"Dumbledore was really angry," Hermione said in a quaking 
voice.  "I've never seen him like that before
"  PoA Ch.
9

`I was going to suggest a Conjunctivitus curse, as a dragon's
eyes 
are its weakest point –`
"That's what Krum did," Hermione whispered.  GoF Ch. 23

"Well I was too busy seeing whether *you and* Harry were OK to
–"  
GoF Ch. 27

Harry could just make out Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Ron, and Hermione 
applauding Fleur politely, halfway up the stands.  GoF Ch. 31
*****
 
Now, I'm not sure why I even bothered with that, because
normally, of 
course, Hermione is very focused on Harry's performance and
safety 
when he's playing Quidditch or otherwise in danger.  Is that bad?
 
She can still have fun, and hug Parvati Patil, and yell to Ron, and 
stuff.  She can still budge up next to Ron to make room for Hagrid.  
I don't see why either of them focusing on Harry is a detriment
to 
their having fun together.

> So the things that Hermione does not do are evidently eclipsed by 
the 
> things she does do.  She is great friends with Ron, but it is just 
> that—friendship.  

Well, up until GoF, Chapter 23.  It's hard to say it's *just* 
friendship after that.

> I do think she's very aware of how Ron feels about her, and
> isn't sure how to deal with it.  I think throughout GoF she is 
sorting out 
> her feelings for both of the boys
 but by the end, as JKR has
> alluded in interviews, she's got a better handle on it all than Ron 
does.

Ahh, what you are referring to is:  "yes, something's 'going on' 
(between Ron and Hermione)... but Ron doesn't realise it yet... 
typical boy"?

Clearly implying that Hermione does realize that something's
`going 
on' -- *that's* what she has a better handle on.

I'm not sure where your idea about her sorting out her feelings
for 
*Harry* comes from – I don't recall any interview where
*that* is 
alluded to.  Please enlighten me!

> Well, then. If Hermione *doesn't* like Ron in that
> way--gulp--then is 
> she interested in anyone at all?

But she does like Ron in `that way.'

> Although only the last three books of canon will tell the tale, I 
> think we may be beginning to see somewhat of an answer towards the 
> end of GoF.  I'll conclude with something I've only thought
> of in the past few months, after 2.5 years in the debate.
> 
> THAT DARNED KISS 
> "Bye, Harry!" said Hermione, and she did something she had
> never done 
> before, and kissed him on the cheek.  (GoF, UK paper ed., p. 636)
> 
> So I will not tell you why Hermione kissed Harry, or whether that 
> will be significant in future books.  I cannot get into
> Hermione's (or JKR's) head.  I will not presume to do so now.

I'm sorry – excuse me while I giggle and snort a little. 
Okay, all 
done – I'm back.

> I can only speculate on why (as far as we know) she does not kiss 
Ron.
> 
> First, she doesn't kiss Ron not necessarily because she feels 
> anything for him and it would be awkward
 but because *she knows
> how he feels about her*.  If she knows Ron likes her, and does not 
feel 
> the same, then to kiss him would be to lead him on.  It would be 
mean 
> and unfair.

And if she does like him, it would be too embarrassing!

> Second, her kissing Harry had nothing to do with making Ron 
jealous.  
> That reading of canon, along with Hermione Went To The Ball With 
Krum 
> To Make Ron Jealous, assumes a more Roncentric Hermione worldview 
> than I am willing to concede before I see new canon.  This Hermione 
> fan doubts if Hermione was thinking "gee, let's make Ron ever
> madder -- let's go to the ball with Krum and look fab!" or "gee,
> let's make Ron jealous by kissing Harry
 it's about time Ron
noticed
> me."  As I have shown above, I don't think theViktor thing was as 
much about Ron
> as it was about *Hermione* -- Hermione and the way she views 
herself as an 
> emerging young woman.

I agree with you on the kiss – of *course* she wasn't trying
to make 
Ron jealous.  And I agree with you on the Ball, too.  Hermione did 
not go with Viktor to make Ron jealous – that was simply a nice
bonus.

> Third, I think she kisses Harry and not Ron because Harry needed 
that 
> kiss far more than Ron does.  He's just been through quite the 
> ordeal.  He is about to go out into the Muggle world, and the place 
> he is going will be totally unsupportive about what he's going 
> through.  The Dursleys will not understand what he is going
> through
 
> and neither does anyone else in the world, really.

Yes, of course this is the reason.  How could anyone doubt it? 
It's 
the same reason Molly hugs him very tightly, Ron claps him on the 
back, Bill claps his shoulder, Hagrid gives him a one-armed hug and 
tousles his hair, Sirius grasps his shoulder, Fawkes sits on his 
knee, Molly hugs him, etc.  Because he NEEDS it.

> That kiss is a gesture that speaks far less of superficial
> "like" than it does of a deep and abiding friendship. It was also 
something 
> that only Hermione has ever does *in this context*.  

Uhh, so?  Molly is the only one who has ever hugged him tightly *in 
this context*.  Hagrid is the only one who has ever tousled his hair 
*in this context*.  Not sure I'm getting your point here.  As
best as 
I can tell, you're just trying to avoid mentioning that Hermione
is 
actually the SIXTH female to kiss Harry on the cheek in the books.  

> JKR is the one 
> who makes it significant by flagging it in the text ("And she did 
> something she'd never done before
"). 

Yeah, but JKR also "flags as significant" Vernon visiting
Harry in 
his cupboard in PS Ch. 3:

*****
That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something 
he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.
*****

I will admit that this visit by Uncle Vernon was part of a big change 
in Harry's life, but it didn't exactly live up to its promise
of 
better and more meaningful relations between them.

> Now, Harry doesn't
> have any memory of his parents or any other relatives pecking his 
cheek like 
> that, and there was no one else in his life who ever would kiss him 
> so casually.  Sure, the Chasers have done it in great moments of 
> excitement, but not in that context.

And Molly.  And Fleur.  Fleur was the first person ever to kiss Harry 
on the cheek *in the context* of thanking him for a heroic deed (GoF 
Ch. 26).  Big whoop!  Molly was the first person ever to kiss Harry 
on the cheek *in the context* of a greeting (GoF Ch. 31).  So?  And 
Molly's was quite casual.

> Again, if JKR hadn't added that phrase--"and she did
> something she'd never done before"--I would have had no reason to 
revise my
> reading.  
> I mean, in a chapter entitled "The Beginning"--a chapter that
> seems as if it's going to be the turning point of the series?

There are five other uses of "first time ever" type phrases
in GoF 
after Harry returns from the cemetery.  Harry has entered a new and 
more serious phase in his life.  That's what "The
Beginning" refers 
to.  Not – ahem – the beginning of the Love Triangle from
Hell.  I'm 
sorry, shipping is just not that important.

> Also, as I can't divorce this incident from its context, I find
> it significant that Hermione does this with all those people 
around.  

As opposed to five previous people who kissed Harry on the cheek, who 
all did it
 with lots of people around.  It seems to be a trend.

> Yes, I know she doesn't care who's around when she shows how
> much she loves Harry as a friend (cough), but really
 after
those 
Daily 
> Prophet articles and the rumors, after receiving Bubotuber pus and 
> threats via owl, after even Ron's own jolly mother treated her 
> unfairly because of those articles

> 
> 
she kisses him anyway.
> 
> Right.  
> 
> Nice way to stop rumors, Hermione.  Why not a pat on the back, or 
> even a friendly hug?

Why not a kiss?  She's got Rita Skeeter in a jar in her bag.  :)  

A pat on the back is rather a masculine expression.  A hug is 
something that she's done before.  If she wants to signal a
*higher* 
level of concern than she's previously felt, a quiet kiss seems 
appropriate to me.  Just like Ron – who has never clapped Harry
on 
the back at parting before.  Just like Hagrid, who had never hugged 
him before (though he fell on him once in tears).  Just like Molly, 
who kisses him and hugs him tightly for the first times ever.  Things 
are different now – all those who love Harry are stepping forward
to 
support him.  The idea that Hermione would let unfounded gossip stand 
in the way of doing her part is just silly.

> Why does JKR herself call attention to it?

Why does she call attention to Molly's hug?  GoF Ch. 36:

*****
He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as though by a 
mother.
*****

Something a lot more serious than shipping is going on here.  Ominous 
foreshadowing is going on here.  Team-building is going on here.
 
> Why doesn't Hermione kiss Ron in the text?

Didn't we already agree on this one?  Kisses between Ron and
Hermione 
will not be serious and ominous – they will be funny and nervous.
 
Totally different thing.

> I have to share what JKR once said about Hermione in an interview 
as 
> I conclude.
> 
> "Harry needs her badly."
> 
> Indeed he does.  Ron may like Hermione right now.  Ron may grow to 
> want Hermione.
> 
> But does Ron really need Hermione?  

Ebony!  I thought you knew your quotes better than that.  And this is 
your favorite one!  JKR already said `YES':

"She is the most brilliant of the three and *they need her*. Harry 
needs her badly."
 
> What do his actions in the most recent canon installment say? What 
do 
> his actions throughout canon tell us?
> 
> I think Ron's actions pretty much speak for themselves.

Yes, they do.  He's much, much more interested in Hermione than
Harry 
is.  He talks to her more, praises her more, talks about her more, 
worries about her more, defends her more, argues with her more, 
flirts with her more, is alone with her more, and is *always* jealous 
of rivals for her.  His actions speak very clearly.
> 
> The answer to the question "Does Hermione like Ron as more than a 
> friend?" is in *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*, according
> to a spring 2001 chat with the author on AOL.  The very fact that 
this 
> question had to be asked casts doubts on whether or not canon 
proves 
> that Hermione likes Ron.  

How can you say that?  You know *who* asked it, and you know *why* 
she asked it!  The person who asked that question had no doubt 
whatsoever, and was simply hoping for a confirmation clear enough to 
silence those stubborn holdouts who carped about "between"
not being 
in the answer and "very platonic" meaning not shagging like
bunnies 
*yet*.

The person who answered it – JKR -- obviously doesn't think
there is 
any doubt.

> I think I've shown that there are
> numerous holes in the Hermione------> Ron proof.  

I don't agree, but let's say you have, for the sake of
argument.  
You've still got a ways to go!  Since JKR said *the answer is in 
GoF*, you need to show proof that Hermione X-X-X-X->Ron.  We're
still 
waiting for that.

> So, Madam Rowling, to paraphrase your answer to a question from 
> another interview, do I really think that Harry and Hermione are 
> suited?
> 
> My reply is an emphatic and enthusiastic "yes!"

Yes indeed, very suited to be "very platonic friends."  Not
in the 
least suited to be boyfriend and girlfriend.  

As JKR was clearly implying in the form of her response.  If you 
don't believe me, do a Google search for all the other times JKR 
says "do you really think" or "do you really, really
think" in 
interviews.  Each time, *without exception* she clearly means to 
imply a negative.  You can search the books for her uses of this 
form, as well.  It means `No.'


Angua