SHIPping For the Long Haul

[Jim Ferer <jferer@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50541

Amy summarized:"The argument has run thus in the past:

R/Her: I think Ron and Hermione are going to get together. Look at
him! He's smitten.

H/Her: But Hermione doesn't reciprocate.

R/Her: That doesn't matter."

Susanna objected:"Where did you get that idea?"

Amy:"In any case, there was one R/Her who felt that way, IIRC, namely
myself.

I'd say to R/Hers: go ahead and argue that Hermione likes Ron, but
don't think that your argument stands or falls on that point. Ron's
current interest is quite enough to make R/H a likely scenario."


That line of thinking calls up this question for R/Hers: are you
R/Hers for a date or two or three, or even a whole school year, or are
you in it for the long haul?  How do you define R/H victory?  It's
important, because some of us may be debating very different things.

This H/Her believes that Ron and Hermione will probably date, maybe
all year some year.  I know Ron likes Hermione, and Hermione is at
least his friend, so I can cheerfully concede all the looks and nods
and winks and punctuation marks we've been throwing around the last
week or two.

But I'm not worried.  My horse (stag?)has the staying power to be
there at the finish line.  I don't believe I need any nods or winks,
because I can see Harry and Hermione's bond getting stronger all the
time.  How do you feel when you send your loved ones out into the
world and they make you proud?  How does shared experience work in
bringing you and your loved ones (spouse, child, whatever)closer
together?  Can we give our love only to those we trust?

Right now Harry is attracted to Cho.  He hopes to date her, and we
really don't know how well he knows her.  She's the only person he's
shown that kind of interest in, as far as we've seen. He's shown no
interest at all in Ginny (and I feel for her for it).  Hermione?  He's
shown no explicit interest, but he *has* seen her in a different
light, and that's very likely to resurface anytime.  When it does,
she's likely to be about a foot away from him.  It's not important to
me that his interest in her hasn't shifted into second gear, because
they both have work to do.

I also think Ron and Hermione are wildly unsuited in the long run. 
All the details have been hacked to death lately, and I'm absolutely
in the camp of people wary of overprocessing information. For now, I'm
convinced that their attitudes and beliefs are far apart.

Could this change?  Sure.  I hope that Ron gets a lot for himself next
year: a prime role in the Trio (as Harry's loyal and brave wingman,
for instance), triumphs of his own (on the Quidditch team, perhaps)
and a new birth of consciousness about others.  Ebony's not the only
one who wants to see that.  Ron would be a new man, and we'd have this
discussion all over again; but Harry and Hermione's duality would
still be there.

Jim Ferer