Hermione SHIP question

[mochajava13]

No: HPFGUIDX 79577

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kathryn Cawte" <kcawte at b...> 
wrote:
>  
>  Can one of the Hermione/Harry SHIPpers out there explain it to 
me? I don't
> see any clues towards it in the books at all. I've always thought 
that it
> was 'obvious' that the Viktor thing was a brief fling brought on 
because she
> was flattered at the way he was paying her attention while Ron 
takes her for
> granted and that eventually she and Ron will end up together. It 
seemed to
> me that that ship was obvious and that there are *no* hints at all 
of Harry
> liking Hermione as more than a friend or Hermione liking him.
> 
> I'm not trying to put the people who like this ship down - I just 
want
> someone to explain it to me - what is it that makes you think this 
is a
> possibility?
> 
> K


Well, I'm going to take a stab at this.

First, discredit the romantic implications of the R/Hr moments one 
at a time:

1 - The Yule Ball fight and the events leading up to it:  Hermione 
was offended by Ron's treating her like a last resort date and 
assuming she had no one else to go with but either Harry or Ron.  
She was fuming at his comment that he and Harry were just going to 
try and get the best looking girls they could.  Then Hermione lords 
it over Ron when he can't get a date.  (She tells him loftily that 
Eloise Midgen was looking pretty good.)  She's annoyed at him, then 
ticked that he assumed that no one else would think of her as a 
girl.  Pissed and ticked.  Now compare this to Ginny's reaction: 
Ginny looked miserable when she found out that she might have ended 
up going with Harry if she hadn't said yes to Neville.  Acting like 
a girl who has a crush on a guy.  Hermione wasn't miserable that she 
had accepted someone else, only to find that Ron might have asked 
her.  She was furious at being a last resort.  Didn't strike me as 
her being upset that Ron hadn't noticed her until then, or as an 
indication that she liked Ron.  Especially since Ron insulted her 
even more at the Yule Ball by saying that Viktor only asked her to 
get information on Harry.  Hermione seemed to be pretty taken with 
Viktor at the ball; she didn't notice her food because she was so 
deep in conversation with Viktor.  She danced with Viktor, and 
seemed to be having a good time until Ron said Viktor was using her, 
and that Hermione was fraternizing with the enemy.  Then comes the 
fight after the ball, where Hermione tells Ron that if he's so upset 
over her going to a ball with someone else, he shouldn't treat her 
as the last resort.  Not that she liked him, just he shouldn't be 
upset that she said yes to someone else before he even asked her.  
Again, her being ticked at being thought of as a last resort date by 
anyone, not necessarily by Ron.


2 -  Hermione's fury/scowl over any time Ron interacted with Fleur: 
Hermione was annoyed at Ron AND Harry whenever either of them was 
acting like, well, a hormone driven guy.  The veelas at the World 
Cup: Hermione was annoyed at Harry, then at Ron.  She had an eye-
rolling/"boys!" reaction in the top box, tutting over Ron's reaction 
and pulling Harry down with an "Honestly!"  Same "Honestly!" over 
Ron's reaction to the veela in the forest.  Then Ron goggling over 
Fleur at the feast for Durmstrang and Beauxbaton: Hermione tells Ron 
that no one is acting like an idiot over Fleur.  Then Hermione 
notices Harry noticing Cho, and tells both Ron and Harry to put 
their eyes back in.  We just see more of Ron acting like an idiot 
over girls in GoF than Harry.

Now the two specific times we saw Ron acting like an idiot over 
Fleur, Harry was there, too, also acting like an idiot.  After the 
second task, Harry is blushing (and thinks that steam should be 
coming out of his ears) after getting kissed by Fleur, and keeps 
watching Fleur as she kisses Ron.  Then he notices  Hermione's 
fury.  It seems that Hermione is ticked over Ron.  BUT look at the 
rest of the scene: Hermione is paying attention to Harry, to the 
exclusion of Viktor.  She didn't even spare a second glance for Ron 
at any other point but here.  Not just that, but she's been talking 
to Harry, congratulating him and everything, and here this upstart 
tart Fluer sweeps in, kisses Harry and then Ron on the cheek, and 
leaves as two boys are goggling over her.  Considering that Hermione 
was talking with Harry, not Ron, both before and after Fleur sweeps 
in, it seems (to me) to be more consistent with the scene that 
Hermione was furious over Harry's reaction, combined with Ron's.  
(Just from picturing the scene.  JKR makes a point of saying that 
Hermione was ignoring Viktor because she was too busy with Harry.)  
Then the ending scowl over Fleur: first glance, she seems to be 
scowling over Ron's tone of voice.  But look around it, and the 
emphasis of the scene is again on Harry: Fleur comes into talk to 
Harry, and directs all the conversation at Harry.  Harry doesn't say 
a word to Fleur; only Ron does.  Not just that, but Fleur is 
sticking her hand out towards Harry as Ron makes his comment.  What 
did Harry do with Fleur's hand?  Leave it there?  Shake it?  Give it 
a good-bye squeeze?  Who knows?  Anyways, in both of these scenes, 
Ron is in focus only because Harry was watching (probably goggling 
over) Fleur, and doesn't even notice Hermione until afterwards.  

Then in GoF, we end with a kiss on the cheek from Hermione to 
Harry.  Which mimics Fleur's behaviour of kissing the boys on the 
cheek.  And Harry notices that Hermione had never done this before.  
With this in mind, it seems much more likely that Hermione had been 
watching Harry's reaction to Fleur kissing him and talking to him, 
not Ron.  In other words, Hermione sees Harry, and Ron, reacting to 
Fleur's kiss.  Hermione gives it a go herself by kissing Harry, not 
Ron, at an important point in the book.  Not only is it the last 
page of a novel, it's the last page of the novel JKR has said is the 
pivotal book, in the chapter that JKR has said is extremely 
significant.  Not to mention the location: King's Cross Station.  
JKR has said that she finds King's Cross Station romantic, since her 
parents met there.  Not to mention all the classic movies with 
romantic good-bye scenes.

Anyway, I'll add more later (I've got so much more!), but I've got 
to get to work.
Sarah