SHIP:Hermione's feelings for Ron in OotP (Was: Re: Harry's first Kiss)

[Jenni A.M. Merrifield]

No: HPFGUIDX 108480

Jim Ferer wrote:
If I gave a lady perfume and she termed it "unusual," I'd be bummed
out.  You have to add something to it to get anything better out
 of it.
 
Jenni replies:
  <laughs> Well, just goes to show what I know.  I've always 
preferred more unusual perfumes - the typical cloying flowery stuff 
is just so boring.  I guess I must have bummed out more than my fair 
share of past boyfriends. :-P

--------------------

Jenni Again
  Sorry to reply to my own post but in doing the research necessary 
for my other recent response on this thread [*] my believe that 
Hermione actually liked the perfume that Ron gave her has been 
strengthened and I wanted to explain why.

[*] I'm still not a SHIPper - I just needed to do the research to 
explain something to Udder Pendragon.  At least, that's my story and 
I'm sticking to it! ;-)

Okay, here are the two quotes that matter:

--=+=--
  They got up and dressed.  They could hear the various inhabitants 
of the house calling 'Merry Christmas' to one another.  On their way 
downstairs they met Hermione.
  'Thanks for the book, Harry,' she said happily.  'I've been 
wanting that /New Theory of Numerology/ for ages! And that perfume's 
really unusual, Ron.'
  'No problem,' said Ron. [...]
--=+=--
Canadian Edition, OOp, p444, in chapter "Christmas on the Closed 
Ward"

--=+=--
  '/The Quibbler!/' she [Rita Skeeter] said, cackling.  'You think 
people will take him seriously if he's published in /The Quibbler?/'
  'Some people won't,' said Hermione in a level voice.  'But 
the /Daily Prohet's/ version of the Azkaban breakout had some gaping 
holes in it.  I think a lot of people will be wondering whether 
there isn't a better explanation of what happened, and if there's an 
alternative story available, even if it is published in a --' she 
glanced sideways at Luna, 'in a -- well, an /unusual/ magazine -- I 
think they might be rather keen to read it.' 
--=+=--
Canadian Edition, OOp, p501-2, in chapter "The Beetle at Bay"

  In the first quote, JKR puts absolutely no emphasis on the 
word "unsual" whereas, in the second quote, not only just she 
italicize it, but she very deliberately sets it off by having 
Hermione glance sideways at Luna and considers her words carefully.

  Additionally, in the first quote JKR uses the word "happily" to 
describe Hermione's inital tone when thanking Harry for his gift.  
JKR does not change this for the comment made to Ron and, if we were 
meant to think that Hermione did not like the perfume, I would have 
expected JKR to make this OBVIOUS, by doing something similar to 
what was done when Hermione was discussing the nature of /The 
Quibbler/.  At the very least I would have expected to see 
Hermione's comment to Ron written as follows:

--=+=--
  'Thanks for the book, Harry,' she said happily.  'I've been 
wanting that /New Theory of Numerology/ for ages! And that perfume's 
really ... ah, /unusual/, Ron.'
--=+=--

  Finally, Ron's response to Hermione's comment seems rather 
positive, sounding to be a "It was nothing, glad you liked it" sort 
of reply.  This is not the response I'd expect to hear from Ron if 
Hermione had used the word "unusual" in a way that implied that she 
didn't like it.

  So, in short, the reasons why my brain is convinced that Hermione 
liked the perfume that she received from Ron at Christmas are that 
she was speaking happily when commenting on her prssents, she did 
not put any particular emphasis on the word "unusual" and Ron 
responded to her comments in a positive way.

  My brain also believes that Ron spent some time looking for a nice 
gift and deliberately selected an unusual perfume for her, which is 
another example showing that he *likes* her even if he hasn't really 
admitted it to himself yet.

Jenni
Who really, really, really isn't a SHIPper.  Really.