[HPforGrownups] Re: SHIP Ron/Hermione

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 151581

> Betsy Hp:
> Hermione can work things out.  I seriously doubt she figured out
> everything she did about Cho just by observing her.  (Especially the
> stuff about Quidditch.)  I'd imagine Hermione paid a bit more
> attention whenever Cho's name came up in her dorm room and in the
> girl's room.  But it takes effort on her part.  That's why she was
> able to come up with the Umbridge plan and then nearly destroy it by
> misreading the Centaurs so badly.

Magpie:
Not to mention, I just have to throw in because it's ironic, it's Hermione 
who causes problems with Cho, not Ron.  She's the one who arranges for Harry 
to meet her on Valentine's Day without telling him why, which leads to Cho 
getting angry.  Later on Hermione tells Harry what he should have said to 
avoid trouble and Harry is clueless.  Hermione gives the right without 
overly connecting to the people involved.  Ron doesn't usually have the 
answer but he's more likely to subtly do the right thing just because.  (I 
remember a scene in OotP where Hermone was being particularly thoughtful and 
I thought, 'what does she want?' Turned out she wanted the DA.

Again, as you said, we're not talking about Ron being this great mystic of 
empathy or anything or Hermione being awful.  He's just used to giving 
people what they need.  And given that he's so reluctant to ever put himself 
out there he's not going to really tell us what he thinks about from people 
in words, except in mumbled asides like "They ought to know what they're 
picking up" about the House Elves when she's tricking them.  He just knows 
to not put himself forward to avoid the twins' ridicule, to worry that the 
twins might do something that crosses the line in GoF.  Iirc he's also got 
some line in OotP about being at fault for the twins leaving school.  Having 
grown up in his house he's used to different weird personalities reacting in 
predictable ways.  When Hermione sees something important she says it or 
takes an aggressive action. Ron's more likely to do something more subtle or 
go quiet. (I find his reaction to Arthur's attack more interesting than any 
of the other Weasleys' wanting to fight.)

You can't get around the fact that Hermione doesn't get along with people as 
naturally as Ron does.  Ron's the person she apparently likes best and he's 
the person she's the most insulting to, perhaps unintentionally.  Ron is, 
sometimes, actually good at dealing with Hermione when she really needs it. 
Hermione, when she tries to do something nice for Ron, makes bigger mistakes 
because of the way she tries to show her affection. Too often it comes up as 
Hermione showing affection by stepping in and offering help so he doesn't 
screw up. I think she's probably good for him at other times by pushing him 
etc.

I mean, we shouldn't put too much weight on Hermione's comment of Ron's 
emotional range.  Ron doesn't understand Cho in that particular scene, but 
during OotP I think he's having a more emotional year than Hermione. (I 
admit I find Hermione a bit of a robot in OotP.  She seems to spend all her 
time scheming or planning or doing some activity to the point where she 
seems to have no inner life at all to me.  Harry and Ron are losing sleep 
over detentions and Quidditch practice respectively, and Hermione stays 
awake...to knit hats.  I found myself thinking she was intentionally waiting 
until the other girls in her dorm were asleep because her relationships with 
them were so bad.)  Ron's just as raw as Cho at times, only he's often 
having to deal with it on his own because Harry isn't there for him.  We can 
dismiss his troubles as meaningless because they're about Quidditch or 
whatever, but I think what Ron is facing there is pretty big.  The thing 
with Ron is he is pretty passive a lot of the time, so he sort of becomes 
what other people define him as.  His brothers tease him and he puts up with 
it.  The guys at school see him as non-threatening and he brushes it off. 
Girls recognize him as being a good man at heart and he's confused.

-m