Why are they even friends?

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 154662

I've been reading, with some dismay, about how badly Hermione let down
Harry, and about how Ron betrayed him, and I've been thinking about
what a prick he was to both of them in "Order of the Phoenix", and I
was wondering about why each of them considered the other two bastards
friends.

Let's say you're Harry, why do you consider Ron a friend? He's
annoying, sometimes—tends to run his mouth before engaging his brain.
 He's insecure, prickly and jealous--once he got so jealous he
wouldn't talk you for weeks. You're rich, Ron's too poor to buy new
clothes, Ron's tall—he kids you about being short.  It bothers Ron
when girls pay you attention, whether you want it or not.

But then again, after your own family mocked and jeered and left you
to your own devices, his mother showed you how to get through the
barrier.  His brothers helped you get your trunk on the train. Though
your own very well-off family contemptuously sent you a 50 pence coin
for Christmas, his mother sent you home-made fudge and a hand-knit
sweater—probably the first item of clothing anyone's given you in ten
years that was intended for you, not just an ill-fitting hand-me-down,
and you know Ron had a hand in that.

When your family locked you into a room with bars on the window and
locks on the door, and fed you scraps though a cat-flap, he and his
brothers stole their family car and broke you out of that prison. 
Then their mother, while still incoherently angry at them, cut you
some bread and spread the butter extra-thick.

He followed you and the spiders into the forest, though he's afraid of
spiders, and, once, unarmed and battered, he stood up on a broken leg
to get between you and a mass-murderer.

Your family balked at taking to the zoo, but his father went to
considerable trouble to take you to your first professional Quidditch
match.

When you needed to train for the Third Task, Ron was there, offering
his own body for target practice.

In fifth year, though you were a high-maintenance ass most of the
time, he followed you to the Ministry, knowing that your vision
couldn't possibly be true, but ready to guard your back, just the same.

In between all this, of course, he tells you jokes, explains your new
world to you, and is just, well, there for you.

Why should you be friends with Hermione—fussy, bossy, pedantic Hermione?

Maybe, it's because the uptight little rule-worshipper lied through
her teeth to keep you out of trouble, helped you smuggle an
inconvenient dragon out of the castle, and set a teacher on fire to
try to save your life.

Maybe it's the way she swiped ingredients and used them to brew a
dodgy potion to help you find the real Heir of Slytherin.

Maybe it's because you a like little help with your homework, a bowl
of murtlap for a bloody hand, and support when no one else will give it.

Perhaps you admire the gallantry of an acrophobe who will get on a
hippogriff--or a thestral!—if that's what it takes to ride to the
rescue or to guard your back.

Could be that you appreciated the opportunity to finally tell your
story to the world, and the witch that made it happen.

Maybe it's because, like Ron, she's just there for you.

Maybe the both of them consider you a friend for similar reasons,
despite your tantrums and temper and thoughtlessness.

And maybe, just maybe, a thousand nights in the common room, laughing
and crying, playing and studying, and yes, arguing and apologizing,
add up to something special, something that belongs to the three of
you, something that goes beyond broomsticks and tantrums and
misunderstandings, that can survive jealousy and slights and snits.

And is way more important than who "let down" who.

Amiable Dorsai