Ron WAS: Re: DH reread CH 4-5

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186303

Carol earlier:
> 
> I seem to be the only one discussing his battle with Horcrux!Tom and what I consider to be his victory over the demons that caused both his self-doubt and his jealuousy, culminating in his walking out in anger and being unable to come back. (How many of us have at some time in our lives stormed out of a room, slamming the door behind us, only to cool off and come back later, ready to apologize or at least work things out? Only that option wasn't available to Ron because of the protective spells that Hermione had cast around the tent.)
> 
> sartoris22:
> 
> I suppose that is Ron's saving grace--he immediately tries to come back; still, I am troubled that he leaves in the first place because of the dangerous situation they are in. And keep in mind, he tries to get Hermione to come with him, so his inital impulse is to abandon Harry, something I don't believe Ron would do even under the influence of the horcrux. As I said before, I can't help thinking that it is a ploy to get Harry and Hermione alone to satisfy the Harry/Hermione shippers. 

Carol responds:
I don't think JKR is getting Hermione and Harry alone to satisfy the HH shippers, who, in any case, must have ended up very dissatisfied. If it's a plot move of any kind (in contrast to a move that allows character development for Ron), it's to get Ron away from the others so that he can return at exactly the right time to rescue Harry in highly dramatic fashion. Also, I don't think that Harry would have followed Bathilda up to her room if Ron had been there because Ron would have realized that she was speaking Parseltongue. It's also possible that JKR wanted to build the relationship between Harry and Hermione *without* turning it into love (both of them are in love with someone else), but i think the primary purpose is to enable the Deluminator/doe Patronus/locket Horcrux plot to take its course.
> 
Carol earlier:
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> I think several posters are exaggerating what you call Ron's "driving failure." It's not as if he failed the whole test. He *can* drive a Muggle car. He only Confunded the instructor to conceal his forgetting to look in the sideview ("wing") mirror, which, to Ron, is a small thing since he can "use a Supersensory Charm for that" (755). 
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sartoris22:
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> Is using the Confundus Charm a small thing? I'm not so sure. Hermione uses it against McLaggen, and Harry seems genuinely surprised,telling her it's dishonest. Confunding someone seems fairly serious to me, particularly in order to cheat. And not using one's side mirrors during a driving test is a very big deal. Yes, Ron can use a supersensory charm, but he would be a very dangerous driver without it.
>
Carol:
To you and me, no, it's not a small thing to cheat on your driver's test. But to Ron, and, I think, to JKR, it is. Ron is a wizard, after all, and his dad tinkers with Muggle artifacts, so maybe Ron has a similar knack. I seriously doubt that Ron is going to cause any accidents just because he's using a Supersensory Charm instead of his sideview mirror (which a lot of Muggle drivers that I know forget to use). It's quite true, as someone on this list said, that the characters often do what's easy rather than what's right and get away with it. The Confundus Charm (which has no lasting effects on any character I know of except the repeatedly Confunded Dawlish) won't hurt the Muggle driving instructor any more than it hurt Mrs. Cole when Dumbledore performed it on her so many years before.

These poor Muggles. What they don't know won't hurt them--as long as it's not giants causing "hurricanes" or DEs destroying bridges. I honestly think that JKR finds Ron's behavior amusing. And Harry certainly isn't upset by it. What can we expect from two Wizards who never learned not to cheat on their homework?

Carol, who thinks that if Muggles can survive having the Knight bus in their neighborhoods, they can survive having Ron on the road