Gryffindor Tower #5: Ron and Hermione – Romance, or No Chance?

by Dan

First and foremost, I would be quite remiss to write my next column without an explanation of my whereabouts since March 11th. I have missed writing for Mugglenet very much, but I was taken by many personal problems that required my immediate attention. However, I have gotten through them, for the better I’m sure, and I am ready to write again.

That being said, I must thank you all so much for your concern of my absence over the last few months. If not for all of you loyal Mugglenet patrons, I probably wouldn’t be writing this today. However, there is one more thing. Even when I was writing, because of college, it was hard for me to meet my two-week deadlines. However, I am now done with the semester, and I have three months of bliss. I am working full time, but that doesn’t give me stress and pull of school. So, I have decided to make Gryffindor Tower a weekly column. This Sunday there will be a new one up, and every Sunday after that, I will be writing a new column until the fall. I ask you all to email me anytime here if you ever want me to discuss any topics. I will be more than glad to take them up, and you might even see your thoughts and names in my columns.

Now, on to the topic at hand. Most of us believe that Ron and Hermione will be getting together in Book Five. Is there evidence pointing towards it? Evidence against it? Using the wonderful page that Mugglenet has put up, documenting the Ron-Hermione question (which can be found here), I will discuss the probability of a romance between Harry Potter’s two best friends. And since I do feel quite bad about not writing in awhile, trust me, this one will be as thorough and in-depth as I can make it. Understand, please, that I will be evaluating each quote separately as to whether or not it points to a Ron-Hermione romance. Just because, in my opinion, some quotes do or do not point towards a relationship, don’t think that I am dismissing anything. I will keep my personal appraisal for the end. Your best bet to follow me is to open up the Mugglenet page in a new window, since I won’t be putting many full excerpts in here, so that you can follow me. I go right down the list, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Without further ado, here it is (FINALLY!), Hermione and Ron: Romance, or No Chance?

First, in certain interviews with HP cast members and JK Rowling herself, comments have been made towards a relationship. At a National Press Club luncheon, Rowling said, “Harry and Hermione are very platonic friends. But I won’t answer for anyone else. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.” Who is she talking about? Well, in an interview on Barnes and Noble’s website, she answers a question about what is going on between Ron and Hermione in the last half of Goblet of Fire: “Yes, something’s ‘going on,’ but Ron doesn’t realize it yet. Typical boy.” That clearly indicates that at least Hermione feels something for Ron. Let’s face it, women can be confusing, and have odd ways of showing how they feel about a guy (a note to you younger male Mugglenet readers-one day a girl will like you, and you won’t know it, and then she won’t like you, and she’ll say it’s your fault that you didn’t realize it. Don’t worry, it’s not your fault, women are just very weird sometimes…and for all you female Mugglenet readers, IT’S A JOKE, SO DON’T BOMBARD ME WITH EMAILS, you crazy women).

Now that I’ve alienated half my readers, let’s move on. In a BBC interview, JK said that the answer to whether or not Hermione likes Ron is in Goblet of Fire. Now, does this mean that Ron likes Hermione? Something to be discussed later in this…

Our three little heroes on-screen, Rupert, Emma, and Dan, were asked if they think Ron and Hermione will get together during the Chamber of Secrets press junket. Dan believes so, and Ron seemed convinced (although I’m sure the prospect of having to kiss Emma sickens him now, trust me, in three years, he’ll be jumping at the opportunity). Later on, when director Chris Columbus was asked, he more or less said straight out that he is directing the kids to show tension between Ron and Hermione.

So what about the actual books? What points to a Ron-Hermione romance? Well, Goblet of Fire produces the only real ones, so I’m going to go through the Mugglenet excerpts and offer you my analyses. First, in Ron and Hermione’s conversation about Eloise Midgen, Ron is accused of wanting to take the best looking girl, even if, more or less, her intelligence is rivaled by garden vegetables. Ron says that that’s true, and Hermione storms off to bed. This SHOULD NOT indicate any kind of feelings between the two of them, although it may have been meant to do so. Many girls, regardless of how they feel about a guy, would be appalled to hear that a guy is basing his choosing a date solely on looks, and Hermione’s reaction was not at all out of the ordinary.

When Ron “realizes that Hermione is a girl” later on, he asks her to go with one of them (him or Harry) to the Yule Ball. Again, this means nothing. Why? Because he asked her to go with either of them. Clearly, he wasn’t concerned with going with her, he just wanted to lessen both their stress over finding dates. Yes, the book does say Ron saw Hermione “in a whole new light”, but for this quote to mean anything else, Ron would need to explicitly ask for himself…however…Hermione does say something quite interesting: “Just because it’s taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn’t mean no one elsehas spotted I’m a girl!” This is a clear piece of evidence pointing towards Hermione’s feelings for Ron. In what she says, it is clear that Hermione has noticed that Ron never saw her “as a girl”, that is to say, as someone who could have been (and maybe she wishes was) interested in her.

Next, the comments about Hermione’s teeth. No, this means nothing at all. Ron noticed her teeth were “normal”, but that doesn’t mean he wants to go for the gold with her (kids, just ignore that comment). As far as the “mischievous smile”, and that “it was a different smile” than what Harry and Ron remembered, that can go two ways: first, literally, her teeth are smaller, it looks different, or second, Hermione smiling mischievously is always out of the ordinary, and she actually was probably never described as doing so in any of the books thus.

When Fleur Delacour comments that the Hogwarts food is too much, and she’ll be too big to fit into her dress robe, Hermione makes a comment. Jealousy, or simply Hermione’s honest feeling about the girl? I say that Hermione isn’t being shown as jealous in this instance. She just believes that Fleur “thinks a lot” of herself. As far as Ron asking who Hermione’s going to the ball with, let’s face it, if it was you, and your best friend wouldn’t tell you, wouldn’t you want to know?

I’m putting the next three quotes together. Ok, so Harry tells Ron where to meet Padma. Ron’s answer? “Where’s Hermione?” First, as my friend Ed pointed out, Ron can be just asking as a friend where his friend is. Second, it could be because he wants to know who she’s with. Third, it may be because he is interested in her, and therefore, it’s a combination of both. My guess is that it’s a combination of both. He is her friend, and because he likes her, he wants to know who she’s with. Again, he asks, “Where is Hermione?” Don’t be fooled for a second. There is a reason why the word “is” is in italics. Much like Bill Clinton would believe, this “is” has a certain definition. It notes the tension, the urge, the restlessness in Ron’s voice. He wants to see her. He wants to know what the hell is going on. And when Ron is standing with Padma, Harry notices that Ron is watching her “with narrowed eyes.” Obviously the “narrowed eyes” is envisioned as him looking her with great thought…but thought over what? I say that he’s both jealous and impressed.

Now we get to the more extended excerpts (for those of you keeping score, we’re at the one where Harry asks Ron “How’s it going?”). Ron is glaring at Hermione and Krum. Well, why is he glaring? Most definitely he is jealous. When he asks Hermione if Viktor has asked her to call him “Vicky” yet, that is another example of simple teenage male jealousy, the kind of question any fourteen-year-old guy would ask a girl he likes. During their conversation at the dance, Ron makes it more apparent that he likes her, trying to make an excuse that Krum wants to sabotage Harry’s chances of winning, something that he knows Hermione would never let happen. And when Harry walks in on them in the Common Room, the most obvious clue yet is given. Hermione talks about what the “solution” is, that being, ask her to a dance before someone else does. But it’s the solution to what? We don’t know what Ron said before Harry walked in, but for the solution to be what it was, it must have been something along the lines of Ron telling Hermione he wanted to go with her. And when she says that, Ron is described as a “goldfish out of water”, because the obvious thing would have been to ask her first.

Harry later found a miniature arm under his bed, which looked like the arm of the Krum figure Ron had. Why would Ron rip the arm off? What did Krum do to piss off Ron? Obviously, if Ron likes Hermione, and ONLY if Ron likes Hermione, he would get mad at Krum taking Hermione.

Next, Hermione is “furious” when Fleur kisses Ron. She is most likely a mixture of two things: one, even if Hermione didn’t like Ron as more than a friend, it’s clear that she wouldn’t think highly of a girl like Fleur, and Fleur kissing Hermione’s friend would probably get Hermione mad. But for Hermione to be “furious” would say that she probably has feelings for him deeper than friendship.

She calls Ron an idiot for staring at a Veela, which again, probably doesn’t mean much to the relationship idea, but if it does, it’s a longshot.

When Ron finds out that Krum invited Hermione to visit him over the summer, Ron can’t get over it, and he keeps asking her what she said, totally ignoring the Rita Skeeter incident.

Finally, when Ron says goodbye to Fleur, Hermione “scowled”. As I said before, it could be either not liking Fleur, or jealousy.

So, where do I believe this is going? I don’t think there should be any doubt in anyone’s mind that Ron likes Hermione, and Hermione likes Ron (probably for a bit longer than he liked her, I think, because of that “it took you three years to notice” comment). I don’t, however, know what will come of it. I think we’ll be finding a relationship blossoming in the fifth book, but whether or not it will last is up in the air. My guess is that they’ll get together in book five, break up, and get back together before the end of their seventh year. So I guess, to answer the title, I say, “Hermione and Ron: Romance.”

Thanks again for all your continued support. I look forward to making this summer a great one on Mugglenet. Take care of yourselves, and see you on Sunday!