In defense of Ron and Hermione (mostly Hermione)

I've heard a lot of comments about "the character assassination of Hermione Granger" in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the way she was horribly mistreated by J.K. Rowling, who wrote Hermione OOC throughout the whole book. Now, I don't agree that "no one can be OOC if the original author wrote the story, because it's her canon," because everyone, including original authors, can make mistakes. However, I don't think Hermione was OOC in HBP, and though I was disappointed with some aspects of the book, I was pleased as punch with Hermione and the dawning of the Ron/Hermione relationship. That's why I'm here to defend it and explain my interpretation of Hermione's (and to a lesser extent, Ron's) actions and feelings.

First, a disclaimer: I'm not going to argue whether Ron and Hermione's relationship dynamic is a healthy, ideal one or not, nor am I posting this to listen to arguments about how Harry and Hermione are a better match. You can believe that if you want, but that's not the point of this post. This post is based on the canon that Ron and Hermione like each other – in that way - regardless of whether individual readers believe that to be a positive or negative thing.

Moving on…

We all know that Ron and Hermione have the typical "bickering couple" vibe. Sometimes, their arguments turn nasty – such as the Scabbers/Crookshanks fiasco which had them not speaking to each other for…what, a month? It's a serious fight, one that tears the Trio apart, but resolved after Ron offers to work on the Buckbeak case and Hermione apologizes to Ron. Their friendship is as good as new.

Of course, then comes the Yule Brawl, which changes everything. Ron and Hermione don't have the same period of silence they did after Scabbersgate, but there's a little tension in the air, and they're a little too polite to each other, almost as if they're too embarrassed to bring up the implied meanings in their words. Why? Well, then they'd have to admit that they like each other, and the idea of starting a romantic relationship is scary. Who wouldn't be scared to wake up and realize, "I have the hots for my best friend!" Instead of choosing what is right – admitting to their feelings and being together – they choose what is easy, and dance around their emotions.

Then their relationship takes an unexpected turn in Order of the Phoenix. Ron and Hermione certainly continue to argue, but they don't come close to having the thundering Yule Brawl. In fact, most of the time, they're on the same side, trying to talk sense into Harry. When the subject of Viktor Krum comes up, Ron doesn't accuse Viktor of "using" Hermione or shout at Hermione for "fraternizing with the enemy," but settles for calling him "Vicky" and saving his anti-Viktor feelings for a moment alone with Harry.

Their mutual good will continues into Half-Blood Prince. Their bickering is minor in the beginning of the book. Hermione, in particular, seems a little more relaxed, as she doesn't nag people as much as she used to. She comes across a situation where her loyalty to her friends smacks right into her belief in doing what's right and playing by the rules – the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts. She sees that McLaggen is a threat to Ron's getting the Keeper position on the team. Now, if McLaggen had been a good sport, I don't think Hermione would've Confunded him. But seeing that McLaggen was an asshole who made nasty comment after nasty comment about Ron and Ginny – two very good friends of Hermione – I don't find it unbelievable for a second that Hermione hissed the curse out of anger without really thinking about it. Her blushing and hesitancy after the tryouts suggests that Hermione is embarrassed and perhaps a little regretful about breaking her own rules, but her rationalization to Harry when he confronts her proves something we've always known about her: friendship and loyalty are more important to her than anything else. (I don't think I need to point out that Hermione turned out to be right about McLaggen after all, seeing as he nearly killed Harry during an attempt to show off).

Anyway, I think this clash between "Hermione's loyalty to friends" and "Hermione's code of honesty" makes her a little nervous. But her confidence is boosted when she notices how Ron is still clearly besotted with her, as he needs to show off and list his fanciable qualities she's talking about Harry's appeal. Finally, she gathers up the courage to ask Ron to the party – appropriately enough, during the middle of an argument – and it looks like smooth sailing from then on.

But this is Ron and Hermione. The bickering couple. The transition between "friends" to "boyfriend/girlfriend" can't possibly be as smooth sailing as Harry/Ginny was. They're both stubborn as hell and determined not to talk about their vulnerability. Of course this is going to cause problems almost immediately, and it explodes with Ron snogging Lavender and Hermione attacking Ron with canaries.

First, see it from Ron's point of view. I don't think he was right to treat Hermione (or Lavender, for that matter) the way he did, but I can still understand it. He's just stumbled upon Ginny kissing Dean – no big brother is going to act rationally when he sees his little sister kissing someone. Then Ginny teases him for his lack of experience with girls, and Ron has to deal with being emasculated by his little sister in front of his best friend. Then he hears that Hermione kissed Viktor Krum. Yes, it's stupid for Ron to get mad over something that happened two years ago, but he knows that Hermione and Viktor are still pen pals, so it's not a completely erroneous assumption that there might be something between them. Then something happens which I believe is Ron's last straw: the Felix Felicis incident. Hermione nags him all day about it, and Ron's feelings get hurt. From the way he sees it, Hermione doesn't think Ron could've done well in the game if he hadn't taken the potion. Incredibly hurt that Hermione apparently doesn't have faith in his abilities, Ron needs to prove something to her, and he does that by kissing Lavender. He's high off of winning the Quidditch match, excited that he didn’t need the potion to do well in the game, and he's a horny teenage boy. It's not nice of him, but I can't say I blame him.

Now, for Hermione's point of view – She's taken a huge step for herself by asking Ron to the party. While Hermione may be confident about her intellect, she's insecure about her looks and desirability, so asking out a boy she's had a crush on for at least two years, who also happens to be one of her best friends, is courageous. Since she's been nursing her crush on him for so long, she has more to lose. She feels proud of herself for taking that step, and excited (and nervous) about the upcoming party. Then she notices that Ron is acting distant and weird to her for no apparent reason. She can't get a word out of him or Harry to explain Ron's odd behavior, leaving her hurt, confused, and upset. The Felix Felicis potion makes her even tenser; not only is this breaking the rules, but she doesn't think Ron should have to prove himself by using outside help. Ron may think Hermione doesn't have faith in his abilities, but I think Hermione was upset about Felix Felicis because she does have faith in him, and she's disappointed that he doesn't seem to have much faith in himself. The last straw for her is seeing Ron kiss Lavender. After receiving mixed messages and the cold shoulder from Ron, only to see him kiss another girl merely days after he agreed to go with her to a party, makes her blow her top off and attack with canaries.

A few weeks pass with Ron and Hermione doing everything they can to make each other jealous. Neither one of them is willing to admit they were wrong, or why their feelings were hurt so deeply. It's a matter of stubbornness and pride with them.

Then everything changes when Ron almost dies. Hermione, along with everyone else, is distraught. Unlike everyone else, Hermione can barely even speak about the event, and remains in a state of shock.

Ron recovers. And after that, there's a remarkable change in Ron and Hermione's relationship. They're getting along better than ever. They barely exchange a harsh word with another, and their sniping has transformed into gentle kidding. They become supportive of one another. After years of hiding their feelings, they are finally ready to expose their vulnerabilities to each other, evidenced by Hermione's open sobbing and Ron's comforting her at Dumbledore's funeral.

No, I don't think Hermione's character was ruined in HBP. I also don't think that character development has to be a constant upward climb. Sometimes people have regressions and have to take two steps back before they can take three steps forward. I believe that happened with both Ron and Hermione, that they both had to grow down before they grew up.

As for the "what about SPEW and Hermione's subplots?" question, my only answer is this: JK Rowling pushed several different subplots to the side in HBP, not just Hermione's SPEW crusade. The book was shorter than both OotP and GoF and there wasn't enough space to cover everything. I'm personally more disappointed at less Luna, Neville, and grieving for Sirius than I am for the lack of Hermione's uninformed opinions on elvish welfare. But JKR didn't drop SPEW for the sake of Ron/Hermione, or even Harry/Ginny, or any other ships a small-but-vocal portion of the fandom hated. She needed to establish some important backstory and develop a relationship between the main character and another important character before she killed someone off. The main players in the book were Harry, Dumbledore, Tom Riddle/Voldemort, and Snape. J.K. Rowling didn't forget SPEW because she sekritly hates Hermione, OMG! She just thought Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Snape were more essential to the story.



Edited because my cut-tags were wrong. D'oh!