Ron/Hermione - oh how I love thee!
One of the biggest shipping debates in my lamentable yet ever-loved fandom is the Ron/Hermione romantic pairing. Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows caused explosions of outrage, glee and heated debate all over the fandom. Three years later, it shows no signs of slowing down. A radical subset of the Harry/Hermione romantic shippers have formed their own group - the Harmonians, of the ship ‘Harmony’. Other ships include ‘Dramione’, ‘Drarry’ and other pairings such as Ron/Luna and likewise. This piece concerns a canon ship that has taken a lot of crap from these shippers - the Ron/Hermione pairing.
Ron/Hermione is a great ship, but it takes a lot of heat from many fans, decrying Ron as ‘not worthy’ of Hermione, and saying that they were ‘betrayed’ by JKR for not pairing her with their character of choice. Some of the most vocal of these are the Harmonians mentioned above, who believe that all the signs in the books and movies point to an inevitable pairing of Harry and Hermione, the Ginny is an ‘evil slag’ and Ron an ‘insufferable prat’, neither of whom are worthy of their partners. They cry that only Harry can give Hermione the love and attention she deserves, that only Hermione truly understands Harry’s pain and need.
*eyeroll*
One claim that echoes from all corners of the anti-canon shippers though is that Ron and Hermione’s relationship is ‘ill-constructed’, using ‘tired cliché’, ‘poorly built’ and ‘completely out of left field’. I say nay to all of these!
‘Tired cliché; arguing =/= *true love*’
Ok, there are a few basic things wrong with this argument and I’m going to start there. First off, *true love*? That term is one that shouldn’t be used lightly. It’s tricky at the best of times, and JKR doesn’t go into soul-mates or *true love*. Second, Ron and Hermione don’t spend all their time arguing. Thirdly, no one ever said that arguing alone becomes *true love*, the labelling of that literary device as this is inaccurate. Fourth, TIRED CLICHÉ? WTF ARE YOU ON? TIRED?! Pride and Prejudice, Much Ado About Nothing, Mort, Wuthering Heights… do you want me to go on? All of these texts have romantic pairings where the chemistry is added to using a form of argument.
‘Ill-constructed/poorly built/completely out of left field’
Sigh. It was not. Ron and Hermione’s relationship was carefully constructed over the course of the books. It was always slightly awkward, a touch tense, a little explosive and built up to the one scene in DH when Hermione spears the elephant in the room and snogs him.
How I saw it constructed:
I love the way it was built up. Ron and Hermione were always slightly more awkward and a touch more reactive than the other characters. The way they interacted was interesting and they provided great counterpoints for each other. The way they danced around each other was reminiscent of all awkward teenage relationships - no flowery prose or declarations of undying, eternal love, just sheer ‘holy crap I like him/her, what do I do now???’. It’s honest, truthful and a great deal of fun.
If we want to go as far back as the first three books like some diehard shippers, while none of them were really thinking about relationships at that point, we see some definite relationship building there. Hermione is very adversely affected by taunts from Ron, Ron, the eternal arachnophobic, faces his fears for Hermione’s sake. And both of them find it in them to put aside adverse differences to salvage their relationship.
It becomes more apparent in the later books. In book four, Ron’s raging jealousy rears it’s head when Rita Skeeter writes about Hermione and Harry, and even more when Hermione goes out with Krum. Hermione despairs of Ron when he refuses to acknowledge the attraction, and in hindsight we can maybe even see despair that he won’t ever recognise it. In book five we see more of Hermione and Ron strengthening their relationship and in book six it becomes very apparent, with them acting like hormonal teenagers. Which they are. In book seven, the attraction is palpable.
I love the Ron/Hermione relationship because it’s realistic. It’s human. It’s not overwrought, it’s not flowery, it’s not this wonderful, pure bond. It’s a messy, amazing, real relationship with two very human, strong willed people who are stubborn enough not to give up on it. I wish I could write a relationship like it.