Ron, Jobs
Long overdue Ron meta requested by stmargarets:
I would really like a list of all the occupations you've seen Ron shoved into in his post-Hogwarts life. You read all the fan fiction out there (not really, but I'll read almost anything Ron centric) so I'd love to know what other authors have dreamed up - and which occupations fit Ron.
Note: I read Test of Time ages upon ages ago, and I decided to stick with my own list, and beg you all to list again in comments where hopefully you'll tackle the question too. I just decided it was easier to stick to my own experiences.
Quidditch Player; Auror; Bartender; DADA Teacher, Charms or Flying Professor? (I've seen him as something besides DADA, I just can't remember which at the moment) Hogwarts Headmaster; Executive (muggle and magical, beats me on the muggle one); Military strategist, General, Fighter Captain; Assassin, Private Detective; MLES; DoM; working for the twins as a bookkeeper or salesclerk; broomstick inventor, maker, magical device inventor; ministry office drone in muggle artifacts, sports, shipping, MLES, auror, and general administration; lawyer (muggle and magical); Healer/Doctor; Minister of Magic; unemployed, and likely more I'm forgetting. Might be able to dig up the fic if you ask me for it.
Really most of these fics can be broken down into three categories: the glamorous jobs, the office ones, and the professional ones.
Lights, camera, action
I'll put start with the military action hero type jobs, from Auror and MLES through general and assassin. Big, important, and our boy gets to kill things. These all take the chess thing and Ron's desire to be an auror three steps farther. If the author thinks auror is cliche, he's MLES or assassin or whatever. The usual reason for this job actually has less to do with the boy and more with the fic. These jobs usually go hand in hand with angsty R/Hr where the author wants to separate Ron and Hermione for anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years, and then put them back together by a sort of coincident. These jobs also have the death factor, which is usually milked for all the angst it's worth. In other words, most of the time, the military jobs feel like easy ways to construct plot and character. It can be pulled of pretty well and still keep him in character, but I just don't see Ron in a military position cause I think that by the time the trio is through with Voldemort, he'll be sick of fighting. Exceptions can of course be made. I like Auror Ron a lot in lizbee's and madmartha's fics, in part cause they both put him into stable relationships (with Hermione and Harry respectively) so it doesn't feel like a tool for shipping purposes.
The second type of flash job is the one where Ron's name gets known throughout the wizarding world. Basically the author gives him his Erised wish. Either he's Minister of Magic or Headmaster or a world famous Quidditch player. I'll start with the Quidditch player. Uh, no, basically. I mean, if the books have shown anything regarding the boy and Quidditch, it's that he can play well, but he's not good under pressure or load crowds. He really wouldn't be able to cope with the demands of playing full time. This career is also used to keep Ron away for a period of time. The other two household name jobs: MoM ? Uh, could see it, don't particularly like it. Ron's sort of ambitious, but not enough to try for MoM. Plus, I don't think that he wants the responsibility or headache of a job in politics. It's one of those jobs that feels tailor made for Hermione though, so half the time, I don't even get why they give the job to Ron, 'cept to give him his Erised wish. By the time he grows up, the boy should have matured enough to have different dreams, or to at least realize that he already is special in his own way. Headmaster is half Erised, half teacher, so I'll address it with the professor, which I'm putting under my last category, professionals.
Confessions of an Office Drone
These almost always involve the Ministry of Magic. Ron can be an auror working the desk, and MLES agent working the desk, in the department for sports, or working for muggle artifacts. It's boring, it's responsible, and it makes sense. He needs a job? Has an average number of NEWTs? The author wants him to e married with kids, so he needs to have a relatively stable job? Lets go work for what appears to be the largest employer in the Wizarding World, the MoM! My actual feelings depend on the job.
Older Ron working a desk job for the aurors or the MLES makes the most sense out of all the Ron desk jobs, cause he would be sort of interested in it, it plays on the chess strength, and honestly, cause I like mrflyingfingers new fic too much to complain about the job. Muggle artifacts bugs me cause Ron has shown no interest in it what so ever, so I don't really care that Hermione is muggle born, because he doesn't really care. In other words, he heritage doesn't inspire curiosity in him, neither does Harry's, neither does his father's interest in all things muggle, so yeah, Ron shouldn't be working in Muggle artifacts. Ron becomes a shipping clerk in NightZephyr's Endangered Species and I like it cause yeah it's a plot device, but it's also such a teenage part time job that it feels realistic. Drone in Sports? Uh, yeah he likes sports, and he'd be competent at it, but it just feels like so much wasted potential. Icarus makes awesome use of sports drone Ron in The Hat Trick, but the job serves the message of the fic, so it works well mostly cause the fic is a one shot. Icarus also pulls off general administrative office drone Ron in the Beg Me for It series, but that series is set in a Voldy wins AU, so the job likely works cause it's one of the few plausible ones for Ron to have in that universe. Ok so summation of Ministry Employee Ron? Fine when it fits in the context of the universe, but not on my preferred list of jobs.
A tinker, a tailor, ..., a doctor, a lawyer ...
Aww, the in between jobs. Not that special, not that mundane. Let's start with the tinker professions. Alchemilla has him modify muggle devices to make magical equivalents, Mad Martha has him making brooms, and an assorted lot have made him work for the twins. Uh doesn't work for me. Hermione's the potential inventor/engineer, the twins are inventors, even Ginny could work (though fashionista Ginny is wrong), but not Ron. His mind really just doesn't function that way. He's not so much into why things work or how they work, or how they should work, so much as the jobs are always pulled off well in fic cause the authors bother explaining it, it doesn't feel like such a logical path for him to take. Next are the business world jobs, whether sales person for the twins or executive of a company. Uh yeah, no. Ron's way too open to be a great salesperson, being able to read him like a book doesn't make for the best pitchman, and Ron doesn't the most patience or best people skills. He's just likely to get bored. As for executive? In theory he's logic and strategic enough, I just don't see him in any of the jobs that would get him to that position. Another one I sort of like is Professor Ron, though again there is a patience issue, and their just isn't anything in canon to show that Ron is competent at explaining things to younger kids, nor that he would ever want to. Headmaster Ron suffers from this same issue, and the question of whether he'd be a good administrator. He might be if called to the task, but Ron really doesn't strike me as an academic. Professor feels more like a second career path if one at all. *shrugs*
What's left? Healer and lawyer are under the same category, immigrant dream, make good money jobs. They're the ones my mother bothers me to be. And strangely enough, they're two of my faves for Ron. I could actually see the lawyer bit cause of the strategy cliche, and cause he is logical in his own weird way, and it isn't the straight logic that gets Hermione tangled up. His treatment of the House elves shows an understanding of the big picture, his refusal to hide the elves hats shows his willingness for things to change by choice, he'd be good at it. Healer is much the same, it lets him save the world and be at home, and the logic thing fitting in, and he's not bad under pressure, so he'd probably be good at it. Last but not least are probably the two most random of the lot, bartender and bookkeeper. Um actually, considering everything, Ron could be quite competent at math, nothing in canon goes either way. It only works though as a short term, part time thing, cause he would lose his mind crunching numbers all day. A bored Ron is usually a grumpy one, and that's not so good. As for bartender Ron? He comes from After the End and I actually love the idea, but only part time while he's between jobs or in school and needs cash. I like it cause it's a service job with hours that allow for school, and he gets to feel like a guy, and doesn't have to be as fake to the clients probably. Of the service sector jobs, this is the best by far. So yeah, I'm a service-sector, non office drone!Ron fan.
The only one I didn't cover is unemployed Ron. Used for angst, generally understandable, and I like it short term. Long term it would probably trigger some form of depression for the "useless" Weasley to be well "useless."
Wow this took a lot longer than I thought it would. It's also about two pages single spaced, or about 1600 words, which yeah, is way longer than I intended it to be. I think my brain just doesn't like it when I'm productive.
OK, so what did I miss?