Ron in H/D fic
I hope it's okay to start posting here. :D I have a little rant about the raw deal Ron gets in H/D fic that I'd like to post, if it's ok...
Ron in Harry/Draco fic
While I do like Harry/Draco, I have found very few Harry/Draco fics that I actually truly love and can get into. Many of the problems with Ron in H/D fic are similar to the problems with Ron in H/Hr fic, though slightly different and often more disturbing.
1) Replacing Ron with Draco as Harry's Best Friend.
This usually comes about in a manner of Harry Is Depressed And Refuses To Confide In Ron and/or Hermione For No Good Reason, and Somehow Draco Is The Only One Who Can Reach Him. I once read a beautifully written, heartbreakingly angsty fic where Harry had a huge problem dumped on him and for no understandable reason did not tell Ron or Hermione, but instead confided in Draco and NEVER at any point confided in Ron - actually Ron took up less than a paragraph in an 11 chapter story. I really wanted to like the fic, but the nagging question of "why not tell Ron?" kept popping up in my head every few paragraphs. The author never gave me a convincing reason why Harry chose to confide in Draco instead of the first real friend he ever had in his whole life.
I've read a post-OotP fic where Harry confided to Draco about the Prophecy without telling Ron or Hermione. This makes absolutely no sense to me.
Related to this, but slightly different is...
2) Homophobe!Ron.
Many Harry/Draco fics have Ron and Harry falling out because Harry is gay. This, again, makes no sense to me. Ron would not accept a Harry/Draco relationship at all well, I don't think, but I think the problem would be less that Harry is gay but that Harry has taken up with MALFOY, someone whose father almost got the lot of them killed (even more so after book 5), and who has been absolutely horrid and nasty to both Ron and Hermione, and Harry's other close friends like Hagrid, for the entire time they've been at school together. He's even wished that Hermione would DIE once! (when H/R went to the Slytherin common room under Polyjuice and Draco said 'it's only a matter of time before a Mudblood dies - as for me, I hope it's Granger'.) So in my mind it's perfectly understandable if Ron is less than thrilled at the idea of the two of them together - to Ron it could be looked at as a total betrayal of everything that the three of them have worked for over the past 4-5 years.
HOWEVER - Ron would NOT be opposed to the relationship just because Harry is gay. There is no way he would turn his back on his very best friend because of that. His problem would be solely with Malfoy - and if Harry made some effort to explain to Ron WHY he is with Draco, and Ron could see that Draco truly makes Harry happy - then Ron would eventually come around.
I have to wonder sometimes if people have skipped over the entire Second Task. Ron is the thing that Harry would miss the most. Period. That is a canon fact. I can not see Harry shutting Ron out of his life for any reason - if Ron had a problem with H/D then Harry would do his best to try and fix the situation so that he could have both Ron as a best friend and Draco as a lover.
Another thing that bothers me greatly about Ron in H/D is...
3) Idiot!Ron.
When a summary mentions Harry 'getting in touch with his inner Slytherin' I cringe, because what so often follows is a fic where Harry realizes that all Gryffindors, Ron in particular, are bumbling, brainless idiots and Harry promptly begins hanging out with Draco and his entourage, making fun of Ron and Hermione and using them for the comic relief, or sitting quietly by and letting Draco malign and make fun of Ron and Hermione. Ron is by NO means stupid - not nearly as smart as Hermione, but he must have some intelligence or he would be terrible at chess. Funny and goofy and clueless do not equal stupid.
4) Jealous!Ron
This is far more common in H/Hr fic but I have seen it in H/D. Typically, Ron is jealous of Harry's fame/fortune/etc and resents Harry for it, causing their friendship to dissolve and a lonely Harry turning to Draco.
This is a load of crap, especially in any fic written post-OotP. Yes, Ron was an idiot between the time Harry's name came out of the Goblet and the First Task, and slightly so between the First and Third tasks. But in my opinion, when Ron saw Harry come out of that graveyard with Cedric's dead body in his hands, that put a lot of things in perspective for Ron. Harry's fame and fortune has come at a heavy, HEAVY price indeed. I feel like that's why in OotP we saw a Ron who was much more patient with Harry's outbursts. And with the things that happened in OotP that Ron witnessed - Harry's sliced up hand, the horrifying nightmares that had Harry throwing up and screaming, the incidents in the MoM...not to mention sacrificing himself on the giant chessboard, jumping down in the chamber of secrets, standing up on his broken leg in front of who he thought was a convicted murderer - who in the world would forget all that just over some money and attention?
I feel like that if a H/D writer has to rely on any of the above things to further their plot and get H/D together, then they don't need to be writing as all these are signs of no imagination or faith in the ship. If H/D are destined to be together, they can get together without making Harry's best friend out to be a jealous, homophobic idiot who is not there for Harry.
Ron in Harry/Draco fic
While I do like Harry/Draco, I have found very few Harry/Draco fics that I actually truly love and can get into. Many of the problems with Ron in H/D fic are similar to the problems with Ron in H/Hr fic, though slightly different and often more disturbing.
1) Replacing Ron with Draco as Harry's Best Friend.
This usually comes about in a manner of Harry Is Depressed And Refuses To Confide In Ron and/or Hermione For No Good Reason, and Somehow Draco Is The Only One Who Can Reach Him. I once read a beautifully written, heartbreakingly angsty fic where Harry had a huge problem dumped on him and for no understandable reason did not tell Ron or Hermione, but instead confided in Draco and NEVER at any point confided in Ron - actually Ron took up less than a paragraph in an 11 chapter story. I really wanted to like the fic, but the nagging question of "why not tell Ron?" kept popping up in my head every few paragraphs. The author never gave me a convincing reason why Harry chose to confide in Draco instead of the first real friend he ever had in his whole life.
I've read a post-OotP fic where Harry confided to Draco about the Prophecy without telling Ron or Hermione. This makes absolutely no sense to me.
Related to this, but slightly different is...
2) Homophobe!Ron.
Many Harry/Draco fics have Ron and Harry falling out because Harry is gay. This, again, makes no sense to me. Ron would not accept a Harry/Draco relationship at all well, I don't think, but I think the problem would be less that Harry is gay but that Harry has taken up with MALFOY, someone whose father almost got the lot of them killed (even more so after book 5), and who has been absolutely horrid and nasty to both Ron and Hermione, and Harry's other close friends like Hagrid, for the entire time they've been at school together. He's even wished that Hermione would DIE once! (when H/R went to the Slytherin common room under Polyjuice and Draco said 'it's only a matter of time before a Mudblood dies - as for me, I hope it's Granger'.) So in my mind it's perfectly understandable if Ron is less than thrilled at the idea of the two of them together - to Ron it could be looked at as a total betrayal of everything that the three of them have worked for over the past 4-5 years.
HOWEVER - Ron would NOT be opposed to the relationship just because Harry is gay. There is no way he would turn his back on his very best friend because of that. His problem would be solely with Malfoy - and if Harry made some effort to explain to Ron WHY he is with Draco, and Ron could see that Draco truly makes Harry happy - then Ron would eventually come around.
I have to wonder sometimes if people have skipped over the entire Second Task. Ron is the thing that Harry would miss the most. Period. That is a canon fact. I can not see Harry shutting Ron out of his life for any reason - if Ron had a problem with H/D then Harry would do his best to try and fix the situation so that he could have both Ron as a best friend and Draco as a lover.
Another thing that bothers me greatly about Ron in H/D is...
3) Idiot!Ron.
When a summary mentions Harry 'getting in touch with his inner Slytherin' I cringe, because what so often follows is a fic where Harry realizes that all Gryffindors, Ron in particular, are bumbling, brainless idiots and Harry promptly begins hanging out with Draco and his entourage, making fun of Ron and Hermione and using them for the comic relief, or sitting quietly by and letting Draco malign and make fun of Ron and Hermione. Ron is by NO means stupid - not nearly as smart as Hermione, but he must have some intelligence or he would be terrible at chess. Funny and goofy and clueless do not equal stupid.
4) Jealous!Ron
This is far more common in H/Hr fic but I have seen it in H/D. Typically, Ron is jealous of Harry's fame/fortune/etc and resents Harry for it, causing their friendship to dissolve and a lonely Harry turning to Draco.
This is a load of crap, especially in any fic written post-OotP. Yes, Ron was an idiot between the time Harry's name came out of the Goblet and the First Task, and slightly so between the First and Third tasks. But in my opinion, when Ron saw Harry come out of that graveyard with Cedric's dead body in his hands, that put a lot of things in perspective for Ron. Harry's fame and fortune has come at a heavy, HEAVY price indeed. I feel like that's why in OotP we saw a Ron who was much more patient with Harry's outbursts. And with the things that happened in OotP that Ron witnessed - Harry's sliced up hand, the horrifying nightmares that had Harry throwing up and screaming, the incidents in the MoM...not to mention sacrificing himself on the giant chessboard, jumping down in the chamber of secrets, standing up on his broken leg in front of who he thought was a convicted murderer - who in the world would forget all that just over some money and attention?
I feel like that if a H/D writer has to rely on any of the above things to further their plot and get H/D together, then they don't need to be writing as all these are signs of no imagination or faith in the ship. If H/D are destined to be together, they can get together without making Harry's best friend out to be a jealous, homophobic idiot who is not there for Harry.