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Ron/Hermione @ the movies
As we all know (and especially if you're a R/Hr shipper), when original media is translated into film, there are things that are lost along the way. There's also new additions, but chances are if they miss your favourite moments and make the Burrow burn instead, you're gonna be a little shitty.
The Ron/Hermione dynamic - in many ways the great love story of the HP canon - has both benefitted and suffered from the big screen. This picspam is just me going through and talking about the big "shippy" scenes (and maybe a few small ones too because who am I), and looking at their contribution to R/Hr as a whole.
This post covers Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets, with PoA and GoF coming tomorrow. WARNING: IMAGE HEAVY! PROTECT YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION!
Philosopher's Stone
Ron and Hermione meet
OOO Children~~~ We begin our journey when Ron and Hermione begin their journey via a literal journey to Hogwarts, which is all very meta in and of itself and needs no extrapolation from me. However, a few things to note from this scene:
Ron meets Hermione exactly when Harry does. This is important to the Trio as a whole, but also to R/Hr, as it means they're defined by their relationship with Harry until at least PoA, in which the series takes a taker, more character-driven turn. Ron and Hermione don't see each other outside of the scaffold of friendship not only because they're so young, but also because they have no need or incentive to. Everyone's aware of their place within the Trio, and they're all happy with these roles. It's only as they get older that they begin to question where they stand in relation to one another.
This scene is also a good example of the way in which Ron and Hermione's issues with identity are brought to the surface through their relationship. In the scene, Hermione performs a spell, and Ron gives her a derisive look; in return, she points out a spot of dirt on his nose. The underlying tone of this is that Hermione is instantly relatable to her intelligence, and thus her obnoxiousness; and in turn Ron's family situation and lack of wealth shines through, linking to his (perceived) lesser standing and inferiority.
And lastly - there's no one that gets under R/Hr's skin quite like each other. There's just something they find inside one another - something combustible - and they scrach up on it and create this friction that is just sitting there, waiting to ignite. If only they told us it would be thousands of pages later.
The Trio meet Fluffy
Hermione: Now if you two don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed - or worse, expelled.
Ron: She needs to sort out her priorities!
You're friends with Harry Potter, and you end up meeting three headed dogs in the middle of the night. It's a basic fact of life, really, and you should just learn to accept it.
This is the first of many life threatening scenarios R/Hr find themselves in. It adds another layer to their relationship, as life-or-death situations inevitably do; you can't look at someone the same way after you've saved them from a troll, after all. What it means for R/Hr is that there will always be an element of danger to their lives, and thus the way they see each other; but the two often handily forget it until they're facing their next monster at the end of the year.
In this scene Hermione acts as if she's above Harry and Ron's ~exploring - she'd never say it, but she likes the adventure, and Ron would never say it, but she pulls him back down to earth, and this scene showcases the whole lot of it. It's the real beginning of their relationship and the entire seven years of them that we get to see is basically summarised in this scene. I love that Rupert's favourite line is from this scene - Emma's I understand, because it's an excellent line, but Rupert's? It's about Hermione. The best thing about this relationship is how it pulls on both Ron and Hermione as characters - it challenges them, hurts them, helps them face their fears - and it's essential to who they are within the story.
You're saying it WRONG!
The shippiest scene in the entire movie bar none. This is one of those moments that show you just how much Ron and Hermione effect each other. They get under one another's skin and they always have - even now, when there's not one romantic element to their relationship. They pull and push on each other's insecurities; Ron isn't as good at Hermione with schoolwork, she hasn't made friends as quickly as him. They're a constant contrast, a push and pull, and it's these things that keep pressing up on their own fears and insecurities. Ron and Hermione will always have strong feelings for each other - always - it's just a matter of determining what those feelings are.
DELETED SCENE: Ron and Hermione become friends
This scene goes for about 18 seconds, and it's always seemed weird to me that they cut it, because it's really not going to hurt to throw in a bit of growth for the R/Hr friendship. But apparently there was not enough room for it, so out went the beginning of Ron and Hermione actually liking each other.
Ron KNOWS what it means
This scene is all about the exposition, but it still carries some good R/Hr dynamic. This is typical of the movies: scenes which don't focus on R/Hr as couple often give the best scenes for the ship (the Buckbeak scene in PoA comes straight to mind). This is the first in a long line of scenes in which Hermione underestimates Ron, a theme that continues all they way up to DH 1 and 2. It's "always the tone of surprise", and it's such an important part of their relationship. Ron has his own hurdles to overcome to reach the place he needs to be for R/Hr to happen (this is also taken up to DH via the locket), but so does Hermione, and this idea that Ron is somehow not her equal intelligence-wise is one of them. Hermione knows she's intelligent, and she knows she'll always be a head above the rest, but Ron is by no means stupid, and it takes her a while to realise and appreciate that.
This scene also marks the beginning of oldcouple!R/Hr.
The Chess Game // Ron's a Knight
"THIS SCENE IS NOT SHIPPY", I hear you say. But you are very, very wrong. When Ron is knocked off the board, both Hermione and Harry are, naturally, horrified. Ron's told them not to move or they'll lose the game, and, quite instinctively, it's Hermione who goes to move. She doesn't care; she just wants to go and check on Ron. This is calm, level-headed Hermione, who doesn't have her priorities sorted, and she's abandoning all her logic just to go and check on Ron. Again, they're too young to be romantically inclined, but there's some strong emotion there, for sure. Strong enough to pull Hermione away from her sense - and that's got to be some earth moving shit.
Chamber of Secrets
Ron defends Hermione's honor, eats slugs
Oh, Ron. He possesses a Weasley temper, but is fairly good at keeping it contained - we haven't really seen him go off at anyone yet. When he does, it's in defence of Hermione (granted, his dislike of Malfoy probably has a lot to do with it). Malfoy calls Hermione a Mudblood, and Ron doesn't even think about it - he just reacts, instinctively, pulling out his wand and firing off a curse. This is a very Ron thing to do - again, no one gets to him like Hermione. He's been around his other friends (Harry, Neville, even Ginny) when they've been insulted and he's happy to take a backseat, but when it's Hermione getting insulted, he feels the need to act. Well ok, Ron. You keep doin' what you do.
R/Hr happen upon Harry in a corridor
This scene isn't particularly shippy, but I like how we're meant to assume that when Harry's not with them, R/Hr still spend all their time together. It happens a few times in CoS and it never fails to make me smile, because it reinforces this idea that what we know of their dynamic is really only the tip of the iceberg. Just like they each have their own singular moments with Harry, the moments with Ron and Hermione together probably put miles on their dynamic and developing relationship.
The reappearance of oldcouple!R/Hr
Walkin' down a corridor, fightin' about shit, this is how we do~ I think Harry is somewhere in this scene as well, but it's really just Ron and Hermione going back and forth like the oldest of old couples - in fact, they're quite like Arthur and Molly, who appear for the first time in CoS. Their argument is very indicative of R/Hr; Ron is taking his suspicions of to the natural conclusion that Malfoy is an evil little turd, and Hermione is holding back, seeking logical proof of Draco's supposed villany. In many ways Ron and Hermione offer two different viewpoints for Harry, and by extension us, the reader, as to contemporary events in the novel. This continues the theme of contrast that runs in the R/Hr relationship.
Ron and Hermione like to make awkward reaction faces to the weird shit that happens to Harry
This is another one of those times when I'd love to be able to see some of R/Hr's interactions outside of the Trio mould. Harry's been talking to snakes and is the supposed heir of Slytherin, and it's made quite clear that Ron and Hermione have talked extensively about this topic. We're limited by Harry's perspective, as always - but there's a real sense of comradeship between these two, and as always, it's highlighted by the reactions to the various dangers of Harry's life. Sometimes, during the worst of their quarrels, it takes something major to snap Ron and Hermione out of their animosity and into hero-mode, and this is a trope that's carried all the way to DH.
Ron defends Hermione against Malfoy - again // what nice fur you have, Hermione!
These two scenes are connected not only by being sequential, but because they're an interesting look into Ron's developing psyche re: Hermione. It's already been established that Ron - and only Ron - takes offenses to Hermione quite literally, and tries to see retribution for them. He does this even when it's quite possibly the stupidest move possible - trying to cast a spell with a broken wand, and going for Malfoy's jugular when he's disguised as Crabbe - and this is because Ron doesn't think about what he's doing. It's competely reative, and it says a lot about how he views Hermione, and his relationship with her. It's a very Ron thing to defend Hermione to the point of fisticuffs in one moment, and the to go back to the lavatory and laugh at her failed Polyjuice Potion attempt the next. Ron's reaction to Hermione is very different to his reaction to slights against her, and that's because he hasn't got his head properly around how much she means to him.
Hermione's petrified
I hope these caps broke your heart because it was crushing to look at them in ps. LOOK AT HIS FACE. Damn, 12yo Rupert Grint. Damn. It's subtle in the books but this really is a turning point for R/Hr - much like Ron's fall in the chess game back in PS. Ron and Hermione have always viewed Hogwarts in relation to each other - not that they automatically think of the other every time they think of school, but rather that they've been constant companions their entire school life. It's such a natural thing for them to be around one another that they really only feel it when one of them is taken away. This is a large plot point in DH, but it begins even now, wayyyy back in CoS. This is one of those moments where you can really tell that R/Hr is a story in and of itself, with foundations and layers and history all building up to the relationship these two are going to have.
That one non hug everyone talks about
Ahh, the hug. Probably the biggest shippy scene in the movies thus far, this is whacked on at the end of CoS for a reason - it's laying the groundwork for the beginning of the real relationship development between Ron and Hermione that starts in PoA. This is when physicality starts to become important in the R/Hr relationship. Everyone knows this scene - Hermione hugs Harry with a fury, but stops before hugging Ron, shaking his hand instead. This is such a teenager thing to do - stopping yourself before showing affection for the person you like, because you're afraid you'll show your hand - that it reminds me of how realistic R/Hr is; it's a relationship that could happen in any high school across the world. They're just so aware of each other, like their bodies are running on the same electrical wire, and they're afraid that if they touch they're going to burn up. This is built on HUGELY in PoA.
....which we'll see in a new post, because this one is long enough already! Yay!
Have some victory Ronald for your time:
