Shipping and the Harry Potter franchise go together like Bertie Bott’s and Chocolate Frogs; it just makes sense. The budding beginnings of teenage angst, the perilous adventures, and the lore of J.K Rowling’s world is a perfect recipe for fans to pair off characters with one another. While some established relationships are embraced by the fandom, others cause quite a stir among fans to this very day. Chief among these is without a doubt the pairing of one Ronald Bilius Weasley and Hermione Jean Granger.
On paper, they’re complete opposites. While Hermione is a complete bookworm, not afraid to stand up for herself and is considered the best witch of her generation. Ron, by comparison, is a completely average wizard who wound up working at his brothers’ joke shop when he grew up. It’s these significant differences that made some people skeptical of the couple, but that’s just one aspect of the ridiculousness of their relationship.
Some of this comes from the differences between the books and the films. While the major beats are the same between the two, there are plenty of small details that alter the relationship between these two friends. Speaking of the movies, real people’s opinions on their relationship have frequently been the source of drama over the years including the two actors who play the wizard and witch themselves. In a fictional world where a literal giant makes friends with baby dragons, things are bound to get weird. Here are 20 ridiculous things about the relationship of Hermione and Ron.
20 Hermione Breaks Rules For Ron
If we were to sort out characters from Harry Potter into a Dungeons & Dragons alignment chart, Hermione would definitely be a Lawful Good. For the most part she follows rules and tries her best not to be unlawful except when those laws are unjust (think Umbridge’s tenure at Hogwarts). But that doesn’t mean she won’t engage in some shady tactics for her lover Ron.
Love triumphs over rules.
In Half Blood Prince, Ron finally makes it onto the Quidditch team as a keeper. The more interesting story though is how he got the gig as there was another student who was trying for the same role. However, Hermione uses a spell that confuses the other student and ensures that Ron gets the nod.
19 Ron Faced A Spider For Her
Plenty of people reading this likely just got a heart attack from the image above. If Ron Weasley read this he’d be among them as he was terribly afraid of spiders. But love makes you do weird things and Ron demonstrated that in the Chamber of Secrets.
Staring into the giant eyes of Aragog is a true symbol of friendship/love.
The Forbidden Forest is forbidden for a reason as it’s full of terrifying monsters dangerous to all people including most terrifying of all, giant spiders. The king of these is known as Aragog and although Ron was scared senseless at the mere thought of him, he accompanied Harry to meet him because he wanted to get to the bottom of Hermione’s paralysis.
18 Their Smooch Was Odd For Actors
I speak for plenty of fans who say that they would love to steal a kiss from Emma Watson, and I guess Rupert Grint is alright too. Point is, those two are the crushes of a generation so it’s surprising that those two didn’t enjoy their smooch in the final film.
According to both Watson and Grint, the kiss was awkward and not as enjoyable as one would think. Grint summed it best in 2016 by explaining that he’s known her since she was 9 years old, so they have more of a brother-sister thing going on than anything else. They were both smart about it, though, and got it down in one take so as to avoid doing it again and again.
17 Emma Watson Crushed On Draco
The shipping community (pairing characters in a story together romantically) in Harry Potter is massive and one of the more out there pairings is Hermione and Draco Malfoy. While this pairing doesn’t make a lick of sense to me, there is a funny tidbit from real life which would make fictional Ron Weasley gag.
During the filming of the first few movies, Emma Watson admitted that she had a massive crush on her co-star Tom Felton a.k.a Draco. The reason? Because he was so dreamy being an older boy (two years older)… and he had a skateboard. If only being a skateboarder would win Emma Watson’s heart nowadays, HP fans would start training so fast.
16 J.K. Rowling Regrets It
J.K Rowling has done anything but let the Harry Potter series fade away, even though the last book in the series penned by her is over 10 years old. Rowling constantly gives her thoughts and reveals new information about the series to this day and one of the most shocking comments had to do with Hermione and Ron.
In 2014, Emma Watson interviewed Rowling for Wonderland Magazine and the question was brought up. To some fans’ surprise, Rowling agreed that Harry and Hermione should have ended being together instead of Ron and Hermione. She says she wrote it that way because of what she originally conceived, but with hindsight she’d do it differently.
15 Ron = Success For Hermione
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is an… interesting addition to the Harry Potter mythos. While it has some decent moments, as a whole it is considered to be the weakest official entry in the series ever. One of its worst moments is when we find out what happens if Ron and Hermione don’t get hitched via time turner shenanigans. It doesn’t end well.
Because of Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, Ron never got jealous of Viktor Krum taking Hermione to the Yule Ball and instead marries Padma Patil. Hermione, on the other hand, becomes a cold and mean-spirited Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher. Yup, Hermione’s happiness is entirely dependent on being married to Ron. Strong female characters, am I right?
14 Born Of Jealousy
There are several people who have objections to the relationship between Hermione and Ron. One of these is that the whole basis from which the relationship forms is not a healthy one. The relationship between the two is formed entirely because of Ron’s jealousy.
This being canon by the Cursed Child just expounds the problem.
Ron is without a doubt the underdog in the golden trio, but he also has the emotional range of a teaspoon to quote Hermione in the Order of the Phoenix. This is even worse in the movies as key moments from Book Ron are given to Hermione instead in the films. This bitter, insecure ginger shouldn’t have snagged Hermione given his actions.
13 The Cause Of Their Smooch: Book Vs. Movie
The Battle of Hogwarts is the most intense battle in the entire franchise, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t time for romance. The climax of years of build up, Ron and Hermione engage in a passionate kiss in the Chamber of Secrets. But the difference between the book and film versions of this scene is quite drastic.
The book version gets the nod for this scene.
In the film, the kiss comes about after the survive a water monster unleashed after destroying a Horcrux. Fearing for their lives, they finally unleash their passions after they’re in the clear. In the book, it occurs because Ron suggests that they free the House Elves from Hogwarts before they’re potentially hurt by the fighting. Hermione, a passionate supporter of elf rights, kisses Ron for his change of heart as before he couldn’t care less.
12 Molly Weasley Likely Knew Ron’s Affections
This entry slides into fan theory territory, but I’ll allow it due to how powerful maternal instincts are. In the fourth entry The Goblet Of Fire, Molly Weasley acts cold to Hermione after reading a Rita Skeeter article that suggests Hermione is dating Viktor Krum while also toying with Harry. But why was she so mad?
What mother wouldn’t want their son to end up with a Hermione?
The obvious answer is that she didn’t want to see Harry be hurt, but there’s an alternative answer that’s more interesting. Being Ron’s mother, she likely saw that Ron liked Hermione before even he did . Thus when it’s implied that Hermione is seeing not just one, but two other boys who aren’t Ron, she really loses it.
11 Emma Watson Doubts The Relationship
Aside from perhaps J.K. Rowling herself, nobody would know Hermione better than the actress who portrayed her since she was 11 years old; Emma Watson. By her calculations, it appears that Ron and Hermione wouldn’t stand much of a chance.
In an interview conducted by Watson to J.K. Rowling in Wonderland Magazine, the issue of Romione came up and it disappointed plenty fans of the pairing. Not only did J.K. Rowling express that Harry and Hermione were probably more compatible, but Emma Watson agreed with her. At the least, Watson acknowledges that there’s doubt whether Ron would be able to make Hermione happy in the long term and vice versa.
10 Ron Read A Dating Book
Desperate times call for desperate measures, esepcially if you’re a desperate man like Ron Weasley. By the time of the Deathly Hallows, Ron had finally begun to realize that he had a thing for bookworm Hermione. Looking to his brothers for help, George and Fred give him “Twelve Fail-Safe Ways To Charm Witches.”
Thankfully, the book doesn’t recommend love potions.
The book is exactly what it sounds; a magical dating help book. This wasn’t explored in the movie, but in the book he compliments Hermione excessively at some point which leads Harry to believe that there’s a chapter on compliments. Oh yeah, that book was so illuminating to tell you compliments are good, eh, Ronny?
9 There Was Almost A Sister In Law
The Weasley family is a large family. When Hermione married Ron and became a part of the family, she gained not only a husband but 11 other brothers and sisters in law! Conversely though, Hermione was an only child so there was no brother or sister in law for Ron. But there almost was.
Just what Ron needed; another Christmas present to buy.
J.K. Rowling often answers fan questions and back in 2004 she did a live chat with the BBC’s website. One of the more interesting revelations from it was that she originally planned for Hermione to have a younger sister. However, by the time of the fifth book she thought it was too late by that point to bring her into the fold.
8 Ron Almost Was No More
For all the people who lose their lives over the course of the Harry Potter series, it’s nothing short of a miracle that the trio of Ron, Harry, and Hermione survived all seven stories. But one half of the Romione relationship almost didn’t.
Hermione and Harry have to end up together in this case right?
In an interview between J.K. Rowling and Daniel Radcliffe, Radcliffe admitted to her that he was convinced one of the three was going to get the axe at some point. This led Rowling to confess that about midway through the series, she was considering disposing of Ron. The reason? Just because she mad in her personal life at the time. Poor Ron.
7 They Were Both Prefects
Nobody likes prefects. They’re given the power to dock points from their own house but can’t give them, they can give students detention but can’t get them out of it. Thankfully though, not every prefect in Hogwarts was a stuck up little punk.
This subplot was omitted from the movie version.
In both Order of the Phoenix and The Half Blood Prince, Hermione and Ron are the prefects of Gryffindor. While Hermione makes complete sense as a prefect, Ron being selected is a little more curious. Well, according to Dumbledore, Harry would have gotten it but he felt that Harry had enough on his plate already. I hope you enjoy that shade thrown your way, Ron.
6 Hermione Spent A Summer With Him
With all the fighting that Hermione and Ron engaged in as little kids, it’s amazing that they were able to tolerate one another’s presence for more than a few hours at a time. Even more incredible? Hermione spent an entire summer with Ron!
Okay, well not just with Mr. Weasley, of course, as they were too young for that, but in the summer between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix, Hermione spends the summer with the entire Weasley family. Keep in mind that Harry wasn’t with them as he was living with the Dursleys so this was probably the first time where the two were free of Harry’s influence to hang out. A big step to their eventual relationship.
5 Grint Doesn’t Think They’d Last
While it’s mentioned elsewhere in this article the doubts that Emma Watson had about the pairing of Hermione and Ron, that is a tame viewpoint compared to what Ron’s actor Rupert Grint has to say about the relationship.
The question is, is he wrong?
In an interview with Huffington Post, said that Ron’s future probably wouldn’t be a married one; “I would expect Ron has probably divorced Hermione already. I don’t think that relationship would have done very well.” If that wasn’t enough of a gut punch, Grint thought that Ron would probably be living in a one bedroom studio apartment. Way to root for your character Grint!
4 Ron Goes With Her
Plenty of people don’t care for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’s time travelling bollocks, but there’s at least one moment in there that should make Romione fans happy. Well ok not happy, but at least it’s as sweet an ending in this dark timeline can be.
THIS is why they’re Gryffindor.
In that play, the sons of Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter create a new timeline where Cedric Diggory survived the Triwizard Tournament but became evil and helped Voldemort rise to power. With the forces of good defeated, Ron and Hermione go into hiding and sacrifice themselves to the Dementors to buy the sons time to escape and make things right. Heroic and together to the very end.
3 Alfonso Cuaron’s Vision
Because the filming of the Harry Potter movies always fell behind from the actual books, the people involved with the films couldn’t predict the future to see what J.K. Rowling had in mind for her world. However, one person did.
Cuaron must have passed his Divination exam.
The director of Prisoner Of Azkaban, Alfonso Cuaron had a feeling that Ron and Hermione were going to end up together by the end of the series, so he decided to throw in some hints that weren’t in the original book. Most prominent of these is in Hagrid’s magical creatures class where Hermione grabs Ron’s hand out of fear of Buckbeak.
2 Married Very Young
In older generations, it was pretty common for people to marry young, whereas nowadays people who get married to tend to wed in their late 20s and even early 30s. But Ron and Hermione aren’t exactly any ordinary couple and they further proved that by the age of which they married.
Ron and Hermione bring up this point in the Cursed Child.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with getting married young in it of itself and there’s no doubt that Ron and Hermione have been through the ringer together, the fact remains. The Battle of Hogwarts takes place in 1998, and while it’s unclear the exact year they married, their first kid was born in 2006 so they married between the ages of 19-25.
1 Their Actors Are True To Their Characters
The differences between the book and movie versions of Harry Potter still cause debates within the fandom to this day, but for the most part the casting in the films is universally agreed to be on point. This especially held true in the case of Ron and Hermione, as the actors portraying them are essentially real life avatars of the duo.
For those who don’t know, Emma Watson is definitely a brainy and woke girl. Not only did she graduate from Brown University with a bachelor’s in English Literature, but she’s also fought hard for women’s rights and is a UN Goodwill Ambassador. Rupert Grint, on the other hand.. well, he’s funny and charming just as our favourite ginger is. He’s even said to Vulture that “I find it very hard to separate where I end and Ron begins.”
