Ron and Hermione: Good Friends

List courtesy of Amy Z; offered not as proof of a romantic attachment between Ron and Hermione,
but simply as proof of the great friendship between the two.

~*~

(1) Play chess together (PS/SS 13, GF 37)

(2) Agree with each other.

PS/SS 16: "Harry, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as
long as Dumbledore's around."

PS/SS 13: "Don't play," said Hermione at once.
"Say you're ill," said Ron.
"Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggested.
"*Really* break your leg," said Ron.

PA 22: "But if he's resigned-"
"--doesn't sound like there's anything we can do-"

(3) Watch Quidditch together: practice (CS 7), games (PS 11, 13)

(4) Shop for school things together (PA 4)

(5) Write each other letters (Hermione to Ron, CS 4; Ron to Hermione,
PA 1)

(6) Visit Harry when he's injured
PA 9 after the Hufflepuff match
PS/SS 17 after the showdown with Voldemort
GF 36 ditto

(7) Talk about Harry
PA 11: "Harry could tell they had rehearsed this
conversation while he had been asleep"

(8) Work together on a project (Buckbeak's defense, PA 11)

(9) Show concern for the other when he/she is hurt
Ron re: Hermione:

CS 14: And on the bed next to her was-
"*Hermione!*" Ron groaned.

CS 16: "Wonder if she did see the attacker, though?" said Ron,
looking sadly at Hermione's rigid face.

CS 18: "I daresay the Basilisk's victims will be waking up any
moment."
"So Hermione's OK!" said Ron brightly.

GF 9: "Let's just keep moving, shall we?" said Ron, and Harry
saw him glance edgily at Hermione. Perhaps there was truth
in what Malfoy had said; perhaps Hermione *was* in more
danger than they were.

Hermione re: Ron:

PS 16: [screams when the white queen strikes Ron, then:]
With one last desperate look back at Ron, Harry and
Hermione charged through the door and up the next
passageway.
"What if he's-"
"He'll be all right," said Harry, trying to convince
himself.

PA 17: On the floor beside him, clutching his leg, which
stuck out at a strange angle, was Ron.
Harry and Hermione dashed across to him.

CS9: "Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" squealed Hermione.

(10) Sort through mysteries, speculate, etc. together

PA 22: "[T]hey and Harry wandered into the grounds, still
talking about the extraordinary events of the previous
night and wondering where Sirius and Buckbeak were now.
Sitting near the lake, watching the giant squid waving its
tentacles lazily above the water, Harry lost the thread of
the conversation as he looked across to the opposite bank."

(11) Tease (as distinct from "bicker with") each other

GF 13: "Well, that won't matter if they turn out to cure sea
sickness or something, will it?" said Ron, grinning slyly
at her.

(12) Hug at moments of great emotion

GF 20, when Ron and Harry make up

PA 15, when Ron and Hermione do

(13) Intercede in friendship troubles

GF 19: "She went from one to the other, trying ot force them
to talk to each other."

(14) Soothe/reassure (again, Hermione's department)

PS 14: Harry and Hermione tried to calm Ron down.
"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," said
Hermione, but this didn't soothe Ron at all. (<g> She's
trying, though!)

CS 9: "Nearly there, Ron," said Hermione, as the gamekeeper's
cabin came into view. "You'll be all right in a minute
. . . almost there . . ."

GF 11: "Dad could've got promotion any time . . . he just
likes it where he is . . . "
"Of course he does," said Hermione quietly.

(15) Defend each other (here it's Ron defending Hermione)

CS 7, GF 9: against Draco when he calls her "Mudblood"

GF 18: "Malfoy got Hermione!" Ron said. "*Look!*"
He forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth . . .

(16) Go to Hogsmeade together without Harry and have a great time

PA 8

(17) Study together

PA 8: Harry returns from practice to find Ron and Hermione
"sitting in two of the best chairs by the fireside and
completing some star charts for Astronomy."

(18) Hermione gives Ron Christmas presents (we can only hope he
reciprocates . . . <g>)

CS 12

Is this the way a writer would portray a relationship between two people whose only connection was their friendship with a third? I don't see how JKR could make it much clearer that Ron and Hermione are friends in their own right. They spend too much time voluntarily in one another's company-not just to be with Harry, but just being together even when he isn't around-and have too wide a variety of pleasant interactions for their relationship to be less than genuine friendship.

***