It really could go both ways. One of their close friends die. They more than likely could still stick together, or even make new friends. Though I am not entirely sure that they would get together, it's just one of those "it could happen" things.

 

Their getting together after something like that is a "might or might not" thing, but I disagree with anyone presuming that their relationship would deteriorate or die altogether if Ron were to die. Harry and Hermione's relationship is particularly strong during the first five and the seventh books.

Actually, I would make an exception. If Ron died at the end of Book 1, I could see Harry and Hermione's relatively new friendship being unable to survive that, particularly if they simply couldn't find any way to cope with his loss. I could also see them splitting at the end of book 6, because let's face it, Hermione was an absolute bitch during that book. (Rowling only knows why...)

 

She essentially had to break her characterization to get the overall plotline back on track (Hermione and Ron, Harry and Ginny, etc.), because it was starting to lean towards Harry and Hermione.

 

To be frank, I was just being a dick with my post.

Yeah, well everyone has a boss, someone who gives them orders. Just because Harry isn't the boss of the world doesn't mean he's a "stooge," as you put it. Honestly, if you're going to stick around here, go ahead and lose the assumption that Dumbledore was some Machiavellian puppet-master.

^ This, for instance, is sheer stupidity, and comes from reading one too many (and really, one *is* too many) uber!indie!Harry stories. Saying Ron was the one with "the gall" and whatever else you posted is just plain wrong.

Ron is a complex character, in that he's insecure and jealous, but he's also just barely 18 by the end of DH. An end which, by the way, saw him take giant leaps in his maturity and self-control.

I think that if Draco had caused Ron's death, there's no telling what Harry might've done. He didn't suspect at the time that the poisoned mead was Draco's doing, but in any case, Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to ignore *that* happening, It does still bother me that D'dore shrugged off Katie Bell's nearly being killed, even moreso than Ron's.

In fact, if Ron *had* died, Harry might've been trying to curse Snape AND Draco at the end of HBP.

Harry: Crucio!
Snape: Missed me!
Harry: Wasn't aiming at you, dickweed.
Draco: Ow.
Harry: Sectumsempra!
Snape: You dare use my own spells against -
Harry: Save it, asswipe. Again, weren't aiming at /you/.
Draco: Agh, not again! Mommy! Myrtle!!

The risk of being flamed is ever-present here. The only way to avoid flaming by someone you agreed with is to never agree with anyone. See Coyote and Xiph) for examples...

Well, I think that no matter what, Harry and Hermione were going to be friends going forward. I mean, there was a strong friendship dynamic between any two of the three from that very first year, and sure, there were times when weaknesses showed through (Scabbers and Crookshanks; jealousy over the Triwizard; immaturity about "love" in HBP; of course DH as well), but that's to be expected from teenagers, especially ones in life-or-death situations. I mean, just the sheer enormity of the task in DH - "hey, gather and destroy the scattered shards of this evil genius's soul or else he's essentially a crazy but immortal god" - would be enough to make most people curl up in the corner and wet themselves, so Ron having a moment of selfishness and weakness is, while not good, at least understandable.

 

JKR's what possessed Harry to be such a stooge.

There, just change a few letters and you have your answer.

LOL. Everyone does it, once or twice, eventually.

But he waasss!

You know why Dumbledore's hand was so blackened and wrinkly in HBP? It was because he had just spent the last fifteen years with his hand in Harry's ass.

That's a puppet master.

It was wrinkly from being in a dark, moist place, and blackened because it was covered in years of the constipation-inducing shit that had been making Harry progressively more cranky since the first book.

Dumbledore pulled it out in book six, sniffed it...

Then shoved it back in and cut it off, so the hand could continue remotely controlling Harry, even after Dumbledore's death... and Dumbledore then replaced his own hand with the Hand of Glory he'd studied extensively in order to invent the Deluminator.*

They were both so black and wrinkly that no one noticed. Except Draco, who was miffed that Harry had gotten a Hand of Glory all those years ago, which was why he agreed to facilitate the Death Eaters' invasion of Hogwarts: So he could get one of his own.

Nineteen Years Later, Harry had long since crapped out the hand, thought it was a shit-baby, and named it Albus Severus Potter, after the two most likely fathers.

You'd have to have some kind of self control to turn over a copy of the Wizards' Date Rape Manual to the best friend who'd just been dating your sister, when you haven't even sealed the deal with your own would-be girlfriend yet. But, I imagine seeing that he already had the frumpy little swot folding his underwear probably gave Ron the impression it was in the bag.

*(And, with the Deluminator so closely linked with Dumbledore's own little Hand of Glory-Hole, still firmly lodged in Harry's arse, it was able to lead Ron back to his friends.)

And that's what HBP+DH was all about, Charlie Brown. With careful analysis, it all makes perfect sense.

 

Dear lord sir, but you deserve all the thumbs today

 

I agree with Warlocke. Dumbledore is a fucking puppet-master.