Ron Weasley, Loyal Sidekick, or Something More?: A Character Study

Whatever Ron had been expecting, it certainly hadn’t been the betrayal he received here. Harry thought he had done it all, and without him, his best friend, his mentor, his guide, his leader. Ron thinks of himself as indispensable to Harry, and maybe even thinks of Harry as indispensable to him, but Harry doesn’t feel the same, and whatever else he might have said during his anger, nothing cut Ron so deeply and permanently as this.

His resolve at the end of last year strengthened here, through articles about how crazy Harry is, and Harry’s betrayal of him, and he begins to put his plans into action straight-away. He needs to discover if Harry’s feelings towards Hermione intensified as much as hers did. He starts off by using his old trick of making her seem crazy.

[Quote: OotP Chap 4 Number Twelve Grimmauld Place]
Ron rolled his eyes at Harry.
“Hermione still hasn't given up on SPEW.”
“It's not SPEW!” said Hermione heatedly. “It's the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. And it's not just me, Dumbledore says we should be kind to Kreacher too.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Ron. “C'mon, I'm starving.”

While that particular episode proves nothing one way or the other about the H-->Hr potential, he does later discover that Harry still has loyalty towards him though, when he promises to tell him whatever he discovers about the Order of the Phoenix.

[Quote: Ootp Chap 5 The Order of the Phoenix]
“Harry'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!” said Ron hotly. “Won't — won't you?” he added uncertainly, meeting Harry's eyes.
For a split second, Harry considered telling Ron that he wouldn't tell him a single word, that he could try a taste of being kept in the dark and see how he liked it. But the nasty impulse vanished as they looked at each other.
“Course I will,” Harry said.
Ron and Hermione beamed.

Ron seems to have decided to use his tactics of disparagement against Harry as well. He whispers with Hermione after Harry has come, and though we don’t know what they’re whispering about, their anxious glances at Harry are pretty telling that their topic of conversation is him. The fact that their glances are anxious, lead us to deduce that they aren’t having a pleasant talk.

[Quote: OotP Chap 6 The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black]
Fear jabbed at his insides like needles as he wondered what was going to happen to him if he was expelled. The idea was so terrible that he did not dare voice it aloud, not even to Ron and Hermione, who, though he often saw them whispering together and casting anxious looks in his direction, followed his lead in not mentioning it.
[snip to later]
'I knew it!” yelled Ron, punching the air. “You always get away with stuff!”
“They were bound to clear you,” said Hermione, who had looked positively faint with anxiety when Harry had entered the kitchen and was now holding a shaking hand over her eyes, “there was no case against you, none at all.”
“Everyone seems quite relieved, though, considering you all knew I'd get off,” said Harry, smiling.
[snip to later]
Ron and Hermione sat themselves down opposite him, looking happier than they had done since he had first arrived at Grimmauld Place…

After Harry’s trial there was nothing new to look forward to until school, and things fell into a peaceful routine where the trio spent time together, and Ron ribbed Hermione about SPEW. It almost seemed like old times. However, the dynamics changed once again when the Prefect Badge came into play.

[Quote: OotP Chap 9 The Woes of Mrs. Weasley (emphasis mine)]
Ron did not answer. Harry looked round. Ron was standing very still with his mouth slightly open, gaping at his letter from Hogwarts.
“What's the matter?” said Fred impatiently, moving around Ron to look over his shoulder at the parchment.
Fred's mouth fell open, too.
“Prefect?” he said, staring incredulously at the letter. “Prefect?”
George leapt forwards, seized the envelope in Ron's other hand and turned it upside-down. Harry saw something scarlet and gold fall into George's palm.
“No way,” said George in a hushed voice.
“There's been a mistake,” said Fred, snatching the letter out of Ron's grasp and holding it up to the light as though checking for a watermark. “No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect.”
The twins' heads turned in unison and both of them stared at Harry.
“We thought you were a cert!” said Fred, in a tone that suggested Harry had tricked them in some way. [snip to later] Ron, who still had not said a word, took the badge, stared at it for a moment, then held it out to Harry as though asking mutely for confirmation that it was genuine. Harry took it. A large “P' was superimposed on the Gryffindor lion. He had seen a badge just like this on Percy's chest on his very first day at Hogwarts.
The door banged open. Hermione came tearing into the room, her cheeks flushed and her hair flying. There was an envelope in her hand.
“Did you — did you get — ?”
She spotted the badge in Harry's hand and let out a shriek.
“I knew it!” she said excitedly, brandishing her letter. “Me too, Harry, me too!”
“No,” said Harry quickly, pushing the badge back into Ron's hand. “It's Ron, not me.”
“It — what?”
“Ron's prefect, not me,” Harry said.
“Ron?” said Hermione, her jaw dropping. “But . . . are you sure? I mean — “
She turned red as Ron looked round at her with a defiant expression on his face.
“It's my name on the letter,” he said.
“I . . .” said Hermione, looking thoroughly bewildered. “I . . . well . . . wow! Well done, Ron! That's really — “
“Unexpected,” said George, nodding.
“No,” said Hermione, blushing harder than ever, “no it's not . . . Ron's done loads of . . . he's really . . .”
The door behind her opened a little wider and Mrs Weasley bucked into the room carrying a pile of freshly laundered robes.
[snip to later]
“His . . . but . . . Ron, you're not . . .?”
Ron held up his badge.
Mrs Weasley let out a shriek just like Hermione's.
“I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful! A prefect! That's everyone in the family!”
“What are Fred and I, next-door neighbours?” said George indignantly, as his mother pushed him aside and flung her arms around her youngest son.
“Wait until your father hears! Ron, I'm so proud of you, what wonderful news, you could end up Head Boy just like Bill and Percy, it's the first step! Oh, what a thing to happen in the middle of all this worry, I'm just thrilled, oh, Ronnie — “
Fred and George were both making loud retching noises behind her back but Mrs Weasley did not notice; arms tight around Ron's neck, she was kissing him all over his face, which had turned a brighter scarlet than his badge.
“Mum . . . don't . . . Mum, get a grip . . .” he muttered, trying to push her away.
She let go of him and said breathlessly, “Well, what will it be? We gave Percy an owl, but you've already got one, of course.”
“W-what do you mean?” said Ron, looking as though he did not dare believe his ears.
“You've got to have a reward for this!” said Mrs Weasley fondly. “How about a nice new set of dress robes?”
“We've already bought him some,” said Fred sourly, who looked as though he sincerely regretted this generosity.
“Or a new cauldron, Charlie's old one's rusting through, or a new rat, you always liked Scabbers — "
“Mum,” said Ron hopefully, “can I have a new broom?”
Mrs Weasley's face fell slightly; broomsticks were expensive.
“Not a really good one!” Ron hastened to add. “Just — just a new one for a change , . .”
Mrs Weasley hesitated, then smiled.
“Of course you can . . . well, I'd better get going if I've got a broom to buy too. I'll see you all later . . . little Ronnie, a prefect! And don't forget to pack your trunks . . . a prefect . . . oh, I'm all of a dither!”
She gave Ron yet another kiss on the cheek, sniffed loudly, and bustled from the room.
[snip to later]
“Those two!” said Hermione furiously, staring up at the ceiling, through which they could now hear Fred and George roaring with laughter in the room upstairs. “Don't pay any attention to them, Ron, they're only jealous!”
“I don't think they are,” said Ron doubtfully, also looking up at the ceiling. They've always said only prats become prefects . . . still,” he added on a happier note, “they've never had new brooms! I wish I could go with Mum and choose . . . she'll never be able to afford a Nimbus, but there's the new Cleansweep out, that'd be great . . . yeah, I think I'll go and tell her I like the Cleansweep, just so she knows . . .”
He dashed from the room, leaving Harry and Hermione alone.

Here we see that everyone expected Harry to get the prefect badge. From Hermione, to the twins, to Ron’s own mother, they were all astounded that Ron was the one who received it. The indignation that he surely felt though, was cut short by the recognition that he was going to be rewarded for it. His mother was proud of him, and told him so. She promised rewards from his father, and a new broomstick to boot. Ron finally gained some recognition on his own accord, even if it was by second choice as we found out later. His euphoria at this is obvious. He leaves Harry and Hermione alone together, the first time that happens this year, and by his behaviour afterwards we see that he has a bit more Percy in him than he might like to admit.

[Quote: OotP Chap 9 The Woes of Mrs. Weasley]
Harry noticed that Ron kept moving his prefect's badge around, first placing it on his bedside table, then putting it into his jeans pocket, then taking it out and lying it on his folded robes, as though to see the effect of the red on the black. Only when Fred and George dropped in and offered to attach it to his forehead with a Permanent Sticking Charm did he wrap it tenderly in his maroon socks and lock it in his trunk.

He got one-up on Harry here, and from Hermione’s absence on his return, he can safely assume that nothing happened in that quarter. He is realizing that he doesn’t need Harry for the recognition he craves. That doesn’t mean he’ll let Harry go, but it does mean that the game has changed a bit. The train ride to school only confirms Ron’s ambitions when a couple of different things happen.

[Quote: OotP Chap 10 Luna Lovegood (emphasis mine)]
Ron and Hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, by which time the food trolley had already gone by. Harry, Ginny and Neville had finished their pumpkin pasties and were busy swapping Chocolate Frog Cards when the compartment door slid open and they walked in, accompanied by Crookshanks and a shrilly hooting Pigwidgeon in his cage.
“I'm starving,” said Ron, stowing Pigwidgeon next to Hedwig, grabbing a Chocolate Frog from Harry and throwing himself into the seat next to him. He ripped open the wrapper, bit off the frog's head and leaned back with his eyes closed as though he had had a very exhausting morning.
“Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each house,” said Hermione, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. “Boy and girl from each.”
[snip to later]
“You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil,” said a vague voice.
Everyone turned to look at Luna Lovegood, who was gazing unblinkingly at Ron over the top of The Quibbler. He swallowed his mouthful of Frog.
“Yeah, I know I did,” he said, looking mildly surprised.
“She didn't enjoy it very much,” Luna informed him. “She doesn't think you treated her very well, because you wouldn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have minded,” she added thoughtfully, “I don't like dancing very much.”
She retreated behind The Quibbler again. Ron stared at the cover with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds, then looked around at Ginny for some kind of explanation, but Ginny had stuffed her knuckles in her mouth to stop herself giggling. Ron shook his head, bemused, then checked his watch.
“We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often,” he told Harry and Neville, “and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something . . . “
“You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!” said Hermione sharply.
“Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all,” said Ron sarcastically.
“So you're going to descend to his level?”
“No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine.”
“For heavens sake, Ron — “
“I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing,” said Ron happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle's low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. “I . . . must. . . not. . . look . . .like . . . a . . . baboon's . . . backside.”
Everyone laughed, but nobody laughed harder than Luna Lovegood. She let out a scream of mirth that caused Hedwig to wake up and flap her wings indignantly and Crookshanks to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. Luna laughed so hard her magazine slipped out of her grasp, slid down her legs and on to the floor.
“That was funny!”
Her prominent eyes swam with tears as she gasped for breath, staring at Ron. Utterly nonplussed, he looked around at the others, who were now laughing at the expression on Ron's face and at the ludicrously prolonged laughter of Luna Lovegood, who was rocking backwards and forwards, clutching her sides.
“Are you taking the mickey?” said Ron, frowning at her.
“Baboon's . . . backside!” she choked, holding her ribs.
[snip to later]
“Can I have a look at this?” Harry asked Luna eagerly.
She nodded, still gazing at Ron, breathless with laughter.
[snip to later]
“Anything good in there?” asked Ron as Harry closed the magazine.
“Of course not,” said Hermione scathingly, before Harry could answer. The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that.”
“Excuse me,” said Luna; her voice had suddenly lost its dreamy quality. “My father's the editor.”
“I — oh,” said Hermione, looking embarrassed. “Well . . . it's got some interesting . . . I mean, it's quite
“I'll have it back, thank you,” said Luna coldly, and leaning forwards she snatched it out of Harry's hands. Riffling through it to page fifty-seven, she turned it resolutely upside-down again and disappeared behind it, just as the compartment door opened for the third time.
Harry looked around; he had expected this, but that did not make the sight of Draco Malfoy smirking at him from between his cronies Crabbe and Goyle any more enjoyable.
“What?” he said aggressively, before Malfoy could open his mouth.
“Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention,” drawled Malfoy, whose sleek blond hair and pointed chin were just like his father's. “You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments.”
“Yeah,” said Harry, “but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone.”
Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville laughed. Malfoy's lip curled.
“Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?” he asked.
“Shut up, Malfoy,” said Hermione sharply.
“I seem to have touched a nerve,” said Malfoy, smirking. “Well, just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line.”
“Get out!” said Hermione, standing up.
Sniggering, Malfoy gave Harry a last malicious look and departed, with Crabbe and Goyle lumbering along in his wake. Hermione slammed the compartment door behind them and turned to look at Harry, who knew at once that she, like him, had registered what Malfoy had said and been just as unnerved by it.
“Chuck us another Frog,” said Ron, who had clearly noticed nothing.
[snip to later]
“We'd better change,” said Hermione at last, and all of them opened their trunks with difficulty and pulled on their school robes. She and Ron pinned their prefect badges carefully to their chests. Harry saw Ron checking his reflection in the black window.
At last, the train began to slow down and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready to get on. As Ron and Hermione were supposed to supervise all this, they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving Harry and the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.
“I'll carry that owl, if you like,” said Luna to Harry, reaching out for Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed Trevor carefully in an inside pocket.
“Oh — er — thanks,” said Harry, handing her the cage and hoisting Hedwig's more securely into his arms.

Luna Lovegood has suddenly shifted the balance of power just as much as the Prefect Badge did. Ron sees a girl, ignoring Harry, and right in front of that heroic figure, flirting with him instead. She is clearly not interested in Mr. Potter, another coup for Ron.

Equally, the whole scene with Malfoy and the Prefect Badge shows Ron’s newfound independence of Harry as well. He says nothing against Malfoy, though he previously used any excuse to fight with him however small. Malfoy’s remark elevates him above Harry, and though it might be meant to cut both boys, the sharpest edge is aimed against Harry. Hermione comes quickly to the defence, but Ron remains silent. He cannot safely lord this victory over Harry, but he can enjoy it when others do.

These new wrinkles set Ron’s ambition flaring and he tells Harry right-off that he would like to be an auror, which is in magical terms, to be one of the best. It is hard to tell with his offhand comment whether or not Ron is expressing his deepest desire here, or merely steering Harry’s life and opinions for him as he used to. Whichever it is, both work accordingly in the text. He also inquires as to Hermione’s future hopes as well, which might give him some clue as to how she is trying to steer her life. If he’s lucky, they might reveal something about love to him as well as career, and it’s a good chance to see whether or not Hermione has career ambition, or housewife potential.

[Quote: OotP Chap 12 Professor Umbridge]
“D'you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?” Harry asked the other two, as they left the Great Hall shortly afterwards and set off towards their History of Magic classroom.
“Not really,” said Ron slowly. “Except . . . well . . .”
He looked slightly sheepish.
What?” Harry urged him.
Well, it'd be cool to be an Auror,” said Ron in an off-hand voice.
“Yeah, it would,” said Harry fervently.
“But they're, like, the elite,” said Ron. “You've got to be really good. What about you, Hermione?”

He tries to find out Harry’s dreams or ambitions again when the perfect opportunity presents itself in Trelawny’s class later.

[Quote: OotP Chap 12 Professor Umbridge]
“I never remember my dreams,” said Ron, “you say one.”
“You must remember one of them,” said Harry impatiently.
He was not going to share his dreams with anyone. He knew perfectly well what his regular nightmare about a graveyard meant, he did not need Ron or Professor Trelawney or the stupid Dream Oracle to tell him.
“Well, I dreamed I was playing Quidditch the other night,” said Ron, screwing up his face in an effort to remember. “What d'you reckon that means?”

Although his bid to find out Harry’s dream, and hopefully who he dreams about fails, Ron doesn’t give anything big away with his revelation either. Although, between this comment and the one earlier when he said it would be good to get new blood on the team, you can see he’s feeling Harry out about his wish to be on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Harry doesn’t pick up on these subtle clues however, and so Ron is left with the decision of whether or not to tell Harry straight-out.

He decides to keep it a secret and a whole new level of concealment and misdirection enters into their relationship. Harry keeps his detentions from Ron, and Ron his Quidditch dreams from Harry. This understandably forces the two boys further apart, until the night they discover each other’s secrets.

[Quote: OotP Chap 13 Detention With Dolores]
He had reached the top of the stairs, turned right and almost walked into Ron, who was lurking behind a statue of Lachlan the Lanky, clutching his broomstick. He gave a great leap of surprise when he saw Harry and attempted to hide his new Cleansweep Eleven behind his back.
“What are you doing?”
“Er — nothing. What are you doing?”
Harry frowned at him.
“Come on, you can tell me! What are you hiding here for?”
“I'm — I'm hiding from Fred and George, if you must know,” said Ron. They just went past with a bunch of first-years, I bet they're testing stuff on them again, I mean, they can't do it in the common room now, can they, not with Hermione there.”
He was talking in a very fast, feverish way.
“But what have you got your broom for, you haven't been flying, have you?” Harry asked.
“I — well — well, OK, I'll tell you, but don't laugh, all right?” Ron said defensively, turning redder with every second. “I — I thought I'd try out for Gryffindor Keeper now I've got a decent broom. There. Go on. Laugh.”
“I'm not laughing,” said Harry. Ron blinked. “It's a brilliant idea! It'd be really cool if you got on the team! I've never seen you play Keeper, are you good?”
“I'm not bad,” said Ron, who looked immensely relieved at Harry's reaction. “Charlie, Fred and George always made me keep for them when they were training during the holidays.”
“So you've been practising tonight?”
“Every evening since Tuesday . . . just on my own, though. I've been trying to bewitch Quaffles to fly at me, but it hasn't been easy and I don't know how much use it'll be.” Ron looked nervous and anxious. “Fred and George are going to laugh themselves stupid when I turn up for the tryouts. They haven't stopped taking the mickey out of me since I got made a prefect.”
“I wish I was going to be there,” said Harry bitterly, as they set off together towards the common room.
“Yeah, so do — Harry, what's that on the back of your hand?”
Harry, who had just scratched his nose with his free right hand, tried to hide it, but had as much success as Ron with his Cleansweep.
“It's just a cut — it's nothing — it's — “
But Ron had grabbed Harry's forearm and pulled the back of Harry's hand up level with his eyes. There was a pause, during which he stared at the words carved into the skin, then, looking sick, he released Harry.
“I thought you said she was just giving you lines?”
Harry hesitated, but after all, Ron had been honest with him, so he told Ron the truth about the hours he had been spending in Umbridge's office.
The old hag!” Ron said in a revolted whisper as they came to a halt in front of the Fat Lady, who was dozing peacefully with her head against her frame. “She's sick! Go to McGonagall, say something!”
“No,” said Harry at once. “I'm not giving her the satisfaction of knowing she's got to me.”
“Got to you? You can't let her get away with this!”
“I don't know how much power McGonagall's got over her,” said Harry.
“Dumbledore, then, tell Dumbledore!”
“No,” said Harry flatly.
“Why not?”
“He's got enough on his mind,” said Harry, but that was not the true reason. He was not going to go to Dumbledore for help when Dumbledore had not spoken to him once since June.
“Well, I reckon you should — “ Ron began, but he was interrupted by the Fat Lady, who had been watching them sleepily and now burst out, “Are you going to give me the password or will I have to stay awake all night waiting for you to finish your conversation?”

Ron and Harry’s relationship temporarily mends for the better here. They each have a deep caring concern for the other, with no ulterior motive apparent for either of them. Ron is horrified at the abusive mind game that Umbridge is putting Harry through. Harry on the other hand sees it as another obstacle he must conquer. He is, after all, used to being a pawn in other people’s hands, and all he has is his own will to see him through. As Ron doesn’t understand this, and Harry is enthusiastic about his Quidditch dreams, he sees nothing more to do than to label Umbridge as evil and get on with his life.

His euphoria at getting on the Quidditch Team is slackened a little by the events that follow it. He can’t quite seem to get a day all to himself without Harry’s crisis’ interfering. And Hermione shows her hand when she prefers to speak with Harry rather than celebrate with him.

[Quote: OotP Chap 13 Detention With Dolores]
A roar of sound greeted him. Ron came running towards him, beaming all over his face and slopping Butterbeer down his front from the goblet he was clutching.
“Harry, I did it, I'm in, I'm Keeper!”
“What? Oh — brilliant!” said Harry, trying to smile naturally, while his heart continued to race and his hand throbbed and bled.
“Have a Butterbeer.” Ron pressed a bottle on him. “I can't believe it — “- where's Hermione gone?” “She's there,” said Fred, who was also swigging Butterbeer, and pointed to an armchair by the fire. Hermione was dozing in it, her drink tipping precariously in her hand.
“Well, she said she was pleased when I told her,” said Ron, looking slightly put out.
“Let her sleep,” said George hastily.
[snip to later]
He got to his feet. “I'm going to bed. Tell Ron for me, will you?”
“Oh no,” said Hermione, looking relieved, “if you're going that means I can go too, without being rude. I'm absolutely exhausted and I want to make some more hats tomorrow. Listen, you can help me if you like, it's quite fun, I'm getting better, I can do patterns and bobbles and all sorts of things now.”
Harry looked into her face, which was shining with glee, and tried to look as though he was vaguely tempted by this offer.
“Er . . . no, I don't think I will, thanks,” he said. “Er — not tomorrow. I've got loads of homework to do . . .”
And he traipsed off to the boys' stairs, leaving her looking slightly disappointed.

Ron’s suspicions on H/Hr are neither confirmed nor denied and he is left with a perfectly balanced guessing game. He cannot openly confront either of them about it, and with Harry’s crush on Cho still evident, he can’t be sure that Harry returns the affection that Hermione is leaking out.

To make matters worse, his first Quidditch Practice didn’t exactly go as planned. With just Harry and he, he was able to guard the goals effectively. Perhaps because there was only one other person to watch, he was able to perform better, or perhaps because he has learned to read Harry so efficiently by now because his game of control heightened his perception of Harry’s tendencies. Either way, his nerves overcame his former abilities when he was called upon to act in front of an audience.

[Quote: OotP Chap 14 Percy and Padfoot]
“How was practice?” asked Hermione rather coolly half an hour later, as Harry and Ron climbed through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room.
“It was — “ Harry began.
“Completely lousy,” said Ron in a hollow voice, sinking into a chair beside Hermione. She looked up at Ron and her frost mess seemed to melt.
“Well, it was only your first one,” she said consolingly, “it's bound to take time to — “
“Who said it was me who made it lousy?” snapped Ron.
“No one,” said Hermione, looking taken aback, “I thought — “
“You thought I was bound to be rubbish?”
“No, of course I didn't! Look, you said it was lousy so I just — “
“I'm going to get started on some homework,” said Ron angrily and stomped off to the staircase to the boys' dormitories and vanished from sight. Hermione turned to Harry.

Despite the fact that, in his perception, Hermione attacked him, and Harry didn’t jump to defend him, Ron recovers from it rather quickly. The next day he is pretty quiet, but the amount of work piling up forces him to be friendly to Hermione and Harry so he can get it all done.

Another interesting development shows here as Percy decides to try and recruit Ron to his way of thinking. Ron has shown tendencies to be like Percy, and it is his ambition and thirst for power that drive his control issues in the first place. However, like most people, Ron is quick to notice the negative behaviours in others, even if he doesn’t see them in himself. And he, like most people, tends to dislike and scorn those tendencies that are most abundant in himself.

[Quote: OotP Chap 14 Percy and Padfoot (emphasis mine)]
“Isn't that Hermes?” said Hermione, sounding amazed.
“Blimey, it is!” said Ron quietly, throwing down his quill and getting to his feet. “What's Percy writing to me for?”
He crossed to the window and opened it; Hermes flew inside, landed on Ron's essay and held out a leg to which a letter was attached. Ron took the letter off it and the owl departed at once, leaving inky footprints across Ron's drawing of the moon Io.
That's definitely Percy's handwriting,” said Ron, sinking back into his chair and staring at the words on the outside of the scroll: Ronald Weasley, Gryffindor House, Hogwarts. He looked up at the other two. “What d'you reckon?” “Open it!” said Hermione eagerly, and Harry nodded.
Ron unrolled the scroll and began to read. The further clown the parchment his eyes travelled, the more pronounced became his scowl. When he had finished reading, he looked disgusted. He thrust the letter at Harry and Hermione, who leaned towards each other to read it together:

Dear Ron,
I have only just heard (from no less a person than the Minister for Magic himself, who has it from your new teacher, Professor Umbridge) that you have become a Hogwarts prefect.
I was most pleasantly surprised when I heard this news and must firstly offer my congratulations. I must admit that I have always been afraid that you would take what we might call the “Fred and George' route, rather than following in my footsteps, so you can imagine my feelings on hearing you have stopped flouting authority and have decided to shoulder some real responsibility.
But I want to give you more than congratulations, Ron, I want to give you some advice, which is why I am sending this at night rather than by the usual morning post. Hopefully, you will be able to read this away from prying eyes and avoid awkward questions.
From something the Minister let slip when telling me you are now a prefect, I gather that you are still seeing a lot of Harry Potter. I must tell you, Ron, that nothing could put you in danger of losing your badge more than continued fraternisation with that boy. Yes, I am sure you are surprised to hear this — no doubt you will say that Potter has always been Dumbledore's favourite — but I feel bound to tell you that Dumbledore may not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer and the people who count have a very different — and probably more accurate — view of Potter's behaviour. I shall say no more here, but if you look at the Daily Prophet tomorrow you will get a good idea of the way the wind is blowing — and see if you can spot yours truly!
Seriously, Ron, you do not want to be tarred with the same brush as Potter, it could be very damaging to your future prospects, and I am talking here about life after school, too. As you must be aware, given that our father escorted him to court, Potter had a disciplinary hearing this summer in front of the whole Wizengamot and he did not come out of it looking too good. He got off on a mere technicality, if you ask me, and many of the people I've spoken to remain convinced of his guilt.
It may be that you are afraid to sever ties with Potter — I know that he can be unbalanced and, for all I know, violent — but if you have any worries about this, or have spotted anything else in Potter's behaviour that is troubling you, I urge you to speak to Dolores Umbridge, a truly delightful woman who I know will be only too happy to advise you.
This leads me to my other bit of advice. As I have hinted above, Dumbledore's regime at Hogwarts may soon be over. Your loyalty, Ron, should be not to him, but to the school and the Ministry. I am very sorry to hear that, so far, Professor Umbridge is encountering very little co-operation from staff as she strives to make those necessary changes within Hogwarts that the Ministry so ardently desires (although she should find this easier from next week — again, see the Daily Prophet tomorrow!). I shall say only this — a student who shows himself willing to help Professor Umbridge now may be very well-placed for Head Boy ship in a couple of years!
I am sorry that I was unable to see more of you over the summer. It pains me to criticise our parents, but I am afraid I can no longer live under their roof while they remain mixed up with the dangerous crowd around Dumbledore. (If you are writing to Mother at any point, you might tell her that a certain Sturgis Podmore, who is a great friend of Dumbledore's, has recently been sent to Azkaban for trespass at the Ministry. Perhaps that will open their eyes to the kind of petty criminals with whom they are currently rubbing shoulders.) I count myself very lucky to have escaped the stigma of association with such people — the Minister really could not be more gracious to me — and I do hope, Ron, that you will not allow family ties to blind you to the misguided nature of our parents' beliefs and actions, either. I sincerely hope that, in time, they will realise how mistaken they were and I shall, of course, be ready to accept a full apology when that day comes.
Please think over what I have said most carefully, particularly the bit about Harry Potter, and congratulations again on becoming prefect.
Your brother,
Percy

Harry looked up at Ron.
“Well,” he said, trying to sound as though he found the whole thing a joke, “if you want to — er — what is it?” — he checked Percy's letter — “Oh yeah — "sever ties" with me, I swear I won't get violent.”
“Give it back,” said Ron, holding out his hand. “He is — “ Ron said jerkily, tearing Percy's letter in half “the world's — “ he tore it into quarters “biggest — “ he tore it into eighths “git.” He threw the pieces into the fire.
“Come on, we've got to get this finished sometime before dawn,” he said briskly to Harry, pulling Professor Sinistra's essay back towards him.
Hermione was looking at Ron with an odd expression on her face.
“Oh, give them here,” she said abruptly.
“What?” said Ron.
“Give them to me, I'll look through them and correct them,” she said.
“Are you serious? Ah, Hermione, you're a life-saver,” said Ron, “what can I — ?”
“What you can say is, "We promise we'll never leave our homework this late again,“ she said, holding out both hands for their essays, but she looked slightly amused all the same.
“Thanks a million, Hermione,” said Harry weakly, passing over his essay and sinking back into his armchair, rubbing his eyes.

Ron is faced with several unpleasant realizations in this letter. He had been following Percy’s example with his Prefect badge, though not with the duties associated with it. He also had been slowly severing the ties that bound him to Harry on his own, though for different reasons than those suggested in the letter, the overall purpose was the same. His dislike of Percy, and the fact that Percy suggested those very solutions stopped Ron’s plans for now, and he goes along quite normally until Hermione’s idea of elevating Harry to their teacher hits.

[Quote: OotP Chap 15 The Hogwarts High Inquisitor]
“No, I agree, we've gone past the stage where we can just learn things out of books,” said Hermione. “We need a teacher, a proper one, who can show us how to use the spells and correct us if we're going wrong.”
“If you're talking about Lupin . . .” Harry began.
“No, no, I'm not talking about Lupin,” said Hermione. “He's too busy with the Order and, anyway, the most we could see him is during Hogsmeade weekends and that's not nearly often enough.”
“Who, then?” said Harry, frowning at her.
Hermione heaved a very deep sigh.
“Isn't it obvious?” she said. “I'm talking about you, Harry.”
There was a moment's silence. A light night breeze rattled the windowpanes behind Ron, and the fire guttered.
“About me what?” said Harry.
“I'm talking about you teaching us Defence Against the Dark Arts.”
Harry stared at her. Then he turned to Ron, ready to exchange the exasperated looks they sometimes shared when Hermione elaborated on far-fetched schemes like SPEW. To Harry's consternation, however, Ron did not look exasperated.
He was frowning slightly, apparently thinking. Then he said, “That's an idea.”

Ron goes through a second or two of discomfort here. He never likes being shown up by Harry, and if Harry were to teach them, that would be a major show. However, as he later points out Harry has done more than either he or Hermione together, and they need to be prepared for what is facing them outside of school. His aspirations of aurorship need help, and Harry is the one who is most fitted to do that for him now. He readily adapts himself to these plans, going along with Hermione, and for the first time, helping her out against Harry.

[Quote: OotP Chap 16 The Hog’s Head]
“I was wondering,” Hermione said suddenly, “whether you'd thought any more about Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry.”
“Course I have,” said Harry grumpily, “can't forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us — “
“I meant the idea Ron and I had — “ Ron cast her an alarmed, threatening kind of look. She frowned at him, “— Oh, all right, the idea I had, then — about you teaching us.”
[snip to later]
“Well,” he said slowly, when he could no longer pretend to find Asiatic Anti-Venoms interesting, “yeah, I — I've thought about it a bit.”
“And?” said Hermione eagerly.
“I dunno,” said Harry, playing for time. He looked up at Ron.
“I thought it was a good idea from the start,” said Ron, who seemed keener to join in this conversation now that he was sure Harry was not going to start shouting again.
Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
“You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?”
“Yes, Harry,” said Hermione gently, “but all the same, there's no point pretending that you're not good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, because you are. You were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said — “
Ron looked round at her so fast he appeared to crick his neck. Rubbing it, he said, “Yeah? What did Vicky say?”
“Ho ho,” said Hermione in a bored voice. “He said Harry knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang.”
Ron was looking at Hermione suspiciously.
“You're not still in contact with him, are you?”
“So what if I am.?” said Hermione coolly, though her face was a little pink. “I can have a pen-pal if I — “
“He didn't only want to be your pen-pal,” said Ron accusingly.
Hermione shook her head exasperatedly and, ignoring Ron, who was continuing to watch her, said to Harry, “Well, what do you think? Will you teach us?”
“Just you and Ron, yeah?”
“Well,” said Hermione, looking a mite anxious again. “Well . . . now, don't fly off the handle again, Harry, please . . . but I really think you ought to teach anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves against V-Voldemort. Oh, don't be pathetic, Ron. It doesn't seem fair if we don't offer the chance to other people.”
Harry considered this for a moment, then said, “Yeah, but I doubt anyone except you two would want to be taught by me. I'm a nutter, remember?”
“Well, I think you might be surprised how many people would be interested in hearing what you've got to say,” said Hermione seriously. “Look,” she leaned towards him — Ron, who was still watching her with a frown on his face, leaned forwards to listen too — “you know the first weekend in October's a Hogsmeade weekend? How would it be if we tell anyone who's interested to meet us in the village and we can talk it over?”
“Why do we have to do it outside school?” said Ron.
“Because,” said Hermione, returning to the diagram of the Chinese Chomping Cabbage she was copying, “I don't think Umbridge would be very happy if she found out what we were up to.”

Ron’s interest turns quickly in this scene from Harry to Hermione. This is the first she’s spoken about Krum all year. Ron seems to be highly surprised that she’s still in contact with Viktor, and as she had spent the summer at the Order’s Headquarters rather than with Viktor, he had probably concluded that their relationship was over. In this small exchange he finds to his great displeasure, that it isn’t over, and his well-fought battle is far from won.

[Quote: OotP Chap 16 The Hog’s Head]
“Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?” said the blond Hufflepuff player in a rather aggressive voice.
“Well, Dumbledore believes it — “ Hermione began.
“You mean, Dumbledore believes him,” said the blond boy, nodding at Harry.
“Who are you?” said Ron, rather rudely.
“Zacharias Smith,” said the boy, “and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back.”
[snip to later]
“Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?” said Zacharias Smith.
“Here's an idea,” said Ron loudly, before Harry could speak, “why don't you shut your mouth?”
Perhaps the word “weasel' had affected Ron particularly strongly. In any case, he was now looking at Zacharias as though he would like nothing better than to thump him. Zacharias flushed.
[snip to later]
“That Zacharias bloke's a wart,” said Ron, who was glowering after the figure of Smith, just discernible in the distance.
“I don't like him much, either,” admitted Hermione, “but he overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table and he seemed really interested in coming, so what could I say?…”

Ron shows loyalty to Harry here, but also to the plans that they laid out for the DA. He adopted the idea as his own, in order to maintain the psuedo control that has been slipping so much this year, but also because it is exactly the opposite of the advice that Percy sent. He became conscious of how similar his actions were to Percy’s and he tries to rectify that with this rebellious idea. It helps too, that it ingratiates him with Hermione to go along with this plan so readily when Harry is hesitating.

It is also interesting to note that Harry himself, found another reason for Ron’s defence of him, (the word weasel) rather than to believe that Ron was defending him out of loyalty. They have been growing further apart, and neither of them quite trusts the other as they used to.

Ron’s plans to get Harry with Ginny have been suffering a few major bumps along the road. He tries his old disparaging trick with Cho over Quidditch Teams, but it backfires on him as she proves herself to be a real fan, Harry isn’t interested in that anyway, and Hermione chastises him for interfering.

[Quote: OotP Chap 12 Professor Umbridge]
That's the bell,” said Harry dully, because Ron and Hermione were bickering too loudly to hear it. They did not stop arguing all the way down to Snape's dungeon, which gave Harry plenty of time to reflect that between Neville and Ron he would be lucky ever to have two minutes of conversation with Cho that he could look back on without wanting to leave the country.

Nevertheless, he perseveres and when they all meet to discuss the DA things again blow up in his face. This time both Cho and Ginny are uncooperative.

[Quote: OotP Chap 16 The Hog’s Head]
“That Zacharias bloke's a wart,” said Ron, who was glowering after the figure of Smith, just discernible in the distance.
“I don't like him much, either,” admitted Hermione, “but he overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table and he seemed really interested in coming, so what could I say? But the more people the better really — I mean, Michael Corner and his friends wouldn't have come if he hadn't been going out with Ginny — “
Ron, who had been draining the last few drops from his Butterbeer bottle, gagged and sprayed Butterbeer down his front.
“He's WHAT?” spluttered Ron, outraged, his ears now resembling curls of raw beef. “She's going out with — my sister's going — what d'you mean, Michael Corner?”
“Well, that's why he and his friends came, I think — well, they're obviously interested in learning defence, but if Ginny hadn't told Michael what was going on — “
“When did this — when did she —?”
“They met at the Yule Ball and got together at the end of last year,” said Hermione composedly. They had turned into the High Street and she paused outside Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, where there was a handsome display of pheasant feather quills in the window. “Hmm . . . I could do with a new quill.”
She turned into the shop. Harry and Ron followed her.
“Which one was Michael Corner?” Ron demanded furiously.
The dark one,” said Hermione.
“I didn't like him,” said Ron at once.
“Big surprise,” said Hermione under her breath.
“But,” said Ron, following Hermione along a row of quills in copper pots, “I thought Ginny fancied Harry!”
Hermione looked at him rather pityingly and shook her head.
“Ginny used to fancy Harry, but she gave up on him months ago. Not that she doesn't like you, of course,” she added kindly to Harry while she examined a long black and gold quill.
Harry, whose head was still full of Cho's parting wave, did not find this subject quite as interesting as Ron, who was positively quivering with indignation, but it did bring something home to him that until now he had not really registered.
“So that's why she talks now?” he asked Hermione. “She never used to talk in front of me.”
“Exactly,” said Hermione. “Yes, I think I'll have this one . . .”
She went up to the counter and handed over fifteen Sickles and two Knuts, with Ron still breathing down her neck.
“Ron,” she said severely as she turned and trod on his feet, “this is exactly why Ginny hasn't told you she's seeing Michael, she knew you'd take it badly. So don't harp on about it, for heaven's sake.”
“What d'you mean? Who's taking anything badly? I'm not going to harp on about anything . . .” Ron continued to chunter under his breath all the way down the street.
Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry and then said in an undertone, while Ron was still muttering imprecations about Michael Corner, “And talking about Michael and Ginny . . . what about Cho and you?”
“What d'you mean?” said Harry quickly.
It was as though boiling water was rising rapidly inside him; a burning sensation that was causing his face to smart in the cold — had he been that obvious?
“Well,” said Hermione, smiling slightly, “she just couldn't keep her eyes off you, could she?”

Here Hermione has, with one simple conversation, dashed all Ron’s hopes in one go. Ginny has a boyfriend, and Harry’s interested in Cho. Hermione saw it all, and he realizes that he missed everything in his preoccupation. His only consolation here was that Hermione didn’t throw herself at Harry. His plans are awry and he needs to do some serious reconstruction before he’s comfortable again.

When the club gets shut down the very next week, he takes the action out of Harry’s hands before he has an opportunity to suggest something.

[Quote: OotP Chap 17 Educational Decree Number Twenty-four]
“Zacharias Smith!” said Ron at once, punching a fist into his hand. “Or — I thought that Michael Corner had a really shifty look, too — “
“I wonder if Hermione's seen this yet?” Harry said, looking round at the door to the girls' dormitories.
“Let's go and tell her,” said Ron. He bounded forwards, pulled open the door and set off up the spiral staircase.
He was on the sixth stair when there was a loud, wailing, klaxon-like sound and the steps melted together to make a long, smooth stone slide like a helter-skelter. There was a brief moment when Ron tried to keep running, arms working madly like windmills, then he toppled over backwards and shot down the newly created slide, coming to rest on his back at Harry's feet.
“Er — I don't think we're allowed in the girls' dormitories,” said Harry, pulling Ron to his feet and trying not to laugh.
Two fourth-year girls came zooming gleefully down the stone slide.
“Oooh. who tried to get upstairs?” they giggled happily, leaping to their feet and ogling Harry and Ron.
“Me,” said Ron, who was still rather dishevelled. I didn't realise that would happen. It's not fair!” he added to Harry, as the girls headed off for the portrait hole, still giggling madly. “Hermione's allowed in our dormitory, how come we're not allowed — ?”
“Well, it's an old-fashioned rule,” said Hermione, who had just slid neatly on to a rug in front of them and was now getting to her feet, “but it says in Hogwarts: A History, that the founders thought boys were less trustworthy than girls. Anyway, why were you trying to get in there?”
To see you — look at this!” said Ron, dragging her over to the noticeboard.
Hermione's eyes slid rapidly down the notice. Her expression became stony.
“Someone must have blabbed to her!” Ron said angrily.
“They can't have done,” said Hermione in a low voice.
“You're so naive,” said Ron, “you think just because you're all honourable and trustworthy — “
“No, they can't have done, because I put a jinx on that piece of parchment we all signed,” said Hermione grimly. “Believe me, if anyone's run off and told Umbridge, we'll know exactly who they are and they will really regret it.”
“What'll happen to them?” said Ron eagerly.
“Well, put it this way,” said Hermione, “it'll make Eloise Midgeon's acne look like a couple of cute freckles. Come on, let's get down to breakfast and see what the others think . . . I wonder whether this has been put up in all the houses?”

Ron tries to take hold of the situation, but his plans backfire once again. When Hermione re-joins them, she takes her normal leader stance, and Harry rides backseat all the way. Ron is content with being co-captain on this one, and only throws a couple of insults at Hermione.

He doesn’t have enough time to come up with a plan of action though, and once again Harry’s importance is shoved into his face when the others hear about it.

[Quote: OotP Chap 17 Educational Decree Number Twenty-four (emphasis mine)]
It was immediately apparent on entering the Great Hall that Umbridge's sign had not only appeared in Gryffindor Tower. There was a peculiar intensity about the chatter and an extra measure of movement in the Hall as people scurried up and down their tables conferring on what they had read. Harry, Ron and Hermione had barely taken their seats when Neville, Dean, Fred, George and Ginny descended upon them.
“Did you see it?”
“D'you reckon she knows?”
“What are we going to do?”
They were all looking at Harry. He glanced around to make sure there were no teachers near them.
“We're going to do it anyway, of course,” he said quietly.
“Knew you'd say that,” said George, beaming and thumping Harry on the arm.
The prefects as well?” said Fred, looking quizzically at Ron and Hermione.
“Of course,” said Hermione coolly.

Harry is a leader. His fame helps single him out, and despite all Ron’s efforts, people never look to him. Despite his psuedo-accomplishments this year, and in the past, the parts he played in all the adventures, his being a prefect and in a leading position, his acceptance onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team, his being Harry’s best friend, despite all that, when Harry is around, he is invisible to the others.

To top that off, Harry is starting to more and more act on his own without turning to either him, or Hermione for advice. This is the same Harry that followed Ron's lead every time, just last year. The same Harry that would look to him for permission to run to the kitchens with Hermione, who would follow his actions at the Yule Ball, who would hesitate to do anything on his own, without first consulting Ron. The control and position of importance Ron once held in his friend’s life is slipping quickly away. This is illustrated again when Harry sees Hedwig is hurt in their History of Magic class. He immediately goes into action after only pointing out to the others that she was hurt. Then, by leaving class, he effectively isolates the other two from the situation.

[Quote: OotP Chap 17 Educational Decree Number Twenty-four]
“Is Hedwig OK?” asked Hermione anxiously, the moment he was within earshot.
“Where did you take her?” asked Ron.
“To Grubbly-Plank,” said Harry. “And I met McGonagall . . . listen . . .”
And he told them what Professor McGonagall had said. To his surprise, neither of the others looked shocked. On the contrary, they exchanged significant looks.
“What?” said Harry, looking from Ron to Hermione and back again.
“Well, I was just saying to Ron . . . what if someone had tried to intercept Hedwig? I mean, she's never been hurt on a flight before, has she?”
“Who's the letter from, anyway?” asked Ron, taking the note from Harry.
“Snuffles,” said Harry quietly.
“"Same time, same place?" Does he mean the fire in the common room?”
“Obviously,” said Hermione, also reading the note. She looked uneasy. “I just hope nobody else has read this . . .”

As soon as they’re reunited, Ron is anxious to be filled in on all of Harry’s whereabouts and activities. He even takes the note from Harry, unconcerned about whether or not Harry wants to let him read it. He doesn’t know who its from until after he has it in his possession. He doesn’t have much time to think about this victory though, because something else happens right after to prove that Harry is still keeping secrets from him.

[Quote: OotP Chap 17 Educational Decree Number Twenty-four (emphasis mine)]
They trudged down the stone steps to the dungeons for Potions, all three of them, lost in thought, but as they reached the bottom of the steps they were recalled to themselves by the voice of Draco Malfoy, who was standing just outside Snape's classroom door, waving around an official-looking piece of parchment and talking much louder than was necessary so that they could hear every word.
“Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue playing straightaway, I went to ask her first thing this morning. Well, it was pretty much automatic, I mean, she knows my father really well, he's always popping in and out of the Ministry . . . it'll be interesting to see whether Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing, won't it?”
“Don't rise,” Hermione whispered imploringly to Harry and Ron, who were both watching Malfoy, faces set and fists clenched. “It's what he wants.”
“I mean,” said Malfoy, raising his voice a little more, his grey eyes glittering malevolently in Harry and Ron's direction, “if it's a question of influence with the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance . . . from what my father says, they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years . . . and as for Potter . . . my father says it's a matter of time before the Ministry has him carted off to St Mungo's . . . apparently they've got a special ward for people whose brains have been addled by magic.”
Malfoy made a grotesque face, his mouth sagging open and his eyes rolling. Crabbe and Goyle gave their usual grunts of laughter; Pansy Parkinson shrieked with glee.
Something collided hard with Harry's shoulder, knocking him sideways. A split second later he realised that Neville had just charged past him, heading straight for Malfoy.
“Neville, no!”
Harry leapt forward and seized the back of Neville's robes; Neville struggled frantically, his fists flailing, trying desperately to get at Malfoy who looked, for a moment, extremely shocked.
“Help me!” Harry flung at Ron, managing to get an arm around Neville's neck and dragging him backwards, away from the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle were flexing their arms as they stepped in front of Malfoy, ready for the fight. Ron seized Neville's arms, and together he and Harry succeeded in dragging Neville back into the Gryffindor line. Nevilles face was scarlet; the pressure Harry was exerting on his throat rendered him quite incomprehensible, but odd words spluttered from his mouth.
“Not . . . funny . . . don't . . . Mungo's . . . show . . . him . . .”
The dungeon door opened. Snape appeared there. His black eyes swept up the Gryffindor line to the point where Harry and Ron were wrestling with Neville.
“Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom?” Snape said in his cold, sneering voice. “Ten points from Gryffindor. Release Longbottom, Potter, or it will be detention. Inside, all of you.”
Harry let go of Neville, who stood panting and glaring at him.
“I had to stop you,” Harry gasped, picking up his bag. “Crabbe and Goyle would've torn you apart.”
Neville said nothing; he merely snatched up his own bag and stalked off into the dungeon.
“What in the name of Merlin,” said Ron slowly, as they followed Neville, “was that about?”
Harry did not answer. He knew exactly why the subject of people who were in St Mungo's because of magical damage to their brains was highly distressing to Neville, but he had sworn to Dumbledore that he would not tell anyone Neville's secret. Even Neville did not know Harry knew.
Harry, Ron and Hermione took their usual seats at the back of the class, pulled out parchment, quills and their copies of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. The class around them was whispering about what Neville had just done, but when Snape closed the dungeon door with an echoing bang, everybody immediately fell silent.

Harry has sworn that he wouldn’t divulge Neville’s secret, but not knowing that, nor what the secret actually is, all Ron can see is that Harry is once again keeping things from him.

That night, Sirius’ visit pours more loss of control onto Ron, and he finds out that he’s much more in the dark than he thought, or hoped. Also, that his parents still had a bit of control over him.

[Quote: OotP Chap 17 Educational Decree Number Twenty-four (emphasis mine)]
“You want to choose your meeting places more carefully,” said Sirius, grinning still more broadly. The Hog's Head, I ask you.”
“Well, it was better than the Three Broomsticks!” said Hermione defensively. That's always packed with people — “
“Which means you'd have been harder to overhear,” said Sirius. “You've got a lot to learn, Hermione.”
“Who overheard us?” Harry demanded.
“Mundungus, of course,” said Sirius, and when they all looked puzzled he laughed. “He was the witch under the veil.”
That was Mundungus?” Harry said, stunned. “What was he doing in the Hog's Head?”
“What do you think he was doing?” said Sirius impatiently. “Keeping an eye on you, of course.”
“I'm still being followed?” asked Harry angrily.
“Yeah, you are,” said Sirius, “and just as well, isn't it, if the first thing you're going to do on your weekend off is organise an illegal defence group.”
But he looked neither angry nor worried. On the contrary, he was looking at Harry with distinct pride. “Why was Dung hiding from us?” asked Ron, sounding disappointed. “We'd've liked to've seen him.”
“He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago,” said Sirius, “and that barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately . . . anyway . . . first of all, Ron — I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother.”
“Oh yeah?” said Ron, sounding apprehensive.
“She says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal secret Defence Against the Dark Arts group. She says you'll be expelled for sure and your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right now. She also' (Sirius's eyes turned to the other two) “advises Harry and Hermione not to proceed with the group, though she accepts that she has no authority over either of them and simply begs them to remember that she has their best interests at heart. She would have written all this to you, but if the owl had been intercepted you'd all have been in real trouble, and she can't say it for herself because she's on duty tonight.”
“On duty doing what?” said Ron quickly.
“Never you mind, just stuff for the Order,” said Sirius. “So it's fallen to me to be the messenger and make sure you tell her I passed it all on, because I don't think she trusts me to.”
There was another pause in which Crookshanks, mewing, attempted to paw Sirius's head, and Ron fiddled with a hole in the hearthrug.
“So, you want me to say I'm not going to take part in the Defence group?” he muttered finally.
“Me? Certainly not!” said Sirius, looking surprised. “I think it's an excellent idea!”
“You do?” said Harry, his heart lifting.
[snip Hermione questioning Sirius]
“Well, better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely in school without a clue,” said Sirius.
“Hear, hear,” said Harry and Ron enthusiastically.
“So,” said Sirius, “how are you organising this group? Where are you meeting?”
“Well, that’s a bit of a problem now, said Harry. Dunno where we're going to be able to go.”
“How about the Shrieking Shack?” suggested Sirius.
“Hey, that's an idea!” said Ron excitedly, but Hermione made a sceptical noise and all three of them looked at her, Sirius's head turning in the flames.
“Well, Sirius, it's just that there were only four of you meeting in the Shrieking Shack when you were at school,” said Hermione, “and all of you could transform into animals and I suppose you could all have squeezed under a single Invisibility Cloak if you'd wanted to. But there are twenty-eight of us and none of us is an Animagus, so we wouldn't need so much an Invisibility Cloak as an Invisibility Marquee — “
“Fair point,” said Sirius, looking slightly crestfallen. “Well, I'm sure you'll come up with somewhere. There used to be a pretty roomy secret passageway behind that big mirror on the fourth floor, you might have enough space to practise jinxes in there.”
“Fred and George told me it's blocked,” said Harry, shaking his head. “Caved in or something.”
“Oh . . .” said Sirius, frowning.

Not only is he embarrassed by the restrictions his mother laid out in her message, but he finds out she’s participating in Order duties that he didn’t know about, that Harry is still being followed, and that he is no longer in the know when it comes to what the Order is doing, which is one of the sole advantages he had over Harry during the summer.

To top that off, Harry’s guardian fully endorses him to continue with the DA and Hermione is free to do as she pleases, while he is being held back by his parents. Not only does that take away his control, it takes away his free position in their friendship as well. He falls down a step or two on the importance scale, as he is restricted where the others are free.

Ron tries to regain some of his inclusion in the group by agreeing with Sirius’ suggestion of meeting places, but Hermione immediately dashes that idea with logical arguments against it. Umbridge breaks up the meeting before Ron can fully absolve himself of the embarrassment.

He doesn’t have much of a chance the next day either as they’re discussing what happened in Charms.

[Quote: Chap 18 Dumbledore’s Army]
He waved his wand without really concentrating; his bullfrog swelled like a green balloon and emitted a high-pitched whistle.
“Silencio!” said Hermione hastily, pointing her wand at Harry's frog, which deflated silently before them. “Well, he mustn't do it again, that's all. I just don't know how we're going to let him know. We can't send him an owl.”
“I don't reckon he'll risk it again,” said Ron. “He's not stupid, he knows she nearly got him. Silencio.”
The large and ugly raven in front of him let out a derisive caw.
“Silencio. SILENCIO!”
The raven cawed more loudly.
“It's the way you're moving your wand,” said Hermione, watching Ron critically, “you don't want to wave it, it's more a sharp jab.”
“Ravens are harder than frogs,” said Ron through clenched teeth.
“Fine, let's swap,” said Hermione, seizing Ron's raven and replacing it with her own fat bullfrog. “Silencio!” The raven continued to open and close its sharp beak, but no sound came out.
“Very good, Miss Granger!” said Professor Flitwick's squeaky little voice, making Harry, Ron and Hermione all jump. “Now, let me see you try, Mr Weasley."
“Wha—? Oh — oh, right,” said Ron, very flustered. “Er — silencio!”
He jabbed at the bullfrog so hard he poked it in the eye: the frog gave a deafening croak and leapt off the desk.
It came as no surprise to any of them that Harry and Ron were given additional practice of the Silencing Charm for homework.

Hermione has always been brilliant, but this scene quite nicely parallels the scene in PS/SS when she is trying to help Ron do the Wingardium Leviosa Charm; the very lesson that sets him off about her, causing her to hide in the bathroom, and ultimately the three of them to wind up friends.

Ron is barely keeping his temper in tact here. He remembers what happened the last time, and does not wish to repeat the incident. Besides, Professor Flitwick interrupts the conversation, and so whatever might have been going to happen was cut short by his presence.

This puts Ron back in the same precarious position. He’s still haunted by the fact that the other two can freely go to DA, while his mother’s threats still lie over his head. He has yet to absolve himself of that reminder when Hermione starts questioning the wisdom of the group.

Harry responds indignantly because he sees it as an attack on Sirius. But Ron is indignant because he wants to be in the group, and to show the others his mother does not control him, and now that he’s endorsed the idea, Hermione is trying to take it away. He responds in the only way he knows how, by insulting Hermione in front of Harry.

[Quote: OotP Chap 18 Dumbledore’s Army]
Ron looked utterly perplexed.
“Sirius is right,” he said, “you do sound just like my mother.”
Hermione bit her lip and did not answer.

Ron’s next chance to run Harry is thwarted as well. This time by Ron’s fear. He realized at the end of the last year that Harry had deadly enemies that would kill before asking questions. That gave him a lot of pause for concern. His dreams would never be fulfilled if he were to be killed at Harry’s side. But he has yet to fully explore whether or not he wants to leave Harry’s side. At the time, he might have wanted to, but then he was part of the Order’s activities and Harry wasn’t. He knew more than Harry, and he got his power-lust back. Now though, Harry is more and more obviously branching out on his own, and Ron has no clear idea of how to steer him back under his control.

[Quote: OotP Chap 18 Dumbledore’s Army (emphasis mine)]
“What happened?” said Ron, the moment Alicia had disappeared through the door. “Was it your scar?”
Harry nodded.
“But . . .” looking scared, Ron strode across to the window and stared out into the rain, “he — he can't be near us now, can he?”
“No,” Harry muttered, sinking on to a bench and rubbing his forehead. “He's probably miles away. It hurt because . . . he's . . . angry.”
Harry had not meant to say that at all, and heard the words as though a stranger had spoken them — yet knew at once that they were true. He did not know how he knew it, but he did; Voldemort, wherever he was, whatever he was doing, was in a towering temper.
“Did you see him?” said Ron, looking horrified. “Did you . . . get a vision, or something?” Harry sat quite still, staring at his feet, allowing his mind and his memory to relax in the aftermath of the pain.
A confused tangle of shapes, a howling rush of voices . . .
“He wants something done, and it's not happening fast enough,” he said.
Again, he felt surprised to hear the words coming out of his mouth, and yet was quite certain they were true.
“But . . . how do you know?” said Ron.
Harry shook his head and covered his eyes with his hands, pressing down upon them with his palms. Little stars erupted in them. He felt Ron sit down on the bench beside him and knew Ron was staring at him.
“Is this what it was about last time?” said Ron in a hushed voice. “When your scar hurt in Umbridge's office? You-Know-Who was angry?”
Harry shook his head.
“What is it, then?”
Harry was thinking himself back. He had been looking into Umbridge's face . . . his scar had hurt . . . and he had had that odd feeling in his stomach . . . a strange, leaping feeling . . . a happy feeling . . . but of course, he had not recognised it for what it was, as he had been feeling so miserable himself . . .
“Last time, it was because he was pleased,” he said. “Really pleased. He thought . . . something good was going to happen. And the night before we came back to Hogwarts . . .” he thought back to the moment when his scar had hurt so badly in his and Ron's bedroom in Grimmauld Place . . . “he was furious."
He looked round at Ron, who was gaping at him.
“You could take over from Trelawney, mate, he said in an awed voice.
“I'm not making prophecies,” said Harry.
“No, you know what you're doing?” Ron said, sounding both scared and impressed. “Harry, you're reading You-Know-Who's mind!”
“No,” said Harry, shaking his head. “It's more like . . . his mood, I suppose. I'm just getting flashes of what mood he's in. Dumbledore said something like this was happening last year. He said that when Voldemort was near me, or when he was feeling hatred, I could tell. Well, now I'm feeling it when he's pleased, too . . .”
There was a pause. The wind and rain lashed at the building.
”You've got to tell someone,” said Ron.
“I told Sirius last time.”
“Well, tell him about this time!”
“Can't, can I?” said Harry grimly. “Umbridge is watching the owls and the fires, remember?”
“Well then, Dumbledore.”
“I've just told you, he already knows,” said Harry shortly, getting to his feet, taking his cloak off his peg and swinging it around him. There's no point telling him again.”
Ron did up the fastening of his own cloak, watching Harry thoughtfully.
“Dumbledore'd want to know,” he said.
Harry shrugged.
“C'mon . . . we've still got Silencing Charms to practise.”
They hurried back through the dark grounds, sliding and stumbling up the muddy lawns, not talking. Harry was thinking hard.
[snip to later]
“Mimbulus mimbletonia,” said Ron's voice and Harry came back to his senses just in time to clamber through the portrait hole into the common room.
It appeared that Hermione had gone to bed early, leaving Crookshanks curled in a nearby chair and an assortment of knobbly knitted elf hats lying on a table by the fire. Harry was rather grateful that she was not around, because he did not much want to discuss his scar hurting and have her urge him to go to Dumbledore, too. Ron kept throwing him anxious glances, but Harry pulled out his Charms books and set to work on finishing his essay, though he was only pretending to concentrate and by the time Ron said he was going up to bed, too, he had written hardly anything.

Ron’s chance to regain some of his influence doesn’t come until they are at the first DA practice. He is enthusiastic about Stunning people, probably remembering all the times that Harry stunned him, and hoping to be on the casting side of the spell this time around. His practice went really well, and he managed to best Hermione a few times, so he can’t resist pointing it out to Harry.

[Quote: OotP Chap 18 Dumbledore’s Army]
That was really, really good, Harry,” said Hermione, when finally it was just her, Harry and Ron who were left.
“Yeah, it was!” said Ron enthusiastically, as they slipped out of the door and watched it melt back into stone behind them. “Did you see me disarm Hermione, Harry?”
“Only once,” said Hermione, stung. “I got you loads more than you got me — "
“I did not only get you once, I got you at least three times — “
“Well, if you're counting the one where you tripped over your own feet and knocked the wand out of my hand — “
They argued all the way back to the common room, but Harry was not listening to them. He had one eye on the Marauder's Map, but he was also thinking of Cho saying he made her nervous.

Hermione proves her worth to Harry again the next DA practice by showing the Protean Charmed Galleons she came up with. Not only is Harry impressed, but all the people in the room make quite a deal of how smart Hermione is. Ron quickly tries to play his old pity card at Harry in response to this praise.

[Quote: OotP Chap 18 Dumbledore’s Army]
“Yeah . . . I prefer your way,” said Harry, grinning, as he slipped his; Galleon into his pocket. “I suppose the only danger with these is that we might accidentally spend them.”
“Fat chance,” said Ron, who was examining his own fake Galleon with a slightly mournful air, “I haven't got any real Galleons to confuse it with.”

Ron’s next challenge comes with their first Quidditch Match. He finally got some recognition by getting on the team, but he was totally unprepared for the unpleasant campaign that was coming against him. During their first year, he had not been present when Harry, Hermione, and Neville lost all the points, so the most he endured of that unpleasantness was being by Harry’s side through it all. None of it had ever been aimed at him in the past. Now, however, he finds that it is not as easy to handle as he thought, and it is yet another way that Harry has more power over him.

[Quote: OotP Chap 18 Dumbledore’s Army]
Harry felt optimistic about Gryffindors chances; they had, after all, never lost to Malfoy's team. Admittedly, Ron was still not performing to Wood's standard, but he was working extremely hard to improve. His greatest weakness was a tendency to lose confidence after he'd made a blunder; if he let in one goal he became flustered and was therefore likely to miss more. On the other hand, Harry had seen Ron make some truly spectacular saves when he was on form; during one memorable practice he had hung one-handed from his broom and kicked the Quaffle so hard away from the goalhoop that it soared the length of the pitch and through the centre hoop at the other end; the rest of the team felt this save compared favourably with one made recently by Barry Ryan, the Irish International Keeper, against Poland's top Chaser, Ladislaw Zamojski. Even Fred had said that Ron might yet make him and George proud, and that they were seriously considering admitting he was related to them, something they assured him they had been trying to deny for four years.
The only thing really worrying Harry was how much Ron was allowing the tactics of the Slytherin team to upset him before they even got on to the pitch. Harry, of course, had endured their snide comments for over four years, so whispers of, “Hey, Potty, I heard Warrington's sworn to knock you off your broom on Saturday', far from chilling his blood, made him laugh. “Warrington's aim's so pathetic I'd be more worried if he was aiming for the person next to me,” he retorted, which made Ron and Hermione laugh and wiped the smirk off Pansy Parkinson's face.
But Ron had never endured a relentless campaign of insults, jeers and intimidation. When Slytherins, some of them seventh-years and considerably larger than he was, muttered as they passed in the corridors, “Got your bed booked in the hospital wing, Weasley?” he didn't laugh, but turned a delicate shade of green. When Draco Malfoy imitated Ron dropping the Quaffle (which he did whenever they came within sight of each other), Ron's ears glowed red and his hands shook so badly that he was likely to drop whatever he was holding at the time, too.
[snip to later]
The morning of the match dawned bright and cold. When Harry awoke he looked round at Ron's bed and saw him sitting bolt upright, his arms around his knees, staring fixedly into space.
“You all right?” said Harry.
Ron nodded but did not speak. Harry was reminded forcibly of the time Ron had accidentally put a Slug-vomiting Charm on himself; he looked just as pale and sweaty as he had done then, not to mention as reluctant to open his mouth.
“You just need some breakfast,” Harry said bracingly. “C'mon.”

Ron is feeling more and more like he bit off a bit more than he could chew. However, I don’t think that performing badly is his worst fear. His worst fear is performing worse than Harry. The Slytherin team doesn’t concern him as much as the thought of failing where Harry has succeeded. Until this year, he has carefully steered himself clear of any outright competition with Harry, because of his lack of self-confidence. But his ambition this year got in his way, and now he is faced with this very unpleasant consequence.

He can only do one of two things. He can either out-perform Harry, or lose spectacularly. Either way is the only way to stand out. He doesn’t particularly want to lose, but he doesn’t feel that he has the ability to beat Harry, so his mind works against him, and his nerves never settle. He is subconsciously fixing the game to lose by his lack of faith in himself. He tries one last desperate plea to get out of doing this before he is forced to play.

[Quote: OotP Chap 19 The Lion and the Serpent]
They received a rousing welcome at the Gryffindor table, where everyone was wearing red and gold, but far from raising Ron's spirits the cheers seemed to sap the last of his morale; he collapsed on to the nearest bench looking as though he were facing his final meal.
“I must've been mental to do this,” he said in a croaky whisper. “Mental.”
“Don't be thick,” said Harry firmly, passing him a choice of cereals, “you're going to be fine. It's normal to be nervous.”
“I'm rubbish,” croaked Ron. “I'm lousy. I can't play to save my life. What was I thinking?”
“Get a grip,” said Harry sternly. “Look at that save you made with your foot the other day, even Fred and George said it was brilliant.”
Ron turned a tortured face to Harry.
“That was an accident,” he whispered miserably. “I didn't mean to do it — I slipped off my broom when none of you were looking and when I was trying to get back on I kicked the Quaffle by accident.”
“Well,” said Harry, recovering quickly from this unpleasant surprise, “a few more accidents like that and the game's in the bag, isn't it?”
[snip to later]
“We'll be there in a bit,” Harry assured her. “Ron's just got to have some breakfast.”
It became clear after ten minutes, however, that Ron was not capable of eating anything more and Harry thought it best to get him down to the changing rooms. As they rose from the table, Hermione go; up, too, and taking Harry's arm she drew him to one side.
“Don't let Ron see what's on those Slytherins' badges,” she whispered urgently.
Harry looked questioningly at her, but she shook her head warningly; Ron had just ambled over to them, looking lost and desperate.
“Good luck, Ron,” said Hermione, standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek. “And you, Harry — “ Ron seemed to come to himself slightly as they walked back across the Great Hall. He touched the spot on his face where Hermione had kissed him, looking puzzled, as though he was not quite sure what had just happened. He seemed too distracted to notice much around him, but Harry cast a curious glance at the crown-shaped badges as they passed the Slytherin table, and this time he made out the words etched on to them.
[snip to later]
There was no wind at all and the sky was a uniform pearly white, which meant that visibility would be good without the drawback of direct sunlight in the eyes. Harry pointed out these encouraging factors to Ron as they walked, but he was not sure that Ron was listening.
[snip to later]
He was starting to feel nervous, but he knew his butterflies were as nothing compared to Ron's, who was clutching his stomach and staring straight ahead again, his jaw set and his complexion pale grey.

Hermione made a desperate attempt to distract Ron from further intimidation, and it worked. Ron was so surprised by this overt action on her part that he didn’t notice the badges all the Slytherins sported. He has clearly seen Hr-->H this whole time, indeed it is what he’s been working against out of fear. This gives him pause. Perhaps all of Harry’s protests that Hermione wasn’t his girlfriend are true. Perhaps Hermione’s seeming unconcern over Harry liking Cho is real. After all, Hermione just kissed him on the cheek.

These thoughts are enough to distract him all the way to the Quidditch Pitch, but then it’s back to the task on hand. Ron’s determination is second to none, and I believe he went into the game thinking that he could outplay Harry, but after the first fumble, his self-conscious took over, and he had only one other path…losing spectacularly.

His hope is, I’m sure, that Harry will seek him out to show his loyalty. Harry won, and he’d lost. It was too much to take in. He desperately needed the other’s support.

[Quote: OotP Chap 19 The Lion and the Serpent]
Harry didn't answer. He turned away to meet the rest of the team who were now landing one by one, yelling and punching the air in triumph; all except Ron, who had dismounted from his broom over by the goalposts and seemed to be making his way slowly back to the changing rooms alone.
[snip to later]
“Have you seen Ron?” Hermione asked in a low voice.
Harry shook his head.
“I think he's avoiding us,” said Hermione. “Where do you think he — ?”
But at that precise moment, there was a creaking sound behind them as the Fat Lady swung forwards and Ron came clambering through the portrait hole. He was very pale indeed and there was snow in his hair. When he saw Harry and Hermione, he stopped dead in his tracks.
“Where have you been?” said Hermione anxiously, springing up.
“Walking,” Ron mumbled. He was still wearing his Quidditch things.
“You look frozen,” said Hermione. “Come and sit down!”
Ron walked to the fireside and sank into the chair furthest from Harry's, not looking at him. The stolen Snitch zoomed over their heads.
“I'm sorry, Ron mumbled, looking at his feet.
“What for?” said Harry.
“For thinking I can play Quidditch,” said Ron. “I'm going to resign first thing tomorrow.”
“If you resign,” said Harry testily, “there'll only be three players left on the team.” And when Ron looked puzzled, he said, “I've been given a lifetime ban. So've Fred and George.”
“What?” Ron yelped.
Hermione told him the full story; Harry could not bear to tell it again. When she had finished, Ron looked more anguished than ever.
This is all my fault — “
“You didn't make me punch Malfoy,” said Harry angrily.
“ — if I wasn't so terrible at Quidditch — “
“ — it's got nothing to do with that.”
“ — it was that song that wound me up — “
“ — it would've wound anyone up.”
Hermione got up and walked to the window, away from the argument, watching the snow swirling down against the pane.
“Look, drop it, will you!” Harry burst out. “It's bad enough, without you blaming yourself for everything!”
Ron said nothing but sat gazing miserably at the damp hem of his robes. After a while he said in a dull voice, “This is the worst I've ever felt in my life.”
“Join the club,” said Harry bitterly.

Not only did neither Harry, nor Hermione come looking for him, they didn’t pity him either. This is the first and only time we've ever seen the words "I'm sorry" come out of his mouth, and they were used to induce pity. He wanted, I'm sure, Harry and Hermione to protest, to suggest that he was good, to beg him to stay. But, Harry and Hermione didn't react to that. At first, Harry showed a token of support, but did not actively beg him to remain on the team.

Ron then tries to keep the focus on himself, even by blaming himself for everything that transpired, but, once more, Harry’s problems outshone Ron’s. With a lifetime ban on Quidditch, Harry would no longer be Ron’s competition, but that doesn’t make him feel any better about the whole situation. And Harry still refuses to pity him.

With Hagrid’s return, the three of them fall back into their old roles as they hear his tale. However, during the next class, Hagrid shows them all Thestrals, which Ron cannot see, but Harry can. However, before the reason can sink in, Umbridge comes and interrupts the class. Ron is uncharacteristically quiet during the whole time. He has barely a line or two in the beginning, we don’t hear from him again until class is over, and then he seems to take up Umbridge’s banner against Hagrid.

Ron is upset that Hagrid has pointed out once more how Harry is more advanced than he, even if it is only by having seen death. He is tired of hearing how Harry is better at things than he is pointed out to him and others. Even his Prefect Badge has lost its glimmer and shine, the allure it once held for him, as Harry doesn’t even seem to remember or care anymore, and it only gives him more and more duties and responsibilities.

[Quote: OotP Chap 21 The Eye of the Snake]
That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!” stormed Hermione half an hour later, as they made their way back up to the castle through the channels they had made earlier in the snow. “You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all over again — she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dimwitted troll, just because he had a giantess for a mother — and. oh, it's not fair, that really wasn't a bad lesson at all — I mean, all right, if it had been Blast-Ended Skrewts again, but Thestrals are fine — in fact, for Hagrid, they're really good!”
“Umbridge said they're dangerous,” said Ron.
“Well, it's like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves,” said Hermione impatiently, “and I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn't usually show them to us before NEWT level, but, well, they are very interesting, aren't they? The way some people can see them and some can't! I wish I could.”
“Do you?” Harry asked her quietly.
She looked suddenly horrorstruck.
“Oh, Harry — I'm sorry — no, of course I don't — that was a really stupid thing to say.”
“It's OK,” he said quickly, “don't worry."
“I'm surprised so many people could see them,” said Ron. “Three in a class — “
“Yeah, Weasley, we were just wondering,” said a malicious voice. Unheard by any of them in the muffling snow, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were walking along right behind them. “D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?”
He, Crabbe and Goyle roared with laughter as they pushed past on their way to the castle, then broke into a chorus of “Weasley is our King'. Ron's ears turned scarlet.
“Ignore them, just ignore them,” intoned Hermione, pulling out her wand and performing the charm to produce hot air again, so that she could melt them an easier path through the untouched snow between them and the greenhouses.
[snip to later]
December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework for the fifth-years. Ron and Hermione's prefect duties also became more and more onerous as Christmas approached. They were called upon to supervise the decoration of the castle ('You try putting up tinsel when Peeves has got the other end and is trying to strangle you with it,” said Ron), to watch over first- and second-years spending their break-times inside because of the bitter cold ('And they're cheeky little snot-rags, you know, we definitely weren't that rude when we were in first year, said Ron) and to patrol the corridors in shifts with Argus Filch, who suspected that the holiday spirit might show itself in an outbreak of wizard duels ('He's got dung for brains, that one,” said Ron furiously). They were so busy that Hermione had even stopped knitting elf hats and was fretting that she was down to her last three.

Ron’s punishment for Harry’s success and achievements was once again isolation. He kept Harry in the dark about the Christmas invitation for as long as he could. Then when it would become obvious he was doing it on purpose if he kept it from him any longer, he told him, as though presenting him with a great magnanimous present, instead of extending the heartfelt invitation that it was meant to be.

[Quote: OotP Chap 21 The Eye of the Snake]
For the first time in his school career, he very much wanted to spend the holidays away from Hogwarts. Between his Quidditch ban and worry about whether or not Hagrid was going to be put on probation, he felt highly resentful towards the place at the moment.
[snip to later]
Ron was going home to The Burrow. Harry endured several days of envy before Ron said, in response to Harry asking him how he was going to get home for Christmas: :But you're coming too! Didn't I say? Mum wrote and told me to invite you weeks ago!”
Hermione rolled her eyes, but Harry's spirits soared: the thought of Christmas at The Burrow was truly wonderful, though slightly marred by Harry's guilty feeling that he would not be able to spend the holiday with Sirius.

Ron gets another big break right before Christmas too. He knows that Hermione likes Harry, he’s been seeing it all year long. Hermione seems to know this too, and it really makes me wonder if they didn’t have an off-scene chat about it somewhere or sometime. Even if they didn’t, Hermione’s actions over the summer, her worrying about Harry, and her constant support to Harry throughout the year would be enough to set Ron’s mind wondering.

His plans to keep them apart have suffered some major blows this year and Hermione consistently shows that she will choose to support Harry over Ron. Her staying with Harry over looking for Ron, willingly speaking and giving time to Harry, while falling asleep on Ron, and more willingly and openly encouraging and helping Harry, all show this tendency. His one major victory in this area to date has been the kiss she gave him before the Quidditch game. However, as she didn’t come looking for him afterwards, or at least didn’t find him, and he found her with Harry in a deserted Common Room, that victory faded from his mind.

His sole hope in this area then, is that Harry will never recognize her interest, or else continue to be interested in someone else. When Harry receives his first kiss, then, it is a major victory for Ron. His behaviour during this scene, coupled with Hermione’s give us these insights.

[Quote: OotP Chap 21 The Eye of the Snake (emphasis mine)]
He returned to the common room half an hour later to find Hermione and Ron in the best seats by the fire; nearly everybody else had gone to bed. Hermione was writing a very long letter; she had already filled half a roll of parchment, which was dangling from the edge of the table. Ron was lying on the hearthrug, trying to finish his Transfiguration homework.
“What kept you?” he asked, as Harry sank into the armchair next to Hermione's.
Harry didn't answer. He was in a state of shock. Half of him wanted to tell Ron and Hermione what had just happened, but the other half wanted to take the secret with him to the grave.
“Are you all right, Harry?” Hermione asked, peering at him over the tip of her quill.
Harry gave a half-hearted shrug. In truth, he didn't know whether he was all right or not. “What's up?” said Ron, hoisting himself up on his elbow to get a clearer view of Harry. What's happened?”
Harry didn't quite know how to set about telling them, and still wasn't sure whether he wanted to. Just as he had decided not to say anything, Hermione took matters out of his hands.
“Is it Cho?” she asked in a businesslike way. “Did she corner you after the meeting?”
Numbly surprised, Harry nodded. Ron sniggered, breaking off when Hermione caught his eye.
“So — er — what did she want?” he asked in a mock casual voice.
“She — “ Harry began, rather hoarsely, he cleared his throat and tried again. “She — er — “
“Did you kiss?” asked Hermione briskly.
Ron sat up so fast he sent his ink bottle flying all over the rug. Disregarding this completely, he stared avidly at Harry.
“Well?” he demanded.
Harry looked from Ron's expression of mingled curiosity and hilarity to Hermione's slight frown, and nodded.
“HA!”
Ron made a triumphant gesture with his fist and went into a raucous peal of laughter that made several timid-looking second-years over beside the window jump. A reluctant grin spread over Harry's face as he watched Ron rolling around on the hearthrug.
Hermione gave Ron a look or deep disgust and returned to her letter.
“Well?” Ron said finally, looking up at Harry. “How was it?”
Harry considered for a moment.
“Wet,” he said truthfully.
Ron made a noise that might have indicated jubilation or disgust, it was hard to tell.
“Because she was crying,” Harry continued heavily.
“Oh,” said Ron, his smile fading slightly. “Are you that bad at kissing?”
“Dunno,” said Harry, who hadn't considered this, and immediately felt rather worried. “Maybe I am.”
“Of course you're not,” said Hermione absently, still scribbling away at her letter.
“How do you know?” said Ron very sharply.
“Because Cho spends half her time crying these days,” said Hermione vaguely. “She does it at mealtimes, in the loos, all over the place.”
“You'd think a bit of kissing would cheer her up,” said Ron, grinning.
“Ron,” said Hermione in a dignified voice, dipping the point of her quill into her inkpot, “you are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet.”

Ron’s reactions here mixed with Hermione’s reactions spell out two very opposite things. Ron is jubilant, and Hermione is frowning. He has very distinct reactions to each new bit of information that Harry shares with them. In fact, he pries for specific things, things he wants to hear, like that something happened, and that they kissed. However, he is trying to be very tactful about it, whereas Hermione is just as anxious to know these things for a different reason, and doesn’t have the patience to draw it out that Ron does. Ron knows that Hermione likes Harry and that is why she calls him an insensitive wart at the end, because he kept asking Harry questions about how the kiss was, and bringing up the fact that they did kiss.

The remainder of the scene is a complicated and subtle battle over Harry and his feelings between Ron and Hermione, and it’s clear that Hermione is displeased with Ron. This is the first time that they’ve ever sparred about this in front of Harry.

[Quote: OotP Chap 21 The Eye of the Snake (emphasis mine)]
[snip Hermione’s explanation of Cho’s feelings]
A slightly stunned silence greeted the end of this speech, then Ron said, “One person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode.”
“Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have,” said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again.
“She was the one who started it,” said Harry. “I wouldn't've — she just sort of came at me — and next thing she's crying all over me — I didn't know what to do — “
“Don't blame you, mate,” said Ron, looking alarmed at the very thought.
“You just had to be nice to her,” said Hermione, looking up anxiously. “You were, weren't you?”
“Well,” said Harry, an unpleasant heat creeping up his face, “I sort of — patted her on the back a bit.”
Hermione looked as though she was restraining herself from rolling her eyes with extreme difficulty.
“Well, I suppose it could have been worse,” she said. “Are you going to see her again?”
“I'll have to, won't I?” said Harry. “We've got DA meetings, haven't we?”
“You know what I mean,” said Hermione impatiently.
Harry said nothing. Hermione's words opened up a whole new vista of frightening possibilities. He tried to imagine going somewhere with Cho — Hogsmeade, perhaps — and being alone with her for hours at a time. Of course, she would have been expecting him to ask her out after what had just happened . . . the thought made his stomach clench painfully.
“Oh well,” said Hermione distantly, buried in her letter once more, “you'll have plenty of opportunities to ask her.”
“What if he doesn't want to ask her?” said Ron, who had been watching Harry with an unusually shrewd expression on his face.
“Don’t be silly, said Hermione vaguely, Harry's liked her for ages, haven't you, Harry?”
He did not answer. Yes, he had liked Cho for ages, but whenever he had imagined a scene involving the two of them it had always featured a Cho who was enjoying herself, as opposed to a Cho who was sobbing uncontrollably into his shoulder.
“Who're you writing the novel to, anyway?” Ron asked Hermione, trying to read the bit of parchment now trailing on the floor. Hermione hitched it up out of sight.
“Viktor.”
“Krum?”
“How many other Viktors do we know?”
Ron said nothing, but looked disgruntled. They sat in silence for another twenty minutes, Ron finishing his Transfiguration essay with many snorts of impatience and crossings-out, Hermione writing steadily to the very end of the parchment, rolling it up carefully and sealing it, and Harry staring into the fire, wishing more than anything that Sirius's head would appear there and give him some advice about girls. But the fire merely crackled lower and lower, until the red-hot embers crumbled into ash and, looking around, Harry saw that they were, yet again, the last ones in the common room.
“Well, night,” said Hermione, yawning widely as she set off up the girls' staircase.
“What does she see in Krum?” Ron demanded, as he and Harry climbed the boys' stairs.
“Well,” said Harry, considering the matter, “I s'pose he's older, isn't he . . . and he's an international Quidditch player . . .”
“Yeah, but apart from that,” said Ron, sounding aggravated. “I mean, he's a grouchy git, isn't he?”
“Bit grouchy, yeah,” said Harry, whose thoughts were still on Cho.
They pulled off their robes and put on pyjamas in silence; Dean, Seamus and Neville were already asleep. Harry put his glasses on his bedside table and got into bed but did not pull the hangings closed around his four-poster; instead, he stared at the patch of starry sky visible through the window next to Neville's bed. If he had known, this time last night, that in twenty-four hours' time he would have kissed Cho Chang . . .
“Night,” grunted Ron, from somewhere to his right.
“Night,” said Harry.
Maybe next time . . . if there was a next time . . . she'd be a bit happier. He ought to have asked her out; she had probably been expecting it and was now really angry with him . . . or was she lying in bed, still crying about Cedric? He did not know what to think. Hermione's explanation had made it all seem more complicated rather than easier to understand.

Hermione gives several clues that she likes Harry a lot in this scene. She’s very distant, and tries to seem very casual about hearing answers to questions that were pointedly and anxiously asked by her just seconds before, because she’s trying to keep herself from being hurt by the answers she knows she’s likely to receive. She’s also anxious that Harry had to be nice to Cho, and that he was. She wants him to be a nice person, and it gives off a ready excuse for his accepting behaviour. She knows that he likes Cho, but if he was in a situation that he had to be nice to her, it would be more accepting than the fact that he willingly was nice to her, and kissed her. She also says that it could have been worse. What we don’t know is whether she is referencing Harry’s patting Cho’s back, or the fact that they kissed.

Ron had been watching the whole scene in silence, observing two things. One is that closeness that Harry and Hermione share. While he had to ask vague questions about what had happened, Hermione seemed to know exactly what had been going on and with two or three brisk, and to the point queries, she got the truth out of Harry, even when he had just resolved not to tell them what had happened.

The second thing that both he and we are able to observe is the fact that Harry tries very hard to please Hermione. He always wants to be better for her, and to meet all her expectations. We can see this here as he struggles to answer every question she asks in a way that he hopes will please her, or at least get him by. She tries to please him as well, providing explanations as to why Cho was acting the way she was and assuring him that the crying was not his fault nor was it due to him being a bad kisser. She acts as she always has around Harry, and tries her best to build his self-esteem.

Ron decides to find out the truth then, and mentions that Harry might not want to ask Cho out. He is testing the water to see if Harry really likes Cho as much as he has been suspecting. However, it is Hermione that answers the question, and Harry doesn’t respond to the subject again, so he changes the focus to Hermione’s love life.

Ron is upset that Hermione and Victor Krum are still communicating. He had thought to have won this battle since Hermione spent her summer with him at Grimmauld Place, and not in Bulgaria. However, the fact that she was still in contact with him, and judging from the size of the letter, they remain good friends, disconcerts him a lot.

The sole comfort he receives from that exchange is that Harry doesn’t seem to care one way or another whether Hermione is in contact with Krum. Also, he can see that his disparagement of Hermione’s tastes has worked, since Harry lists the fact that Krum is older and famous as reasons for Hermione’s liking him instead of the possibility that Victor may be a really nice or smart person.

Ron’s confidence is shaken again that very night though, as Harry wakes up from his vision of Voldemort’s actions.

[Quote: OotP Chap 21 The Eye of the Snake & Chap 22 St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries (emphasis mine)]
“Harry!”
Ron was standing over him looking extremely frightened. There were more figures at the foot of Harry's bed. He clutched his head in his hands; the pain was blinding him . . . he rolled right over and vomited over the edge of the mattress.
“He's really ill,” said a scared voice. “Should we call someone?”
“Harry! Harry!”
He had to tell Ron, it was very important that he tell him . . . taking great gulps of air, Harry pushed himself up in bed, willing himself not to throw up again, the pain half-blinding him.
“Your dad,” he panted, his chest heaving. “Your dad's . . . been attacked . . .”
“What?” said Ron uncomprehendingly.
“Your dad! He's been bitten, it's serious, there was blood everywhere . . .”
“I'm going for help,” said the same scared voice, and Harry heard footsteps running out of the dormitory.
“Harry, mate,” said Ron uncertainly, “you . . . you were just dreaming."
“No!” said Harry furiously; it was crucial that Ron understand.
“It wasn't a dream . . . not an ordinary dream . . . I was there, I saw it . . . I did it . . .”
He could hear Seamus and Dean muttering but did not care. The pain in his forehead was subsiding slightly, though he was still sweating and shivering feverishly. He retched again and Ron leapt backwards out of the way.
“Harry, you're not well,” he said shakily. “Neville's gone for help.”
“I'm fine!” Harry choked, wiping his mouth on his pyjamas and shaking uncontrollably. There's nothing wrong with me, it's your dad you've got to worry about — we need to find out where he is — he's bleeding like mad — I was — it was a huge snake.”
He tried to get out of bed but Ron pushed him back into it; Dean and Seamus were still whispering somewhere nearby. Whether one minute passed or ten, Harry did not know; he simply sat there shaking, feeling the pain recede very slowly from his scar . . . then there were hurried footsteps coming up the stairs and he heard Neville's voice again.
“Over here, Professor.”
Professor McGonagall came hurrying into the dormitory in her tartan dressing gown, her glasses perched lopsidedly on the bridge of her bony nose.
“What is it, Potter? Where does it hurt?”
He had never been so pleased to see her; it was a member of the Order of the Phoenix he needed now, not someone fussing over him and prescribing useless potions.
“It's Ron's dad,” he said, sitting up again. “He's been attacked by a snake and it's serious, I saw it happen.”
“What do you mean, you saw it happen?” said Professor McGonagall, her dark eyebrows contracting.
“I don't know . . . I was asleep and then I was there . . .”
“You mean you dreamed this?”
“No!” said Harry angrily; would none of them understand? “I was having a dream at first about something completely different, something stupid . . . and then this interrupted it. It was real, I didn't imagine it. Mr Weasley was asleep on the floor and he was attacked by a gigantic snake, there was a load of blood, he collapsed, someone's got to find out where he is . . .”
Professor McGonagall was gazing at him through her lopsided spectacles as though horrified at what she was seeing.
“I'm not lying and I'm not mad!” Harry told her, his voice rising to a shout. “I tell you, I saw it happen!”
“I believe you, Potter,” said Professor McGonagall curtly. “Put on your dressing gown — we're going to see the Headmaster.”
[snip to later]
“Ron's dad — Mr Weasley — has been attacked by a giant snake.”
The words seemed to reverberate in the air after he had said them, sounding slightly ridiculous, even comic. There was a pause in which Dumbledore leaned back and stared meditatively at the ceiling. Ron looked from Harry to Dumbledore, white-faced and shocked.
[snip to later]
Nobody else spoke for a moment, then Dumbledore, now looking at Ron who was still whey-faced, asked in a new and sharper voice, “Is Arthur seriously injured?”
[snip to later]
Anyway, they carried him up a few minutes later. He doesn't look good, he's covered in blood, I ran along to Elfrida Cragg's portrait to get a good view as they left — “
“Good,” said Dumbledore as Ron made a convulsive movement. “I take it Dilys will have seen him arrive, then — “
And moments later, the silver-ringleted witch had reappeared in her picture, too; she sank, coughing, into her armchair and said, "Yes, they've taken him to St Mungo's, Dumbledore . . . they carried him past my portrait . . . he looks bad . . ."
[snip to later]
Professor McGonagall got up and moved swiftly to the door. Harry cast a sideways glance at Ron, who was looking terrified.
[snip to later]
He sloped away into the frame of the portrait and disappeared from view at the very moment the study door opened again. Fred, George and Ginny were ushered inside by Professor McGonagall, all three of them looking dishevelled and shocked, still in their night things.
“Harry — what's going on?” asked Ginny, who looked frightened. “Professor McGonagall says you saw Dad get hurt — “
“Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order of the Phoenix,” said Dumbledore, before Harry could speak. “He has been taken to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I am sending you back to Sirius's house, which is much more convenient for the hospital than The Burrow. You will meet your mother there.”
[snip to later]
“What's going on?” he said, stretching out a hand to help Ginny up. Phineas Nigellus said Arthur's been badly injured — “
“Ask Harry,” said Fred.
“Yeah, I want to hear this for myself,” said George.
The twins and Ginny were staring at him. Kreacher's footsteps had stopped on the stairs outside.
“It was — “ Harry began; this was even worse than telling McGonagall and Dumbledore. “I had a — a kind of- vision . . .”
And he told them all that he had seen, though he altered the story so that it sounded as though he had watched from the sidelines as the snake attacked, rather than from behind the snake's own eyes. Ron, who was still very white, gave him a fleeting look, but did not speak. When Harry had finished, Fred, George and Ginny continued to stare at him for a moment. Harry did not know whether he was imagining it or not, but he fancied there was something accusatory in their looks. Well, if they were going to blame him just for seeing the attack, he was glad he had not told them that he had been inside the snake at the time.
[snip to later]
Still exceptionally pale, Ron stared at the back of his mother's letter as though it might speak words of comfort to him.
[snip to later]
“Course he's worried,” growled Moody. The boy's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake. Obviously, Potter doesn't realise what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him — “
Harry pulled the Extendable Ear out of his own, his heart hammering very fast and heat rushing up his face. He looked around at the others. They were all staring at him, the strings still trailing from their ears, looking suddenly fearful.

This is once again beyond Ron’s league to control. This is serious Order business, and fully beyond his capabilities to deal with. Harry has once more proven himself dangerous in a way. Because of Harry, they all know that Arthur is injured and may die. It is a case of “killing the messenger” and all the Weasley children are culpable of it, until Molly comes and gives Harry a hug thanking him for saving her husband.

Throughout the whole thing, Ron remains silent, noncommittal, and very pale. It would be hard to separate Harry and Voldemort, as Harry told Ron that he was the snake, and he attacked Arthur, and Harry has confided his cognition of Voldemort’s feelings to Ron before this. The two of them [Harry and Voldemort] are in a way inseparable, because of the very nature of their relationship, and Ron understands, now more than ever, that being a friend of Harry’s, puts you directly in that relationship, and in Voldemort’s path.

Ron then starts another campaign of isolation for Harry, that Harry only too willingly cooperates with. He isn’t exactly punishing Harry for anything this time. But his fear is starting to get the better of him here, and he is simply trying to figure out how he feels. He doesn’t want any interaction with Harry until he figures it out.

[Quote: OotP Chap 23 Christmas on the Closed Ward (emphasis mine)]
“Harry,” said Ron's voice, from far, far away, “Mum says dinners ready, but she'll save you something if you want to stay in bed.”
Harry opened his eyes, but Ron had already left the room.
“He doesn't want to be on his own with me,” Harry thought. “Not after what he heard Moody say.” [snip to later]
“I know you're in there,” said Hermione's voice. “Will you please come out? I want to talk to you.”
“What are you doing here?” Harry asked her, pulling open the door as Buckbeak resumed his scratching at the straw-strewn floor for any fragments of rat he may have dropped. “I thought you were skiing with your mum and dad?”
“Well, to tell the truth, skiing's not really my thing,” said Hermione. “So, I've come here for Christmas.” There was snow in her hair and her face was pink with cold. “But don t tell Ron. I told him skiing's really good because he kept laughing so much. Mum and Dad are a bit disappointed, but I've told them that everyone who is serious about the exams is staying at Hogwarts to study. They want me to do well, they'll understand. Anyway,” she said briskly, “let's go to your bedroom, Ron's mum has lit a fire in there and she's sent up sandwiches.”
Harry followed her back to the second floor. When he entered the bedroom, he was rather surprised to see both Ron and Ginny waiting for them, sitting on Ron's bed.
“I came on the Knight Bus,” said Hermione airily, pulling off her jacket before Harry had time to speak. “Dumbledore told me what had happened first thing this morning, but I had to wait for term to end officially before setting off. Umbridge is already livid that you lot disappeared right under her nose, even though Dumbledore told her Mr Weasley was in St Mungo's and he'd given you all permission to visit. So . . .”
She sat down next to Ginny, and the two girls and Ron all looked up at Harry.
“How're you feeling?” asked Hermione.
“Fine,” said Harry stiffly.
“Oh, don't lie, Harry,” she said impatiently. “Ron and Ginny say you've been hiding from everyone since you got back from St Mungo's.”
They do, do they?” said Harry, glaring at Ron and Ginny. Ron looked down at his feet but Ginny seemed quite unabashed.
“Well, you have!” she said. “And you won't look at any of us!”
“It's you lot who won't look at me!” said Harry angrily.
“Maybe you're taking it in turns to look, and keep missing each other,” suggested Hermione, the corners of her mouth twitching.
“Very funny,” snapped Harry, turning away.
“Oh, stop feeling all misunderstood,” said Hermione sharply. “Look, the others have told me what you overheard last night on the Extendable Ears — “
“Yeah?” growled Harry, his hands deep in his pockets as he watched the snow now falling thickly outside. “All been talking about me, have you? Well, I'm getting used to it.”
“We wanted to talk to you, Harry' said Ginny, “but as you've been hiding ever since we got back — “
“I didn't want anyone to talk to me,” said Harry, who was feeling more and more nettled.

Ron seems to have decided that the situation was more than he could deal with. He wasn’t sure that Harry wasn’t being possessed either, after what they heard in the hospital. He seems to have written to Hermione to tell her what had happened and asked for her help, most likely at Ginny’s insistence. This explains why Hermione tells Harry that the others told her that Harry had been hiding, and what they had overheard in St Mungo’s when they did not have time to have that conversation.

When Hermione arrives, she goes straight up to where Harry is hiding. There isn’t time between the doorbell and her knock for her to have gotten any more conversation in than a quick hello and where is Harry. The snow present in her hair proves she rushed straight up to see him, as snow melts very quickly once inside a warm house, and it is doubtful they left her standing out in the snow when the conversation took place as the time between the doorbell, and the knock on the door was too brief for it to occur, and the Weasleys wouldn’t leave her outside anyway, due to both manners, and the safety of the headquarter’s concealment.

From then on, Harry is with her, and they go down to see the others together, leaving no time for anyone to have had a private conversation with her about what happened. So, either Ron and Ginny wrote and told her, as she says they told her, or Dumbledore told her when he filled her in on what had happened.

Whether or not Ron intended to ask for her to help in person, or Dumbledore requested it, or Hermione herself decided to rush to Harry’s side in his time of need, we will probably never concretely know. It seems most likely that it was Hermione’s wish to be there though, as Dumbledore would most likely wish her to spend time over the holidays with her family, and Ron probably wouldn’t ask her to come there instead either, thinking that she loved skiing, as she was trying to convince him of this earlier to stop his laughter, and he wouldn’t want to give Harry and her an opportunity to become closer.

However, she was the only one that could get Harry to come out so that they could clear up the misunderstanding, and get things out in the open and people speaking to one another again.

Once he is out, they all participate to help Harry confront his feelings and convince themselves that everything is all right.

[Quote: OotP Chap 23 Christmas on the Closed Ward (emphasis mine)]
“Well, that was a bit stupid of you,” said Ginny angrily, “seeing as you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels.”
Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. Then he wheeled round.
“I forgot,” he said.
“Lucky you,” said Ginny coolly.
Tin sorry,” Harry said, and he meant it. “So . . . so, do you think I'm being possessed, then?”
“Well, can you remember everything you've been doing?” Ginny asked. “Are there big blank periods where you don't know what you've been up to?”
Harry racked his brains.
“No,” he said.
Then You-Know-Who hasn't ever possessed you,” said Ginny simply. “When he did it to me, I couldn't remember what I'd been doing for hours at a time. I'd find myself somewhere and not know how I got there.”
Harry hardly dared believe her, yet his heart was lightening almost in spite of himself.
“That dream I had about your dad and the snake, though — “
“Harry, you've had these dreams before,” Hermione said. “You had flashes of what Voldemort was up to last year.”
This was different,” said Harry, shaking his head. “I was inside that snake. It was like I was the snake . . . what if Voldemort somehow transported me to London — ?”
“One day,” said Hermione, sounding thoroughly exasperated, “you'll read Hogwarts: A History, and perhaps it will remind you that you can't Apparate or Disapparate inside Hogwarts. Even Voldemort couldn't just make you fly out of your dormitory, Harry.”
“You didn't leave your bed, mate,” said Ron. “I saw you thrashing around in your sleep for at least a minute before we could wake you up.”
Harry started pacing up and down the room again, thinking. What they were all saying was not only comforting, it made sense . . . without really thinking, he took a sandwich from the plate on the bed and crammed it hungrily into his mouth.
I'm not the weapon after all, thought Harry. His heart swelled with happiness and relief…

Ron seems to have gotten past his fear about Harry enough to speak to him, but their relationship remains strained. For example on Christmas morning: Ron would never have dreamed of opening all his presents alone the first year they had known each other, but he doesn’t hesitate to do so today, perhaps hoping to get through and leave before Harry wakes up.

[Quote: OotP Chap 23 Christmas on the Closed Ward]
Harry awoke on Christmas morning to find a stack of presents at the foot of his bed and Ron already halfway through opening his own, rather larger, pile.
“Good haul this year,” he informed Harry through a cloud of paper. Thanks for the Broom Compass, it's excellent; beats Hermione's — she got me a homework planner — “
[snip to later]
They got up and dressed. They could hear the various inhabitants of the house calling “Merry Christmas' to one another. On their way downstairs they met Hermione.
Thanks for the book, Harry,” she said happily. “I've been wanting that New Theory of Numerology for ages! And that perfume's really unusual, Ron.”
“No problem,” said Ron. “Who's that for, anyway?” he added, nodding at the neatly wrapped present she was carrying.
“Kreacher,” said Hermione brightly.
“It had better not be clothes!” Ron warned her. “You know what Sirius said: Kreacher knows too much, we can't set him free!”
“It isn't clothes,” said Hermione, “although if I had my way I'd certainly give him something to wear other than that filthy old rag. No, it's a patchwork quilt, I thought it would brighten up his bedroom.”

Ron makes it clear that he’s disappointed in Hermione’s gift to him. He makes no comment though, when Harry pulls out the same gift from her. Hermione seems to be trying to shield her preferences by treating both boys with the same strict guidelines. He takes Hermione’s compliment of his gift in stride, but can’t help but notice the difference in the reception of Harry’s gift and his.

The strain in Harry and Ron's relationship shows again when they visit St. Mungo's for the second time.

[Quote: OotP Chap 23 Christmas on the Closed Ward]
They walked along the corridor, through a set of double doors and found a rickety staircase lined with more portraits of brutal-looking Healers. As they climbed it, the various Healers called out to them, diagnosing odd complaints and suggesting horrible remedies. Ron was seriously affronted when a medieval wizard called out that he clearly had a bad case of spattergroit.
“And what's that supposed to be?” he asked angrily, as the Healer pursued him through six more portraits, shoving the occupants out of the way.
“ “Tis a most grievous affliction of the skin, young master, that will leave you pockmarked and more gruesome even than you are now — “
“Watch who you're calling gruesome!” said Ron, his ears turning red.
“ — the only remedy is to take the liver of a toad, bind it tight about your throat, stand naked at the full moon in a barrel of eels' eyes — “
“I have not got spattergroit!”
“But the unsightly blemishes upon your visage, young master — “
“They're freckles!” said Ron furiously. “Now get back in your own picture and leave me alone!”
He rounded on the others, who were all keeping determinedly straight faces.
“What floor's this?”
“I think it's the fifth,” said Hermione.
“Nah, it's the fourth,” said Harry, “one more —

Ron suffers another indignity here when he’s left to defend himself against the portraits on his own. Far from coming to his aid, the others are trying very hard not to laugh. He can do nothing more than change the subject.

Further evidence of Harry's straying loyalties comes quickly on the heels of that indignity.

[Quote: OotP Chap 23 Christmas on the Closed Ward]
He [Harry] cast around wildly for some means of distracting the others so that Neville could leave the ward unnoticed and unquestioned, but Ron had also looked up at the sound of the name “Longbottom', and before Harry could stop him had called out, “Neville!”
Neville jumped and cowered as though a bullet had narrowly missed him.
“It's us, Neville!” said Ron brightly, getting to his feet. “Have you seen — Lockhart's here! Who've you been visiting?”
“Friends of yours, Neville, dear?” said Neville's grandmother graciously, bearing down upon them all. Neville looked as though he would rather be anywhere in the world but here. A dull purple flush was creeping up his plump face and he was not making eye contact with any of them.
“Ah, yes,” said his grandmother, looking closely at Harry and sticking out a shrivelled, clawlike hand for him to shake. “Yes, yes, I know who you are, of course. Neville speaks most highly of you.”
“Er — thanks,” said Harry, shaking hands. Neville did not look at him, but surveyed his own feet, the colour deepening in his face all the while.
“And you two are clearly Weasleys,” Mrs Longbottom continued, proffering her hand regally to Ron and Ginny in turn. “Yes, I know your parents — not well, of course — but fine people, fine people . . . and you must be Hermione Granger?”
Hermione looked rather startled that Mrs Longbottom knew her name, but shook hands all the same.
“Yes, Neville's told me all about you. Helped him out of a few sticky spots, haven't you? He's a good boy,” she said, casting a sternly appraising look down her rather bony nose at Neville, “but be hasn't got his father's talent, I'm afraid to say.” And she jerked her head in the direction of the two beds at the end of the ward, so that the stuffed vulture on her hat trembled alarmingly.
“What?” said Ron, looking amazed. (Harry wanted to stamp on Ron's foot, but that sort of thing is much harder to bring off unnoticed when you're wearing jeans rather than robes.) “Is that your dad down the end, Neville?”
“What's this?” said Mrs Longbottom sharply. “Haven't you told your friends about your parents, Neville?”
Neville took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling and shook his head. Harry could not remember ever feeling sorrier for anyone, but he could not think of any way of helping Neville out of the situation.
"Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of!” said Mrs Longbottom angrily. “You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!”
“I'm not ashamed,” said Neville, very faintly, still looking anywhere but at Harry and the others. Ron was now standing on tiptoe to look over at the inhabitants of the two beds.
Well, you've got a funny way of showing it!” said Mrs Longbottom. “My son and his wife,” she said, turning haughtily to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, “were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who's followers.”
Hermione and Ginny both clapped their hands over their mouths. Ron stopped craning his neck to catch a glimpse of Neville's parents and looked mortified.
[snip to later]
“I never knew,” said Hermione, who looked tearful.
“Nor did I,” said Ron rather hoarsely.
“Nor me,” whispered Ginny.
They all looked at Harry.
“I did,” he said glumly. “Dumbledore told me but I promised I wouldn't tell anyone . . . that's what Bellatrix Lestrange got sent to Azkaban for, using the Cruciatus Curse on Neville's parents until they lost their minds.”
“Bellatrix Lestrange did that?” whispered Hermione, horrified. That woman Kreacher's got a photo of in his den?”
There was a long silence, broken by Lockhart's angry voice.
“Look, I didn't learn joined-up writing for nothing, you know!”

Ron finds out yet another secret that Harry has been keeping from him here. Although, this secret has been explained and the reason behind it, the fact still remains that there is yet another subject on which Harry knew something and Ron didn’t. He is probably also a little ashamed of his voyeur behaviour as well, something that Harry could have spared him if he’d shared the secret.

Ron plays it cool through the rest of the holidays, though the boys don’t become any closer, they don’t grow any further apart either. But Ron’s confidence in Harry is shaken, and he doesn’t make any sorts of excuses for him anymore, but joins in the other side, and accuses Harry of any sort of trouble making.

[Quote: OotP Chap 24 Occlumency]
“Professor Snape, dear. In the kitchen. He'd like a word.” Harry's mouth fell open in horror. He looked around at Ron, Hermione and Ginny, all of whom were gaping back at him. Crookshanks, whom Hermione had been restraining with difficulty for the past quarter of an hour, leapt gleefully on to the board and set the pieces running for cover, squealing at the top of their voices.
“Snape?” said Harry blankly.
“Professor Snape, dear,” said Mrs Weasley reprovingly. “Now come on, quickly, he says he can't stay long.”
“What's he want with you?” said Ron, looking unnerved as Mrs Weasley withdrew from the room. “You haven't done anything, have you?”
“No!” said Harry indignantly, racking his brains to think what he could have done that would make Snape pursue him to Grimmauld Place. Had his last piece of homework perhaps earned a 'T'?
[snip to later]
Instead, he told Ron and Hermione under his voice about having to take Occlumency lessons with Snape.
“Dumbledore wants to stop you having those dreams about Voldemort,” said Hermione at once. Well, you won't be sorry not to have them any more, will you?”
“Extra lessons with Snape?” said Ron, sounding aghast. “I'd rather have the nightmares!”

Though Ron punishes Harry for not cooperating with his plans, he rewards him too when he does. Here he takes Harry’s side against Hermione when Harry tells them right away what had transpired in their absence, showing his loyalty for Harry over even Dumbledore’s wishes.

This confidence Harry shared, seems to have restored Ron’s certainty. He is ready and willing to take up his role by Harry’s side once more. However, Hermione once again interferes when they get back to school, and Cho comes to speak with Harry.

[Quote: OotP Chap 24 Occlumency]
“You take remedial Potions?” asked Zacharias Smith superciliously, having cornered Harry in the Entrance Hall after lunch. “Good Lord, you must be terrible. Snape doesn't usually give extra lessons, does he?”
As Smith strode away in an annoyingly buoyant fashion, Ron glared after him.
“Shall I jinx him? I can still get him from here,” he said, raising his wand and taking aim between Smith's shoulder blades.
“Forget it,” said Harry dismally. “It's what everyone's going to think, isn't it? That I'm really stup — “
“Hi, Harry,” said a voice behind him. He turned round and found Cho standing there.
“Oh,” said Harry as his stomach leapt uncomfortably. “Hi.”
“We'll be in the library, Harry,” said Hermione firmly as she seized Ron above the elbow and dragged him off towards the marble staircase.

Hermione did not wish to be present to witness any exchange between Harry and Cho, and she drags Ron away as well, so that he won’t be either. She wouldn’t want the pain of watching Harry in a relationship with Cho, and she doesn’t want to be present for any of their interaction so that when things go wrong, she could not be blamed for anything. She gives Harry the freedom to live as he would, and she drags Ron out as well, so that he won’t interfere either.

Harry, true to his form, comes out with more food for thought from his first Occlumency lesson. Trouble and Harry Potter seem to go hand in hand, and Ron and Hermione are along for the ride.

[Quote: OotP Chap 24 Occlumency]
When he sat down opposite Ron and Hermione, he caught sight of himself in the window opposite; he was very white and his scar seemed to be showing up more clearly than usual.
“How did it go?” Hermione whispered, and then, looking concerned. “Are you all right, Harry?”
“Yeah . . . fine . . . I dunno,” said Harry impatiently, wincing as pain shot through his scar again. “Listen . . . I've just realised something . . .”
And he told them what he had just seen and deduced.
“So . . . so are you saying . . .” whispered Ron, as Madam Pince swept past, squeaking slightly “that the weapon — the thing You-Know-Who's after — is in the Ministry of Magic?”
“In the Department of Mysteries, it's got to be,” Harry whispered. “I saw that door when your dad took me down to the courtrooms for my hearing and it's definitely the same one he was guarding when the snake bit him.”
Hermione let out a long, slow sigh.
“Of course,” she breathed.
“Of course what?” said Ron rather impatiently.
“Ron, think about it. . . Sturgis Podmore was trying to get through a door at the Ministry of Magic . . . it must have been that one, it's too much of a coincidence!”
“How come Sturgis was trying to break in when he's on our side?” said Ron.
“Well, I don't know,” Hermione admitted. That is a bit odd . . .”
“So what's in the Department of Mysteries?” Harry asked Ron. “Has your dad ever mentioned anything about it?”
“I know they call the people who work in there "Unspeakables",” said Ron, frowning. “Because no one really seems to know what they do — weird place to have a weapon.”
“It's not weird at all, it makes perfect sense,” said Hermione. “It will be something top secret that the Ministry has been developing, I expect . . . Harry, are you sure you're all right?”
For Harry had just run both his hands hard over his forehead as though trying to iron it.
“Yeah . . . fine . . .” he said, lowering his hands, which were trembling. “I just feel a bit . . . I don't like Occlumency much.”
I expect anyone would feel shaky if they'd had their mind attacked over and over again,” said Hermione sympathetically. “Look, let's get back to the common room, we'll be a bit more comfortable there.”

Ron was once more upstaged by Hermione’s talent of deduction and concern for Harry, and he comes to look after Harry, only when Hermione tells him to. Harry’s illness, and his intimacy of Voldemort’s feelings scare Ron, and he doesn’t know quite how to handle things, so he resorts to acting like his mother and saying “it’s for the best.”

[Quote: OotP Chap 24 Occlumency]“Harry? HARRY!”
Someone had hit him around the face. The insane laughter was punctuated with a cry of pain. The happiness was draining out of him, but the laughter continued . . .
He opened his eyes and, as he did so, he became aware that the wild laughter was coming out of his own mouth. The moment he realised this, it died away; Harry lay panting on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, the scar on his forehead throbbing horribly. Ron was bending over him, looking very worried.
“What happened?” he said.
“I . . . dunno . . .” Harry gasped, sitting up again. “He's really happy . . . really happy . . .”
“You-Know-Who is?”
“Something good's happened,” mumbled Harry. He was shaking as badly as he had done after seeing the snake attack Mr Weasley and felt very sick. “Something he's been hoping for.”
The words came, just as they had back in the Gryffindor changing room, as though a stranger was speaking them through Harry's mouth, yet he knew they were true. He took deep breaths, willing himself not to vomit all over Ron. He was very glad that Dean and Seamus were not here to watch this time.
“Hermione told me to come and check on you,” said Ron in a low voice, helping Harry to his feet. “She says your defences will be low at the moment, after Snape's been fiddling around with your mind . . . still, I suppose it'll help in the long run, won't it?” He looked doubtfully at Harry as he helped him towards his bed. Harry nodded without any conviction and slumped back on his pillows, aching all over from having fallen to the floor so often that evening, his scar still prickling painfully. He could not help feeling that his first foray into Occlumency had weakened his mind's resistance rather than strengthening it, and he wondered, with a feeling of great trepidation, what had happened to make Lord Voldemort the happiest he had been in fourteen years.
[snip to later]
There you are, Harry,” said Ron, looking awestruck. That's why he was happy last night.”
“I don't believe this,” snarled Harry, “Fudge is blaming the breakout on Sirius?”
“What other options does he have?” said Hermione bitterly. “He can hardly say, "Sorry, everyone, Dumbledore warned me this might happen, the Azkaban guards have joined Lord Voldemort" — stop whimpering, Ron — "and now Voldemort's worst supporters have broken out, too." I mean, he's spent a good six months telling everyone you and Dumbledore are liars, hasn't he?”

Ron is being consistently upstaged and in the dark with Hermione’s talent of deduction, and course of action. He doesn’t like it; in fact he tells us outright that he hates it.

[Quote: OotP Chap 25 The Beetle at Bay]
“Bode . . .” said Ron. “Bode. It rings a bell . . .”
“We saw him,” Hermione whispered. In St Mungo's, remember? He was in the bed opposite Lockhart's, just lying there, staring at the ceiling. And we saw the Devil's Snare arrive. She — the Healer — said it was a Christmas present.”
Harry looked back at the story. A feeling of horror was rising like bile in his throat.
“How come we didn't recognise Devil's Snare? We've seen it before . . . we could've stopped this from happening.”
“Who expects Devil's Snare to turn up in a hospital disguised as a pot plant?” said Ron sharply. “It's not our fault, whoever sent it to the bloke is to blame! They must be a real prat, why didn't they check what they were buying?”
“Oh, come on, Ron!” said Hermione shakily. “I don't think anyone could put Devil's Snare in a pot and not realise it tries to kill whoever touches it? This — this was murder . . . a clever murder, as well . . . if the plant was sent anonymously, how's anyone ever going to find out who did it?”
Harry was not thinking about Devil's Snare. He was remembering taking the lift down to the ninth level of the Ministry on the day of his hearing and the sallow-faced man who had got in on the Atrium level.
“I met Bode,” he said slowly. “I saw him at the Ministry with your dad.”
Ron's mouth fell open.
“I've heard Dad talk about him at home! He was an Unspeakable.***"
“ — he worked in the Department of Mysteries!”
They looked at each other for a moment, then Hermione pulled the newspaper back towards her, closed it, glared for a moment at the pictures of the ten escaped Death Eaters on the front, then leapt to her feet.
“Where are you going?” said Ron, startled.
To send a letter,” said Hermione, swinging her bag on to her shoulder. “It . . . well, I don't know whether . . . but it's worth trying . . . and I'm the only one who can.”
“I hate it when she does that,” grumbled Ron, as he and Harry got up from the table and made their own, slower way out of the Great Hall. “Would it kill her to tell us what she's up to for once? It'd take her about ten more seconds-“

We break off from the evaluation of Ron for a second to show that JKR knows about control, and how it affects people.

[Quote: OotP Chap 25 The Beetle at Bay]
Harry had thought the breakout from Azkaban might have humbled Umbridge a little, that she might have been abashed at the catastrophe that had occurred right under the nose of her beloved Fudge. It seemed, however, to have only intensified her furious desire to bring every aspect of life at Hogwarts under her personal control.

When things start to spiral out of control for the manipulator, they simply grab the reins tighter and try to squeeze obedience out of their victims, not knowing that by doing so, more and more people recognize and escape, or rebel against such control.

So, when Ron gets the chance to deduce something on his own, he grasps for the straws he’s been thrown. When Harry confides his fear and despair about the Occlumency lessons, Ron is quick to speculate a bad guy, just as he had in their first year, when things were more to his liking.

[Quote: OotP Chap 25 The Beetle at Bay]
“Maybe it's a bit like an illness,” said Hermione, looking concerned when Harry confided in her and Ron. “A fever or something. It has to get worse before it gets better.”
The lessons with Snape are making it worse,” said Harry flatly “I'm getting sick of my scar hurting and I'm getting bored with walking down that corridor every night.” He rubbed his forehead angrily. “I just wish the door would open, I'm sick of standing staring at it — “
That's not funny,” said Hermione sharply. “Dumbledore doesn't want you to have dreams about that corridor at all, or he wouldn't have asked Snape to teach you Occlumency. You're just going to have to work a bit harder in your lessons.”
“I am working!” said Harry, nettled. "You try it some time — Snape: trying to get inside your head — it's not a bundle of laughs, you know!”
“Maybe . . .” said Ron slowly.
“Maybe what?” said Hermione, rather snappishly.
“Maybe it's not Harry's fault he can't close his mind,” said Ron darkly.
“What do you mean?” said Hermione.
“Well, maybe Snape isn't really trying to help Harry . . .”
Harry and Hermione stared at him. Ron looked darkly and meaningfully from one to the other.
“Maybe,” he said again, in a lower voice, “he's actually trying to open Harry's mind a bit wider . . . make it easier for You-Know—"
“Shut up, Ron,” said Hermione angrily. “How many times have you suspected Snape, and when have you ever been right? Dumbledore trusts him, he works for the Order, that ought to be enough.”
“He used to be a Death Eater,” said Ron stubbornly. “And we've never seen proof that he really swapped sides.”
“Dumbledore trusts him,” Hermione repeated. “And if we can't trust Dumbledore, we can't trust anyone.”

Harry never shows support for either of them, and whatever his opinion on the matter is, his usual automatic support of Ron is gone. Ron is desperately searching for Harry’s loyalty this year, and so the next morning, he plays one of his trumps with Harry, his pity card.

[Quote: OotP Chap 25 The Beetle at Bay]
On the morning of the fourteenth he dressed particularly carefully. He and Ron arrived at breakfast just in time for the arrival of the post owls, Hedwig was not there — not that Harry had expected her — but Hermione was tugging a letter from the beak of an unfamiliar brown owl as they sat down.
“And about time! If it hadn't come today . . .” she said, eagerly tearing open the envelope and pulling out a small piece of parchment. Her eyes sped from left to right as she read through the message and a grimly pleased expression spread across her face.
“Listen, Harry,” she said, looking up at him, “this is really important. Do you think you could meet me in the Three Broomsticks around midday?”
“Well . . . I dunno,” said Harry uncertainly. “Cho might be expecting me to spend the whole day with her. We never said what we were going to do.”
Well, bring her along if you must,” said Hermione urgently. “But will you come?”
“Well . . . all right, but why?”
“I haven't got time to tell you now, I've got to answer this quickly.”
And she hurried out of the Great Hall, the letter clutched in one hand and a piece of toast in the other.
“Are you coming?” Harry asked Ron, but he shook his head, looking glum.
“I can't come into Hogsmeade at all; Angelina wants a full day's training. Like it's going to help; we're the worst team I've ever seen. You should see Sloper and Kirke, they're pathetic, even worse than I am.” He heaved a great sigh. “I dunno why Angelina won't just let me resign.”
It's because you're good when you're on form, that's why,” said Harry irritably.
He found it very hard to be sympathetic to Ron's plight, when he himself would have given almost anything to be playing in the forthcoming match against Hufflepuff. Ron seemed to have noticed Harry's tone, because he did not mention Quidditch again during breakfast, and there was a slight frostiness in the way they said goodbye to each other shortly afterwards.

This situation is among the worst that Ron has had to face all year. Harry is going to spend all day in Hogsmeade without him, and with Cho and Hermione, a whole day to be influenced by others, without Ron to counter anything that could jeopardize their once tight-knit relationship. And on top of that, Harry shows him no sympathy whatsoever.

[Quote: OotP Chap 26 Seen and Unforseen]
Harry looked over at Ron, who was hunched in a corner, staring at his knees, a bottle of Butterbeer clutched in his hand.
“Angelina still won't let him resign,” Ginny said, as though reading Harry's mind. “She says she knows he's got it in him.”
Harry liked Angelina for the faith she was showing in Ron, but at the same time thought it would really be kinder to let him leave the team. Ron had left the pitch to another booming chorus of “Weasley is our King' sung with great gusto by the Slytherins, who were now favourites to win the Quidditch Cup. Fred and George wandered over.
“I haven't even got the heart to take the mickey out of him,” said Fred, looking over at Ron's crumpled figure. “Mind you . . . when he missed the fourteenth — “
He made wild motions with his arms as though doing an upright doggy-paddle.
“ — well, I'll save it for parties, eh?”
Ron dragged himself up to bed shortly after this. Out of respect for his feelings, Harry waited a while before going up to the dormitory himself, so that Ron could pretend to be asleep if he wanted to Sure enough, when Harry finally entered the room Ron was snoring a little too loudly to be entirely plausible.

Here we see one of the major differences between the boys. Harry treated Ron as he would’ve hoped to have been treated in that situation, he left him to his misery and allowed him time to himself out of respect for his feelings. However, Ron is different than Harry, and he’s shown it by the way he treats Harry. He needs the reassurance that whatever happens, his friends stay by him. He is denied that through Harry’s misinterpretation of Ron’s silence. He is seemingly ostracized in the Common room, and left abandoned when he goes up to the dormitory.

Of all the times that Harry has abandoned him in favor of another plan, this is the worst. He failed to live up to Harry’s performance in Quidditch, and Gryffindor lost the game. He sees Harry’s respect as punishment.

At the same time, Harry is getting annoyed with Ron which has rarely happened before. He is frustrated at not being allowed to play Quidditch and hypothesizes how he might have been able to save the game. Also, that evening, Ron’s snore wakes him up right before he reaches the door, and while that small incident was neither boy’s fault, Harry’s irritation rises a bit more.

[Quote: OotP Chap 26 Seen and Unforeseen]
Harry got into bed, thinking about the match. It had been immensely frustrating watching from the sidelines. He was quite impressed by Ginny's performance but he knew if he had been playing he could have caught the Snitch sooner . . . there had been a moment when it had been fluttering near Kirke's ankle; if Ginny hadn't hesitated, she might have been able to scrape a win for Gryffindor.
[snip to later]
Ron gave a loud, rasping, genuine snore and Harry awoke abruptly with his right hand stretched in front of him in the darkness, to open a door that was hundreds of miles away. He let it fall with a feeling of mingled disappointment and guilt. He knew he should not have seen the door, but at the same time felt so consumed with curiosity about what was behind it that he could not help feeling annoyed with Ron . . . if only he could have saved his snore for just another minute.

However, whatever the consequence of the irritation between the boys, is postponed by the arrival of the interview Harry gave in the Quibbler, and a couple more interesting twists, such as Luna’s attentions to Ron, and Harry’s visions.

[Quote: OotP Chap 26 Seen and Unforeseen (emphasis mine)]
“What's going on?” Ron asked in amazement, as the whole of Gryffindor table leaned forwards to watch and another seven owls landed amongst the first ones, screeching, hooting and flapping their wings.
“Harry!” said Hermione breathlessly, plunging her hands into the feathery mass and pulling out a screech owl bearing a long, cylindrical package. “I think I know what this means — open this one first!”
Harry ripped off the brown packaging. Out rolled a tightly furled copy of the March edition of The Quibbler. He unrolled it to see his own face grinning sheepishly at him from the front cover. In large red letters across this picture were the words:

HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST:
THE TRUTH ABOUT HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED
AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN

'It's good, isn't it?” said Luna, who had drifted over to the Gryffindor table and now squeezed herself on to the bench between Fred and Ron. “It came out yesterday, I asked Dad to send you a free copy. I expect all these,” she waved a hand at the assembled owls still scrabbling around on the table in front of Harry, “are letters from readers.”
That's what I thought,” said Hermione eagerly. Harry, d'you mind if we — ?”
“Help yourself,” said Harry, feeling slightly bemused.
Ron and Hermione both started ripping open envelopes.
“This one's from a bloke who thinks you're off your rocker,” said Ron, glancing down his letter. “Ah well . . .”
This woman recommends you try a good course of Shock Spells at St Mungo's,” said Hermione, looking disappointed and crumpling up a second.
This one looks OK, though,” said Harry slowly scanning a long letter from a witch in Paisley. “Hey she says she believes me!”
This one's in two minds,” said Fred, who had joined in the letter-opening with enthusiasm. “Says you don't come across as a mad person, but he really doesn't want to believe You-Know-Who's back so he doesn't know what to think now. Blimey, what a waste of parchment.”
“Here's another one you've convinced, Harry!” said Hermione excitedly. “Having read your side of the story, I am forced to the conclusion that the Daily Prophet has treated you very unfairly . . . little though I want to think that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned, I am forced to accept that you are telling the truth . . . Oh, this is wonderful!”
“Another one who thinks you're barking,” said Ron, throwing a crumpled letter over his shoulder “. . . but this one says you've got her converted and she now thinks you're a real hero — she's put in a photograph, too — wow!”
[snip to later]***
“What?” yelled a voice nearby.
Harry Hailed around madly, became entangled in the hangings and fell out of his bed. For a few seconds he did not know where he was; he was convinced he was about to see the white, skull-like lace looming at him out of the dark again, then very near to him Ron's voice spoke.
“Will you stop acting like a maniac so I can get you out of here!”
Ron wrenched the hangings apart and Harry stared up at him in the moonlight, flat on his back, his scar searing with pain. Ron looked as though he had just been getting ready for bed; one arm was out of his robes.
“Has someone been attacked again?” asked Ron, pulling Harry roughly to his feet. “Is it Dad? Is it that snake?”
[snip to later]
“Did you say,” murmured Ron, putting his head close to Harry's on the pretence of helping himself to water from the jug on his bedside table, “that you were You-Know-Who?”
“Yeah,” said Harry quietly.
Ron took an unnecessarily large gulp of water; Harry saw it spill over his chin on to his chest. “Harry,” he said, as Dean and Seamus clattered around noisily, pulling off their robes and talking, “you've got to tell — “
“I haven't got to tell anyone,” said Harry shortly. “I wouldn't have seen it at all if I could do Occlumency. I'm supposed to have learned to shut this stuff out. That's what they want.”
By ‘they’ he meant Dumbledore. He got back into bed and rolled over on to his side with his back to Ron and after a while he heard Ron's mattress creak as he, too, lay back down.

Again and again during the course of the year, Ron is coming to terms with exactly what Harry is. He understands that Harry is connected to Voldemort, and Voldemort still terrifies him. He remains submissive to Harry’s wishes on the matter though, because he isn’t sure what to do.

Again, when they tell Hermione, she is quick to deduce things that have totally escaped both boys. Even worse, she has gotten over her fear of Voldemort and tells Ron off for not having done the same.

[Quote: OotP Chap 26 Seen and Unforeseen]
“Sturgis!” gasped Hermione, looking thunderstruck.
“Sorry?” said Ron, looking bewildered.
“Sturgis Podmore — “ said Hermione breathlessly, “arrested for trying to get through a door! Lucius Malfoy must have got him too! I bet he did it the day you saw him there, Harry. Sturgis had Moody's Invisibility Cloak, right? So, what if he was standing guard by the door, invisible, and Malfoy heard him move — or guessed someone was there — or just did the Imperius Curse on the off-chance there'd be a guard there? So, when Sturgis next had an opportunity — probably when it was his turn on guard duty again — he tried to get into the Department to steal the weapon for Voldemort — Ron, be quiet — but he got caught and sent to Azkaban . . .”
She gazed at Harry.

Ron stays conspicuously out of the scene from there on out, and later as Harry is narrating how horrible the rest of the week is, the only mention of Ron comes when Harry relates that he didn’t share his thoughts on the dream with either him or Hermione. Hermione was left out because he didn’t want another telling off from her, but no excuse is given for Ron.

The boys are drifting apart. They are spending unprecedented amounts of time on their own, and engaged in their own activities. They are also dealing with enormous aspects of life without the support of each other. Harry is keeping a lot of secrets from his two friends, his feelings for girls, his fears of his connection with Voldemort, even the pain he endures from Umbridge’s torture. On the flip side, Ron is sharing nothing with his friends either, least of all his deepest fears that he never even admits to himself, the fact that he’s losing the dynamics that the trio of friends once shared.

Through all the excitement and disruption that happens through Dumbledore’s departure and the Weasley Twin’s havoc, Ron and Harry spend little time together, and what time they are together is rarely spent in conversation. Harry speaks little with Hermione, and it doesn’t seem that Ron speaks much with her either. They spend their time busily preparing for exams, classes, and reacting to the mayhem around them.

The first opportunity that comes along for them to once more discuss things, is when they are studying for OWLS. Hermione mentions Cho, and Ron is quick to support Harry’s supposed decision to fight with her. If Harry and Cho break up, Harry’s sympathies and attentions will once more return to his friends, specifically, Ron.

So, Ron does what he does best, he points out the problems, leans support to Harry and the DA, and against Cho and Marietta.

[Quote: OotP Chap 29 Careers Advice]
It was the first day of the Easter holidays and Hermione, as was her custom, had spent a large part of the day drawing up revision timetables for the three of them. Harry and Ron had let her do it; ii. was easier than arguing with her and, in any case, they might come in useful.
Ron had been startled to discover there were only six weeks left until their exams.
“How can that come as a shock?” Hermione demanded, as she tapped each little square on Ron's timetable with her wand so that it flashed a different colour according to its subject.
“I dunno,” said Ron, “there's been a lot going on.”
“Well, there you are,” she said, handing him his timetable, “if you follow that you should do fine.” Ron looked down it gloomily, but then brightened.
“You've given me an evening off every week!”
“That's for Quidditch practice,” said Hermione.
The smile faded from Ron's face.
“What's the point?” he said dully. “We've got about as much chance of winning the Quidditch Cup this year as Dad's got of becoming Minister for Magic.”
Hermione said nothing; she was looking at Harry, who was staring blankly at the opposite wall of the common room while Crookshanks pawed at his hand, trying to get his ears scratched.
“What's wrong, Harry?”
“What?” he said quickly. “Nothing.”
He seized his copy of Defensive Magical Theory and pretended to be looking something up in the index. Crookshanks gave him up as a bad job and slunk away under Hermione's chair.
“I saw Cho earlier,” said Hermione tentatively. “She looked really miserable, too . . . have you two had a row again?”
“Wha— oh, yeah, we have,” said Harry, seizing gratefully on the excuse.
“What about?”
That sneak friend of hers, Marietta,” said Harry.
“Yeah, well, I don't blame you!” said Ron angrily, setting down his revision timetable. “If it hadn't been for her . . .”
Ron went into a rant about Marietta Edgecombe, which Harry found helpful; all he had to do was look angry, nod and say “Yeah' and That's right' whenever Ron drew breath, leaving his mind free to dwell, ever more miserably, on what he had seen in the Pensieve.

Immediately after this incident comes the plot to use Umbridge’s fire in order to speak with Sirius. Ron has still not received any conformation or denial about Harry’s position girl-wise, and their friendship still seems to be stretched with differing interests and responsibilities.

[Quote: OotP Chap 29 Careers Advice]
He had been thinking about it for a fortnight and could come up with no alternative. Umbridge herself had told him that the only fire that was not being watched was her own.
“Are — you — insane?” said Hermione in a hushed voice.
Ron had lowered his leaflet on jobs in the Cultivated Fungus Trade and was watching the conversation warily.
“I don't think so,” said Harry, shrugging.
“And how are you going to get in there in the first place?”
Harry was ready for this question.
“Sirius's knife,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“Christmas before last Sirius gave me a knife that'll open any lock,” said Harry. “So even if she's bewitched the door so Alahomora won't work, which I bet she has — “
“What do you think about this?” Hermione demanded of Ron, and Harry was reminded irresistibly of Mrs Weasley appealing to her husband during Harry's first dinner in Grimmauld Place.
“I dunno,” said Ron, looking alarmed at being asked to give an opinion. “If Harry wants to do it, it's up to him, isn't it?”
“Spoken like a true friend and Weasley,” said Fred, clapping Ron hard on the back. “Right, then. We're thinking of doing it tomorrow, just after lessons, because it should cause maximum impact ii everybody's in the corridors — Harry, we'll set it off in the east wing somewhere, draw her right away from her own office — I reckon we should be able to guarantee you, what, twenty minutes?” he said, looking at George.
“Easy,” said George.
“What sort of diversion is it?” asked Ron.
“You'll see, little bro', said Fred, as he and George got up again. “At least, you will if you trot along to Gregory the Smarmy's corridor round about five o'clock tomorrow.”

Ron is taken by surprise with Hermione’s plea for support. This isn’t the first time that he’s sided with her against Harry, but it is the first time that she has directly asked him to do so. However, he almost reflexively sides with Harry, winning admiration from his older brothers. Their support and praise are a rarity, and so Ron is immediately gratified by his stance.

This, along with Hermione’s displeasure, and the widening of the gap between her and Harry, resolves Ron’s position. He doesn’t take an obvious stance against her, but simply tries to put her back in her place of servitude. After that fails, he dissuades her from continuing, but still doesn’t take a side with Harry.

[Quote: OotP Chap 29 Careers Advice]
History of Magic as Harry and Ron were, keeping up a stream of whispered admonitions that Harry tried very hard to ignore.
“. . . and if she does catch you there, apart from being expelled, she'll be able to guess you've been talking to Snuffles and this time I expect she'll force you to drink Veritaserum and answer her questions . . .”
“Hermione,” said Ron in a low and indignant voice, “are you going to stop telling Harry off and listen to Binns, or am I going to have to take my own notes?”
“You take notes for a change, it won't kill you!”
By the time they reached the dungeons, neither Harry nor Ron was speaking to Hermione. Undeterred, she took advantage of their silence to maintain an uninterrupted flow of dire warnings, all uttered under her breath in a vehement hiss that caused Seamus to waste five whole minutes checking his cauldron for leaks.
[snip to later]
Ron seemed determined to give neither his opinion nor his advice; he would not look at Harry, though when Hermione opened her mouth to try dissuading Harry some more, he said in a low voice, “Give it a rest, OK? He can make up his own mind.”

When Fred and George make their spectacular exit from Hogwarts, Ron is left in the wake of their glory. He doesn’t seem to be suffering from the reflected attention either. In fact, he is back to his old form and trying to reign in Hermione and Harry’s affections again, by using his old standby, the pity card.

[Quote: OotP Chap 30 Grawp]
He and Ron both tapped the teacups they were supposed to be charming with their wands. Harry's spouted four very short legs that could not reach the desk and wriggled pointlessly in midair. Ron's grew four very thin spindly legs that hoisted the cup off the desk with great difficulty, trembled for a few seconds, then folded, causing the cup to crack into two.
“Reparo,” said Hermione quickly, mending Ron's cup with a wave of her wand. That's all very well, but what if Montague's permanently injured?”
“Who cares?” said Ron irritably, while his teacup stood up drunkenly again, trembling violently at the knees. “Montague shouldn't have tried to take all those points from Gryffindor, should he? If you want to worry about anyone, Hermione, worry about me!”
“You?” she said, catching her teacup as it scampered happily away across the desk on four sturdy little willow-patterned legs, and replacing it in front of her. “Why should I be worried about you?”
“When Mum's next letter finally gets through Umbridge's screening process,” said Ron bitterly, now holding his cup up while its frail legs tried feebly to support its weight, “I'm going to be in deep trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if she's sent another Howler.”
“But — “
“It'll be my fault Fred and George left, you wait,” said Ron darkly. “She'll say I should've stopped them leaving, I should've grabbed the ends of their brooms and hung on or something . . . yeah, it'll be all my fault.”
“Well, if she dot's say that it'll be very unfair, you couldn't have done anything! But I'm sure she won't, I mean, if it's really true they've got premises in Diagon Alley, they must have been planning this for ages.”
“Yeah, but that's another thing, how did they get premises?” said Ron, hitting his teacup so hard with his wand that its legs collapsed again and it lay twitching before him. “It's a bit dodgy, isn't it? They'll need loads of Galleons to afford the rent on a place in Diagon Alley. She'll want to know what they've been up to, to get their hands on that sort of gold.”
“Well, yes, that occurred to me, too,” said Hermione, allowing her teacup to jog in neat little circles around Harry's, whose stubby little legs were still unable to touch the desktop, “I've been wondering whether Mundungus has persuaded them to sell stolen goods or something awful.”
“He hasn't,” said Harry curtly.
“How do you know?” said Ron and Hermione together.
“Because — “ Harry hesitated, but the moment to confess finally seemed to have come. There was no good to be gained in keeping silent if it meant anyone suspected that Fred and George were criminals. “Because they got the gold from me. I gave them my Triwizard winnings last June.”
There was a shocked silence, then Hermione's teacup jogged right over the edge of the desk and smashed on the floor.
“Oh, Harry, you didn't!” she said.
“Yes, I did,” said Harry mutinously. “And I don't regret it, either. I didn't need the gold and they'll be great at running a joke shop.”
“But this is excellent!” said Ron, looking thrilled. “It's all your fault, Harry — Mum can't blame me at all! Can I tell her?”
“Yeah, I suppose you'd better,” said Harry dully, "specially if she thinks they're receiving stolen cauldrons or something.”

Harry has just given Ron a very good excuse to tell his mother. So, even though this is yet another secret that he has kept from Ron, it is also a blemish on his thus far perfect record with Mrs. Weasley. A chance for Ron to come out innocent while Harry takes the blame. He is thrilled with the opportunity.

Thrilled enough, in fact, to once more take Harry’s side in an argument, which he shows by his derisive snort at Hermione. However, she gives away his secret by telling Harry that Ron had been letting her know that Harry was still having the nightmares. Harry retaliates against this by reminding Ron of his dismal performances in Quidditch. The war between the boys is on full steam now, and they are both playing off each other to try and preserve their own selves.

[Quote: OotP Chap 30 Grawp (emphasis mine)]
Hermione said nothing at all for the rest of the lesson, but Harry had a shrewd suspicion that her self-restraint was bound to crack before long. Sure enough, once they had left the castle for break and were standing around in the weak May sunshine, she fixed Harry with a beady eye and opened her mouth with a determined air.
Harry interrupted her before she had even started.
“It's no good nagging me, it's done,” he said firmly. “Fred and George have got the gold — spent a good bit of it, too, by the sounds of it — and I can't get it back from them and I don't want to. So save your breath, Hermione.”
“I wasn't going to say anything about Fred and George!” she said in an injured voice.
Ron snorted disbelievingly and Hermione threw him a very dirty look.
“No, I wasn't!” she said angrily. “As a matter of fact, I was going to ask Harry when he's going to go back to Snape and ask for more Occlumency lessons!”
Harry's heart sank. Once they had exhausted the subject of Fred and George's dramatic departure, which admittedly had taken many hours, Ron and Hermione had wanted to hear news of Sirius. As Harry had not confided in them the reason he had wanted to talk to Sirius in the first place, it had been hard to think of what to tell them; he had ended up saying, truthfully, that Sirius wanted Harry to resume Occlumency lessons. He had been regretting this ever since; Hermione would not let the subject drop and kept reverting to it when Harry least expected it.
“You can't tell me you've stopped having funny dreams,” Hermione
said now, “because Ron told me you were muttering in your sleep again last night.”
Harry threw Ron a furious look. Ron had the grace to look ashamed of himself.
“You were only muttering a bit,” he mumbled apologetically. “Something about "just a bit further".”
“I dreamed I was watching you lot play Quidditch,” Harry lied brutally. “I was trying to get you to stretch out a bit further to grab the Quaffle.”
Ron's ears went red. Harry felt a kind of vindictive pleasure; he had not, of course, dreamed anything of the sort.

Ron seems willing to forget their differences later though, and tries to engage Harry in Quidditch talk. Harry seems less willing to chum-up, and only gives the appearance of comradeship as he contemplates his own private concerns.

[Quote: OotP Chap 30 Grawp]
“You know,” said Ron, whose ears were still flaming red, “if Montague doesn't recover before Slytherin play Hufflepuff, we might be in with a chance of winning the Cup.”
“Yeah, I s'pose so,” said Harry, glad of a change of subject.
“I mean, we've won one, lost one — if Slytherin lose to Hufflepuff next Saturday — “
“Yeah, that's right,” said Harry, losing track of what he was agreeing to. Cho Chang had just walked across the courtyard, determinedly not looking at him.

He leaves all the supportive comments to Hermione before the match as well. Ron is mentally preparing himself, and he has Harry’s recent failures to buoy his confidence before the match.

[Quote: Chap 30 Grawp]
The final match of the Quidditch season, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, was to take place on the last weekend of May. Although Slytherin had been narrowly defeated by Hufflepuff in their last match, Gryffindor were not daring to hope for victory, due mainly (though of course nobody said it to him) to Ron's abysmal goal-keeping record. He, however, seemed to have found a new optimism.
“I mean, I can't get any worse, can I?” he told Harry and Hermione grimly over breakfast on the morning of the match. “Nothing to lose now, is there?”
“You know,” said Hermione, as she and Harry walked down to the pitch a little later in the midst of a very excitable crowd, “I think Ron might do better without Fred and George around. They never exactly gave him a lot of confidence.”

Ron enjoys victory for the first time here. He has finally legitimately done something to achieve the recognition he craves, and he did it on his own. The emotional high that this gives him, causes him to forget, for a while, all his previous quarrels with his friends, and sustains his need for recognition, so that he doesn’t have to resort to any of his usual manipulative behaviors.

This is the first triumph Ron has earned, and he deserves the happiness he garners from it. However, he goes a little overboard, and when Harry doesn’t show him the amount of adoration he had expected, and credits the whole team, instead of just Ron, he throws Cho into the conversation as a barb. Harry does rise to the bait, but the issue fades quickly in light of Hagrid’s plight which Ron is anxious to dismiss as it takes his victory away, in more ways than one.

[Quote: Chap 31 Owls]
Ron's euphoria at helping Gryffindor scrape the Quidditch cup was such that he couldn't settle to anything next day. All he wanted to do was talk over the match, so Harry and Hermione found it very difficult to find an opening in which to mention Grawp. Not that either of them tried very hard; neither was keen to be the one to bring Ron back to reality in quite such a brutal fashion. As it was another fine, warm day, they persuaded him to join them in revising under the beech tree at the edge of the lake, where they had less chance of being overheard than in the common room. Ron was not particularly keen on this idea at first — he was thoroughly enjoying being patted on the back by every Gryffindor who walked past his chair, not to mention the occasional outbursts of “Weasley is our King' — but after a while he agreed that some fresh air might do him good.
They spread their books out in the shade of the beech tree and sat down while Ron talked them through his first save of the match for what felt like the dozenth time.
he concluded modestly, sweeping his hair back quite unnecessarily so that it looked interestingly windswept and glancing around to see whether the people nearest to them — a bunch of gossiping third-year Hufflepuffs — had heard him. “And then, when Chambers came at me about five minutes later — What?” Ron asked, having stopped mid-sentence at the look on Harry's face. “Why are you grinning?”
“I'm not,” said Harry quickly, and looked down at his Transfiguration notes, attempting to straighten his lace. The truth was that Ron had just reminded Harry forcibly of another Gryffindor Quidditch player who had once sat rumpling his hair under this very tree. “I'm just glad we won, that's all.”
“Yeah,” said Ron slowly, savouring the words, “we won. Did you see the look on Chang's face when Ginny got the Snitch right out from under her nose?”
“I suppose she cried, did she?” said Harry bitterly.
“Well, yeah — more out of temper than anything, though . . .” Ron frowned slightly. “But you saw her chuck her broom away when she got back to the ground, didn't you?”
“Er — “ said Harry
“Well, actually . . . no, Ron,” said Hermione with a heavy sigh, putting down her book and looking at him apologetically. “As a matter of fact, the only bit of the match Harry and I saw was Davies's first goal.”
“Yeah?” said Ron, whose face was growing rather red. “How come?”
“It was Hagrid,” said Harry. “He decided to tell us why he's been covered in injuries ever since he got back from the giants. He wanted us to go into the Forest with him, we had no choice, you know how he gets. Anyway . . ."
The story was told in five minutes, by the end of which Ron's indignation had been replaced by a look of total incredulity.
“He brought one back and hid it in the Forest?”
“Yep,” said Harry grimly.
“No,” said Ron, as though by saying this he could make it untrue. “No, he can't have.”
“Well, he has,” said Hermione firmly. “Grawps about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up twenty-foot pine trees, and knows me,” she snorted, “as Hermy.”
Ron gave a nervous laugh.
“And Hagrid wants us to . . . ?”
Teach him English, yeah,” said Harry.
“He's lost his mind,” said Ron in an almost awed voice.
“Yes,” said Hermione irritably, turning a page of Intermediate Transfiguration and glaring at a series of diagrams showing an owl turning into a pair of opera glasses. “Yes, I'm starting to think he has. But, unfortunately, he made Harry and me promise.”
“Well, you're just going to have to break your promise, that's all,” said Ron firmly. “I mean, come on . . . we've got exams and we're about that far — “ he held up his hand to show thumb and forefinger almost touching “- from being chucked out as it is. And anyway . . . remember Norbert? Remember Aragog? Have we ever come off better for mixing with any of Hagrid's monster mates?”
“I know, it's just that — we promised,” said Hermione in a small voice.
Ron smoothed his hair flat again, looking preoccupied.
“Well,” he sighed, “Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, has he? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll hang on till the end of term and we won't have to go near Grawp at all.”

Ron does an amazing job of reigning in his temper here, but it is to his advantage to do so. Harry is a good friend, why wouldn’t he grin at Ron’s victory? Shouldn’t he be happy for his friend? Ron suspects that the grin is for a different reason though, and stops his never-ending narrative in order to confront Harry about it. When Harry responds we won, instead of you won, he effectively takes the wind out of Ron’s sails.

Ron purposely brings up Cho here, the first time that she is talked about since the Valentine’s Day disaster. Perhaps he was probing to see what Harry felt, but it’s more likely he knew that they weren’t getting along, and just brought her up to deflate Harry in retaliation.

Ron certainly doesn’t want to have anything to do with Hagrid’s plea, and resorts to his normal name calling and crazy making in order to justify his leaving Hagrid high and dry. One of Ron’s qualities that gets extolled is his extreme loyalty, but he demonstrates here, that if the person can’t fulfill some wish of his, or gain him the recognition he craves, there is no such thing as loyalty in his behavior.

The upcoming O.W.L.S. take up the time and attention of all the students, so intrigue dies down for a bit to allow study and test preparation to take place. However, Ron’s attitude about life is brought out in an interesting and very subtle conversation when Malfoy tries to scare everyone into thinking who you know is what matters most for the tests, and not what you know. It seems Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy agree on this point…interesting as that is the same reason both boys were so eager to meet and befriend Harry on the train their first year.

[Quote: Chap 31 Owls]
Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy had found a different way to induce panic. “Of course, it's not what you know,” he was heard to tell Crabbe and Goyle loudly outside Potions a few days before the exams were to start, “it's who you know. Now, Father's been friendly with the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority for years — old Griselda Marchbanks — we've had her round for dinner and everything . . .”
“Do you think that's true?” Hermione whispered in alarm to Harry and Ron.
“Nothing we can do about it if it is,” said Ron gloomily.
“I don't think it's true,” said Neville quietly from behind them. “Because Griselda Marchbanks is a friend of my gran's, and she's never mentioned the Malfoy's.”
“What's she like, Neville?” asked Hermione at once. “Is she strict?”
“Bit like Gran, really,” said Neville in a subdued voice.
“Knowing her won't hurt your chances, though, will it?” Ron told him encouragingly.
“Oh, I don't think it will make any difference,” said Neville, still more miserably. “Gran's always telling Professor Marchbanks I'm not as good as my dad . . . well . . . you saw what she's like at St Mungo's.”

Ron is always looking for the easiest path, one that will give him the highest payout, with the least amount of effort or exertion on his part. This is one reason he fails to achieve anything on his own, forcing him to resort to manipulation for emotional gratification. He demonstrates this once more here, when he and Harry are tempted into taking drugs to pass their exams.

[Quote: OotP Chap 31 Owls]
Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility and wakefulness had sprung up among the fifth- and seventh-years. Harry and Ron were much tempted by the bottle of Baruffio's Brain Elixir offered to them by Ravenclaw sixth-year Eddie Carmichael, who swore it was solely responsible for the nine “Outstanding' OWLs he had gained the previous summer and was offering a whole pint for a mere twelve Galleons. Ron assured Harry he would reimburse him for his half the moment he left Hogwarts and got a job, but before they could close the deal, Hermione had confiscated the bottle from Carmichael and poured the contents down a toilet.
“Hermione, we wanted to buy that!” shouted Ron.
“Don't be stupid,” she snarled. “You might as well take Harold Dingle's powdered dragon claw and have done with it.”
“Dingle's got powdered dragon claw?” said Ron eagerly.
“Not any more,” said Hermione. “I confiscated that, too. None of these things actually work, you know.”
“Dragon claw does work!” said Ron. “It's supposed to be incredible, really gives your brain a boost, you come over all cunning for a few hours — Hermione, let me have a pinch, go on, it can't hurt — “
This stuff can,” said Hermione grimly. “I've had a look at it, and it's actually dried Doxy droppings.”
This information took the edge off Harry and Ron's desire for brain stimulants.

Ron, true to character, stays perfectly in control and steady during the exams. It is a very calculated study, to be sure. He still expresses his displeasure at Hermione, but he displays none of the nervous symptoms that everyone else does. He is even calm enough to reassure Harry, who was agitated about Hermione right before the exams.

[Quote: OotP Chap 31 Owls]
"Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?” asked Hermione anxiously in the Entrance Hall two hours later, still clutching the exam paper. “I'm not sure I did myself justice on Cheering Charms, I just ran out of time. Did you put in the counter-charm for hiccoughs? I wasn't sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much — and on question twenty-three — “
“Hermione,” said Ron sternly, “we've been through this before . . . we're not going through every exam afterwards, it's bad enough doing them once.”
The fifth-years ate lunch with the rest of the school (the four house tables had reappeared for the lunch hour), then they trooped off into the small chamber beside the Great Hall, where they were to wait until called for their practical examination. As small groups of students were called forwards in alphabetical order, those left behind muttered incantations and practised wand movements, occasionally poking each other in the back or eye by mistake.
Hermione's name was called. Trembling, she kit the chamber with Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle and Daphne Greengrass. Students who had already been tested did not return afterwards, so Harry and Ron had no idea how Hermione had done.
“She'll be fine, remember she got a hundred and twelve per cent on one of our Charms tests?” said Ron. Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick called, “Parkinson, Pansy — Patil, Padma — Patil, Parvati — Potter. Harry.”
“Good luck,” said Ron quietly. Harry walked into the Great Hall, clutching his wand so tightly his hand shook.

Even though he makes some mistakes, Ron maintains his composure and manages to belittle Hermione, though she is facing one of her deepest fears, and biggest insecurities.

[Quote: OotP Chap 31 Owls]
He could tell Ron, though; Ron had caused a dinner plate to mutate into a large mushroom and had no idea how it had happened.
[snip to later]
“How were the Runes?” said Ron, yawning and stretching.
“I mis-translated ehwaz,” said Hermione furiously. “It means partnership, not defence', I mixed it up with eihwaz.”
“Ah well,” said Ron lazily, “that's only one mistake, isn't it, you'll still get — “
“Oh, shut up!” said Hermione angrily. “It could be the one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail. And what's more, someone's put another Niffler in Umbridge's office. I don't know how they got it through that new door, but I just walked past there and Umbridge is shrieking her head off — by the sound of it, it tried to take a chunk out of her leg — “
“Good,” said Harry and Ron together.
“It is not good!” said Hermione hotly. “She thinks it's Hagrid doing it, remember? And we do not want Hagrid chucked out!”
“He's teaching at the moment; she can't blame him,” said Harry, gesturing out of the window.
“Oh, you're so naive sometimes, Harry. You really think Umbridge will wait for proof?” said Hermione, who seemed determined to be in a towering temper, and she swept off towards the girls' dormitories, banging the door behind her.
“Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl,” said Ron, very quietly, prodding his queen forward to beat up one of Harry's knights.

Ron’s forced to do some quick thinking after this, as the world events spiral out of control, directly affecting Harry, the trio, and all the students at Hogwarts. He is frightened, truly frightened at what they’re faced with, and he has to choose between going with Harry and into those dangers, or siding with Hermione and chance losing Harry. He has been distancing himself throughout the year, but Percy’s letter curbed that attempt, and he isn’t ready for the imminent breach, so he sides with Harry rather than lose him.

Once he makes his decision, that cool control takes over, and his arguments are logical over emotional, and pointed against Hermione, one wild speculation after another, as fast as he can think of them. He is somewhat used to Hermione winning, but she isn't logical here at all, her arguments turn emotional. When Harry joins in, he is highly emotional too, and turns on Ron, as though he had not just arguing for him. This throws everyone in a new state, and Ron's hope of Hermione winning the argument fell flat.

[Quote: OotP Chap 32 Out of the Fire]
“Harry!” said Hermione at once, looking very frightened. “What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?”
“Where have you been?” demanded Ron.
[snip Harry telling them Voldemort has Sirius]
“How're we going to get there?” he asked them.
There was a moment's silence. Then Ron said, “G-get there?”
“Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!” Harry said loudly.
“But — Harry . . .” said Ron weakly.
“What? What?” said Harry.
He could not understand why they were both gaping at him as though he was asking them something unreasonable.
[snip Hermione trying to reason with Harry]
“You've never been there, Harry,” said Hermione quietly. “You've dreamed about the place, that's all.” “They're not normal dreams!” Harry shouted in her face, standing up and taking a step closer to her in turn. He wanted to shake her. “How d'you explain Ron's dad then, what was all that about, how come I knew what had happened to him?”
“He's got a point,” said Ron quietly, looking at Hermione.
“But this is just — just so unlikely!” said Hermione desperately. “Harry, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?”
“Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh air,” said Ron, sounding worried. “He's been desperate to get out of that house for ages — “
“But why,” Hermione persisted, “why on earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?”
“I dunno, there could be loads of reasons!” Harry yelled at her. “Maybe Sirius is just someone Voldemort doesn't care about seeing hurt — “
“You know what, I've just thought of something,” said Ron in a hushed voice. “Sirius's brother was a Death Eater, wasn't he? Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!”
“Yeah — and that's why Dumbledore's been so keen to keep Sirius locked up all the time!” said Harry.
“Look, I'm sorry,” cried Hermione, “but neither of you is making sense, and we've got no proof for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there — “
“Hermione, Harry's seen them!” said Ron, rounding on her.
“OK,” she said, looking frightened yet determined, “I've just got to say this — “
“What?”
“You . . . this isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do . . . sort of . . . I mean — don't you think you've got a bit of a — a — saving-people thing?” she said.
He glared at her.
“And what's that supposed to mean, a "saving-people thing"?”
“Well . . . you . . .” she looked more apprehensive than ever. “I mean . . . last year, for instance . . . in the lake . . . during the Tournament . . . you shouldn't have . . . I mean, you didn't need to save that little Delacour girl . . . you got a bit . . . carried away . . .”
A wave of hot, prickly anger swept through Harry's body; how could she remind him of that blunder now?
“I mean, it was really great of you and everything,” said Hermione quickly, looking positively petrified at the look on Harry's face, “everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do —"
That's funny,” said Harry through gritted teeth, “because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd wasted time acting the hero . . . is that what you think this is? You reckon I want to act the hero again?”
“No, no, no!” said Hermione, looking aghast. That's not what I mean at all!”
[snip part of the argument]
“And if I remember rightly, you didn't have a problem with my saving-people thing when it was you I was saving from the Dementors, or — “ he rounded on Ron — when it was your sister I was saving from the Basilisk — “
“I never said I had a problem!” said Ron heatedly.
[snip to later]
“Right,” said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the desks. “Right . . . well . . . one of us has to go and find Umbridge and — and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her — I don't know — that Peeves is up to something awful as usual . . .”
“I'll do it,” said Ron at once. “I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way.”

Ron’s disloyalty to Harry’s image as brought up by Hermione spurred him to immediately volunteer help. There is another motive for taking this path though. If he was caught by Umbridge, no matter what the outcome of the fireplace, and whether Sirius was present or not, Ron would not be free to go with them into the danger.

If he got them all caught, none of them would be able to go. It would have to be done with enough plausibility though, so that no one would suspect him of stacking the cards against them. He had to look loyal. However, it turns out that he didn’t have to do anything to get them caught, as Umbridge was a step ahead of them.

[Quote: OotP Chap 32 Out of the Fire]
“So, Potter,” she said. “You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent this buffoon,” she nodded at Ron — Malfoy laughed even louder — “to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well that he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes — “Mr Filch having just informed me so.

However, he didn’t raise any protests to stop Harry’s incapacitation. He still did not want to accompany Harry into danger.

[Quote: OotP Chap 32 Out of the Fire]
“Well, well, well!” said Umbridge, looking triumphant. “Little Miss Question-all is going to give us some answers! Come on then, girl, come on!”
“Er — my — nee — no!” shouted Ron through his gag.
Ginny was staring at Hermione as though she had never seen her before. Neville, still choking for breath, was gazing at her, too. But Harry had just noticed something. Though Hermione was sobbing desperately into her hands, there was no trace of a tear.
“I'm — I'm sorry everyone,” said Hermione. “But — I can't stand it — “
That's right, that's right, girl!” said Umbridge, seizing Hermione by the shoulders, thrusting her into the abandoned chintz chair and leaning over her. “Now then . . . with whom was Potter communicating just now?”
“Well,” gulped Hermione into her hands, “well, he was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore.”
Ron froze, his eyes wide; Ginny stopped trying to stamp on her Slytherin captor's toes; and even Luna looked mildly surprised. Fortunately, the attention of Umbridge and her minions was focused too exclusively upon Hermione to notice these suspicious signs.

Neither would he stay Malfoy’s captive though, and after their brilliant battle, he was eager to tell his friends and gain recognition and reward for it. Besides, what way was there to get to London? He wasn't in total danger of having to go yet.

[Quote: OotP Chap 33 Fight and Flight]
“Well, we can't do anything without wands,” said Hermione hopelessly, dragging herself up again. “Anyway, Harry, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to London?”
“Yeah, we were just wondering that.” said a familiar voice from behind her.
Harry and Hermione moved together instinctively and peered through the trees.
Ron came into sight, closely followed by Ginny, Neville and Luna. All of them looked a little the worse for wear — there were several long scratches running the length of Ginny's cheek; a large purple lump was swelling above Neville's right eye; Ron's lip was bleeding worse than ever — but all were looking rather pleased with themselves.
“So,” said Ron, pushing aside a low-hanging branch and holding out Harry's wand, “had any ideas?”
“How did you get away?” asked Harry in amazement, taking his wand from Ron.
“Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment Jinx,” said Ron airily, now handing back Hermione's wand, too. “But Ginny was best, she got Malfoy — Bat Bogey Hex — it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things. Anyway, we saw you out of the window heading into the Forest and followed. What've you done with Umbridge?”
“She got carried away,” said Harry. “By a herd of centaurs.”
“And they left you behind?” asked Ginny, looking astonished.
“No, they got chased off by Grawp,” said Harry.
“Who's Grawp?” Luna asked interestedly.
“Hagrid's little brother,” said Ron promptly. “Anyway, never mind that now. Harry, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who got Sirius or — ?”
“Yes,” said Harry, as his scar gave another painful prickle, “and I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but I can't see how we're going to get there to help him.”

Harry's amazement at their escape is a double edged sword. He gets recognition from it, and gets to tell his story, but their timely arrival allows them to hear Hermione speaking as though she and Harry were going to go by themselves. One reason Ron was willing to run after them with the others was because he didn't want them to share an adventure alone together. He also isn't sure whether Harry was planning to come back for him or not. He demands clarification on Harry's plans, and what happened, and what Harry knows.

He decides here, to give Harry the lead, and to follow without aid, letting Harry take full consequence for whatever happens. It's a sort of, you'll see that it isn't so easy to be in the lead, and you'll see how much you need me, tactic.

However, when Harry singles Ron out, he shows neither enthusiasm, or protestation at his inclusion, because of his resolution, and also he had earlier sided with Harry. Harry’s loyalty to Ron does not necessitate him saying anything one way or the other anyway, and so he is conveniently silent on the matter, only speaking up to put down and make fun of the girls.

[Quote: OotP Chap 33 Fight and Flight]
They all fell silent, looking rather scared; the problem facing them seemed insurmountable.
“Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?” said Luna, in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice Harry had ever heard her use.
“OK,” said Harry irritably, rounding on her. “First of all, "we" aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's the only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so — “
“I've got a broom!” said Ginny.
“Yeah, but you're not coming,” said Ron angrily.
“Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!” said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking.
[snip who’s coming argument]
Harry's eyes met Ron's. He knew Ron was thinking exactly what he was: if he could have chosen any members of the DA, in addition to himself, Ron and Hermione, to join him in the attempt to rescue Sirius, he would not have picked Ginny, Neville or Luna.
“Well, it doesn't matter, anyway,” said Harry through gritted teeth, “because we still don't know how to get there — “
“I thought we'd settled that,” said Luna maddeningly. “We're flying!”
“Look,” said Ron, barely containing his anger, “you might be able to fly without a broomstick but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we — “
There are ways of flying other than with broomsticks,” said Luna serenely.
“I s'pose we're going to ride on the back of the Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?” Ron demanded. The Crumple-Horned Snorkack can't fly,” said Luna in a dignified voice, “but they can, and Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for.”
Harry whirled round. Standing between two trees, their white eyes gleaming eerily, were two Thestrals, watching the whispered conversation as though they understood every word.
“Yes!” he whispered, moving towards them. They tossed their reptilian heads, throwing back long black manes, and Harry stretched out his hand eagerly and patted the nearest one's shining neck; how could he ever have thought them ugly?
“Is it those mad horse things?” said Ron uncertainly, staring at a point slightly to the left of the Thestral Harry was patting. “Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?”
“Yeah,” said Harry.
“How many?”
“Just two.”
“Well, we need three,” said Hermione, who was still looking a little shaken, but determined just the same.
[snip the Thestral conv.]
“OK, then,” he said, a bright idea occurring, “Ron and I will take these two and go ahead, and Hermione can stay here with you three and she'll attract more Thestrals — “
“I'm not staying behind!” said Hermione furiously.

Ron’s sole protest comes when Harry mounts the Thestral.

[Quote: OotP Chap 34 The Department of Mysteries]
Ron, Hermione and Ginny, however, were still standing motionless on the spot, open-mouthed and staring.
“What?” he [Harry] said.
“How're we supposed to get on?” said Ron faintly. “When we can't see the things?”
“Oh, it's easy,” said Luna, sliding obligingly from her Thestral and marching over to him, Hermione and Ginny. “Come here . . .”
She pulled them over to the other Thestrals standing around and one by one managed to help them on to the back of their mount. All three looked extremely nervous as she wound their hands into their horses mane and told them to grip tightly before she got back on to her own steed.
This is mad,” Ron murmured, moving his free hand gingerly up and down his horses neck. “Mad . . . if I could just see it — “
“You'd better hope it stays invisible,” said Harry darkly. “We all ready, then?”
They all nodded and he saw live pairs of knees tighten beneath their robes.
“OK . . .”
[snip to later]
Ron landed a short way off and toppled immediately from his Thestral on to the pavement.
“Never again,” he said, struggling to his feet. He made as though to stride away from his Thestral, but, unable to see it, collided with its hindquarters and almost fell over again. Never, ever again . . . that was the worst — “

From here on into the fight, Ron is determined to support Harry, or at the very least follow him. He is following through on his earlier decision to give in to Harry’s will. He knows he will lose something with Harry if he backs out now, and besides, he's always rewarded Harry's show of loyalty, and not even Hermione got the vote of confidence that he did during the Thestral incident. By giving support, but not aid, basically by being a follower, he stands innocent of whatever outcome awaits them.

At this point, I doubt most of them think they'll even be able to get in, or get very far. The danger still seems minimal. It's just an adventure, like meeting Fluffy was, they don't realize the full consequences of their actions yet.

During the DoM sequence, Harry shows his first signs of the deadly and steady determination that Dumbledore has been cultivating in him, the same cool determination that Ron showed in the chess game. Ron, on the other hand, almost seems to be waiting for something; for Harry to win, or to lose.

[Quote: OotP Chap 34 The Department of Mysteries]
“Where do we go, then, Harry?” Ron asked.
“I don't — “ Harry began. He swallowed. “In the dreams I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room — that's this one — and then I went through another door into a room that kind of . . . glitters. We should try a few doors,” he said hastily, “I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon.”
[snip to later]
“Someone's whispering behind there,” he said, moving out of her reach and continuing to frown at the veil. “Is that you, Ron?”
“I'm here, mate,” said Ron, appearing around the side of the archway.
[snip to later]
“What's wrong?” said Hermione.
“It's . . . locked . . .” said Harry, throwing his weight at the door, but it didn't budge.
This is it, then, isn't it?” said Ron excitedly, joining Harry in the attempt to force the door open. “Bound to be!”
“Get out of the way!” said Hermione sharply. She pointed her wand at the place where a lock would have been on an ordinary door and said, “Alohomora!”
Nothing happened.
“Sirius's knife!” said Harry. He pulled it out from inside his robes and slid it into the crack between the door and the wall. The others all watched eagerly as he ran it from top to bottom, withdrew it and then flung his shoulder again at the door. It remained as firmly shut as ever. What was more, when Harry looked down at the knife, he saw the blade had melted.
“Right, we're leaving that room,” said Hermione decisively.
“But what if that's the one?” said Ron, staring at it with a mixture of apprehension and longing.
“It can't be, Harry could get through all the doors in his dream,” said Hermione, marking the door with another fiery cross as Harry replaced the now-useless handle of Sirius's knife in his pocket.

Ron unknowingly causes grief for them all when he does what he does next. This is the first sign we see of the Wormtail pattern. Ron's blundering betrayal of Harry. His motives were the same as they always have been. He wanted confirmation that Harry was keeping nothing from him. When he saw Harry’s name on the shelf, he had to know whether or not Harry knew about it, and why only Harry was there. Here is yet another thing that Harry has that he does not. He wasn’t conciously working for Voldemort, but if he hadn’t pointed it out, they may all have returned to Hogwarts none the wiser, none the burdened. His insecurity was the catalyst for the future events.

[Quote: OotP Chap 34 The Department of Mysteries]
“Harry?” Ron called.
“What?”
He did not want to hear what Ron had to say; did not want to hear Ron tell him he had been stupid or suggest that they ought to go back to Hogwarts, but the heat was rising in his face and he felt as though he would like to skulk down here in the darkness for a long while before facing the brightness of the Atrium above and the others' accusing stares . . .
“Have you seen this?” said Ron.
“What?” said Harry, but eagerly this time — it had to be a sign that Sirius had been there, a clue. He strode back to where they were all standing, a little way down row ninety-seven, but found nothing except Ron staring at one of the dusty glass spheres on the shelf.
“What?” Harry repeated glumly.
“It's — it's got your name on,” said Ron.
Harry moved a little closer. Ron was pointing at one of the small glass spheres that glowed with a dull inner light, though it was very dusty and appeared not to have been touched for many years.
“My name?” said Harry blankly.
He stepped forwards. Not as tall as Ron, he had to crane his neck to read the yellowish label affixed to the shelf right beneath
the dusty glass ball. In spidery writing was written a date of some sixteen years previously, and below that:

S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.
Dark Lord
and (?)Harry Potter

Harry stared at it.
“What is it?” Ron asked, sounding unnerved. “What's your name doing down here?”
He glanced along at the other labels on that stretch of shelf.
“I'm not here,” he said, sounding perplexed. “None of the rest of us are here.”
“Harry, I don't think you should touch it,” said Hermione sharply, as he stretched out his hand.
“Why not?” he said. “It's something to do with me, isn't it?”

Ron's being taller than Harry, may have been why he'd seen it and Harry hadn't. Or perhaps Harry was more intent on finding a person than in looking around. Whatever the reason, Harry hadn't seen it, and probably wouldn't have on his own. Ron's anxiety of Harry's importance, even in the Dept. of Mysteries, causes him to act and for them all to fall right into Voldemort's hands.

As they were all separated in the fight, that ensued, we don’t know exactly what happened to Ron. We aren’t sure if a spell is affecting him, or the extent of it’s damage, but it is certain that he isn’t acting his usual self. He seems to be suffering from at least a bit of amnesia, and a lack of understanding about his current position and danger.

[Quote: OotP Chap 35 Beyond the Veil]
“Ron!” croaked Harry, dashing towards them. “Ginny — are you all — ?”
“Harry,” said Ron, giggling weakly, lurching forwards, seizing the front of Harry's robes and gazing at him with unfocused eyes, “there you are . . . ha ha ha . . . you look funny, Harry . . . you're all messed up . . .”
Ron's face was very white and something dark was trickling from the corner of his mouth. Next moment his knees had given way, but he still clutched the front of Harry's robes, so that Harry was pulled into a kind of bow.
“Ginny?” Harry said fearfully. “What happened?”
But Ginny shook her head and slid down the wall into a sitting position, panting and holding her ankle.
“I think her ankle's broken, I heard something crack,” whispered Luna, who was bending over her and who alone seemed to be unhurt. “Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets; it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark — “
“Harry, we saw Uranus up close!” said Ron, still giggling feebly. “Get it, Harry? We saw Uranus — ha ha ha — “
A bubble of blood grew at the corner of Ron's mouth and burst.
“ — anyway, one of them grabbed Ginny's foot, I used the Reductor Curse and blew up Pluto in his face, but . . .”
Luna gestured hopelessly at Ginny, who was breathing in a very shallow way, her eyes still closed.
“And what about Ron?” said Harry fearfully, as Ron continued to giggle, still hanging off the front of Harry's robes.
“I don't know what they hit him with,” said Luna sadly, “but he's gone a bit funny, I could hardly get him along at all.”
“Harry,” said Ron, pulling Harry's ear down to his mouth and still giggling weakly, “you know who this girl is, Harry? She's Loony . . . Loony Lovegood . . . ha ha ha . . .”
“We've got to get out of here,” said Harry firmly. “Luna, can you help Ginny?”
“Yes,” said Luna, sticking her wand behind her ear for safekeeping, then putting an arm around Ginny's waist and pulling her up.
“It's only my ankle, I can do it myself!” said Ginny impatiently, but next moment she had collapsed sideways and grabbed Luna for support. Harry pulled Ron's arm over his shoulder just as, so many months ago, he had pulled Dudley's. He looked around: they had a one in twelve chance of getting the exit right first time — “
He heaved Ron towards a door; they were within a few feet of it when another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped in, led. by Bellatrix Lestrange.
[snip flight to Brain room and locking of doors and Death Eater entrance]
“Hey!” said Ron, who had staggered to his feet and was now tottering drunkenly towards Harry, giggling. “Hey, Harry, there are brains in here, ha ha ha, isn't that weird, Harry?”
“Ron, get out of the way, get down — “
But Ron had already pointed his wand at the tank.
“Honest, Harry, they're brains — look — Accio brain!”
The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Harry, Ginny and Neville and each of the Death Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch the top of the tank as a brain burst from the green liquid like a leaping fish: for a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared towards Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unravelling like rolls of film —
“Ha ha ha, Harry, look at it — “ said Ron, watching it disgorge its gaudy innards, “Harry, come and touch it; bet it's weird — “
“RON, NO!”
Harry did not know what would happen if Ron touched the tentacles of thought now flying behind the brain, but he was sure it would not be anything good. He darted forwards but Ron had already caught the brain in his outstretched hands.
The moment they made contact with his skin, the tentacles began wrapping themselves around Ron's arms like ropes.
“Harry, look what's happen— No — no — I don't like it — no, stop — stop — “
But the thin ribbons were spinning around Ron's chest now; he tugged and tore at them as the brain was pulled tight against him like an octopus's body.
“Diffindo!” yelled Harry, trying to sever the feelers wrapping themselves tightly around Ron before his eyes, but they would not break. Ron fell over, still thrashing against his bonds.
“Harry, it'll suffocate him!” screamed Ginny, immobilised by her broken ankle on the floor — then a jet of red light flew from one of the Death Eater's wands and hit her squarely in the face. She keeled over sideways and lay there unconscious.
“STUBEFY!” shouted Neville, wheeling around and waving Hermione's wand at the oncoming Death Eaters, “STUBEFY, STUBEFY!”
But nothing happened.

We aren’t sure how much Ron remembers of this, or of what exactly happened. One thing is certain though, the brain was not pleasant, and its attack left him scarred. Harry started to help, but then he was forced to flee. As Ron was not fully alert, we aren’t sure if he recognizes the necessity of Harry’s flight, or if he sees this as Harry deserting him when he needed help. Neville tells us that Ron was still fighting the brain when he joined Harry later.

Ron seems rather detached from everything afterwards, and as he wasn’t deeply affected by the latter part of the fight, his healing is quicker than Harry’s, and his mind is off to other and more regular things faster.

[Quote: OotP Chap 38 The Second War Begins]
They were in the hospital wing. Harry was sitting on the end of Ron's bed and they were both listening to Hermione read the front page of the Sunday Prophet. Ginny, whose ankle had been mended in a trice by Madam Pomfrey, was curled up at the foot of Hermione's bed; Neville, whose nose had likewise been returned to its normal size and shape, was in a chair between the two beds; and Luna, who had dropped in to visit, clutching the latest edition of The Quibbler, was reading the magazine upside-down and apparently not taking in a word Hermione was saying.
“He's the "boy who lived" again now, though, isn't he?” said Ron darkly. “Not such a deluded show-off any more, eh?”
He helped himself to a handful of Chocolate Frogs from the immense pile on his bedside cabinet, threw a few to Harry, Ginny and Neville and ripped off the wrapper of his own with his teeth. There were still deep welts on his forearms where the brain's tentacles had wrapped around him. According to Madam Pomfrey, thoughts could leave deeper scarring than almost anything else, though since she had started applying copious amounts of Dr Ubbly's Oblivious Unction there seemed to have been some improvement.
[snip to later]
“I think he left it as a monument to Fred and George,” said Ron, through a mouthful of chocolate. They sent me all these, you know,” he told Harry, pointing at the small mountain of Frogs beside him. “Must be doing all right out of that joke shop, eh?”
Hermione looked rather disapproving and asked, “So has all the trouble stopped now Dumbledore's back?”
“Yes,” said Neville, “everything's settled right back to normal.”
“I s'pose Filch is happy, is he?” asked Ron, propping a Chocolate Frog Card featuring Dumbledore against his water jug.
“Not at all,” said Ginny. “He's really, really miserable, actually . . .” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “He keeps saying Umbridge was the best thing that ever happened to Hogwarts . . .”
All six of them looked around. Professor Umbridge was lying in a bed opposite them, gazing up at the ceiling. Dumbledore had strode alone into the Forest to rescue her from the centaurs; how he had done it — how he had emerged from the trees supporting Professor Umbridge without so much as a scratch on him — nobody knew, and Umbridge was certainly not telling. Since she had returned to the castle she had not, as far as any of them knew, uttered a single word. Nobody really knew what was wrong with her, either. Her usually neat mousy hair was very untidy and there were still bits of twigs and leaves in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed.
“Madam Pomfrey says she's just in shock,” whispered Hermione.
“Sulking, more like,” said Ginny.
“Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this,” said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft clip-clopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking around wildly.
“Anything wrong, Professor?” called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door.
“No . . . no . . .” said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows. “No, I must have been dreaming . . .”
Hermione and Ginny muffled their laughter in the bedclothes.
“Speaking of centaurs,” said Hermione, when she had recovered a little, “who's Divination teacher now? Is Firenze staying?”
“He's got to,” said Harry, “the other centaurs won't take him back, will they?”
“It looks like he and Trelawney are both going to teach,” said Ginny.
“Bet Dumbledore wishes he could've got rid of Trelawney for good,” said Ron, now munching on his fourteenth Frog. “Mind you, the whole subject's useless if you ask me, Firenze isn't a lot better . . .”
“How can you say that?” Hermione demanded. “After we've just found out that there are real prophecies?”
Harry's heart began to race. He had not told Ron, Hermione or anyone else what the prophecy had contained. Neville had told them it had smashed while Harry was pulling him up the steps in the Death Room and Harry had not yet corrected this impression. He was not ready to see their expressions when he told them that he must be either murderer or victim, there was no other way . . .
“It is a pity it broke,” said Hermione quietly, shaking her head.
“Yeah, it is,” said Ron. “Still, at least You-Know-Who never found out what was in it either — where are you going?” he added, looking both surprised and disappointed as Harry stood up.
“Er — Hagrid's,” said Harry. “You know, he just got back and I promised I'd go down and see him and tell him how you two are.”
“Oh, all right then,” said Ron grumpily, looking out of the dormitory window at the patch of bright blue sky beyond. “Wish we could come.”
“Say hello to him for us!” called Hermione, as Harry proceeded down the ward. “And ask him what's happening about . . . about his little friend!”
[snip to later]
Ron and Hermione left the hospital wing completely cured three days before the end of term. Hermione kept showing signs of wanting to talk about Sirius, but Ron tended to make “hushing' noises every time she mentioned his name. Harry was still not sure whether or not he wanted to talk about his godfather yet; his wishes varied with his mood.
[snip to later]
Their last evening at school arrived; most people had finished packing and were already heading down to the end-of-term leaving feast, but Harry had not even started.
“Just do it tomorrow!” said Ron, who was waiting by the door of their dormitory. “Come on, I'm starving.”
“I won't be long . . . look, you go ahead . . ."
But when the dormitory door closed behind Ron, Harry made no effort to speed up his packing.

Ron is quite back to his normal scheming when they are on their train-ride home. He wants to know exactly where things stand with Harry. He is more cheerful than he has been all year, because Harry has finally lost. Harry was the one who insisted on going, and Harry was the one who looked the fool when it was all over. He isn’t rubbing it in, but he is enjoying the knowledge quietly. It is very reminiscent of the Prefect Badge scene.

Ron seems more confident with himself now, and indeed he begins to make more outward overtures to the others about his secret plans. He resumes his old role of guiding Harry, who has become the old docile person he knew before, and he pushes his H/G plan forward as openly as he dares. Unfortunately this scene is cut short, so we aren’t sure what happens in the end.

[Quote: OotP Chap 38 The Second War Begins]
“Goyle's mum'll be really pleased, though,” said Ron, who had come to investigate the source of the commotion. “He's loads better-looking now . . . anyway, Harry, the food trolley's just stopped if you want anything . . .”
Harry thanked the others and accompanied Ron back to their compartment, where he bought a large pile of cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties. Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet again, Ginny was doing a quiz in The Quibbler and Neville was stroking his Mimbulus mimbletonia, which had grown a great deal over the year and now made odd crooning noises when touched.
Harry and Ron whiled away most of the journey playing wizard chess while Hermione read out snippets from the Prophet.
[snip to later]
“Hey, Harry,” said Ron softly, nodding towards the glass window on to the corridor.
Harry looked around. Cho was passing, accompanied by Marietta Edgecombe, who was wearing a balaclava. His and Cho's eyes met for a moment. Cho blushed and kept walking. Harry looked back down at the chessboard just in time to see one of his pawns chased off its square by Ron's knight.
“What's — er — going on with you and her, anyway?” Ron asked quietly.
“Nothing,” said Harry truthfully.
“I — er — heard she's going out with someone else now,” said Hermione tentatively.
Harry was surprised to find that this information did not hurt at all. Wanting to impress Cho seemed to belong to a past that was no longer quite connected with him; so much of what he had wanted before Sirius's death felt that way these days . . . the week that had elapsed since he had last seen Sirius seemed to have lasted much, much longer; it stretched across two universes, the one with Sirius in it, and the one without.
“You're well out of it, mate,” said Ron forcefully. “I mean, she's quite good-looking and all that, but you want someone a bit more cheerful.”
“She's probably cheerful enough with someone else,” said Harry, shrugging.
“Who's she with now, anyway?” Ron asked Hermione, but it was Ginny who answered.
“Michael Corner,” she said.
“Michael — but — “ said Ron, craning around in his seat to state at her. “But you were going out with him!”
“Not any more,” said Ginny resolutely. “He didn't like Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch, and got really sulky, so I ditched him and he ran off to comfort Cho instead.” She scratched her nose absently with the end of her quill, turned The Quibbler upside-down and began marking her answers. Ron looked highly delighted.
“Well, I always thought he was a bit of an idiot,” he said, prodding his queen forwards towards Harry's quivering castle. “Good for you. Just choose someone — better — next time.
He cast Harry an oddly furtive look as he said it.
“Well, I've chosen Dean Thomas, would you say he's better?” asked Ginny vaguely.
“WHAT?” shouted Ron, upending the chessboard: Crookshanks went plunging after the pieces and Hedwig and Pigwidgeon twittered and hooted angrily from overhead.

Ron has shown this year that he admires his older brothers, and the fact that they’re doing well astounds him. This is the first time that he is really impressed by the fact that if you take initiative, you could further yourself within the world, and Fred and George have shown him this example. He’s tasted a bit of it himself this year with his Quidditch victory.

[Quote: OotP Chap 38 The Second War Begins]
“Ron, Ginny!” called Mrs Weasley, hurrying forwards and hugging her children tightly. “Oh, and Harry dear — how are you?”
“Fine,” lied Harry, as she pulled him into a tight embrace. Over her shoulder he saw Ron goggling at the twins' new clothes.
“What are they supposed to be?” he asked, pointing at the jackets.
“Finest dragonskin, little bro',” said Fred, giving his zip a little tweak. “Business is booming and we thought we'd treat ourselves.”

Ron has had much food for thought this year. He has been betrayed by Harry more and more, and has faced some angry isolated times without him. He has also tasted some of his own sweet victories without Harry, and watched Harry fail as well. However, he maintained his friendship with Harry, despite several setbacks throughout the year, and he leaves him amiably, and on a loyal note.

[Quote: OotP Chap 38 The Second War Begins]
“Take care, Harry,” said Lupin quietly. “Keep in touch.”
“Harry, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can,” Mrs Weasley whispered, hugging him again.
“We'll see you soon, mate,” said Ron anxiously, shaking Harry's hand.
“Really soon, Harry,” said Hermione earnestly. “We promise.

Ron’s almost silent behavior during the last half of OotP is very reminiscent of the cool calculation he uses when he’s leading his “troops in battle” (the chess sets). Ron has told us that sacrifices must be made. He has shown his capability for control, and manipulation, even unto his own feelings and life. He has shown no hesitancy to manipulate others’ lives, nor to force others to conform to his own agendas. He does not even realize the extent of his own behavior as it is so ingrained into his personality and natural reactions.

Ron Weasley is one character that has the potential to do much evil to Harry, if he so chose. But, I do not believe that JK Rowling is heading down that path. It is so much more realistic for her to keep her characters in shades of grey, rather than black and white.

She has said that the world is not strictly good and evil, and I believe that she has tried to faithfully portray that in the books. She has tried to make realistic situations and characters in order to make her books come to life, to give credence to her plots, and to send her message most forcefully into the world.

[Quote: School Library Journal 1999]
Early on, I had to consider how to depict an evil being, such as Lord Voldemort [in books one and two]. I could go one of two ways: I could either make him a pantomime villain... [meaning that there is] a lot of sound and thunder and nobody really gets hurt. Or [I could] attempt to do something a little bit more serious-which means you're going to have to show death. And worse than that, you'll have to show the death of characters whom the readers care about. I chose the second route.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/0999-slj-feldman.htm?layout=articleArchive&articleId=CA153024&display=searchResults&stt=001&publication=slj

[Quote: INTERVIEW: J.K. Rowling Broadcast October 23, 2000]
Lauren: In all your books, the continuing theme is that people are not what they appear to be. Sometimes they seem dangerous, and are good. Sometimes helpful people are bad. It looks like Harry is being taught to overlook first impressions and to be suspicious of people. Do you think that's something kids need to learn more than other generations?
Rowling: You're right, this is a recurring theme in the books. People are endlessly surprising. It's a very jaded person who thinks they've seen every possible nuance of human nature. Sometimes I get asked 'What would be your recipe for a happier life?' And I've always said 'A bit more tolerance from all of us.'
One way to learn tolerance is to take the time to really understand other people's motives. Yes, you're right. Harry is often given an erroneous first impression of someone and he has to learn to look beneath the surface. When you look beneath the surface he has sometimes found that he is being fooled by people. And on other occasions he has found very nice surprises.
http://www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/thismorning/sites/books/rowling_001023.html

[Quote: Entertainment Weekly August 4, 2000 (emphasis mine)]
You have a choice when you're going to introduce a very evil character. You can dress a guy up with loads of ammunition, put a black Stetson on him, and say, "Bad guy. Shoot him." I'm writing about shades of evil. You have Voldemort, a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering, and there are people like that in the world. But then you have Wormtail, who out of cowardice will stand in the shadow of the strongest person. What's very important for me is when Dumbledore says that you have to choose between what is right and what is easy. This is the setup for the next three books. All of them are going to have to choose, because what is easy is often not right.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/0800-ew-jensen.html

It can’t really get much clearer than that. The bad guys and the good guys are all mixed up in shades of grey, doing what they do, for their own purposes, and being totally, and realistically human.

Rowling also uses her characters to unabashedly portray different experiences, feelings, and emotional states.

[Quote: J.K. Rowling interview transcript, The Connection (WBUR Radio), 12 October, 1999]
But, ultimately Harry is guided by his conscience. He is flanked by 2 friends. They work far better as a team than apart though Harry tends to be the one who has to shoulder most of the burden. He is a true hero in that sense. Hermione, who’s really the brains of the outfit and Ron who is also a very brave character. I mean I deeply admire bravery in all forms. I wanted to show Neville doing something brave. It’s not as spectacularly brave as Harry and Hermione do, but he finds true moral courage in standing up to his closest friends, the people who are on his side, but he still thinks they are doing wrong and he tells them so. So, that’s a very important moment for me too in the first book.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/1099-connectiontransc.html

[Quote: J K Rowling Section: F.A.Q.]
Why did you make the Leprechaun gold disappear in "Goblet of Fire" and Harry not notice?
I smiled rather ruefully to myself when I did this. Harry doesn't worry about money, because he's got enough of it. Ron, on the other hand, is poor, and he cannot imagine how it must be not to notice a pocketful of gold disappearing. I think I was just remembering how it felt to be like Ron; certainly, for that moment, I felt more sympathy for Ron than Harry – my past self more than my present, if you like. If Harry had noticed the leprechaun gold disappear at the time of the world cup, there would have been less poignancy when we came to the Niffler scene, where I wanted to show, through Ron, how hard it is sometimes not to have any money when other people do.

[Quote: JK Rowling talks about Book Four CBBC News]
Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does.
And that was very conscious - I wanted to create a villain, where you could understand the workings of that person's mind.
And Harry, as you know, from book four, is starting to come to terms with what makes a person turn that way. Because they took wrong choices, and Voldemort took wrong choices from a very early age - he decided young what he wanted to be.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/tv_film/newsid_1634000/1634400.stm

[Quote: jkrowling.com FAQ]
JK says about Sirius Black: "I do like him, although I do not think he is wholly wonderful." She says he is "brave, loyal, reckless, embittered and slightly unbalanced by his long stay in Azkaban," but his redeeming quality is the affection that he is capable of feeling. He loved James like a brother, and has attached that affection to Harry.

[Quote: JK Rowling Q&A session at Royal Albert Hall]
JK Rowling: I do. I think what I was trying to do with the death in this book was show how very arbitrary and sudden death is. This is a death where you didn't have a big death bed scene. It happened almost accidentally and that is one of the very cruel things about death and they're now in a war situation where that really does happen, where one minute you're talking to your friend and the next minute he's gone. It's so shocking and so inexplicable… "Where did they go?" I found it upsetting to write, because I knew what it would mean to Harry.
http://www.mugglenet.com/jkr-royalalbert.shtml

Perhaps Ronald Weasley is a character that she also likes, but is not wholly wonderful. He may be all the things that Sirius is, but also harboring that bit of Wormtail’s personality, the insecurity and want of glory and power. In fact, I’d say that he is an exact merge of the two characters bringing the Marauder’s group into life in this generation.

Harry reflects his father and mother’s personality, no contest, we’ve been told multiple times through multiple characters that this is a fact. Both the good and bad connotations of which were expounded on from Lupin, Snape, Dumbledore, and McGonagall.

Hermione most closely parallels Lupin, both studious and insecure in their ability to fit in. They both like to be liked, a weakness that opens them up for exploitation and much forgiveness in the people they’re close to.

Ron then embodies the remaining two, Sirius, and Peter. Which personality is stronger within him? We’ve seen both at work.

Events are mirroring themselves, and have been doing so throughout the series. Voldemort is now back. How will this second group of mauraders + lily react? Will the trio be able to pull together where the first group failed? What we’ve seen happening, so far, is a heartbreakingly similar pattern repeating itself. And the Wormtail of this time emerging stronger than ever among his peers, perfectly set up to destroy in blunder.

Rowling will never allow other people to dictate to her what she may or may not do with her characters, or her plotlines. She wants to write the story that she came up with, and even the rabid popularity and fanbase does not sway her plan.

[Quote: Entertainment Weekly September 7, 2000]
As your fan base is growing larger, and maybe even younger, do you feel any sense of social responsibility, any sense of responsibilities to their sensibilities?
I cannot write to please other people. I can't. When I finish book 7, I want to be able to look in the mirror and think, I did it the way I meant to do it. If I lose readers in the process, I'm not going to throw a party about it. But I would feel far worse if I knew that I had allowed myself to write something different. Yet, I do have parents coming up to me and saying "He's 6 and he loved your book!" And I've always kind of been, "Well, that's great, but I know what's coming, and I think 6 is a tiny bit too young." I've always felt that. With my daughter and "Goblet of Fire," I'm reading it to her. Her reading age is pretty advanced, but I said, "I'm gonna read that one to you. It's scary, and I want to be there with you, and then we can talk about it." That would be my feeling if parents feel that.
http://www.mugglenet.com/ewinterview1.shtml

[Quote: INTERVIEW: J.K. Rowling Broadcast October 23, 2000]
Rogers: Do you think that the popularity of the books would have changed if they'd been told from the point of view of Hermione versus Harry Potter?
Rowling: I honestly don't know. But then, that wouldn't have stopped me doing it. If Hermione had strolled into my head as the main character, then I would have done it that way. I truly never once have ever stopped and thought 'I won't do that because that won't be popular.' Because the day I do that I might as well pack up, because the fun for me all along has been writing for me. The only people I have ever listened to have been my editors, in terms of what makes the book better or worse. And occasionally I've argued against them and kept it the way I wanted to do it.
http://www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/thismorning/sites/books/rowling_001023.html

[Quote: J.K. Rowling interview transcript, The Connection (WBUR Radio), 12 October, 1999]
Does this mean we are going to see the hormones kicking in?
JKR: Yes, the hormones do kick in in Book 4. You know, the bottom line is I can’t be led by what people want me to write, I have to write what I want to write --- that’s just the way it’s got to be. I’ve got to write what I want to write. If by Book 6, I’m only writing to 6 people and I’ve lost everyone else, yeah, I’m going to be sorry about that, but I will feel that I have to stand by what I want to do.
I sometimes get letters from parents saying ‘well, we love your books, but they’re a little bit too scary, so could you stop doing that’. Well, I’m afraid no, I can’t, I have to write what I want to write. I’m not writing to order here, so I’m going to be sorry if children don’t want to keep up with Harry. I personally believe they will. I do not believe I’m going to be doing anything that will alienate a 9 year old.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/1099-connectiontransc.html

[Quote: "Harry Potter and Me" (BBC Christmas Special, British version), BBC, 28 December 2001]
JKR: It's very interesting how parents think that they have the right to dictate to you because you're writing reading material for their children. I got a horrible letter on book two, very very stuffy letter, from a mother saying, "This was a very disturbing ending, and I'm sure a writer of your ability will be able to think of a better way to end the next book," so basically, "Liked it two thirds of the way through, but if you could really address this issue in future, and I'll be back in touch if I find you unacceptable". And it was at that point where I snapped and I wrote back and said, "Don't read the rest of the books. Yours sincerely, Jo Rowling." There's no point, I mean, there's no point, I'm not taking dictation here.
Do I care about my readers? Profoundly, and deeply, but... Do I ultimately think that they should dictate a single word of what I write? No. No, I'm the only one who should be in control of that. And I'm not writing to make anyone's children feel safe.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2001/1201-bbc-hpandme.htm

[Quote: The Oregonian Sunday, October 22, 2000]
On censorship: (The Harry Potter books have frequently been challenged in public schools and libraries. Some parents feel the books promote witchcraft and are anti-Christian.) "I really hate censorship. I find it objectionable. I personally think that they're very mistaken. I think these are very moral books and I think it's a very short-sighted thing. Short-sighted in the sense that if you try hard to portray goodness without showing that the reverse is evil and without showing how great it is to resist that . . . well, that's always been my feeling about literature.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/1000-oregonian-baker.htm?/books/00/10/al_11browl22.frame

[Quote: Sunday 15 August 2004 J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival]
Has your original plan for the seven books changed along the way?
It has changed, but only in details. In all important respects, it has stayed the same, and the ending will be exactly what I planned before 1997. The story has taken little twists and turns that I maybe didn’t expect, but we are still on track. Each book has broadly done what it was supposed to do in taking you towards the final conclusion.
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/news_view.cfm?id=80

With this attitude, she is free to explore whichever themes she chooses in as open a manner as she chooses. She can realistically portray the world as she chooses.

[Quote: JK Rowling talks about Book Four CBBC News]
Book four explores a lot of themes, some we've seen before in Chambers of Secrets, about prejudice. Is that something you've been wanting to explore?
From the beginning of the Philosopher's Stone prejudice is a very strong theme - and I think it's plausible that Harry enters the world - that's how I wanted it to be - he was quite wide-eyed about it, everything will be wonderful in this world, this is the place where those sort of injustices didn't happen and then he finds out that sure enough it happens.
And it's a shock to him like to everyone else and he finds out that he's a half person within the confines of the world. To a wizard like Lucius Malfoy, Harry will never be a true wizard because his mother was of muggle parentage.
So this is a very important theme and I always knew - well obviously I knew I've been trying to do it for 10 years now - yes so that becomes stronger and stronger.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/tv_film/newsid_1634000/1634400.stm

[Quote: Entertainment Weekly, September 7, 2000]
One of Goblet's biggest themes is bigotry. It's always been in your books, with the Hitlerlike Lord Voldemort and his followers prejudiced against Muggles (nonmagical people). In book 4, Hermione tries to liberate the school's worker elves, who've been indentured servants so long they lack desire for anything else. Why did you want to explore these themes?
Because bigotry is probably the thing I detest most. All forms of intolerance, the whole idea of "that which is different from me is necessarily evil." I really like to explore the idea that difference is equal and good. But there's another idea that I like to explore, too. Oppressed groups are not, generally speaking, people who stand firmly together-- no, sadly, they kind of subdivide among themselves and fight like hell. That's human nature, so that's what you see here. This world of wizards and witches, they're already ostracized, and then within themselves, they've formed a loathsome pecking order.
http://www.mugglenet.com/ewinterview1.shtml

She is also free to develop the characters how she sees fit despite any popularity of the character. People have often told me that because she has said she loves weasels, and red heads, and she based Ron on one of her best friends, that there is no way she would make Ron bad, or evil. Yet, this simply isn’t true. Let’s look at what she’s actually said, and then at what she’s actually done.

[Quote: jkrowling.com FAQ]
Ron was the only one of three major characters whose surname never changed; he has been 'Weasley' from start to finish. In Britain and Ireland the weasel has a bad reputation as an unfortunate, even malevolent, animal. However, since childhood I have had a great fondness for the family mustelidae; not so much malignant as maligned, in my opinion.
There are also many superstitions associated with redheaded people and most state that they are in some way unlucky (Judas Escariot was supposedly red-haired), but this is nonsense; I happen to like red hair as well as weasels.
Although I never meant him to be like Sean, once I got Ron onto the page he often behaved like my oldest friend, who is both very funny and deeply loyal. However, there are also substantial differences between Ron and Sean. I have only once set out to faithfully depict a real human being (see Gilderoy Lockhart); everywhere else, though I might have borrowed the occasional real person's characteristic, they are at least 90% imaginary.
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=7

Depsite the weasel’s bad reputation though, she still turns Malfoy, an undisputed antagonist in the series, into a ferret, which is part of the mustelidae family. Despite her preference for red hair, she still made Ginny the culprit in CoS, and Percy take the ignorant side of the battle against his family in OotP. Clearly, her fondness for these things still does not prevent her from adding to the shady reputations of them in literature.

Sean has been quoted here to be substantially different from Ron. There are similarities there, specifically, his humor and loyalty. Also, Harry shares with the Weasleys, and Ron, the same sense of freedom that she felt with Sean and his Ford Anglia. But, let’s not ignore her last remark…the characters are 90% imaginary, which means she can have them behave very unlike the inspirational person, and it would not be a slight.

In fact, she has already quite definitively written Ron on the edge, and she admits it, and has no problem pointing out his flaws.

[Quote: jkrowling.com FAQ]
Can prefects take points or not? A prefect took points from Gryffindor in the Chamber of Secrets, and then there was a reference to prefects not being allowed to dock points. What are the rules?
Ron got it wrong in 'Phoenix', from which we deduce that he hasn't been a very authoritarian prefect thus far; he clearly hasn't been taking points from anybody.
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/faq_view.cfm?id=40

[Quote: JK Rowling talks about Book Four CBBC News (emphasis mine)]
I see those hormones kick in in this book, are we going to see Harry becoming even more like Kevin the teenager, are we going to see him going - Oh Sirius I hate you, I wish you were back in Azkaban?
I think Ron's more like that isn't he - Ron's more Kevinish. Harry's got so many worries, he needs his friends, he can't afford to alienate them. He's more your sensitive hero isn't he. Yeah more of that stuff happens.
[snip to earlier in the interview]
Why was it important to show some of the strange friendships developing in this book?
Well in book four, for me, Harry, Ron and Hermione, all of them, are really starting to find their own identities and that means, in their various ways, facing up to the things that have been imposed on them by their parents or school.
For Harry that's facing up to his fame, really facing up to it for the first time because he's been put into this situation where he will, for the first time, really get the weight of outside interest. So that's scary.
Ron has to deal with his jealousy - he's made friends with the most famous boy in his year and that's not easy, it's not easy to be in that situation. And Hermione gets a political conscience. Hey!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/tv_film/newsid_1634000/1634400.stm

[Quote: J.K. Rowling interview transcript, The Connection (WBUR Radio), 12 October, 1999]
JKR: No, it’s not Ron. I can’t see Ron as a teacher. No way.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/1099-connectiontransc.html

Like all of Rowling’s characters, it is Ron’s choices that tell us who he his, not where he was born, or the circumstances he began with. Rowling tells us that none of her characters are cardboard, or white hats. She also has this to say about children.

[Quote: Associated Press 14 October 1999]
"I think they're very moral books. The children the protagonists have to make their own choices. I see all three of them as innately good people," Rowling said. "I see children as innately good unless they've been very damaged. That's where I'm coming from."
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/1099-ap.html

Ron hasn’t had the same dark background that she gave to Tom Riddle. He probably won’t become the second dark lord, or even second in command for Voldemort. He may become the Wormtail of his generation, but if that is the path he does indeed choose, it will have everything to do with choice, and nothing to do with his being red haired, or how he was brought up, or where he was born.

He has been painstakingly developed, believeably, over a period of time, just as Harry has, and Hermione, and many other characters in the series. We grew with them, so it’s a little harder to see their exact development unless one delves into it with purpose.

Rowling also has this to say about book four, where Ron’s jealousy shows most vividly:

[Quote: JK Rowling talks about Book Four CBBC News]
And how vital is book four in the whole seven book series to Harry?
Crucial. The fourth is a very, very important book. Well you know because you read it, something incredibly important happens in book four and also it's literally a central book, it's almost the heart of the series, and it's pivotal. It's very difficult to talk about and I can't wait for the day someone's read all seven and I can talk completely freely about it. But it's a very, very important book.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/tv_film/newsid_1634000/1634400.stm

I realize that Voldemort comes back in book four, which is itself, very crucial, and very pivotal. However, once you’ve read book four, that is obvious. Why couldn’t she talk about it until people have read all seven? Voldemort is back, and all the obvious connotations that come with it aren’t secret, so what is the problem with discussing it a bit?

Ron’s role however, that is still undercover, it is also pivotal and crucial in book four. That is where he really started to turn. His jealousy took over for the first time, and he and Harry were on opposite sides of the fence on things. A rift was created that has never healed, but has developed into something hidden, and potentially ugly. If Ron gives in to his inner Wormtail, well, that is pretty pivotal, crucial, and central to the series…choosing and choices are what JKR has stressed. And of course, she couldn’t reveal that, or talk about it until it happens…until book seven.

There is wide speculation that Ron may die, and JKR has done nothing to dispel these theories, only confirming that more deaths are coming, and staying quite tight-lipped about who it may be.

[Quote: School Library Journal 9/1/1999 The Truth About Harry Roxanne Feldman]
They are very keen to know whom I'm going to kill. Very, very, very keen. That fascinates me. I think I understand why. They are all really worried about Ron. They've seen so many films where the main character's best friend died [that] I think they have become incredibly wise and know the storyteller's tricks, basically. They know that if Ron died, Harry would have such a grudge, that it would make it very personal.
Are you planning to kill off Ron?
I can't let on too much.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/0999-slj-feldman.htm?layout=articleArchive&articleId=CA153024&display=searchResults&stt=001&publication=slj

[Quote: TIME PACIFIC October 30, 2000]
It's great to hear feedback from the kids. Mostly they are really worried about Ron. As if I'm going to kill Harry's best friend. What I find interesting is only once has anyone said to me, "Don't kill Hermione," and that was after a reading when I said no one's ever worried about her. Another kid said, "Yeah, well, she's bound to get through O.K." They see her as someone who is not vulnerable, but I see her as someone who does have quite a lot of vulnerability in her personality.
http://www.time.com/time/pacific/magazine/20001030/potter.html

[Quote: CBC/Newsworld, July 18, 2000 (emphasis mine)]
People love Ron, for example. Kids think you're going to knock off Ron because he's the best friend.
Kids do, because they're sharp and they've seen so many films where the hero's best friend gets it. So they think I'm going to make it personal by killing Ron. But maybe that's a double bluff... It's not that I sat down with a list and decided to write, "you're going, you're going, you're going." There are reasons for the deaths in each case, in terms of the story. So that's why I'm doing it.
http://www.mugglenet.com/cbcinterview1.shtml

Nevertheless, clues have been dribbled throughout those answers, slyly attached meanings and double talk, which Rowling excels at, giving bold answers to one who cares to see.

Ron as we know him now has only lightly betrayed Harry’s trust, and by blunder betrayed him to Voldemort, but he is a potential full blown Wormtail able to betray conciously and deadly. However, the offer of false power and servitude will not be enough to turn him. He seeks for recognition and would never be content to sit wallowing at the side of another, even a powerful dark lord.

Ron’s dangerous potential comes then, not from him turning on Harry, but rather from his ability to withdraw his support. The emotional harm he has already done could be expanded tenfold when the stakes are drawn.

What is Ron’s role to come? What is his lot in the story? Is he simply a loyal comic relief sidekick? Is he the “normal” one in the bunch? The truth is that those stereotypes just don’t stick to him. We have a few vague clues from Rowling on this subject.

[Quote: Sunday 15 August 2004 J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival]
A lot happens in the sixth book and a lot of questions are answered. I really have a sense that we are nearly there and it is time for answers, not more questions and clues, although obviously there are a few clues as I am not quite finished yet.
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/news_view.cfm?id=80

[Quote: Sunday 15 August 2004 J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival (emphasis mine)]
If you could be one of the characters for a day, who would it be?

Definitely not Harry, because I would not want to go through it all. I know what is coming for him so there is no way that I would want to be him. At the moment, I would not want to be any of them, because life is getting quite tough for them. It would be a laugh to be someone like Peeves, causing mayhem and not bothering.
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/news_view.cfm?id=80

[Quote: Interview with David Heyman, Steve Kloves, Mark Radcliffe, Alfonso Cuaron, and Jo Rowling, Prisoner of Azkaban DVD "Extra," November 23, 2004]
Jo Rowling: Alfonso had good intuition about what would and wouldn't work. He's put things in the film that, without knowing it, foreshadow things that are going to happen in the final two books. So I really got goosebumps when I saw a couple of those things, and I thought people are going to look back on the film and think those were put in deliberately as clues.
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2004/1104-poadvd.htm

One of the scenes in POA that really stood out to me, things that weren’t in the book, but gave me goosebumbs of forshadowing, happen in the snow scene outside Hogsmeade right after Harry overhears what happened between Sirius and Peter and Harry’s parents. (Interesting that the roles of Sirius and Peter were switched in the minds of the wizarding public for so long. As different as they were in life, it must have been believeable for them to take on each other’s roles as a plausible explanation to the events that happened.)

Harry is sitting, crying, vulnerable and alone in the snow, a bleak winter landscape surrounding him (wonderful symbolism for despair) when Hermione and Ron come running up to find him. Hermione starts forward, and Ron grabs her arm to try and hold her back. She jerks free however, and goes forward to join Harry, and force him to join her world again and talk with her. Ron stays in the background, not retreating, but neither does he come forward. He is clearly uncomfortable with Harry’s emotions, and remains fidgeting where he stands.

After Harry confides what is wrong, he shouts “He was their friend, and he betrayed them. (Harry is looking directly at Hermione as he says this, then the camera pans out to show him and Hermione close together and a huge space before Ron is standing very small to the oppostie side of the screen where he remained, and Harry lifts his head to face towards Ron, and shout to the sky) He was their friend!” That last statement rings out and is allowed to echo down to silence before the picture returns to a close up of Hermione, where we see that she was looking back towards Ron, and then she turns back to face Harry. We know she was looking at Harry when he started talking, so we can only assume that both he and she turned to look at Ron when that last sentence was cried out.

An excellent forshadow to Ron’s further betrayal of them, is only one interpretation to this scene, but it fits exactly in all the symbolism, from the bleak and cold atmosphere, to Ron’s distance and nonparticipation in the interaction.

Before we get into a debate of the merits of what is in the movie versus what is in the book, I realize that they are different. I also realize that Rowling has very little control, or say over what is in the movies, though she does have input.

[Quote: Entertainment Weekly, September 7, 2000]
Do you have kind of control over what Warner Bros. does with Harry Potter?
Can I prevent it in terms of what's in my contract? No. But they have been very gracious in allowing me input, and I have been asked a lot of questions I never expect to be asked.
http://www.mugglenet.com/ewinterview1.shtml

[Quote: CoS DVD Interview: JKR and Steve Kloves Interviewed By Newsround's Lizo]
And there are so many rich details in the books. Could you tell us how you decide what goes in and what stays out?
Steve:
Well, I will suggest to Jo... "You do seem to shine a bit more light on this one than the other details..." and sometimes I'm wrong but often she'll nod and say "Yes, that is going to play out." and there's one thing in Chamber that Jo indicated will play later in the series. The hardest thing for me is that I'm writing a story to which I do NOT know the end. I'm not going to lie to you, I spend some times in my own originals but I assume I will find an end! With this it's just I'm writing a story over a decade, and I keep waiting, you know, keep hoping that Jo will really slip-up and actually tell me something.
http://www.mugglenet.com/cosdvdint.shtml

[Quote: Alfonso Cuaron: the man behind the magic]
I give you an example: There's a scene where Malfoy wants to see Buckbeak being executed. It's where Hermione punches him. And there's a sundial. We thought we need something there. I said 'Let's put a graveyard there'.
She says: 'No, you can't have a graveyard there'. And I'm like, 'Why?' She says: 'Oh because the graveyard is near this other wing of the castle and it's going to play an important part in number six because such and such and such.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/tv_film/newsid_3758000/3758101.stm

Despite such things, JKR herself said that the movie gave her goosebumps because of it’s innocent forshadowing.

It is my belief that Ron is the Wormtail of his day. He will manipulate and hurt Harry, whether it’s because he and Hermione get closer, or try to start a relationship that causes Ron to feel shunted out, or just because Ron’s opportunity for power will arise. Perhaps it will be both.

Ron will not go into the situation thinking that he’s doing anything wrong. He wants to live and be recognized for himself. He wants the same things Percy does, that the twins do, that every Weasley seems to covet. He wants the recognition, success, and power that he can get. He just doesn’t want to work for it as the others do. If someone were to come and hand him the power, he would be all too willing to take it in blunder. He wouldn’t consciously betray Harry, but he would strive to fulfill his goals, and therefore he’ll be easy to blind and trick.

Ron will most likely be horrified to find himself hurting Harry, depending on the depth and seriousness of the wound, and what came of their falling out before. He will console himself with his gain, and convince himself, as Percy did, that the others are in the wrong. Ron always has, and will probably continue, to choose the easy path right up to the end.

[Quote: Dumbledore GOF Chap 37 The Beginning]
Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory.

Perhaps Dumbldore’s words will come back to him then…when all seems lost, and everything bleak. And he, with as guilty a hand in it as Fudge will care enough to try and turn the tables.

Ron has a chance, then, of redemption. It is my belief that he will gain it, but only with his sacrifice of death. What, where, and when that may happen is still wild speculation, but I see this coming about with a toll of certainty. There are many symbolic references to Ron’s death throughout canon. This would certainly be a very unpopular way to do things, but it would have bang, and make her point (choices make us what we are, choose what’s right, not what’s easy, etc.) in a very strict, and no nonsense way.

JKR has said this about book 6:

[Quote: jkrowling.com FAQ (emphasis mine)]
Do you like ‘Half-Blood Prince’?
I like it better than I liked ‘Goblet’, ‘Phoenix’ or ‘Chamber’ when I finished them. Book six does what I wanted it to do and even if nobody else likes it (and some won’t), I know it will remain one of my favourites of the series. Ultimately you have to please yourself before you please anyone else!
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/faq_view.cfm?id=93

What makes her think that people won’t like the book? It is Ron’s betrayal. His seeming stray from loyalty and bravery into treachery and cowardice, just as Wormtail did. Ron will play Peter’s piece, and then redeem himself through sacrifice and death. It is an important mirror in her story. He has to break that pattern, letting his Sirius side ultimately win, by doing as Sirius suggested in POA, and dying rather than betray his friends.

Hermione has the potential to be both Lily and Lupin. She could sacrifice herself for Harry, and mirror Lily’s sacrifice, but that wouldn’t break the pattern. Hermione as Lupin, would live, but be suspect. Perhaps she will have to be spy and therefore suspect to all in order to help Harry win. She would break the pattern by being involved, and standing by Harry, instead of being shunted aside.

As we do not know much about why Lupin was abandoned by his friends after school, or why they suspected him of being the spy, we cannot speculate in detail how her role will differ from his. We just know that it must, in order for that pattern to be broken, and Voldemort to fall, and perish, instead of just falling.

Harry’s role, of course, has already been set before him. He will play himself once again, and his parents too, by defying Voldemort. He will choose to fight the evil instead of letting it grow and expand. He has already chosen this path in OotP. With Ron and Hermione’s roles altering the old pattern, he will be able to succeed this time around, where the curse failed before.

Voldemort will fall.

Evil will perish.

Good will triumph.