hello! I was wondering...if Hermione had handled Ron dating Lavender more maturely (no bird attack, no freeze-out...but a quiet regret and sadness) and continued her friendship with him, albeit probably more from a distance, but still friendly and civil, how do you think that would have changed how Ron & Lavender's relationship played out? Would they have stayed together longer than they did? Broken up sooner?
Honestly, I think she and Ron would have gotten together sooner if she had. He wasn’t dating her when he made out with Lavender at the party- it was a combination of proving to himself he was desirable/liked/admired and partly proving to Hermione the same. Then Hermione attacked Ron with birds- and e became entrenched and defensive and even further resentful of Hermione’s apparent disdain for him. If Hermione had remained friends with him I don’t know that Ron would have even dated Lavender. Honestly if he had seen more ‘sad Hermione’ and less ‘angry Hermione’ I think he would have seen she actually cares about him and would have stopped things with Lavender right there. He’s a sucker for Hermione when she’s sad.
