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Top Ten favourite Harry Potter Characters - Jack

1) Ronald Weasley

2) James Potter (sr.)

3) Sirius Black

4) Harry Potter

5) Rubeus Hagrid

6) Dobby

7) Hermione Granger

8) Luna Lovegood

9) Remus Lupin

10) Minerva McGonagall

Surprised to see no Sev there? Don't Worry I like him too! same goes for other popular characters, like Lily, Dumbles, etc.

Top ten favourite Harry Potter Characters - Sarah

1) Ronald Weasley

2) Sirius Black

3) Hermione Granger

4) Nymphadora Tonks (She's going to hex me for using her first name isn't she?)

5) James Potter (sr.)

6) Severus Snape

7) Lily Evans (Potter)

8) Luna Lovegood

9) Neville Longbottom

10) Remus Lupin

A quick look at the Ron/Hermione relationship and perceptions regarding it:

Now when looking at the Ron/Hermione relationship, people almost always look at Ron as if he is the only one who ever causes problems and everything is entirely his fault. People also think that he hurts Hermione and Hermione never does anything like that to him. If you read my story "Something called Faith", I address that issue to the best of my ability.

We all know about Ron's transgressions, and I'm not going to pretend he's innocent here, he's not. But suggesting that Hermione has nothing to apologize for makes anyone who thinks so, outright deluded. Sorry if you're offended, but remember, being offended doesn't make you right. If you think I'm wrong, then I invite you to rebut my case. But I digress.

Yes, Ron was extremely immature about Krum. Yes, he struggles to understand girls' feelings. Yes, his relationship with Lavender was shallow beyond belief.

Re: Krum.
Ron was fourteen at the time. How many fourteen year olds can effectively handle strong emotions? Especially jealously? And can you blame Ron, who has literally been overshadowed by people and circumstances out of his control his entire life? Then along comes Viktor Krum, an international Sports icon, with the girl he loves on his arm. What do you expect him to do at the age of fourteen? I myself had similar jealousy at fourteen. I didn't handle it well either.

Secondly, Hermione herself knew about Ron's jealously issues and confronted Harry about it herself. When Ron reacted in the way he did, any idiot could have figured out what was going on, yet somehow Hermione didn't. My best guess is because she focused on her own distress. Again, my story "Something called Faith" looks into that whole concept.

Re: Lavender.
Ron was now a sixteen year old, whose insecurities had only gotten worse since the Yule ball. In his eye, Hermione sees him as incompetent (Explained in more detail below). She has said he has the emotional range of a teaspoon. She has not shown Ron any real hints apart from the invitation to the Christmas party, which Ron would have of course taken as either platonic or out of pity. Most likely the latter.

Suddenly, a beautiful girl shows up, extremely interested in him, someone who sees him as great. Yes, she has her own flaws, but what was Ron supposed to do? Turn her down and wait for Hermione, who by this point hadn't shown much of anything? I don't buy that one bit, and if you do, then you don't understand adolescent boys. Period.

Remember, this entire time, she's shown a hell of a lot more affection to Harry than Ron himself. Of course he's not going to think Hermione likes him, regardless of what was really going on. This is all about what's going on in Ron's head.

Also, the way Hermione handled the Lavender situation was in my opinion, the lowest point of Hermione's whole character. She always got annoyed at Ron bringing up Krum. So sending canaries at Ron, and refuses to talk to him for months on end because Ron commits the horrific crime of being a teenage boy is OK when he goes out with Lavender?

After that, if you think Hermione has anything to apologize for, then I'm sorry, you're just wrong.

Re: Ron leaving the hunt temporarily.
At surface level, you can be forgiven for saying that this is inexcusable. However, think about the circumstances. The locket did affect Ron in a different way to Harry and Hermione. It straight up tortured him. It didn't do anything nearly as bad to Harry or Hermione. Ron at this point was also injured. He still thought that Hermione wanted Harry, not him. Yet who was he stuck in a tent with? Harry and Hermione. To him it was just further torture when he was wearing the locket.

Anyone else in his position would have left in a heartbeat. I'd wager that even Harry would have left quicker than Ron. And Ron came back, destroying the locket and finding the sword in the process, with some spare wands to boot. If Hermione saw what the locket actually did to Ron, she'd never be angry with him again. OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but she'd certainly never even think of the notion that Ron was entirely to blame ever again.

And to top it all off, when Hermione sees him again, she hits him. Imagine how you'd all react if Ron hit Hermione, were the roles reversed. Ron would be labelled a woman beating piece of scum.

I'm not saying Hermione is a bad character. In fact she's one of the best characters of them all. What I am saying is that both Ron and Hermione need to be held to the same standard of scrutiny. I'm only asking for consistency.

Incoming Rant regarding Draco Malfoy*

Everyone who is reading this: I am pretty sure you have (somewhere) seen Draco Malfoy referred to as something somewhere along the lines of the 'Slytherin sex god'. Now I think this has only happened because Tom Felton looks good. BUT FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS POTTER PLEASE READ THE BOOKS! DRACO MALFOY IS NOT A GOOD LOOKING GUY WITH A FLAWLESS FACE, SIX PACK AND GIANT BICEPS! In fact, if you read the books again, you will note that he isn't that big, has a pale face, pointed features and an almost permanent sneer on his face. Call me crazy, but sex gods don't look like that. He is also portrayed as a sensitive caring person in some fics. Lets face the damn facts...he was an utter dickhead. He was bigoted and prejudiced, unfriendly, self absorbed and an all round nasty person. Granted, there were hints that he regretted his death eater ways in books 6 and 7, but either way, he was NOT a good person. It was inevitable - being raised in a family where Lucius Malfoy is involved makes it so.

Rant over*

As of 22/05/12, I (Jack) have Pottermore. If you are interested in adding, me, please do so. I am HazelQuill25923. But please send me a pm first, I will inevitably log into my fanfiction account more often. That way I know when to accept you :-)

Least favourite Harry Potter Characters and why.

1) Lucius Malfoy - He is always so "High and Mighty", when really he is a coward. Not to mention maddeningly racist to muggleborns, Half Bloods and Muggles. Not to mention the fact that the movies have given him mindless fangirls, just because they find him handsome. He is pale, has pointed features and walks around sneering at others. Just like his son. How is that sexy? READ THE BOOKS AGAIN. Also, even if he was handsome, how the hell would you overlook how much of a major douchebag he is?

2) Narcissa Malfoy - People say that she is an 'amazing person', just because she saved Harry. She only saved him because she was by extension saving her son. It doesn't take much courage to save your son - it is maternal instinct to protect your children. Dying for your children however actually takes some courage, but it is still something that all competent mothers would do. If you remember the whole Malfoy Manor incident, she was excited when she recognised Hermione, which meant she wanted to hand Harry, Ron and Hermione over to Voldemort.

3) Bellatrix Lestrange - Helena Bonham Carter played her spectacularly (as the psychotic bitch she is). She is racist to Muggleborns and isn't afraid of terrorizing, torturing and murdering them. Also she killed Padfoot and Tonks. What's not to hate? However, she is a fantastic villain. One of the villains I love to hate.

4) Voldemort - Do I really need to explain why? Although once again, I love to hate him - he is a brilliant villain. Just talks too much.

5) Wormtail - For the obvious reasons, being a coward who betrays his friends, always looking to save his own skin. However, I pity him more than anything else. In my opinion, I think he turned because of possible jealousy towards his three best friends, who were undoubtedly more attractive, popular, competent, intelligent and brave. Not to mention James and Sirius probably lost patience with him quite often, ending up being too hard on him.

6) Walburga Black - We don't know a great deal about her, but then again, we don't want to. Utterly. Mad. Her bloody portrait is enough to seriously offend some muggleborns if they came across her. Thankfully, Hermione wasn't really offended, but still... that bitch needs to calm down. Not to mention her (most likely) apalling treatment of Sirius due to his choices of believing in Muggle and Muggle born rights.

7) Draco Malfoy - Most of the reasons for hating him are already covered in the above rant, but I need to stress that he was racist (within wizarding parameters), rude, arrogant, spoiled and much, much more in the way of being a total dickhead. Not to mention cowardly. How people manage to overlook this when fangirling over him, I do not understand. So he looks good IN THE FILMS ONLY. Does that make him caring, kind and gentle? NO! And yes fangirls, he isn't caring in the movies either.

A quick look at the extremely confusing ships involving Hermione (Who let's face it, hooks up with *everyone* in fanfics, from the acceptable ones like Ron of course, to outright wacky ones like Bellatrix):

Draco Malfoy/Hermione: OK... Malfoy hates Hermione, she hates him. On principle. Let alone the fact that Hermione is logical, kind and sympathetic, whereas Malfoy is brash, rude and selfish. They have no semblance of compatibility, and I honestly haven't got a clue why this is so popular.

Snape/Hermione: Snape is old enough to be Hermione's dad. Snape is cruel to every Gryffindor, including Hermione regardless of her aptitude. Snape is is bitter to the core (somewhat understandably so, but still, Hermione, with someone bitter? Nope).

Hermione/Ginny: Neither character is lesbian or bisexual. Literally defined as the fact that they do not feel attraction towards the same sex. Need I say more?

Hermione/Other Weasley brothers: She doesn't know them particularly well aside from Fred and George, who let's face it, while they are nice guys, are too far off from Hermione's personality.

Hermione/Sirius or Remus: Same problem with both of these guys, and Meryn Trant said it best : Too old.

A quick look at Harry/Hermione:

I'll be honest here, this one at least makes a bit of sense, unlike the others highlighted above. However, Harry himself said that Hermione is basically a sister. On top of that, when Harry snaps, he can be even nastier than either Ron or Hermione and if Hermione loses her patience with Ron when he gets pissed off, she would simply not tolerate it with Harry.

The two of them do have intense moments, but they are platonic. Just because a man and a woman have intense moments together, it doesn't mean that there's an attraction there. I myself have had a lot of very intense moments with girls (Sarah comes to mind) and Sarah has of course with guys, myself included. No attraction involved. It's just friends being emotional and letting their walls down in front of friends they deeply trust. That's what Harry and Hermione have.

I'm not going to pretend that the pair of them have never had any remotely sexual thoughts about each other, especially between their third and fifth, maybe sixth years, but it was clear that they never had any intention of pursuing them. Harry was stuck up on Cho, then Ginny, and anyone who understands a thing about Hermione knew exactly who was on her mind. Those who don't can have this description:

Tall guy, red hair, long nose, freckles, blue eyes, swears a lot.