‘That’ kiss on the cheek
‘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.’
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Usually, Ron displayed his feelings for Hermione via never-ending arguments, catty comments and jealous jibes. This particularly came to the forefront when Hermione went to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, of course. But there were moments where we realised Ron liked Hermione in a far more subtle way, such as this moment of consternation when Hermione kissed him on the cheek before his big Quidditch game.
His reaction may have been mingled with pre-match nerves, but for many readers, this was the clearest indication yet that Ron had feelings for Hermione far beyond being best friends.
Saying Hermione’s name in a poisoned stupor
‘Er-my-nee,’ croaked Ron unexpectedly from between them. They all fell silent, watching him anxiously, but after muttering incomprehensibly for a moment he merely started snoring.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
What could be more romantic than mumbling the name of the person you like after you’ve just nearly choked on some poisoned mead? After accidentally eating some Chocolate Cauldrons spiked with love potion? On your birthday? Exactly.
This is the situation Ron found himself in during an eventful time in Half-Blood Prince, which notably upset Hermione. During her first visit, along with Harry and the Weasleys, he unconsciously mumbled the syllables of her name to the awkward surprise of the visiting party.
To complicate matters, this was during the time where Ron was supposedly still dating Lavender Brown, who wasn’t even told that Ron was in the hospital wing until some time later. In true Ron form, he spent most of his bedbound time pretending to be asleep when Lavender visited, and casually asking if Hermione was coming to visit him. This near-death experience certainly revealed who Ron really cared about, although the way he treated Lavender was simply not on.
Hermione Confunding Cormac
‘What?’ said Hermione defensively. ‘If you ask me,’ said Harry quietly, ‘McLaggen looks like he was Confunded. And he was standing right in front of where you were sitting.’ Hermione blushed.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Hermione. Breaking. The. Rules. It’s always a rather exciting moment when Hermione brings out her rebellious side – and especially satisfying when she takes it out on the insufferably arrogant Cormac McLaggen.
During Half-Blood Prince, Hermione gave Ron a little bit of help during the Gryffindor Quidditch Keeper try-outs, by Confounding Ron’s rival, Cormac McLaggen. Doing something so distinctly un-Hermione-like to help Ron was an unconventionally tender moment, although of course Hermione used the excuse that she simply did it because Cormac had been insulting to both Ron and Ginny’s Quidditch skills.
The Snargaluff Pod incident
‘We’re allowed to bring guests,’ said Hermione, who for some reason had turned a bright, boiling scarlet, ‘and I was going to ask you to come, but if you think it’s that stupid then I won’t bother!’ Harry suddenly wished the pod had flown a little further, so that he need not have been sitting there with the pair of them.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Finally. After six books, we saw the moment where Hermione and Ron had the potential to go on a date! And it couldn’t have been in a more romantic setting, during Herbology class, juicing Snargaluff pods! Okay, not exactly a candlelit dinner, but it’ll do.
After being invited to the Slug Club Christmas party along with Harry (Ron had been unceremoniously not-invited, much to his chagrin) Hermione lightly raised the question of inviting Ron as her date. Hurray! Of course, before this moment, Ron had immediately used his jealous self-defence mechanisms to ask Hermione if she’d be ‘getting off with Cormac’ at the event (who had shown an interest in her) – with led to the awkward moment of Hermione asking Ron...
It was the first proper moment where Harry realised there was something going on between them, and it could’ve been quite sweet, had Ron not ruined things by getting jealous after finding out Hermione had kissed Krum (but two years ago, can we add) then deciding to start snogging Lavender Brown not long after, leading to Hermione actually taking Cormac to the Slug Club Christmas party to make Ron jealous. Yes, we were exhausted too. But they’ll always have that special moment with the Snargaluff Pods.
A moment of lightness in the dark
‘Ron, he saw, was now holding Hermione and stroking her hair while she sobbed into his shoulder, tears dripping from the end of his own long nose.’
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The day of Dumbledore’s funeral was a crushing day for many, including Harry and his friends. But during times of darkness come times of harmony, and seeing Ron comforting Hermione definitely tugged on our heartstrings quite rigorously.
Some poor attempts to ‘charm’ a witch
Hermione made purple and gold streamers erupt from the end of her wand and drape themselves artistically over the trees and bushes. ‘Nice,’ said Ron, as with one final flourish of her wand, Hermione turned the leaves on the crab-apple tree to gold. ‘You’ve really got an eye for that sort of thing.’ ‘Thank you, Ron!’ said Hermione, looking both pleased and a little confused.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Trust the classically insecure Ron to acquire a book called Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches, testing out some ‘moves’ on Hermione during Bill and Fleur’s wedding. After years of insulting Hermione, mocking her cleverness and generally spouting jealous jibes, this sudden influx of compliments was hilariously bizarre. As if it took a book to teach Ron the ways of wooing witches. Still, at least he was trying...
Holding hands
‘Harry glanced over at the dark shapes they made on the floor beside him. Ron had had a fit of gallantry and insisted that Hermione sleep on the cushions from the sofa, so that her silhouette was raised above his. Her arm curved to the floor, her fingers inches from Ron’s. Harry wondered whether they had fallen asleep holding hands. The idea made him feel strangely lonely.’
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
When the Death Eater’s attacked Bill and Fleur’s wedding, Harry, Ron and Hermione retreated to Grimmauld Place after a horrendous night escaping Voldemort’s followers. In the morning that followed, the next chapter opened with this melancholic moment suggesting Hermione and Ron had fallen asleep holding hands in the aftermath of a terrible evening. In equal parts lovely as it was sad for Harry, who was still pining for Ginny after breaking up at the end of Half-Blood Prince, we couldn’t help but notice its poignancy.
And then, of course, the ultimate moment...
There was a clatter as the Basilisk fangs cascaded out of Hermione’s arms. Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet.
‘Is this the moment?’ Harry asked weakly, and when nothing happened except that Ron and Hermione gripped each other still more firmly and swayed on the spot, he raised his voice. ‘OI! There’s a war going on here!’
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Hurray! No need to analyse this one. And we will always love that it took Ron saying a kind thing about house-elves to finally ignite their first kiss. Harry sums it up perfectly: ‘is this the moment’?
Well, these two were hardly ever traditional.