Percy and Penelope Clearwater
Even pompous prefects like Percy Weasley could find love – much to the astonishment of his brothers.
When Percy started avoiding Quidditch and locking himself in his room, claiming to be too busy, they knew something was going on. Fred explained to Harry: ‘He’s not himself. His exam results came the day before you did; twelve O.W.L.s and he hardly gloated at all.’
Finally, his baffling behaviour was explained – it was love! His lucky lady was Ravenclaw prefect Penelope Clearwater, making them the perfect match. Ginny discovered his secret when she walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one afternoon. Fred dropped a stack of books on George’s head when they found out.
Moaning Myrtle and Harry
Having a crush is all part of being a teenager, and not even being dead can stop hormones from raging for some. Hogwarts student Myrtle Elizabeth Warren was killed by the Basilisk back when the Chamber of Secrets was first opened. She haunted the toilet she died in ever since – and took a shine to Harry.
When he and Ron emerged from the Chamber, having killed the great serpent, she seemed a little disappointed that Harry had survived. In fact, she’d already been making plans for his afterlife, telling him: ‘Oh, well ... I’d just been thinking. If you had died, you’d have been welcome to share my toilet.’
When she bumped into Harry again in the prefects’ bathroom, she complained that Harry hadn’t been to see her for ages.
‘Will you come and visit me in my bathroom again sometime?’ Moaning Myrtle asked mournfully, as Harry picked up the Invisibility Cloak.
‘Er ... I’ll try,’ Harry said, though privately thinking the only way he’d be visiting Myrtle’s bathroom again was if every other toilet in the castle got blocked.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Unrequited love, flushed down the u-bend.
The Harry-Cho-Cedric love triangle
The course of true love never did run smooth, as Harry found out in his fourth year at Hogwarts. When he met Ravenclaw seeker Cho Chang, ‘Harry couldn't help noticing, nervous as he was, that she was extremely pretty ...’
However, he didn’t pluck up the courage to ask her out until the Yule Ball, and by that point, she’d already agreed to go with Cedric Diggory.
The love triangle was brought to a tragic end with Cedric’s death but even then, Cho and Harry never quite got together. The pair went on a date on Valentine’s Day to Hogsmeade, but Harry annoyed her by arranging to see Hermione and she cut the date short. It was only later, when Hermione explained how Cho was feeling, that Harry realised where he’d been going wrong.
Don’t worry about Cho, though: she found comfort with Ravenclaw Michael – a former boyfriend of Ginny Weasley – and eventually married a Muggle.
Hermione and Krum
Even hard-working Hermione wasn’t immune to a bit of teenage romance and astonished everyone – especially Ron – when she turned up to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Quidditch star. The pair spent the dance deep in conversation, barely noticing their food.
Hermione was taken hostage in the second task of the Triwizard Tournament because she was the person Krum would miss the most. After he rescued her, he asked her to visit him over the summer.
Even after Krum and the rest of Durmstrang departed Hogwarts, Hermione and Krum remained pen-pals, much to Ron’s agitation. And according to Ginny Weasley, the two most definitely snogged.
Ginny and Michael... and Ginny and Dean
When Hermione casually dropped into conversation that Ginny was going out with Michael Corner, Ron wasn’t happy at all, immediately saying: ‘I didn’t like him.’ Like most teenage romances, it didn’t last for long. When Michael became grumpy after Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw at Quidditch, Ginny dumped him.
However, she didn’t stay single for long and started a new relationship with Dean Thomas, which horrified Ron further when he saw the new couple ‘locked in a close embrace and kissing fiercely as if glued together’.
Ron wasn’t the only one who didn’t like Ginny’s new romance. Harry experienced (although he may not have recognised it) a surge of jealousy, where ‘hot blood seemed to flood his brain, so that all thought was extinguished, replaced by a savage urge to jinx Dean into a jelly’.
Thankfully, Ginny eventually saw sense and broke up with Dean as well, leaving her free to get together with Harry.
Ron and Lavender
Lavender Brown had a crush on Ron since the start of their sixth year. Ron’s triumphant first Quidditch match as Gryffindor Keeper led to a huge party, where he ended up ‘wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose’.
The couple spent the next few weeks locked at the lips and this constant snogging left Hermione furious and hurt. The pair parted company before the end of the school year, after she became jealous of his friendship with Hermione. Lavender was left with very red eyes, but Ron was just relieved. So cruel, Won-Won.