You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

I think your assessment of us hinges on your misguided notion that we will be that upset if H/Hr doesn't happen.

Been there, done that, so to speak. If it doesn't happen, I won't say to myself that I had no inkling that it wouldn't. All we're doing here is looking at the facts, or the LACK of facts presented, and theorizing what's coming based on those.

I can only speak for myself and say that though I will be disappointed in what Rowling chose to write if she DOES go the cliche OBHWF, I will certainly not implode. I will just realize that as far as romance is concerned, Rowling isn't the best at writing it, and that I disagree with what she considers makes two people "good" romantically for one another.

But none of this keeps me from seeing what's clearly NOT stated in canon, and that is that there is any proof other than what Harry looks at as "jealousy" that Ron and Hermione really like one another. I won't go into all the reasons I previously stated. They're all in my previous post.

But really and truly, that's all the evidence there is. They move no closer in six years to getting together, no one else speaks of it, not even Ron's family, Ron repeatedly says things like "completely missed the point" "never promised her anything, free agent, just as friends"... and no one believes him.

Isn't it possible that Harry will learn that Ron's been completely honest in all this, and that Hermione's actions toward Ron were not what he thought they were? Ron's had three years since GoF to realize what he's been feeling. For any normal person, and certainly for one who is now seventeen, that's plenty of time to understand what you're feeling.

I think Heron/Chocos, although you DO have a case, don't get me wrong, tend to ignore the fact that there very well COULD be something else going on here.

I see the same misunderstandings and misguided notions about romance going on here as I do in "Emma" by Jane Austen (Rowling's favorite book, and one that she continues to mention). Suffice it to say I won't go into it here, but what I see is that the romantic situations in HP have been set up as such that if Harry does find out in the end he's been wrong all along, I can certainly see how Rowling did it, and that she gave him just enough misinformation and not enough true information, and us as well, for him and us to have been fooled.

That's what I think is happening. Could I be wrong? Oh yes, definitely. And if I am, oh well. But I see too many similarities to "Emma" and things that don't add up to just think that what we're seeing on the surface about the romances and that what Harry believes must be true.

I guess we'll see. But I just think that if you ignore everything that points to that something else might be going on, then YOU are the one who may have been fooled in the end. ;0)

Cheers, Bama