Harry Potter has taken its rightful place as one of our major pop culture touchstones. While it started as a series of beloved books, it’s now includes a franchise's worth of movies, theme parks, and more licensed memorabilia than you can shake Ron’s broken wand at.
This means that there are fans of these characters all over the world. And if there’s one things fans love to obsess over, it’s the romantic lives of their favorite characters. That’s why Ron and Hermione’s relationship is an absolutely epic love story to Potter fans everywhere.
In both the books and the movies, we got to see these characters grow closer and eventually get together. Their adventures are so well-documented that you might think you know everything about these characters. However, there are several secrets about these characters and their relationship that not even Dumbledore could have predicted!
Some of these secrets fundamentally alter what we know about their love and their future. Others will ensure that you never look at your favorite movie scenes the same way again. Finally, some of them will make you wonder if you ever really knew Ron and Hermione at all!
Keep reading to discover 16 Things Only True Potterheads Know About Ron And Hermione’s Relationship.
JK Rowling Made a Mistake?
For some fans, Ron and Hermione are one of the great love stories in all of literature. They have the obvious spark that comes from opposites attracting, and the onscreen chemistry between Rupert Grint and Emma Watson really sells us on the relationship. However, one person isn’t fully sold: Potter author J.K. Rowling!
In an old interview with Wonderland Magazine involving Rowling and Watson, Rowling admits that she pushed Ron and Hermione together “as a form of wish fulfillment.” She said “it was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility.” To twist the knife even further, Rowling admitted that “In some ways Hermione and Harry are a better fit.”
While she stopped short of saying Hermione and Harry should have gotten married (as many breathless articles proclaimed), this still seems bad for fans of Ron and Hermione.
Rupert Grint thinks they'd get Divorced
One reason that the Harry Potter movies are so beloved is because the cast really threw themselves into their characters. This allows them to offer special insight and entertainment to Potter fans. However, that insight can sometimes go to dark places, like when Rupert Grint discusses Ron and Hermione divorcing!
In an interview with The Huffington Post, Grint was asked what he thought Ron would do next in the world of Harry Potter. It got really weird, really fast: Grint said he figured Ron and Hermione would already be divorced and that Ron is living alone, jobless, in a one-bedroom apartment.
Just how grim did Grint’s vision get?
Eventually, his co-stars chimed in, with Matthew Lewis claiming Neville could get Ron a job as a professor, and Luna Lovegood’s Evanna Lynch hoping that Ron could someday reconcile with Hermione!
Time travel hurts their relationship
Over time, the Potterverse has expanded quite a bit. In addition to the original books and movies, we are getting a prolonged series of Fantastic Beast movies. There’s even a stage play sequel to the original tale called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Unfortunately, that play spells out some rough waters for Ron and Hermione’s relationship.
The play actually borrows a premise from Doctor Who, as Harry’s son uses a Time Turner to try to saved dear, doomed Cedric Diggory. He ends up dramatically changing the past and then trying to fix things, creating several different alternate realities along the way.
In one of these realities, Ron and Hermione never got married.
Don’t worry, though: everything (including their relationship) gets restored to normal by the end of the story!
Early Hints in Prisoner of Azkaban
A constant topic of debate among Potter fans is exactly how faithfully the Harry Potter movies translated their respective texts. It seems like the movies are always playing catch-up to the richer, fuller universe of the books. However, on one special occasion, a movie actually predicted the course of the books before anyone (save Rowling herself) knew what was coming!
For Ron and Hermione fans, it actually took a really long time for their relationship to get going: if you remember, they weren’t officially together until the final book!
However, one person who saw what was coming was Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuaron. In his movie, we clearly see Ron and Hermione holding hands during class and also at the Shrieking Shack, which goes nicely with seeing Ron swoon after she punches Malfoy.
When you go back and watch these quiet moments, it becomes downright weird to think it takes their onscreen romance so long to fully bloom.
Rumors of Hermione's affair with Krum
If you look back, there wasn’t a lot of real competition for Hermione’s affection. This was partly because she only had eyes for Ron (at least, most of the time) and partly because she intimidated the various boys at Hogwarts. However, one boy she liked was Viktor Krum.
As it turns out, gossip about Krum and Hermione continued for a great many years!
On the Pottermore website, J.K. Rowling has been able to flesh out her universe in many exciting ways. In one entry, she revealed that Viktor Krum came out of retirement to play one last game at the 2014 Quidditch World Cup. Hermione and Ron were in attendance, and Rita Skeeter covered the game. Skeeter hinted that Hermione and Krum might still have some love between them.
While this is likely untrue, it’s interesting to think that Hermione’s Yule Ball date was making waves so many years later!
It's all Krum's Fault
As we mentioned earlier, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a time-travel story that allows us to see the butterfly effect: how changing one small event can lead to huge, unexpected changes. The play virtually confirms a pretty awkward reality for Ron and Hermione fans: they would never have gotten together if not for Viktor Krum.
Or, more accurately, Ron’s jealousy of Krum.
Due to time-travel shenanigans, Hermione doesn’t go to the Yule Ball with Krum, and Ron ends up marrying Padma Patil instead!
Ultimately, this is a really hard pill to swallow for fans of Ron and Hermione because it basically confirms that their relationship is was prompted by petty jealousy. If Ron was not jealous of Hermione's affection for Krum, their relationship may never have happened
10. Ron Sacrifices Himself for Hermione
As we mentioned, things look grim for Ron and Hermione’s relationship for the bulk of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, as they are shown as never having gotten together in multiple alternate realities. However, we do see a huge gesture from Ron when he literally gives his life for Hermione.
In one of these terrible alternate realities, Harry has been taken out and Voldemort rules the world. Dementors chase down dissenting wizards, and in one instance, they are closing in on Ron and Hermione. The injured Ron has a chance to run away but instead sticks by Hermione’s side, choosing to lose his life with with her rather than abandon her.
It seems like even when reality tears them apart, Ron is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for Hermione.
Their kids and careers
We know that Ron and Hermione have very different family backgrounds. Hermione grew up as an only child of Muggle parents, while Ron grew up in a huge family of wizards. Because of this, fans were understandably curious as to how large their own family would end up being.
This is answered in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: together, Ron and Hermione have only two children. They have a daughter named Rose Granger-Weasley and a son named Huge Granger-Weasley. You’ll notice that the children bear both of their names, which is a nice way of underscoring that Hermione won’t let marriage diminish her own name or influence.
Considering she becomes the Minister of Magic, she wields considerable influence within the whole wizarding world!
Quidditch Date
One funny detail about their relationship is that, when they are much older, they attended the Quidditch World Cup on a date in 2014. What makes it funny is that we primarily know about how the date went thanks to the commentary of Rita Skeeter, and she’s not exactly reliable.
For instance, there’s some evidence that it may have gone poorly: Ron allegedly ogles the Bulgarian Veela women until he is “catatonic,” and Skeeter reports that Hermione elbows him in the ribs. Later, though, Ron sweetly kisses her on the cheeks, which Skeeter calls an “ill-judged public display of affection.”
However, that’s what those of us with hearts would call “keeping the romance alive,” and no Harry Potter fan is overly inclined to listen to what Rita Skeeter has to say about our heroes.
They're An Interracial Couple?
Thanks to the immense popularity of the Harry Potter movies, fans have a pretty good idea of what Ron and Hermione look like. Or do they?
As it turns out, there’s some powerful evidence that these lovely young wizards are actually an interracial couple.
It all started when black actress Noma Dumezweni got the role of Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. This started a predictable firestorm of fan confusion - and even racist outrage - because the actress did not resemble the white character that they envisioned.
J.K. Rowling had a pretty simple retort: none of her books explicitly mention Hermione’s skin color! While she stopped short of making a black Hermione canon, she also made it clear that she need not be the white woman that most fans assumed that she was.
Hermione Loves Woke Ron
Every Potter fan knows there’s a lot of great material from the books that doesn’t get translated to film. One of the things we missed out on was a socially active Hermione. In the books, she begins campaigning for elf rights by starting The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.
Romance didn’t really start between Hermione and Ron until she saw how much he cared about the elves!
During the Battle of Hogwarts, Ron told her that they should free the various house elves instead of forcing them to fight and possibly die for their wizard masters. Hermione was so surprised by Ron that she kissed him full on the lips.
Considering they had not had much beyond awkward flirtation and arguments before this, the kiss was a major moment in their romantic history.
Everyone but them saw it coming
As a fan of Ron and Hermione’s relationship, it’s difficult to sometimes remember that it took their relationship so long to get started. However, as with many real-life couples, there were quite a few who saw their relationship coming from miles away, even if they had not already taken the Divination class.
For instance, when Harry Potter runs into Hermione’s ex, Viktor Krum, Viktor asks if Ron and Hermione are “together now.” Harry responds “sort of.”
Speaking of Viktor, plenty of students saw the weird fallout between Ron and Hermione when she told Ron he should have asked her to the Yule Ball.
As we mentioned, Azkaban director Alfonso Cuaron knew, putting hints of it in his movie. Even studious Rowling fans knew, as she mentioned way back in 2000 that something was going on between Ron and Hermione but that Ron simply hadn’t noticed.
They Married Young
Whether you’re a book fan or only a movie fan, everyone knows that we get a big time jump at the end of Deathly Hallows. Suddenly, we get to see Ron and Hermione as married with children. However, due to just how big the time jump was, there’s another detail that you probably missed: they got married very young.
While they don’t pin an exact time frame on it, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child makes it clear that Ron and Hermione got married at a young age. In fact, Ron even comments explicitly on this, prompting Hermione to worry that he thought they had gotten married too young.
Interestingly, though, many people married young in Ron’s family— although much of that was attributed to the fear of dying at any time in the fight with Voldemort.
They Renew Their Vows
Ever since J.K. Rowling admitted that pairing Harry and Hermione together would have made more sense than pairing Ron and Hermione, fan debate over this romance has been reignited. However, we get a powerful argument for their love in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child when Ron decides to renew his vows with Hermione.
Of course, Ron does it in his own weird and goofy style: he laments that he was young and “very drunk” the first time and that he “can’t remember much of it.” However, he loves her passionately to this day, and would “like the opportunity to say so in front of lots of other people. Again. Sober.”
Hermione is overjoyed at Ron learning this romantic trick from the Muggles and seeing how devoted he still is to their relationship.
She's the Breadwinner
It’s interesting to imagine Ron, Hermione, and Harry living a life after Hogwarts. For most of their story, we only knew them as students, so what is it like when they are all grown up? Well, one fun fact that probably won’t shock anyone: Hermione becomes the real breadwinner in the family.
Hermione eventually becomes the Minister for Magic, which is a pretty huge responsibility in the wizarding world.
Meanwhile, Ron worked briefly as an Auror, but he then left to go work at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes with George. By the time Cursed Child rolls around, he does most of his work from home while Hermione is busy helping keep the magical world together!
However, Ron seems to have no regrets, and is happy with the time he gets to spend with Hermione and their children.
"Ron" Hated Kissing "Hermione"
For Harry Potter fans, seeing Ron and Hermione kiss on the big screen in Deathly Hallows Part 2 was a dream come true. It’s awesome to see your favorite characters get together, and neither of the actors is exactly hard on the eyes. As it turned out, though, one person didn’t like it— Ron's actor Rupert Grint!
Before you grab your pitchforks in anger, you should hear him out. As Grint explained, he has known Hermione actor Emma Watson since he was nine years old. They essentially grew up making these movies together, and he thinks of her much more like a sister than as a beautiful woman. Therefore, he was weirded out by kissing her and was just happy when the scene was over.
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Got any other secrets we missed about Ron and Hermione from Harry Potter? Go apparate to the comments!