Harry, Ron, and Hermione are the ultimate golden trio, and their friendship is truly admirable. Yet when you take Harry out of the picture, Ron and Hermione often struggle to make a solid friendship work. As we know, this is due to the fact that their deep feelings for one another got in the way of the two being able to maintain a platonic connection. When you fall for your best friend, tons of problems can arise, especially if you can't even admit to them (or yourself) that you're crazy about them.
With that said, Ron and Hermione have faced many struggles during the course of their friendship. What are some of the reasons that Ron and Hermione could never manage to be "real" friends in Harry Potter?
RON MADE HERMIONE FEEL TERRIBLE FOR HER INTELLIGENCE
In Harry Potter in the Philosopher's Stone, Ron truly had it out for little Hermione with her bushy hair and enormous brains. Our favorite Weasley seemed to suffer from a bit of a superiority complex when he felt the need to continuously bring Hermione down just because she wasn't afraid to show off her intelligence.
Because she got better grades than he did, Ron would go off to Harry about how she was impossible to deal with and how it was no wonder that she had no friends. Hermione overheard his hurtful words, and wound up crying in the girls' bathroom which led her straight into the arms of a giant troll. This is exactly why girls never go to the bathroom alone!
HERMIONE DIDN'T ALWAYS BELIEVE IN RON'S CAPABILITIES
Hermione always had a bit of a condescending tone whenever she would claim Ron had done something "brilliant". In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, she always seemed a bit shocked and amazed every time Ron would do something that wasn't completely brainless.
Throughout school, she would do most of Ron's homework, thus never allowing her friend to think for himself. If she were a better friend to Ron, she would challenge him and make him do the work, then tutor him through it if he was struggling. Doing the work for him all the time made it seem like she didn't trust him to do it correctly.
RON SHUNNED HERMIONE OUT OF JEALOUSY
Shakespeare said it best when he claimed that jealousy is a "green-eyed monster" who simply can't be tamed. Jealousy turns us into wicked characters who act irrationally and this is most certainly the case for Ron who in the book version of The Half-Blood Prince shuns Hermione with the silent treatment for kissing Krum at The Yule Ball.
First of all, that happened two years ago back when Ron was the ultimate jerk to Hermione. Secondly, why shouldn't they kiss? Krum was her date after all, and Ron and Hermione never dated during their Hogwarts years because Ron never asked her out. His behavior was completely unfair and his insecurities came into full bloom during this whole drawn-out dilemma.
HERMIONE ACTED TERRIBLY TOWARDS RON OUT OF JEALOUSY
Their nasty behavior towards each other in year six was most certainly a two-way street. Hermione was no angel when it came to her reactions towards the whole Lavender/Ron saga, and she even ended up attacking Ron with birds just because he was dating another girl.
Sure, it was cowardly of Ron to date someone that he didn't even like much, but he didn't deserve to be attacked by Hermione's spell simply because her feelings were hurt. We all do crazy/irrational things out of jealousy, and even Hermione, the "brightest witch of her age", was capable of dropping all forms of logic and reasoning because of her feelings.
RON KEPT UNDERESTIMATING HERMIONE'S WORTH
Ron has a history of behaving awfully towards Hermione, yet his worst offense towards the girl who is supposed to be his "best friend" was during Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Throughout the entire Yule Ball ordeal, Ron continuously underestimated Hermione's worth by making her feel insignificant and average.
He assumed she didn't have a date to the dance, and he asked her to go with him in the most depressing way possible as though it was a last-minute obligation (which to Ron it was). Fortunately, Hermione had someone like Krum to see her beauty and her worth. Yet what could have been a fantastic night for Hermione at The Yule Ball ended in flames after Ron got possessive with her, like a pouty child. Nice going, Ronald!
HERMIONE TOUCHED ON RON'S BIGGEST INSECURITIES IN HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
During Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, Ron was a member of the Quidditch team despite the fact that he didn't think he was good enough to play. Hermione knew about his insecurities, yet despite all of this she decided to go to Slughorn's party with Ron's enemy on the Quidditch field, Cormac Mclaggen.
Not only did she agree to date the guy who made Ron feel less-than and inadequate, but she also emphasized that she liked "good" Quidditch players, clearly a dig at Ron. Dang! Who knew Hermione could be such a savage?
RON BLAMED HERMIONE'S CAT WHEN SCABBERS WENT MISSING
Ron and Hermione were always bickering and getting into fights for the dumbest reasons throughout the entire series, yet their most idiotic fight of all was during Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban when Ron was awful towards Hermione for Scabbers going missing.
He automatically assumed that Hermione's cat Crookshanks ate his beloved rat. When he realized this wasn't the case and that Scabbers was still alive, he couldn't even bring himself to apologize to Hermione. What kind of "friend" behaves that way?
RON AND HERMIONE DON'T KNOW HOW TO ACT WHEN THEY'RE ALONE TOGETHER
In Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, the students are offered a field trip to Hogsmeade, and Harry is unable to go due to not having his permission slip signed. Ron and Hermione thus have to spend their day at Hogsmeade alone together, and truth be told, they have no idea how to properly communicate without having Harry by their side.
Sure, they were in a fight during this time, but that says a lot about their relationship because there's only ever a back and forth with them when they're in the middle of an argument.
THEY DIDN'T ALWAYS WANT EACH OTHER TO BE HAPPY
There were several instances throughout the entire Potter series when Ron and Hermione made it pretty clear that they didn't want each other to be happy.
When you truly love someone, you want them to be happy regardless of whether or not it destroys you in the process. We will let it slide because they were teenagers during all of this and they had yet to mature, but it's still something to consider here. Real friends root for each other always.
THEY WERE NEVER FULLY PLATONIC BECAUSE THEY WERE ALWAYS IN LOVE
Being friends with someone who you have deep romantic feelings for is a genuine challenge. It can be extremely difficult to treat the person that you love as a "buddy", and when you fall for your best friend there are several challenges that can arise when you find yourself too afraid to reveal your true feelings to them.
You don't want to risk losing them because they are already such an important part of your everyday life, so the stakes are much higher than if they were some random person that you've been on a couple of dates with. These two were always meant to be lovers regardless of all the turmoil they've faced throughout the years.