We all want to believe that we would always do the right thing, whether it’s standing on the front lines at the Battle of Hogwarts, signing up for the DA, or just telling off someone who used the word “mudblood.”
It’s easy to make ourselves believe that if we were in that world, we would make the right choices and choose the right side.
And it’s equally easy to condemn Ron as weak, selfish, and unworthy of Hermione and Harry’s friendship. How dare he doubt Harry? How dare he think about his stomach when there are horcruxes to hunt? How dare he succumb to his personal insecurities? Can’t he see the bigger picture?
Ron isn’t perfect. He can be insecure, insensitive and obtuse. He talks with his mouth full and isn’t at the top of the class.
But maybe deep down, we worry that Ron, despite all of his flaws, might still be a better person than we are.
Maybe we worry that we wouldn’t have done this:
[The troll’s] mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.
“Oy, pea-brain!” yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it.
Or this:
Two solitary spiders were hurrying away from the wandlight into the shade of the trees. “Okay,” Ron sighed as though resigned to the worst, “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Or this:
“If you want to kill Harry, you’ll have to kill us too!” he said fiercely, though the effort of standing upright was draining him of still more color, and he swayed slightly as he spoke.
Or this:
“Oh, come off it, you don’t think we’d let you go alone?”
Or this:
Wait,“ said Bellatrix sharply. “All except… . except for the Mudblood.” Greyback gave a grunt of pleasure.
No!“ shouted Ron. "You can have me, keep me!”
Over and over again, Ron is faced with a choice between doing what’s right and doing what’s easy. And despite the accusations of laziness and selfishness from his critics, Ron chooses what’s right. Over and over and over and over again.
Sometimes he’s jealous. Sometimes he’s obtuse. But I can only hope that someday I can be as brave and loyal and strong as Ron Weasley.
The true hero.