Harry Potter/Characters/The Trio

The Trio
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, the three main characters. They became friends in the first book and, over the course of the series, they have endured and suffered more than most people do, but they have only become closer over the years. They spend more time together than they do with anyone else, and whenever there is a problem, they always try to solve it together.

Harry is nominally the leader, but he, Ron, and Hermione often defer to each other.

"McGonagall: Why is it, whenever something happens, it's always you three? Ron Weasley: "Believe me, professor, I've been asking myself that same question for six years."
 * Canon Immigrant: J. K. Rowling began referring to the Trio as such. They have still not been called "the Trio" in any of the books or films, though in Chamber of Secrets, Snape refers to them in jest as "the Dream Team."
 * Chronic Saving-People-Thing: Lampshaded by Hermione, who calls Harry out on his particularly evolved form of Chronic Hero Syndome.
 * Despite the Plan: The usual sequence goes along the lines of “Hermione comes up with a plan, the trio puts it into motion, things go horribly wrong and Harry steers things to at least partially successful completion, either by adapting successfully or just straight up improvising.”
 * Lampshaded in the last film: "Hermione, when have any of our plans actually worked? We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose!"
 * Earn Your Happy Ending
 * Fan Nickname: "The Trio." Also, "The Golden Trio."
 * Fire-Forged Friends: The troll incident is what forms their friendship; others solidify it.
 * Freudian Trio
 * The Kirk: Harry.
 * The Spock: Hermione.
 * The McCoy: Ron.
 * The dynamic is played with more in later books, like Hermione developing McCoylike tendencies, Harry being more of The Spock, etc.
 * The best example being Order of the Phoenix, where Ron and Harry basically swap places, with Harry being The McCoy and Ron being The Kirk.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Harry and Ron in particular.
 * Like Brother and Sister: How Harry explains his relationship with Hermione to Ron. (Although given he's just been given clear evidence of how paranoid Ron is about them hooking up, what else was he going to say?)
 * The Power of Friendship: A constant theme in the series.
 * Three Amigos
 * True Companions: They are closer than siblings, and even closer than lovers. Their loyalty to each other is absolute, even if they spend most of the text arguing over something petty. Come a real problem, and they are back together again.
 * Two Guys and a Girl
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: Ron and Hermione in later books.
 * Vagabond Buddies
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: All of them fight, but Ron and Hermione bicker the most.
 * Walking the Earth
 * Weirdness Magnet: Lampshaded more than once; why does everything interesting or dangerous happen to them?
 * From the Half-Blood Prince film.


 * With Friends Like These...: Nearly every book has a row between two of the three characters that results in not speaking to each other for around a month! (Which usually annoys the third member because then they have to play peacemaker while trying not to favor one over the other.)
 * Which, given that the heroes are between 11 and 17 years old during the course of the series, is not exactly unbelievable.

Harry James Potter
Played by Daniel Radcliffe

AKA The Boy Who Lived.

At the age of one, Harry's parents are killed by Voldemort, who then attempts to kill him with the Killing Curse. Due to The Power of Love from his mother's self-sacrifice, however, he survives and rebounds the curse upon Voldemort, getting a lightning bolt-shaped scar as a souvenir. The series' resident Eccentric Mentor, Dumbledore, then arranges to have his Muggle aunt and uncle take him in... or else. For ten long years, they grudgingly comply, forcing Harry to live in the cupboard under the stairs and being both cruel and neglectful of him. Harry's bullying cousin, Dudley, doesn't make things any easier.

Then, on his eleventh birthday, everything changes. Letters (from "no one") begin arriving in Harry's "home", growing by the number each day. Harry's aunt and uncle, acting suspiciously, refuse to allow him to read even one, and after several days, leave the house and go to a tiny house in a cliff in the middle of a storm. Unfortunately (for the Dursleys), the ones who sent the letters are not deterred by such means, and Harry is eventually told of his past, and the wizarding world.

Thus, Harry's adventures at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry begin, starting off as light-hearted, and growing darker in nature each year, as he makes friends, learns of his destiny, and matures.

Nineteen years after.

"Harry Potter: It all comes to the same thing, doesn't it? I've got to try and kill him, or— Dumbledore: Of course you've got to! But not because of the prophecy! Because you, yourself, will never rest until you've tried! We both know it!"
 * Achey Scars: The lightning-shaped scar created by Voldemort starts aching whenever Harry is close to him, and in the later books,.
 * Also, the "I must not tell lies" scars on his hand that he received from detentions with a Sadist Teacher in his fifth year tingle when he thinks of her.
 * All of the Other Reindeer: Public opinion of Harry in the Wizarding world oscillates between hero worship to complete rejection at the drop of a hat. But Harry is not particularly saintly in his isolation.
 * Always Someone Better: Unintentionally this to Ron.
 * Anti-Hero: At first and for most of the series, he is unambiguously good and heroic, even if he is more than a bit snarky (Type II) who isn't above lying, eavesdropping, and generally being an occasional "trouble-maker" in school, even during the earlier installments. Then Harry got Darker and Edgier along with the series, doing things that become much more questionable as time goes on, even when they're being used to reach goals that are unquestionably heroic (Type III).
 * Because Destiny Says So: Played with. Harry's destiny has been predicted by a self-fulfilling prophecy, but according to Dumbledore, it's only self-fulfilling because because Voldemort insists on fulfilling it and Harry himself has no intention of turning away from it.

"Harry Potter: Wait. Look, it all sounds great when you say it like that. But the truth is most of that was just luck. I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I nearly always had help... Hermione Granger: He's just being modest. Harry Potter: No, Hermione, I'm not."
 * Belated Backstory:.
 * Berserk Button: Whatever you do, do NOT insult his father or mother.
 * Diss one of his favorite teachers to her face, and you'll be in for a world of hurt. Just ask Amycus Carrow.
 * Blind Without 'Em: Though he seldom drops his glasses.
 * Brilliant but Lazy: He supposedly struggled with his Potions and Transfigurations classes, but his O.W.L. scores demonstrated that he is actually exceedingly adept at the subjects. (That said, there are subjects where he is legitimately bad, such as Divination and History of Magic, but the former skill is one he never needs, whereas the latter is one where Hermione more than picks up the slack.)
 * Of course, in the Muggle world, the equivalents of these scores are significantly closer to average.
 * He's also one of the best, if not the best duelist among the students by the time he's in his fifth year.
 * Boring but Practical: The Disarming Charm, Expelliarmus, which becomes Harry's signature move. It does Exactly What It Says on the Tin, causing the target to drop whatever he or she may be wielding. It is fairly dull, basic and unimpressive compared to most other spells, but given that wizards are basically helpless without a wand, it's pretty much an instant win if executed correctly.
 * It's also the spell that
 * Broken Ace: Most perceive him as The Ace. Harry develops major insecurities as a result.
 * But for Me It Was Tuesday: Ginny getting possessed by Lord Voldemort was Tuesday for Harry. It was not Tuesday for Ginny. This leads to a What the Hell, Hero? moment.
 * Butt Monkey: When living with the Dursleys.
 * Chick Magnet: Ginny, Cho, Romilda Vane, and Moaning Myrtle, plus possibly Hermione, prior to her hooking up with Ron.
 * Hermione Lampshades it in Half Blood Prince by telling him that he's 'never been more fanciable.'
 * The Chosen One: Harry is given this nickname by the press by the beginning of HBP, due to his connection to the prophecy. He's less than amused.
 * Chronic Hero Syndrome: AKA "my saving people thing." This is eventually exploited—with tragic results—by the Death Eaters.
 * He pretty much cops to this in Order of the Phoenix (at least the movie):

"Ron Weasley: That makes me sound a lot cooler than I was. Harry Potter: Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was. I've been trying to tell you that for years."
 * Cinderella Circumstances: Harry at the Dursleys' household, before he gets his acceptance letter from Hogwarts. However, his uncle never does stop treating him like crap.
 * Closet Sublet
 * Conveniently an Orphan: Played with, since his home situation is not really "convenient."
 * Cursed with Awesome: See The Chosen One, I Just Want to Be Normal, and Chronic Hero Syndrome.
 * Dead Guy, Junior: Harry James Potter is himself an unintentional example, since his parents named him while (obviously) they were alive.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Not as often as Weasley.
 * Death Seeker: Subtly implied to be one after Voldemort's return.
 * Deceased Parents Are the Best: Places his dad on a pedestal,, and harbors tender feelings for his mother.
 * Deus Angst Machina: To cut short 7 books worth of angsting, fate seems to have no other reason for his existence other than finding any and every available opportunity to abuse and torture him physically, mentally and emotionally.
 * Disney Death:
 * Disney Villain Death: Not to Harry, but both of his broomsticks. His Nimbus 2000 in book 3, which falls right into the Whomping Willow. His Firebolt in book 7 during the ambush.
 * Dissonant Serenity: Harry’s temper and rashness are among his chief character flaws, and this shows even more the worse things get… until they get really bad and he does a mental backflip, becoming outwardly calm, quick-thinking and particularly good at exploiting his enemies’ Bond Villain Stupidity. As he notes in Deathly Hallows, the more people panic around him, the calmer he gets.
 * Door Step Baby
 * Expy: Of Wart from The Sword in the Stone, believe it or not.
 * Eureka Moment: While Hermione does the grunt work research, Harry is generally the one who ends up putting the clues together at the end. Unlike other examples of this trope, he doesn't normally get any particular source of inspiration, but rather simply gets focused enough to solve the given problem when things get really bad.
 * Gallows Humor: A lot of his snark.
 * Generation Xerox: Physically, and as repeated very often, Harry is almost identical to his father James with the exception of his emerald-Green Eyes, which are identical to those of his mother. Personality-wise, James and Harry are very much not the same at least as far as fifteen-year-old James goes. Dumbledore suggests that he actually takes after his mother.
 * Green Eyes
 * Humble Hero: Although he dislikes being kept out of things or treated as incompetent, Harry never thinks of himself as anyone impressive and answers to mentions of his achievements by fixating on the fact that he always cut it extremely close. He ridicules the suggestion that he might have things to teach other students and insists that a lot of his feats sound much more impressive than they really were.

"Molly Weasley: [At her wits’ end trying to groom him] Doesn't it ever lie flat? Harry Potter: *Silently shakes his head*"
 * Taken to Heroic Self-Deprecation levels at times, particularly during the aforementioned teacher nomination, and sometimes played for laughs as in book six, where he's genuinely baffled by the fact that girls now consider him attractive.
 * The Hero
 * The Lancer: For Dumbledore.
 * Hero with Bad Publicity: In the second book; at the end of the fourth book and continuing through the fifth book; to the greatest extent in the seventh book.
 * Heroes Want Redheads:.
 * Honor Before Reason: See Chronic Hero Syndrome.
 * Hurting Hero
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One, a Psychic Link into the insane mind of a Complete Monster, Weirdness Magnet... Well, with all this heaped on him, guess you can't blame him.
 * More like I Just Want To Be A Normal Wizard. He was miserable living among Muggles.
 * Indy Ploy: While having variable results with premeditated action, Harry is tremendously good at quickly thinking up ways to get out of tight spots or solving problems when pressed for time. Generally speaking, you lit a fire under his ass and the kid’s IQ jumps fifty points.
 * Ineffectual Loner: Harry often tries to discourage his friends from helping him. This in spite of the fact that he's often quite helpless without them.
 * When, in Deathly Hallows, he wishes that Ron and Hermione were with him, it's a sign that he has started to accept that he needs help from his friends.
 * Invincible Incompetent: Harry may be the highest-functioning version of this possible, given his constant victories despite rarely being noted as exceptionally gifted at any type of magic outside of Defense Against the Dark Arts and flying, and fully half the time defeating the villain either by accident or through the actions of another.
 * This is his main reason for refusing Hermione’s suggestion to teach Defence Against the Dark arts in Order of the Phoenix, he’s just very aware that he’s lived as long as he did thanks to situational luck, external help or some personal flash of inspiration that he can’t exactly teach others to have.
 * It's Not You, It's My Enemies: How he breaks up with.
 * It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Boy howdy, does it.
 * I Thought Everyone Could Do That: Parseltongue sounds completely indistinguishable from regular languages to those with the innate talent to speak it, so the only way Harry can tell if he or someone else is speaking it is by having a non-speaker point it out. Until an episode in his second year, he didn’t even recall the talent, much less realized that it was extraordinary.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Played with. Harry can be an asshole, but he's more often kind, protective, and self-sacrificing.
 * Kid Hero: Technically, by the final book, Harry is an adult by wizard estimation.
 * The Kirk
 * Kirk Summation: Gives one to Voldemort in the final book.
 * Laser Guided Tykebomb: Raised to be this.
 * Like Brother and Sister: With Hermione. (Although the only time he actually says it is right after he's witnessed Ron having a slightly creepy vision of the two of them making out and he's trying to reassure him it's not true. Do we believe him? Some of us do.)
 * Like Father, Like Son: A lot of characters, especially Snape, tend to make this comparison. However, Harry only really shares three things in common with James; his looks, his love of Quidditch, and undying loyalty to his friends. It's really his Mother that he gets his personality traits from.
 * Locked Out of the Loop: Chronically, to the point of being a bit of an Idiot Ball issue for Harry’s guardians and Dumbledore in particular. Their repeated attempts to keep Harry from finding out about dangers looming over him so as to not make him worry failed spectacularly every single time, with particularly disastrous results in Order of the Phoenix.
 * Love Epiphany / Green-Eyed Epiphany: Harry spends the summer of his sixth year getting close to Ginny in what he believes is a wholly platonic way, feels slight tingles of annoyance at the notion of her going off with her boyfriend which he pays no mind to, offhandedly asks her on a Not a Date to Hogsmeade without even realizing he’s doing it and even misses that she has the same aroma as the love potion that’s supposed to smell like things he likes. Then he catches her making out with her boyfriend and it finally dawns on him that his violent desire to eviscerate the guy might have deeper implications.
 * Immediately after, he tries to convince himself that she’s just like a sister to him and that his territoriality was entirely brotherly, but ditches the idea just as fast after imagining himself as the one kissing her and realizing the image suddenly doesn’t bother him at all.
 * Martyr Without a Cause: At times.
 * Marty Stu: Harry is perhaps the ultimate subversion of this trope, an in-universe example due to circumstances beyond his control, media attention, tragic events, coincidences, and sheer luck, good or bad. But he's a completely normal, flawed person reluctantly caught up in a series of very painful adventures that are usually misunderstood by the rest of the wizarding world.
 * Meaningful Name:
 * First name: "Harry." A common name and yet a kingly name. (So far, eight kings of England have been named "Henry." "Harry" and "Hal" are the two most common nicknames for Henry.) An Every Man's name—think of the expression "every Tom, Dick, and Harry." Note that Tom is the birth name of a certain villain with whom Harry shares a lot of history. As to the Dick in the story, I'll leave that to someone more in the mood.
 * Middle name: "James." Named for his father. Another name that's both common and kingly. Two English kings have been named James; the most famous English translation of The Bible is the King James translation; in some traditions, James was the brother of Jesus.
 * Last name: "Potter." To "potter" is to sit around and do nothing. Also, a potter is someone who makes pots — a rather humble yet important skill, somewhat akin to being, say, a carpenter. A potter's field is a cemetery for vagrants.
 * Henry F. Potter is the Scrooge-like villain in the movie It's a Wonderful Life. Like Harry, he's rich. Like Harry, he has no surviving family. Like Voldemort (Harry's opposite) he seems to have no understanding of love.
 * The Messiah
 * Messiah Creep: Although there are messianic overtones right from the first chapter of the first book.
 * Messy Hair: Inherited from his father, Harry’s perpetually messy bush of jet black hair is his third most mentioned feature, after his scar and green eyes. It’s almost supernaturally averse to staying down.
 * Messiah Creep: Although there are messianic overtones right from the first chapter of the first book.
 * Messy Hair: Inherited from his father, Harry’s perpetually messy bush of jet black hair is his third most mentioned feature, after his scar and green eyes. It’s almost supernaturally averse to staying down.

"Harry Potter: She's Ron's sister. Also Harry: But she's ditched Dean! Harry Potter: She's still Ron's sister. Also Harry: I'm his best mate! Harry Potter: That'll make it worse. Also Harry: If I talked to him first— Harry Potter: He'd hit you. Also Harry: What if I don't care? Harry Potter: He's your best mate!"
 * Depicted very inconsistently in the films, where besides being brown, it shifts from straight and neat to accurately bushy to short and tidy as the movies go. Overall, his hair spends most of the run looking anything besides bushy and messy.
 * The first four movies have Harry with messy hair, but the rest of the films just give Harry a close crop.
 * Naive Newcomer: Being raised by Muggles, Harry spends a lot of time adjusting to the strange new world he finds himself in, especially in the first book.
 * Non-Idle Rich: Most definitely. Beyond the fact that he doesn't have to ever worry about money, his parents' Undisclosed Funds don't really impact his personality at all; he spends the last few books aiming to get a job as, essentially, a wizard cop.
 * Not So Different: In Chamber of Secrets, Harry notices some very disturbing similarities between himself and Voldemort. At the climax of Deathly Hallows, he sees parallels not only between himself and Voldemort, but also, going so far as to think of them as "lost boys" whose only real home is Hogwarts.
 * Parental Neglect: The Dursleys never really cared about Harry and pretty much only gave him the basest of needs as he grew up.
 * Pinball Protagonist: Somewhat in the earlier books. This has been parodied to no end, with one work replacing Harry with a literal inanimate object.
 * Some fans actually joke that Hermione should have been the main protagonist, since for the first few novels she's the one who does the most stuff.
 * The Power of Love: The reason he survived the Killing Curse as a kid is because his mother's Heroic Sacrifice invoked this on him. Plus, Dumbledore claims that Harry's greatest strength is his ability to love, even though Harry wants to know What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?.
 * As seen during Deathly Hallows, The Power of Love is an awesome power, given that, but it is also implied that the actual power is his ability to make friends and his loyalty to them which is returned, as opposed to Voldemort, who is several times said to only be able to get the Death Eaters to serve him through calling to their desire for power and through fear.
 * Rage Against the Mentor: Harry is displeased when Dumbledore up and dies (most inconsiderate), leaving him a seemingly impossible quest with 10% completion and some unbelievably vague clues about the Deathly Hallows; and he has to find out secondhand about Dumbledore's torrid past, including how Albus was BFFs with.
 * A much more direct version occurs at the end of Order of the Phoenix, when Dumbledore finally spills the beans about, basically, everything.
 * Reluctant Warrior: He honestly doesn't want to be The Chosen One.
 * The Scapegoat: In a bid to keep the public from learning of the return of Voldemort in Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry leads a media campaign against Harry, smearing his name in the dirt.
 * Save Our Students: Gets persuaded/strong-armed into the role by Ron and Hermione in Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix. To his own surprise, he achieves very good results.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: His basic approach to life.
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran: It's obvious that he suffers from PTSD that gets worse by the time of the fifth book, with nightmares and all.
 * Sobriquet: Harry is known as "The Boy Who Lived" because he is the only person in the wizarding world to have survived the dreaded Killing Curse.
 * Inner Dialogue: Even without mental disorders, Harry occasionally holds amusingly even-split arguments with himself, such as in his fifth year where his jealousy over Ron’s prefect badge argued against his natural humility, or his sixth year where his crush on Ginny argued against his guilt about her being Ron’s sister. He refers to it as the little voice in his head, which usually plays the part of his conscience.
 * Inner Dialogue: Even without mental disorders, Harry occasionally holds amusingly even-split arguments with himself, such as in his fifth year where his jealousy over Ron’s prefect badge argued against his natural humility, or his sixth year where his crush on Ginny argued against his guilt about her being Ron’s sister. He refers to it as the little voice in his head, which usually plays the part of his conscience.
 * Inner Dialogue: Even without mental disorders, Harry occasionally holds amusingly even-split arguments with himself, such as in his fifth year where his jealousy over Ron’s prefect badge argued against his natural humility, or his sixth year where his crush on Ginny argued against his guilt about her being Ron’s sister. He refers to it as the little voice in his head, which usually plays the part of his conscience.
 * Inner Dialogue: Even without mental disorders, Harry occasionally holds amusingly even-split arguments with himself, such as in his fifth year where his jealousy over Ron’s prefect badge argued against his natural humility, or his sixth year where his crush on Ginny argued against his guilt about her being Ron’s sister. He refers to it as the little voice in his head, which usually plays the part of his conscience.

"Mr. Weasley: Harry, promise me that whatever you do, you will not go looking for him. Harry: Mr. Weasley, why would I go looking for someone who wanted to kill me?"
 * Taught By Experience: Harry’s combat skills were developed almost exclusively on the fly, owing largely to the spastic and uneven quality of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. As a result, he has a somewhat limited arsenal of spells but excellent split-second reactions and is largely immune to pressure choking.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Defied in Prisoner Of Azkaban.


 * ...and is then played hilariously straight, as he feels an urge to go looking for Black after he finds out the Awful Truth. He ends up hating Sirius so much that, when they meet at the end of the book, Harry actually charges at him and tries to choke him with his bare hands, forgetting that he was unarmed, much weaker than Black, and that Black had several wands on him at the time.
 * Took a Level in Badass: According to JKR, Harry became the best duelist in his circle of friends during his Third Year.
 * The Unchosen One: Dumbledore helps Harry become this in Half-Blood Prince.
 * Undisclosed Funds: The books never make clear exactly how rich Harry is, but between his parents' money and, it's implied to be somewhere between extremely and obscenely.
 * The Unfavourite: In the Dursley household.
 * What Beautiful Eyes!: Along with his trademark lightning-bolt shaped scar, his Green Eyes (inherited from Lily) are his most frequently commented-on trait.
 * You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!: His reaction to learning that his dad was a gifted seeker.
 * This is partially just in the movie. While James was a skilled Quidditch player, he was NOT the Seeker. Word of God actually has him as a Chaser, and that he carried the Snitch around because it made him look cool. This information wasn't available at the time the movie came out, and so they made James a Seeker.

Ronald Bilius "Ron" Weasley
Played by Rupert Grint

The id of the series' resident Freudian Trio. Ron, the youngest of six brothers, has something of an inferiority complex. He first meets Harry on Platform 9 3/4, and the two became fast friends on the Hogwarts Express before they'd even reached Hogwarts. Throughout the books, he sticks with Harry through thick and thin, though with some occasional difficulty—being constant sidekick to The Boy Who Lived sure doesn't help that inferiority complex.

Nineteen years later,.

"Hermione: "Do you ever stop eating?" Ron: "What? I'm hungry.""
 * Action Survivor: He's more than competent, but he's neither as clever as Hermione (except at wizard chess) nor as naturally talented as Harry.
 * Always Second Best: Goes through this motion occasionally with Harry.
 * Anti-Hero: Type I.
 * Awesome Yet Impractical: His skill at Wizard Chess becomes is perhaps his biggest Crowning Moment of Awesome, as it allows Harry and Hermione to proceed thru the last challenges in SS. Too bad that's only used once in the series...other times, a less dangerous version is played to pass the time between classes.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Hermione.
 * Berserk Button: Normally a pretty easygoing guy, Ron tends to go nuclear when Hermione is taunted for being a "mudblood" or otherwise mocked by Draco or Snape. He is particularly sensitive to being mocked about his family's lack of wealth.
 * He also has a soft spot for his little sister, Ginny, even coming down hard on Harry when he thinks Harry isn't treating her right.
 * Big Eater: in the films.


 * Book Dumb
 * Butt Monkey: Not nearly as severe a case as Neville, though.
 * Catch Phrase: "Bloody hell", but only in the movies. Applied to the books, this is a Beam Me Up, Scotty.
 * Chekhov's Skill: The first book has Ron's skill at chess put to good use, by getting past McGonagall's giant chess set in order to get to the Philosopher's Stone.
 * The Chew Toy: If there's a Homemade Sweater From Hell or Magic Misfire to be endured, Ron is the most likely candidate. Subverted in later books when Ron grows increasingly despairing and resentful of this, and it stops being quite as funny.
 * The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Shockingly averted a few times when both Harry and Hermione agree that Ron's gripes are actually relevant.
 * Conflict Ball: His fight with Harry in Goblet of Fire? Being a prick to Hermione in the same book because she went with Krum to the Yule Ball? Acts like an even bigger prick to her in Half Blood Prince because she might have kissed Krum? The poor guy seems to get handed this a lot. Things get just plain ugly when he gets saddled with a literal Conflict Ball in the form of.
 * Darkest Hour: Facing down the Horcrux in book seven, among numerous other moments.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Leading to a Crowning Moment of Funny, his reaction to Peeves' jingle, in book seven.
 * Foil: To Harry.
 * Bromantic Foil: Harry actually had to find a date for Ron to go to at the ball.
 * The Generic Guy who is often Overshadowed by Awesome, as all of his siblings are outstanding in some way, shape or form. Then he falls in with The Boy Who Lived...
 * The Lancer
 * Massive-Numbered Siblings & Good Parents, with a huge nuclear family to contrast with Harry's orphanhood.
 * Perpetual Poverty, in contrast to Harry's wealth.
 * The Unfavourite: Ron is not particularly special amongst the Weasley family, and he knows it. In DH, . Ron doesn't fall for it, but he comes perilously close.
 * Genre Savvy: In earlier books and somewhat in general about the magical community; he's had a lifetime amongst wizards while Harry and Hermione just learned about it at the beginning of the series.
 * Go Through Me: It's (one of) his Crowning Moment of Awesome.
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Magic Misfire: Several times in book two, due to a broken wand, though said wand helps him and Harry out of a predicament later, when
 * Make-Out Kids: With Lavender.
 * Man of a Thousand Voices: Ron's uncanny ability to impersonate others becomes a minor Chekhov's Skill in Deathly Hallows, impersonating
 * The McCoy
 * Meaningful Name: Averted. "Weasley" doesn't indicate what you would think it would. His middle name sounds like "bilious", but, likewise, he's not known for bile. Word of God says that JKR chose the name "Weasley" because she felt that weasels had got a bad press in children's books.
 * Bilious also means "Easily angered".
 * My Sister Is Off-Limits: Mostly played for comedy, as Ginny doesn't really care what he thinks. Harry is more worried about it, though, as Ron is his friend.
 * Overshadowed by Awesome: His two best friends, Harry and Hermione, are The Chosen One and a Genius Prodigy, respectively, and all of his siblings have been star pupils or Quidditch aces, if not both. (Even the academically-unremarkable Fred and George still make names for themselves as pranksters and with their joke shop business.) It goes without saying that he suffers a massive Inferiority Complex for much of the series.
 * Plucky Comic Relief: More so in the films than the novels.
 * Redheaded Hero
 * Red Hair and Freckles
 * The Resenter: To Harry.
 * Sir Swearsalot: Hinted at in the books in several scenes that describe him using obscenities.
 * Slap Slap Kiss: With Hermione.
 * Undying Loyalty: "You'll have to kill us too!"
 * The Unfavorite: This is what Ron thinks of himself.
 * Why Are You Not My Son?: Deep down he thinks his family prefers Harry to him. It's not true of course, but he has to get over it.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Spiders?: Both Ron and Rupert Grint are arachnophobes.
 * The fact that Ron is willing to face his greatest fear Up to Eleven (a Giant Spider) says loads about him.
 * The fact that Ron does it because he knows Hermione's recovery could depend on what they learn says even more about him.
 * You Shall Not Pass: End of the first book.

Hermione Jean Granger
Played by Emma Watson

The last third of the series' resident Freudian Trio, who serves as the superego and always has a smart solution. Like Ron, Harry meets her on the Hogwarts express on the first day of school, though they don't become friends until an incident involving a troll at Halloween. Throughout the books, Hermione serves as The Professor, being practically married to the library.

Nineteen years later, "Hermione: This is sort of exciting, isn't it? Breaking the rules! Ron: Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?"
 * Action Girl: Eventually grows into this over seven books.
 * Adaptational Attractiveness: In the beginning films, at least: While Hermione is established to be at least somewhat attractive in the latter half of books, in the beginning she is described as bucktoothed, amongst the many descriptions of her overly bushy, scraggly hair at the time. The buck teeth were abandoned when the appliance interfered with Watson's ability to speak, and both her hair and general appearance start out messy but "mature" much faster than in the books (as is fitting, with a real actor, but still jarring in comparison).
 * Beauty Equals Goodness
 * Hot Librarian
 * Nerds Are Sexy: Grows into this trope.
 * Adaptational Badass: In the movies. More of a standard Badass Bookworm in the books.
 * Agent Scully: At least, she's hesitant to believe things that are seen as superstitious or unlikely according to the laws of the magical world. There's a reason that Rowling described Luna as the "Anti-Hermione." It's a subversion of the way this trope usually plays out, though, in that Luna is usually the one who is wrong and who grows to be more skeptical.
 * Her being an Agent Scully even causes her to Rage Quit her Divination Class.
 * Author Avatar: J. K. Rowling admits that "bossy know-it-all" is probably how she came across in her youth.
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Ron.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: When she found out that the Weasley Twins were giving their joke candies to first years, she threatened them with writing to their mother. The twins immediately complied, an act which had never been seen before or since.
 * She put a jinx on the Dumbledore's Army list to give anyone who ratted them out some cursed acne. Moral of the story: Do not cross Hermione. She will end you.
 * Weaponized birds.
 * Brainy Brunette
 * The Chew Toy: Sort of. Being turned into a Catgirl by Polyjuice Potion and petrified in Chamber of Secrets, used in the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament (which involved being chained to the bottom of a lake) and hit by a tooth-enlarging spell in Goblet of Fire, and hit by an extremely powerful curse that took ten potions a day for her to recover from in Order of the Phoenix.
 * Child Prodigy / Teen Genius: Harry even refers to her as "The brightest of our year."
 * Class Representative: Not officially, but she does tend to do most of the speaking in class. Later, she ended up administrating Harry's D.A. class.
 * She was a prefect in books five and six. That's as close as you can get at a British boarding school.
 * Crazy Prepared: Especially for the road trip in Book 7.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: In the first third or so of book one.
 * Fire-Forged Friends: Her time at Hogwarts could have turned out quite different if not for her troll adventure.
 * For Great Justice
 * Fountain of Expies: Various other smart female characters from school trios have been accused of being based on her.
 * Genre Blindness: Of the three main characters, Hermione suffers the most from this, despite having read numerous books of magic. You would think by now she would realize that anything can and possibly will happen in the world she lives in.
 * Heroes Want Redheads:
 * Hot Witch
 * House-Elf Advocate
 * Insufferable Genius: Sometimes ends up as this. Snape likes to criticize her for it.
 * Intelligence Equals Isolation: At first, until she becomes Harry and Ron's friend.
 * Invisible Parents: In contrast to Ron and Harry, whose unusually large and (ahem) "unusually small" families are important plot points, Hermione's comparatively normal family is rarely mentioned and appear "in person" in only once (in Book Three and Movie Seven). For those who are wondering, they're Muggle dentists.
 * How invisible are they? We were never told their first names. Even nowadays they're still referred to as "Mr. and Mrs. Granger".
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Of the Insufferable Genius variety.
 * Letting Her Hair Down: An Inverted Trope, at the Yule Ball in book four.
 * Like Brother and Sister: With Harry.
 * Although interestingly enough, not something that was ever stated by Hermione. Harry uses this term once in the books (not hugely convincingly given his stuttering and not looking Ron in the eye when he does so) but at least he does say it. Hermione however never once refers to viewing her relationship to Harry as like a brother/sister. The closest we get is Harry guessing that is how Hermione views things. Though it seems Hermione views Harry as her best friend as opposed to a brother.
 * Little Miss Snarker: On occasion.
 * Megaton Punch: She served one on Malfoy in the third film. Harry finds it awesome.
 * Messy Hair: Taming it is too much bother.
 * Ms. Exposition: Due to being such a brain, Hermione often figures out and explains crucial plot points to her Book Dumb friends. Lampshaded when Hermione asks Harry and Ron if they're ever going to read "Hogwarts: A History"—Ron replies, "Why should we when we've got you to explain it all?"
 * Rowling has said in interviews that her default characters for exposition-giving are always Dumbledore and Hermione - Dumbledore because he's The Obi-Wan, Hermione because pretty much any bit of info can be chalked up to her having found it in a book somewhere.
 * Slightly averted in Book 7 when it is Harry, not Hermione, who remembers the name of the author of "Hogwarts: A History", despite the fact that (or possibly because) Harry never actually read it, yet was told repeatedly about it. This might say something about Hermione's retention of "important" information, such as the contents being more important to her than the author.
 * OOC Is Serious Business: When Hermione advocates breaking the rules, you know it's serious.
 * Lampshaded in the film version of Order Of The Phoenix.

"Harry: You're not still mad at him (Ron), are you? Hermione: I'm always mad at him."
 * Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork
 * One Mario Limit: She was named after a character in William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, but it's doubtful that the name "Hermione" will ever again be used as anything other than a reference to Hermione Granger.
 * The Professor
 * Quirky Curls
 * Running Gag: Hermione becoming exasperated with people for not having read Hogwarts: A History. Also her advocacy of freedom for house-elves.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely
 * She's All Grown Up: The books imply that she's rather plain as a child, with bushy hair and buck teeth, but as she grows older and has her teeth fixed by magic more and more boys seem to be interested in her...
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: Harry says this about her. See also Like Brother and Sister, above.
 * Skilled but Naive: In contrast to Harry, she has an encyclopedic arsenal of magic but tends to perform awkwardly in fast-paced practical combat.
 * Slap Slap Kiss: With Ron.
 * The Smart Guy: The cleverest witch in her year at Hogwarts, and quite possibly the cleverest witch, period. She displays magic in her fifth year that seventh year students consider extremely advanced—and she learned it as an offhand "oh, I was just studying ahead" thing. We're never told just how she stacks up with the rest of the wizarding world, but she's probably right up there.
 * Soapbox Sadie: On the subject of house elves, Hermione is very passionate and over-the-top in her campaign to get them fair wages and better treatment. Often despite the lack of support from the house elves themselves.
 * The Spock
 * Sugar and Ice Personality: At least in book one, but becomes more Tsundere as the story goes on.
 * Team Mom
 * To Be Lawful or Good: Hermione starts out as lawful (and consequently, friendless), but her adventures with Harry and Ron chip away at this. Her troll encounter pulls her sharply in the direction of good.
 * Tsundere: Lampshaded in Deathly Hallows Part One.


 * The Unfair Sex: Book 6 in spades.
 * Victoria's Secret Compartment: Done twice.
 * White Man's Burden: Briefly, during her house-elf liberation subplot in Goblet of Fire. Played with, as everyone at Hogwarts, even the reader, points out that while she does have a few good points about the treatment of house-elves, she's basically staging a one-woman campaign for house-elf freedom without so much as consulting the subjects she's trying to free, and having only met two house-elves in her life: Dobby, who is a total weirdo, and Winky, who was in considerable stress at the time.
 * White Man's Burden: Briefly, during her house-elf liberation subplot in Goblet of Fire. Played with, as everyone at Hogwarts, even the reader, points out that while she does have a few good points about the treatment of house-elves, she's basically staging a one-woman campaign for house-elf freedom without so much as consulting the subjects she's trying to free, and having only met two house-elves in her life: Dobby, who is a total weirdo, and Winky, who was in considerable stress at the time.