Awesome story! Because of you, I'm able to see things in ways that I didn't think of before! I always believed that Harry and Hermione began drifting apart from sixth year, but now that I think about it, it was really from their fifth year after Hermione made prefect. I mean, yeah they had still spent a lot of time together back then yet at the same time, they could've spent more time together had Harry also made prefect instead of Ron. Damn Dumbledore & his nefarious plans!

I've read some other stories along these lines, but this is one of the best of its type. Yes, it is good that you don't 'bash' Ron, but I think too many equate this with not criticizing him at all.

Personally, I think while he can and does have some magnificent moments in canon, he is in the end too immature and that Hermione and Harry too mature. At the end of the day, his immaturity is simply too much to realistically maintain that really close friendship, to say nothing of a romance with Hermione.

What you wrote is in a lot of ways fully compatible with canon, IMHO. Surely, the trajectory of the series went the way of Harmony through OotP, then she changed direction with the contrived Weasley relationships. In canon, all it would have taken for this story to happen would have been for them to have taken a step back and think clearly.

I like your A/N explanation about Patroni. However, I'm not sure how far you can take it. Keep in mind that ferrets are also in the weasel family! So, couldn't those who ship 'Dramione' (can't believe I actually wrote that - I see that and read it as 'Dramamine', because the entire idea makes my stomach hurt!) claim the same? Still, you raise an interesting point.

Again, thanks for a story that makes you think.

TGM

You pulled it off so don't worry :)
Great read! Thank you D

Для послесловия. Как говорится: ум лукавит. Вопрос: а Гермиона пробовола Патронуса после описанных событий. Может он изменился. Как у Тонкс, например.

I think putting the P on the front of otter is a bit of an awkward way of decribing the way Hermione would come up with an otter as a patronus as it relates to Harry. It's much easier to just notice that they rhyme. I mean can you name another animal that rhymes with Potter? If you wanted an animal that would represent him as your protector would you come up with otter first and then realize 'hey that's only one letter different' or go 'hmm if I just take off that pesky P that's an animal. Hey that rhymes as well'?
And an otter being related to a weasel in taxonomical terms is a bit of an uneccessary strecth as well. The Burrow is in Ottery St. Catchpole so relating the name of the village to familial love or general protection and feelings of safety with the Weasleys is much simpler. I also should point out that Hermione was never in secondary school to take Biology, not even sub-consciously ;)

I've never understood why Snape's patronus is a doe. He wanted Lily for himself and thinking of her as a doe is acknowledging and legitimizing James Potter's claim on her heart; something Snape would never want to do. I think he'd come up with some symbol of her that's more personalized towards himself. That's not really something I'd expect you to address just something that's always bothered me.

I liked the actual story though. Thinking jumping in a frozen pond is stupid but getting carried away and forgetting that having pointy things flying at you can be dangerous is just quintessential Hermione. I also like Harry acknowledging how impactful seeing her fall in the DoM was. I've always thought that was a major 'Aha! moment' that he SHOULD have had about his feelings for her. I don't remember him even going to visit her in the Hospital Wing though or so much as asking after her health in a letter over the summer. Having that moment where he falls to his knees and shuts down until Neville tells him she has a pulse and then just casting it aside never to be mentioned again was the most disappointing thing in 6 and 7.

Yes Characters do Like To Run From Their Writers Or There Wouldn't Have Been That Many FanFics. All In All. This Is A Great Story

Good scene!
Why haven't you gone further?
Here you had a perfect starting point to make a great story, one as it should have been from the beginning!

Well, maybe you can get around and make one!
Hope dies the last...

I usually don't like open-ended stories, but this one was done in a way that I actually didn't mind. Beautifully written, and perfectly plausible. Excellent work!

Between this story (I am going back and re-reading your stories) and "Not Needed", for me, you have just about set the bar for where JKR should have gone with DH as far as ships go. You have heard me say it before but, her idea of how relationships work sucks!

This one was cute too! The way you left it makes us readers think about the possibilities that could have happen after their little conversation.

I like it.

Your afterword confused me but I got the general idea. Sweet story-like always! Loved it!

This is perhaps the only time I have ever read a believable Harmony story where the author manages it without bashing Ron. The otter being in the same family as a weasel indicating Hermione's feelings for Ron were more familial is something that most wouldn't get. In fact, if Hermione herself wasn't the type to gorge herself on any knowledge she can find, she wouldn't get it either, and her Patronus wouldn't be an otter. It was only an otter (in this story) because of her own knowledge of that fact.

Most authors feel that they have to tear Ron down to pair Hermione with Harry. This is likely because they have, on some level, seen and acknowledged that Ron and Hermione are a good fit as well. So, to make it believable that they don't get together, authors have to come up with increasingly bad things to say about Ron to justify their choice. Yes, Ron is lazy. Yes he says any number of mean and hurtful things without thinking. I know plenty of people who were like that at that age. Guess what. They grew up! Well... most of them did.

You didn't take this route. And good for you. You were able to work with what had already been established, and justify your plot without any bashing. And with no altering of back story. Having congratulated and praised you for how well you did this without lowering yourself, I do have to disagree with one thing you said in the note at the end. Putting the 'P' from Patronus on the beginning of Hermione's otter, isn't clever. It is contrived. It is a severe stretching of logic. Admittedly, Hermione does have a mind complex enough to make that association but, it is far more likely for her to do what she did in this story, and have her Patronus take the form of something in the weasel FAMILY.

Canon shippers see Hermione having an otter Patronus as a sign of her intense feelings for Ron, who lives in OTTERy St. Catchpole, along the OTTER river. Many others will see her Patronus (protector) as being an indication that she feels protected by him. He is the one who knocked out the troll, after all. True, Harry stupidly jumped on its back in a fit of potentially suicidal bravery, but Ron is the one who knocked it out. And he did rush to her defense when Draco called her a Mudblood. Ron also jumped to her defense when Snape subbed for Lupin, yelling that he shouldn't have asked the question if he didn't actually want the answer.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this review to turn into a rant against all those poor authors who will go to great lengths to justify their favorite ship. It does serve as a contrast between them and how you managed to do it believably within the framework of what was already established. You did it without having to change any of the back story, or assign ulterior motives to any of the characters' positive actions.

I used to absolutely hate stories with non-canon ships, because of all the negatives I mentioned above. I have found enough good ones that I can now enjoy any ship... within reason. Thanks for being one of the sane and reasonable ones.

Great one shot!

like where you are going and the story so for. I for one never saw the Ron/Hermione for a lot of reasons 1. they would never be friends with out Harry.2 I question Ron feelings for all of them he is a mean,julious, frame seeker who use Harry and Hermione to his own needs.3 he is as bad as Daco just in the other way but still has leanings that has pure-bloods are better than nomarl folk.4 he would not want Hermione to work but be a home mother,not be so in books or learning in other words a controling assh-le(I know the tells had a girlfriend like that)5 Harry allways had the better relationship with Hermione and they where more like then different. Harry always saw Ginny as a little sister or a fan girl. that is just a few of my own feelings sorry read a story befor yours that was AU but left must of the books and movies in like the pairings just piss me off.