If Hermione had been in Ravenclaw, how would she have known Ron?
Oooo good ask! :) Sorry it took a bit for me to get back to you on this!
There would be some MAJOR differences that would have happen 1st through 3rd year.*(at end of headcanon I get into this) Basically there’s barely be any interaction between Hermione and her boys at all- and they somehow magically survived everything.
I imagine a Ravenclaw Hermione would mean less gregarious, impulsive and brave- and it might even help her to tamper her ambitions a bit more than she was able to in Gryffindor, because her priorities would be slightly different. I think she would actually be friends with Padma. They’d never have a super fun relationship, but they’d get along and be able to share things, and enjoy one another’s company in a quiet way. It’s all rather boring. She’d have a case of the ‘I want much more than this provincial life’ things like Belle did in Beauty and the Beast.
But let’s fast forward to the Yule Ball. Yule ball goes down exactly like it did before, as far as dates go- only this time Ron isn’t angry and distracted on his date with Padma.
Ravenclaw!Hermione headcanon:
The Yule Ball is about as awkward as any dance would be for a bunch of teenages. Ron is able to have a somewhat fun, if awkward time, with Padma as his date. He notices his hero Krum has a very pretty date- oh! It’s that Ravenclaw girl he’d seen before. She must be pretty awesome to land someone as cool as Krum! Padma tells him ‘that’s Hermione Granger.’
Later on that year, he’s in the library researching stuff to help Harry with the second task, and he runs into that pretty Ravenclaw girl, Granger was it? He strikes up a conversation with her- he’s trying to help his mate out with this clue and is having a time of it. Tells her he saw she was at the Ball with Krum, which leads to him asking if she’s ever seen him fly. She hasn’t. Quidditch has never much interested her.
‘You’re kidding, right? How could you grow up not liking Quidditch?’ Well she’s muggleborn. ‘Oooh, sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed.’
So they get to talking about pureblood and muggleborn stuff, their own histories, their interests, their experiences of each other’s worlds- and before they know it the library is about to close. Ron’s shocked. He’s never been able to talk to a girl so easily before. They had a good time, and Hermione says she hopes she’ll see him in the library again. He almost laughs and says fat chance- but stops himself. Maybe it would be worth it to go to the library a bit more.
Hermione feels a bit lighter in her step as she goes back to her dormitory. She gets there and Padma notes her mood. ‘Were you with Viktor?’ Hermione is a bit shocked by the question. No she wasn’t- she was with that Ron Weasley boy. She wants to know more about him so quizzes Padma. After all, Padma went on a date with him, and her sister is in Gryffindor with him.
