In the woods at the Quidditch World Cup Ron is clearly shown to be attracted to the Veela, to the extent that they totally disorientate him. Harry, on the other hand, is unaffected.
Further still along the path, they walked into a patch of silvery light, and when they looked through the trees, they saw three tall and beautiful Veela standing in a clearing, surrounded by a gaggle of young wizards, all of whom were talking very loudly.
"I pull down about a hundred sacks of Galleons a year," one of them shouted. "I'm a dragon-killer for the Comittee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures."
"No, you're not," yelled his friend, "you're a dish-washer at the Leaky Cauldron...but I'm a Vampire Hunter, I've killed about ninety so far -"
A third young wizard, whose pimples were visible even by the dim silvery light of the Veela, now cut in, "I'm about to become the youngest ever Minister for Magic, I am."
Harry snorted with laughter. He recognised the pimply wizard; his name was Stan Shunpike, and he was in fact a conductor on the triple-decker Knight Bus.
He turned to tell Ron this, but Ron's face had gone oddly slack, and next second Ron was yelling, "Did I tell you I've invented a broomstick that'll reach Jupiter?"
"Honestly!" said Hermione again, and she and Harry grabbed Ron firmly by the arms, wheeled him around and marched him away.
(Goblet of Fire, Chapter 9, The Dark Mark).
Compare this to the night before when, at the game, Harry and Ron are both said to be equally overcome by the Veela. Both of them want to throw themselves off the Top Box in a fit of gallantry. Both of them go light-headed when the Veela start to dance. (Hermione, a girl, was unaffected and found the whole thing rather pathetic).
Harry and Ron are both straight, full-blooded, hormonal teenage boys. Why then is Ron overcome by the Veela in the clearing whereas Harry is completely unaffected (to the point of being able to laugh at the exagerated claims of others)?
Ron's Veela fixation continues later in the book. Ron is rendered completely speechless by Fleur (a half-Veela) asking him to pass her a plate of food. Harry is able to talk to her normally. Ron later loses his mind and asks her to the Yule Ball. Harry isn't interested. It seems that Ron has more than a passing schoolboy crush on Fleur; he's completely overpowered by her in a way in which Harry (and, most likely, others) simply isn't.
What can account for Ron's especial susceptibility to the charms of the Veela? Why does he fall for Veela all the time whereas Harry was only seduced by them on one occasion?
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