I think the problem is that it was trying to combine the slap=slap-kiss cliche with R/Hr being supposed friends, which really isn't a good combination in my mind, so it got tangled around itself and yeah fell on its face. It really failed to convince me that they were really either without Harry which is why the only time I buy R/Hr is when it's part of the OT3 where Harry's the glue.

After the way OOTP set it up to be the sextet adventures, and fandom ran with it awesomely, the fact that Neville and Luna got virtually nothing to do in HBP made me angry. Less so in DH, especially since they were obviously off being awesome in their own story and the point of DH was to be about the Trio.

Not that I really liked DH either, but at least some of my problems with HBP were less glaring there. Some.