"This was especially a problem with Ron - all of a sudden, Ron is cool and competent and thoughtful _and_ speaks Parseltongue? That's not the feckless git I know...I like this Ron better, but I'm not sure where he came from. "

This struck me as problematic, since speaking parseltongue was supposed to be an incredibly rare ability. Thought maybe it was a suggestion by JKR that Ron, like Harry before, was linked to a piece of LV's soul in one of his encounters with horcruxes. It could be an opening that JKR can exploit if she decides to renew the series at a later.