Well heck, I was choked up a fair bit through the book myself, and I’m neither teenaged nor a girl.
By contrast, my wife and I marveled how incredibly sharp and quick-witted Hermione was. You want to count something, count how many times she saved their bacon by coming up with something in a split-second (stairs, Harry’s swollen face, etc.).
To me, this is the book in which Hermione finally comes into her own.
I disagree. Hermoine is always the one that casts the last minute, life-saving spell. She's always the one that comes up with the answer to the problem. She's always portrayed as being nearly flawless with magic and having all the answers. Even Harry looks like an incompetent goof next to her.
I was hoping that Rowling would have Ron "come into his own" in this book. Poor 'ol Ron never uses magic it seems. He's just kind of there.