Fanfic and parallel universes

[ravenclawlady]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C2899
From: ravenclawlady
Subject: Fanfic and  parallel universes
Reply To: [Yahoo! #2794] Re: Harry's Love Life
Date: 6/27/00 12:27 am  (ET)

"The only problem I am having with the fanfic is that it is clouding
my view of what will happen in the JKR books. It is making me look for
signs that Ron will die etc..."

I don't know if this will help, Simon, but I have a way of thinking
that may get around that. As of the end of PoA, PoU *could* happen, but
it is only one of infinite possibilities. If the stories later diverge
(as I sincerely hope they do, in the case of Ron), I'll think of PoU as
a parallel universe. I think of all fanfic that way, no matter how well
written or professional.

In fact, it was professional "fanfic" (if it can be called that)
that originally got me to thinking this way. Eight years ago, I was as
big a fan of "Star Trek - The Next Generation" as I am of Harry Potter
today. During "rerun time," I eagerly bought and read as many STNG novels
as I could (professional fanfic?).

Each novel fit nicely into the Star Trek universe *as of the time it
was written*. But sometimes, an episode would come along and blast away
some fact from an earlier novel. This rather threw me for a loop ("Tasha
Yar's sister? What sister? In 'Survivors,' she's an only child!"). But
Star Trek also dealt quite a bit with parallel universes. Does anyone
remember the episode where Worf went through several?

Since then, I started thinking of the novels as parallel universes
(parallel to each other and to the show). And (to pull this back on topic)
I got into that habit for all fanfic.

For this reason, PoU has shown me that Harry and Hermione *could* be a
great match. But neither PoU nor any other fanfic will ever convince me
that they (or any other couple) are the *only* ones right for each other.

In the books, I'm still hoping for Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny
pairings. True, they won't be ready to ride off into the sunset, but
I'd at least like to see a teen love develop between the couples.

Melanie