Marty's Devil's Advocate Post

[Flying Ford Anglia]

No: HPFGUIDX 7574

Marty said:

>> That, however, wouldn't make him stop caring about Hermione 
completely(or even equally -- who's to say she wouldn't have been 
Harry's object if she hadn't been Viktor's?
 
Penny replied:

>>>>Now, I *like* that one!  I've argued that before .... the only 
reason Ron necessarily is Harry's thing he'd miss most is because 
Hermione is Krum's.  And, Hermione is Krum's so that JKR can get the 
entire Trio at the bottom of the lake, along with Harry's crush 
interest, Cho.

***

Yes.  In this scenario, JKR neatly side-stepped Harry's need to make 
a public choice between his two best friends.  Despite missing my fix 
of Ha/He fanfic I'm still leaning towards to the Ha/He pairing, 
rather than R/He.  A few thoughts/questions:

**Could we assume that Hermione dated Krum to try to win Harry's 
attention? Was she trying to goad a reaction from him (or, let's be 
fair, from Ron)?

**Is it me, or was Harry not overly bothered that Hermione was 
Krum's 'thing he'd miss most' after such a brief dalliance with her? 
If that were me, in a parallel situation, I'd be brimming with 
jealousy.  I suppose we should wonder whether Harry is not bothered 
at all about Hermione or just encased in a teenaged ignorance of 
romance (we are talking about 14 year olds, let's not forget).

**What would have happened if Harry and Krum had both 'chosen' 
Hermione as their treasure?  Could that, in fact have happened, but 
Harry was the one who was allocated his second choice - Ron?

**How did the Tournament organisers know 'the thing you'd miss most' 
in each case?  IIRC, the contestants weren't asked about this.  Did 
the judges read their minds or did they ask the other students and 
teachers for their views?  If the latter is the case for Harry, I 
think Ron may well have been chosen over Hermione in a poll of the 
Hogwarts' contingent. 

**On balance, would Harry have decided he'd miss Cho(an unrequited 
crush) more than Ron or Hermione, if Cedric hadn't chosen Cho? In 
other words, could Ron have been Harry's third choice?

**Could Harry (somehow) have named Ron, because he thought Ron needed 
a public affirmation of his friendship to boost his self esteem, 
whereas Hermione did not?

**Final note: 'The thing you'd miss most' does not necessarily 
equal 'The person you'd most want to be your lover in a few years' 
time'. This was just a plot device, I think.  I would, therefore, not 
read slash into the fact that Ron was chosen for Harry.
 
Penny, forgive me if you thrashed this one out a couple of months 
back.  I was not too involved in the discussions back then and my 
vision is too blurred with red wine at the moment to scan the 
archives.

PS - Your subtle reference (in an earlier post) to the expectations 
of the FAQ committee is duly noted! 

Neil