[HPforGrownups] chapter discussions/romantic pairs

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 2835

At 17:17 10/04/2000 -0000, Joywitch wrote:

  What has happened to our chapter and character discussions?  They 
  seem to be losing steam.  I know that I dont usually respond to them 
  but I really enjoy reading them, and I have been re-reading GoF one 
  chapter per week in conjunction with them.

Not so much losing steam as lacking an engine driver?  According to the list
on Melanie's site (http://www.geocities.com/ravenclawlady/discussion.html),
we should be on 'Ch.13' and 'Cornelius Fudge' and Skimmel is assigned to do
the summaries.  Perhaps he decided that there was just too much other
discussion going on? <g> 

***

Re: Romantic entanglements:

Cho attended the Yule Ball with Cedric, and the implication seems to be that
Cedric had asked Cho out of the blue and she accepted only because Harry
hadn't got round to asking her.  An alternative view - not seen through
Harry's eyes - is that Cho and Cedric had been sweet on each other for a
while and that she had only seemed interested in young Harry because he was
the famous Harry Potter. When you have a crush on someone, it's quite easy
to miss the fact that they are more interested in someone else.  I agree
with Simon that Cho could be the 'right' person if Parvati was intended to
be the 'wrong' person, but that may be from Harry's pubescent viewpoint only.
 
As for Ron, it's clear that Padma wasn't the right person for him, but it
doesn't follow that Hermione or Fleur are right for him, just that he's
interested in them.  It's quite common for boys of his age to fall for the
'best friend's big sister' (Hermione) or the 'sexy pop icon' (Fleur).  Only
later do they meet someone more attainable and hide the pictures of the
aforementioned in their sock drawer.  Sometimes they end up with the big
sister, but not often...    

The fact that Hermione ended up with Krum is the most significant pairing,
because he was obviously interested in her and she was interested enough to
accept his invitation, yet JKR has implied that she ended up with the wrong
person.  There is no evidence at the end of GoF that Krum was a bad choice
for Hermione, so we can conclude that: 

a) Krum is not as nice a geek as he seems and we'll find out why.
b) Someone else is the right person for Hermione.

One or other or both of these could be true.  I'm swinging more towards
Harry-Hermione-post-Hogwarts these days [thanks Lori], but I still favour
the idea that they'll all three remain just best friends and end up with
other partners.   

Neil

            Flying-Ford-Anglia

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   "Then, dented, scratched and steaming, 
   the car rumbled off into the darkness, 
   its rear lights blazing angrily"

 [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]

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