Kindness (was Chicken Meat) -- FAQs

[jonathandupont at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 23553

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer <pennylin at s...> 
wrote:
> Hi everyone --
> 
> 
> FAQs -- The FAQ group is very very interested in feedback!  The 
FAQs are
> of course fluid -- they will change to reflect new theories, things 
JKR
> answers in chats, etc.  So, by all means, share your thoughts with 
us (I
> happen to know that the LOON patrol is parsing through them line by 
line
> right now -- <g>).
> 
> RE: the Romance Pairings FAQ --
> 
> > Although as a R/H-er I do have to say that in the Romance section 
that the two main bits are hopelessly imbalanced (too much
> > pro H/H and too little con, and the reverse with R/H) and all the 
pro
> > H/H points were silly anyway :).
> >
> 
> <smiles sweetly>  That FAQ was actually reviewed by people on the 
FAQ
> committee who have no ship preference because I was keen to avoid
> charges of bias.  I also solicited people to submit any thoughts on 
all
> the pairings last fall when I was first writing it up.  That offer 
still
> stands: the R/H section does reflect *all* the arguments that have 
been
> made in favor of that pairing.  I promise you that all the pro & con
> arguments are included for all the pairings -- everything that has 
been
> discussed in this group is included (and if it's not, the omission 
was
> *not* intentional).  So ... if there are pro R/H arguments that you 
feel
> are missing, by all means, please bring them up & we'll get that FAQ
> revised.
> 
> The intent with all the FAQs is to reflect what's been discussed & 
to
> give people fodder for further discussions.  And, perhaps most
> importantly, we wanted there to be a way for members to see what's 
been
> said so far on a subject without needing to try & consult the 
mammoth
> message archives to find what they were looking for.  We FAQ 
authors all
> have our own opinions & biases, but we did search through *all* the
> messages to compose the FAQs.  Our intent was not for the Hogwarts 
FAQ,
> for example, to reflect my own view about the student numbers 
debate but
> rather to reflect what every side of that issue has argued so far.  
If
> we've failed in this regard though -- be sure to raise it!  We do 
want
> to hear how to make the FAQs one of the premier HP resources on the 
web.
> 
> Penny

I jest, I jest, of course, and as I think I've said before I thought 
that all the FAQs were very well done – probably the biggest 
conclusion being that JKR needs a mathematician to help her when it 
comes to some things (I've personally done the whole trying to find 
Galleons worth in £s from FB&WTFT today and got either £3 or £5 – 
I've sure I've heard her say that its £5 though, so I guess I'll have 
to stick with that). I did have a feeling that the Romance was likely 
to have been checked by a lot of people. Anyway, seeing as you 
unleashed me though...

I think that the main `problem' is that there is really two sorts of 
arguments. Firstly there's the theoretical matchmaker thing where you 
try to match personalities (something which of course always works in 
real life) and which is nice for fanfic. Then there's the whole 
arguments over what people actually feel in canon. There we can 
probably rule out 90% of stuff as unlikely but of course the big 
question is H/H or R/H. Out of the main three, the only one that 
everyone is sure about is Ron – he likes Hermione, although he may 
not have admitted it to himself yet.

Harry's position is arguable, but I'm not sure there's much evidence 
to say he likes Hermione in that way, even subconsciously. Some bits 
of evidence picked randomly out against – the thing that Harry will 
miss most is Ron. Seeing as I like to balance stuff, I'll admit that 
a) the magic involved may not know his true feelings (although 
evidence with Krum seems contrary to this) b) it suits the plot to 
have three people close to Harry captured, and unless something very 
mysterious is going on behind the scenes while Ron and Harry were 
arguing, Ron is not the thing will miss most. Oh and c) his best 
friend may still be more important to him at this stage of life. 
Secondly, note the quote from chapter 19 of GOF, "Harry liked 
Hermione very much, but she just wasn't the same as Ron.  There was 
much less laughter and a lot more hanging around in the library when 
Hermione was your best friend." Their personalities don't seem to get 
on too well without Ron. Of course, there is the possibility that 
Harry is just distracted because he's missing Ron.

Now we come to the biggest, most controversial point, and centre of 
the whole issue – Hermione. As its kinda complicated the rest of this 
may not follow a very logical order. Some people have suggested that 
there might be a triangle or that R&H is too cliché – to be honest I 
don't see that happening in the remaining 3 books, as I don't really 
think focusing too heavily on angst by constantly switching 
relationships etc is JKR's style. It's been used as a mostly comedic 
element so far, and 5,6 and 7 are going to be busy enough with the 
fighting of YKW – especially as 5 and 6 are going to be shorter than 
4. (Then again, I would argue that they are still children books no 
matter if JKR wrote them for herself – but that's an argument for 
another day).

To take some points from the FAQ–

"Some members also argue that if you believe that "bickering" (and 
glaring, arguing, etc.) is indicative of underlying romantic tension, 
then a Draco/Hermione pairing makes as much sense as a Ron/Hermione 
pairing. Others counter that this is an "unfair" argument, that the 
Draco/Hermione enmity is a far different context than the Ron & 
Hermione bickering."

Ahem – seems just a bit of a difference. It's like the difference 
between Hitler/Anne Frank and, well, Ron/Hermione. One is 
institutional hatred of race, the other is mostly just different 
points of view on life.

"5. Friends/Siblings -- Some of the H/H members believe that Ron and 
Hermione have a more sibling-like relationship than Harry and 
Hermione."

As a counter to that – I've always personally thought the exact 
opposite. It's really a matter of opinion.

"1. Balance -- Proponents of this theory argue that Harry and 
Hermione are more balanced as a couple than Ron and Hermione. Harry's 
bravery and standout magical abilities are balanced by Hermione's 
intellect and natural magical abilities; therefore, neither party 
would be the dominant partner in a romantic relationship. She's a 
strong enough person to "hold her own" and be a realistic love 
interest of the hero. In addition, she has strengths that Harry 
needs. Harry seems to have a considerable (though largely untapped) 
reservoir of latent magical talent. Although she appears to be 
something short of Harry's talent level, Hermione has considerably 
more natural magical talent than Ron."

A nice point from the matchmaking side – but I personally don't 
believe we've seen all of Ron's abilities. Remember that he's the 
strategic one of the group – not just from his chess skills but from 
some connection of his name I think I've read somewhere. He also 
comes from an incredibly talented family which have produced two head 
boys and at least three incredible Quidditch players (do we know if 
Bill was ever on the house team?). He's got the genes to be 
incredible at athletic ability and the more academic sections of the 
curriculum. Admittedly not actually that much related to H/H/R 
discussion, just an observation on the boy.

"2. JKR's Favorite Characters One member has created some strong 
arguments that Harry is JKR's favorite character in the series and 
that because he is the story's hero, he is in effect her hero as 
well. Hermione is indisputably JKR's "surrogate" in the books. JKR 
has admitted that Hermione reflects many aspects of her own 
personality. This observation adds support for those who see a strong 
Harry/Hermione (H/H) subtext within the books."

I was about to say that I would use this evidence against H/H – am I 
the only one who would think it a bit weird to write about your 
surrogate having a relationship with your hero? – when I remembered 
that Ron is based on a friend of hers. I'm not sure which is worse – 
having a relationship with your imaginary hero (she was going to call 
her son Harry if she had one – the name had a different use in her 
brain surely), or with a representation of your best friend. Anyway 
on conclusion, I kind of think that this doesn't really support 
anything and for decency's sake we should just think that JKR just 
based some of the characteristics of the heroes on her / people she 
knew. No avatar relationships I'd hope.

"3. Hermione's Interest It can be argued that Hermione has shown more 
interest in Harry than in Ron. She bought him an expensive broomstick 
servicing kit for his birthday in PoA (indicating that she gave the 
matter enough thought to buy him a present he'd enjoy rather than 
what he expected her to buy, a book). At the Quidditch World Cup in 
GoF, it's Harry that she pulls back into his seat when the boys are 
all entranced by the veela. 

"When Harry and Ron are fighting during GoF, she chose to spend a 
considerable portion of her time with Harry rather than Ron. We the 
readers are left with the impression that Harry and Hermione go to 
classes together, sit together in classes, leave class together, eat 
all their meals together, spend all their time in the common room 
together and take several long walks together. While we have the 
impression that Hermione believes both Harry and Ron are being 
stubborn, she's taken sides to some extent by spending so much of her 
time with Harry during this time period."

The story is told from Harry's POV – there's not much to write about 
if he's on his own. Also note that Hermione feels that Harry is 
probably the one who needs the most support – he is the one about to 
face a dragon, after all.

"When they go to Hogsmeade and Harry is in his invisibility cloak, 
Hermione was, from the viewpoint of the other students, alone. Ron 
didn't make any attempt to invite her to join him and his group or 
even approach her." 

Kind of irrelevant – Hermione can't go over to him because she's 
promised Harry, and even if Ron has seen her but not gone over... 
Well, I think there's enough evidence later that we can ignore that 
tiny detail and keep our conclusion that Ron likes her.

"She kisses Harry at the end of GoF. We don't know if she also kissed 
Ron and/or Krum, but the fact that she kissed Harry is subtly 
emphasized (and might or might not be significant). 

To me it seems a very sisterly kind of action – not the kind of thing 
you'd do to anyone you had any feelings about because it would be too 
embarrassing. It's also a very protective kind of action – such as 
would suitable to someone who had just been through all Harry had.

I think perhaps the most evidence to show than in canon H likes R are 
JKR's quotes. Take this:–  

"Is it just me, or was something going on between Ron and Hermione 
during the last half of Goblet of Fire? 

JKR – Yes, something's "going on," but Ron doesn't realize it yet. 
Typical boy."

It would seem to me to be an important quote surely. Note that she 
doesn't say that Hermione doesn't notice it.