[HPforGrownups] Re: No-ship Harry?

[Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner]

No: HPFGUIDX 20768

> > And even if Harry did have the time and energy to include a girlfriend
in
> > his life, do you think he would really want to put her through all the
> > struggles and dangers that he is about to experience?

> That argument is used often in fiction as a rationale for keeping
> the hero unattached and the author's life simple

I don't know what's so simple about not writing a romance.  Me, I find it
terribly hard to avoid.  :)

> She wants to show what it's really like to
> resist evil.

Exactly.  It's tough, it's scary, and it often means making sacrifices.
Including the sacrifice of your personal pleasures and many of the usual
expectations of youth.

> And nobody can spend *all* their time worrying about what is to come.

No, but like I said, Harry is a worrier and he does tend to take things
pretty seriously.  Of course, he's also been known to go into complete
denial when under stress (witness his behaviour with the egg-clue for the
Second Task, for instance), but I don't think he would do that where the
welfare of other people, particularly people he really cares about, is
concerned.

I'm not saying I WANT Harry to be alone -- I think it would be lovely if he
did find someone he could really love and trust with his deepest feelings --
but I am saying that given Harry's particular disposition and behaviour to
date, as well as the uniquely precarious situation in which he has been
placed, I will be very much surprised if he gets into a serious relationship
before the end of the series.

> So far, both Harry and Ron seem to have the attitude that puberty
> will go away if they quit thinking about it, but I can't see JKR
> introducing the subject of Harry's feelings about girls at all if
> they're not going to be developed any further.

Oh, I'm not saying the feelings will go away, or that JKR won't mention them
again.  I am saying that I think Harry will deliberately grit his teeth and
suppress his feelings because he feels it's the best thing to do, and that
will make our knowledge of his very natural adolescent longings that much
more poignant.
--
Rebecca J. Bohner
rebeccaj at pobox.com
http://home.golden.net/~rebeccaj