SHIPPING of Love and War

[Aberforth's Goat]

No: HPFGUIDX 20890

Hmm.

A number of shipping posts have recently pointed out that a lot of bickering
may be great for a torrid romance but not for life-long companionship. For
the record, I agree. (Sue and I were close friends for a couple of
years--and sympathetically watched each other fall in love with several
other people--before we fell in love. We now have 8 years' romance, 5 years'
wedlock, and two children behind us, but were still best friends, and we
still can't figure out why some couples can't get through breakfast without
a spat.)

HOWEVER: In reading through JKR's interviews and biographical sketches, I
get the impression that Jo's romances have tended to be fairly *intense.*
(I'm not just thinking of her ex-husband--in an interview with Evan Solomon
she told a great story about inventing Quidditch after walking out on a
boyfriend.) If we grant that Hermione is JKR's own epiphany in the books,
wouldn't it follow that Hermione's love stories would tend to follow a
similarly stormy pattern?

Of course, my current pet theory is that Hermione will fall in love (with
Ron) in OoP, out of love in HP6--and in love with Harry in HP7--pushing Ron
over the edge into fury, revenge and betrayal.

[But never fear, folks: At the last moment, a dying Wormtail will talk Ron
back into his senses. Ron will overcome several rooms full of Death Eaters,
who have mauled Harry and are preparing to torture Hermione. Having freed
Harry to duel with Voldy, he'll limp towards a weeping Hermione, only to
take a fatal stab in the back from Draco Malfoy, who wasn't quite dead after
all. He'll expire at Hermione's feet, clutching her dear-Ron letter to his
breast. Harry, who has sent Voldy to his destiny but taken a mortal wound of
his own, will finish off Draco, stagger over to Ron and Hermione and
succumb. Then the roof falls in, banging Hermione on the head, and leaving
her with a nasty scar. THE END]

Baaa-hoo-hoo-<snif>-aaa!

Aberforth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike Gray, who just finished re-reading The Three
Muskateers.)

PS See
http://www.infoculture.cbc.ca/archives/bookswr/bookswr_07182000_potterinterv
iew.phtml for the Quidditch story.
_______________________

"My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practising
inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers,
but did Aberforth hide? No he did not! He held his head high."