SHIP OBHWF (aka One Big Happy Weasley Family)

[heidi.h.tandy.c92 at alumni.upenn.edu]

No: HPFGUIDX 15399

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Jim Ferer" <jferer at y...> wrote:
> Why would anyone like the idea of Harry and Ginny? Well, there's 
the 
> One Big Happy Weasley Family idea, which a lot of our brothers and 
> sisters here find too saccharine for words (Walton Mountain with 
> spells). I don't agree with them. A family like the Weasleys would 
be 
> a blessing to a Harry beaten up emotionally and likely physically 
by 
> his experiences fighting the Death Eaters and Voldemort. 

Oh, I agree, it will be WONDERFUL for Harry to find family feelings 
amid the Weasleys (assuming that ron and/or percy don't become pawns 
of the dark side, that is). I just don't think that marriage is the 
way for him to be it, and I have 2 reasons why - one personal and one 
a little more objective (although all of this is clearly IMHO!)

Personal first. Ebony & I were talking about this just last night. 
The Weasley Family seems to be the type of fmaily where, probably 
under Molly's guide, the "family" expands to include people who need 
to be included. My home, growing up, was much the same. I've posted 
before about the friends of mine & my sister's who moved into our 
house for weeks, months, every weekend for 2 years, or in the case 
the guy I call my brother, 14 years. Some were girls, some were guys -
 some were cousins of mine, others were our best friends from school. 
Some families are just like that, and I like to think that the 
Weasleys are. Would anyone deny that Harry is as close to ROn as any 
of ROn's brothers are? And it must be abundantly clear to Molly that 
after the 3rd task, Harry needs a mothering figure in his life, and 
she is ready and willing to be that for him, for the entire summer. 
It is not her wish that he go to Privet Drive - she wants him at the 
Burrow for the summer. And she's doing this even though it must be 
abundantly clear to her that there is no romantic relationship 
between harry & ginny *at that moment*.
And if there was, that would cause a problem or 2, which leads into 
my "objective" comment. If Harry was dating Ginny, would Molly be as 
willing to allow him to spend the summer at the Burrow, relatively 
unsupervised, or would she be concerned about those teen hormones? 
And if nothing happened until they were 17 (we don't know exacly how 
much younger than Harry Ginny is - I'm guessing she's a spring baby, 
like Ron, but then they began dating, it could *so* change his 
relationship with the Weasleys - he'd move out of the category 
of "foster son" into the category of "son in law to be", which means 
that in any dispute between Ginny & Harry (what, you don't think 
they'd have any? Hey, Ebony - a new science project!) her *parents* 
would naturally take her side, leaving Harry with nobody inhouse to 
back him up. He couldn't very well go to them with complaints or 
concerns about Ginny, because they could be taken as an attack on 
their daughter - and no parent wants to hear that, not even the 
Weasleys. 
I think it would *ruin* Harry's relationship with Molly, and to a 
lesser level, Arthur (although this relationship isn't as vital to 
harry as long as sirius is alive) if he started dating Ginny, and it 
would be worse if they were to marry. 
I want OBHWF - but I want it to come from the love and affection all 
the people involved feel for each other, not from contracts and 
handfasting, or however witches & wizards get wed.