SHIP/FF: Growing up with Harry (WAS:Social skills)

[Ebony]

No: HPFGUIDX 29930

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., monicawitt at m... wrote:
> It's going to be interesting to see how JKR handles the sexual 
> tensions that come up in GoF. In one way it would be good to see 
Ron and Hermione come to their senses, so to speak, and develop 
romantic relationships outside the group, but Hermione and Ron would 
make for a very interesting couple. Imagine Ron over for dinner at 
Hermione's house!

And here you've just given me a plot bunny for a short fic.  <vbeg>  
I can imagine it, and imagine it very well (although R/Hers tend to 
not like the way I write R/H... sigh).  O

I talked out a Book 5 or 6 R/H date scenario with one of the students 
that I take home right before the movie.  We both ended up in near 
hysterics.  I think it would be fun for the readers, but not so fun 
for the characters themselves.

It would be fun for JKR to open either book 5 or 6 with an end-of-
summer visit at the Granger home... the potential for fun there is 
tremendous.  Of course it can't be just Ron and Hermione, though... 
Harry's the viewpoint character, and I'm sure he'd be invited anyway.

There was significant Ron/Hermione tension in GoF that even JKR has 
admitted to, but I'd hesitate before qualifying it as sexual.  If 
there is a sexual dynamic there, I am convinced that it's one-sided 
and nearly subconscious on Ron's part.  I don't understand why the 
seeming discomfort that Hermione is showing automatically means that 
she has a thing for Ron; rather, I think the discomfort may be 
arising from the fact that she already *knows* what he refuses to 
acknowledge... that he *does* like her.  This is not farfetched.  JKR 
has admitted in interviews... that there *was* something going on, 
that Hermione was wise to it, and that Ron didn't know it 
yet, "typical boy".

If Hermione is really interested in Ron, that's one level of 
difficulty... she might be shy about it.  If she *doesn't* like him 
back, you've just upped the ante a bit.  My interpretation is that 
she knows that Ron is now seeing her in a different light, that her 
feelings at least up until that point were pointed in a different 
direction, and now this is causing a lot of uncertainty for her... 
something she can't get answers from out of a book.  I do hope she 
goes home this summer and has a long talk with her mother or someone 
who's removed enough from the situation to be objective.  

This is not the most obvious reading, admittedly... but as everyone 
around here knows, we H/Hers are always imploring those who hold 
opposing viewpoints to "read the subtext."  Hermione's feelings in 
GoF *are* a wild card... you can interpret things either way.  In the 
past, during the shipper debates, I asked R/Hers to list evidence 
from GoF that Hermione likes Ron.  The evidence was always scanty... 
I'm not sure that a list was ever produced.  OTOH, the H/Hers 
presented a list of canon incidents from PS/SS to GoF that supported 
our theory that Hermione has a crush on Harry that she's keeping 
under wraps.

Then in an online chat, a notable R/Her in this fandom asked:  "Does 
Hermione like Ron as more than a friend?"  (Observation:  I didn't 
really understand why the question was asked by an R/Her--if canon 
bears out both sides of R/H on a surface level, why ask?  It'd be 
like asking if Harry had a scar.)  JKR's response:  "The answer to 
that is in GoF."  After the chat, you had both R/Hers and H/Hers 
claiming victory... I just think it's a testament to her cunning.

New members, beware.  As in many, many fandoms, SHIPping can be a 
battleground, and the archives here are splattered with its 
casualties.  Lots of us here have sliced and diced every single 
nuance of canon that even has a glimmer of potential romantic pairing 
fodder... quite a few of us who ship have written FAQs and essays and 
lengthy posts and theorems and diagrams and drawn fanart and even 
written fanfiction on even just a single point of the debate.  

One of my favorite R/Hers, B Bennett, has written fanfiction about 
the H/R/H parallel to Star Wars ("A Certain Point of View") and about 
the final kiss in GoF ("The Other Kiss").  One of my favorite H/Hers, 
parker, has written fanfiction about Ron and Ginny's reactions to a 
future H/H pairing ("Friend Enough" and "Ginny").  As for me, I 
turned all of my worst shipper nightmares into an elaborate post-
Hogwarts scenario ("Trouble in Paradise" and sequels)... and the only 
reason why I started writing fanfiction and continue to write it is 
because I wanted to prove my points in the shipper debates.  

Most HP4GU vets have settled into various niches according to what we 
care about most in the Harry Potter books--there are Snapefans and 
Lupin lovers and the Sirius-is-sexy camp and the Draconians and the 
slashers and the formidable L.O.O.N.s--but as any of the Swiss list 
veterans can tell you, the Shippers are slightly insane and perhaps 
the scariest camp of all... so scary that I really do believe that we 
were the cause of the OT-Chatter list being formed last winter.  We 
drove the others to it!  :-D

At its best, shipping is lots of fun and teasing, but at its worst it 
is a veritable mine field.  Be careful.

--Ebony

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< 
Ebony AKA AngieJ
ebonyink at hotmail.com
Come join us in Paradise!  
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP_Paradise
Fanfics of All Shapes, Ships, and Sizes:
http://www.fictionalley.org
********************************** 

"You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the 
desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves."

--from Mary Oliver's *Wild Geese*