SHIP:Ginny v. Hermione as Harry's sweetheart

[charisjulia]

No: HPFGUIDX 32784

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tabouli" <tabouli at u...> wrote:

> To counterbalance the tragic damaged Harry limping into a grim 
future, JKR will probably need to give him a lot of consolatory small 
blessings.  Pick your favorite ship, perhaps... I suspect a survivor-
Harry will be in need of a strong supportive woman to soothe his 
nightmares and weep on the shoulder of (if he can bring himself to 
cry by then... perhaps this would be a poignant note to sound near 
the end of the series... Harry finally develops the strength to show 
weakness).  So far, risks Tabouli, I think the best candidate for the 
job would have to be Hermione (which rather shifts the Grim onto 
Ron): Ginny would need to grow a *lot* more oomph to take this job on.
> 
     I'm a newbie here so I think I'm going to have to start by 
apologizing to everyone else who are probably quite sick of the 
subject for bringing it up but I couldn't resist rising to the bait! 
I'm really sorry but I don't agree that Hermione would be better 
suited than Ginny to standing by a broken, hurt Harry after the fall 
of V. (if indeed things do turn out that way!)
      
 Why would you think Ginny doesn't have enough "oomph"? Do you 
think perhaps you're undermining her a bit? After all she was sorted 
into Gryffindor. Of course she's shy and unsure of her self, sure, 
but after all she's only 10-14. And she has matured a great deal 
during the course of the books, though perhaps this can be passed by 
quite unnoticed by the reader because Harry does not really give it 
(or her for the time being at least) much attention. But the timid 
little girl that hides behind her mother whenever she sees Harry in 
PS and and will hardly speak a word in CoS is very different to the 
one which shuts Ron and Harry up for making fun of Neville because 
Hermione turned him down for the Yule Ball and refuses to tell them 
who H.'s going with when Ron asks her. She still isn't what I'd call 
assertive of course but I think she does have pluck when she wants 
to. By the way, is it my imagination or has anyone else noticed that 
Ginny and Hermione seem to be much closer in GoF? Ginny did know 
about Hermione going to the Ball with Krum when the boys didn't and 
they seem to be spending much more time together too.

      Another thing that one has to consider is that Ginny has a 
mother in Molly Weasley, a woman whose life is her family. Ginny must 
obviously be affected by this. After all she was the last Weasley kid 
to leave the home and therefore the one that, out of the youngest at 
least, has spent the most time with Molly. Plus M. was really her 
only female role model till she went to Hogwarts. If Harry were to 
need a shoulder to cry on (by the way great point about him needing 
to learn to be weak. I'd never realized: Harry never cries!) wouldn't 
a "people" person like Molly and therefore Ginny be more appropriate 
than an "achievement" person like Hermione? Not that H. wouldn't be 
there for Harry if he needed her. She would. But I think that after 
she'd done all she thought she could do she could easily run off on 
some wild plan to save gnomes from cruel treatment leaving Harry to 
deal alone with wounds that don't heal that easily. Don't get me 
wrong. It's not that I don't like Hermione. On the contrary I love 
her a lot. But I do think that she needs to shine in her own right 
too, not just "stand by her man". And this of course is no bad thing. 
Quite the opposite!!! It just perhaps does not make her a good 
romance choice for a boy starved of love, as it were.

I think Hermione would be much more suited to Ron. He'd just look on 
with an amused look on his face as far as his "girlfriend's"(!) 
escapades were concerned and also help to knock some realism into her 
head once in a while. And of course he'd greatly benefit from the 
relationship too: Hermione would help him believe in himself, 
something he is in great need of.

      So there you go. That's my opinion as far as "ships" are 
concerned.Just *had* to express it! Once again sorry for bringing up 
an old subject!

Charis Julia.