Age of Shippers; Ginny as Harry's "fate"; and other SHIP thoughts

[love2write_11098]

No: HPFGUIDX 33085

Hello everyone. I'm delurking for this.

Eileen said:
> > Ginny's 11 year old crush on Harry was typical, but it didn't 
have the
> > same sort of emotional content as Viktor's crush on Hermione 
(ugghh).
> > Now, that she is older, she still has feelings for Harry, but 
what she
> > has is more like real adult love than before.

Penny replied:
> 
> I'm with Red on this one.  Isn't Ginny 13/14?  I don't think she or 
> *any* of the characters has experienced real adult love yet.  I 
don't 
> think they should either really.  Not until post-Hogwarts when they 
will 
> actually be adults.

I would have to agree with Penny here, and not because I think that a 
fourteen year old is not *capable* of experiencing adult love (or at 
least intense feelings that, if the relationship continues long 
enough, may evolve into mature love), but because Ginny's behavior 
does not seem to indicate that she feels anything of the kind toward 
Harry. She still has a crush on her hero, which is rather odd 
considering that Harry is one of her brother's best friends and she 
should know him well enough *not* to look at him that way by now. I 
mean really, all that time at the Weasleys and Ginny scarcely seems 
to know Harry any better than she did in CoS. Her reaction in the 
scene in GoF where they're discussing dates for the Yule Ball is 
indicative of this.

I *hope* that the characters do not experience real love until after 
they leave Hogwarts as well, Penny. Love before the age of twenty is 
a pain in the butt because it either makes you give up doing things 
that you would have done otherwise (which is dumb) or it makes doing 
those things harder. Hermione, in particular, who often seems to be 
at the apex of whatever love triangle (or square) that we discussing, 
will have opportunities abound when she leaves Hogwarts, and I would 
hate, *hate,* HATE to see her give up any of them because she's 
fallen in BIG LOVE with one of the boys.

This is not to say that Harry and Ron will not have many 
opportunities. Assuming that Harry lives, he will be hounded by 
people wanting him to do this and do that and promote this and 
promote that . . . but I can see him possibly (if he is with Hermione 
or even *gulp* Ginny) wanting to experience a quiet life, for awhile 
at least, while Hermione is the type to never stop moving, never stop 
going on to the next thing. Ron, assuming he lives (I did not make 
that statement with Hermione, because I just don't see JKR killing 
her), will also have many opportunities -- but, looking at his 
parents who appear to have gotten married just out of Hogwarts, he 
also might want to settle down right away. I just don't see Hermione 
willing to do that with either of them, and with Ron it might 
especially be a problem. He might want a big family with lots of 
kids, and she wants a career. I love both Hermione and Molly, but 
they are VERY different people. Harry would probably give her more 
room to be herself (I'm a big post-Hogwarts H/H shipper).

Stacy