The Ginny Weasley Quotient

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 44864

> 
> Judy had previously said:
> > If she is the chatterbox Ron says she is, and brave enough to 
be  sorted into Gryffindor, why not stammer, stumble and 
mumble her way  through asking Harry to take her  to the Yule 
Ball as Harry did Cho  and Ron did Fleur?  Even a Hufflepuff girl 
managed it. 
> 
>  and I responded:
> > Because she was a third year. She couldn't invite *anyone* to 
the  ball. It'd be pretty pushy to ask Harry or anyone else to invite 
> her to a function she wouldn't otherwise be entitled to attend.
> 
> Judy responds:
> JKR makes a point of mentioning that the Hufflepuff girl who 
asked  Harry was also a THIRD YEAR Ch, 22 Pg 389 (American 
edition) and that she hadn't spoken a word to him in her life.  
(Obviously admiring him  from afar, as had Ginny.)  As least 
Harry and Ginny had exchanged  pleasantries and had a shared 
adventure. All he could have said  was "no."  That would have 
been a difficult thing for her to do and a  way to hint at Ginny's 
latent courage and perhaps foreshadow bigger  things to 
come.<<

We may be impressed by that Hufflepuff's gumption, but Harry 
isn't. He turns her down. And he doesn't look her up again, even 
after Cho's turned *him* down and he's desperate.  Plus he got 
teased about it by Dean, Seamus and Ron (but not Neville, 
interestingly.) Why would they have teased him, if  she weren't 
doing something a bit gauche? I can just imagine the ribbing 
both Harry and Ginny would have gotten if she'd asked him, 
particularly if he'd said no. I'd say it showed good manners and 
sensitivity on her part, not a lack of guts.

I agree that JKR is keeping us from finding out what Ginny's like, 
but not because Ginny's got some sinister character flaw.   For 
those who say that Ginny can't be important enough for Harry to 
be emotionally involved with her, I say, look at Sirius. We've  seen 
a lot less of him than   of Snape, or Dumbledore, or even 
McGonagall, and yet there's no doubt that Harry cares more for 
Sirius than any of those three. A person can become  important 
to Harry without being anywhere near as major a character as 
Ron and Hermione are.

Right now, Ginny seems to be a giggly girl who was duped by 
Voldemort. And for nearly all of PoA, we thought Sirius Black was 
a homicidal maniac who was serving Voldemort. It didn't take 
long for JKR to undo that impression, did it?

Pippin