The Ginny Weasley Quotient

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 44945

Penny wrote, quoting me:
<<<<<<<<And even Harry at age fourteen is so self-conscious 
that he 
dreads anyone finding out how he feels about Cho, and thinks it 
would sound melodramatic to tell Ron that someone is trying to 
kill him. (That's often overlooked, BTW. Harry *did* lie to 
Ron.)>>>>>>>

I would consider that more an "omission" than an "outright lie" 
as Hermione would say.  If he lied to Ron though, he also lied to 
Hermione and virtually everyone else on that same point.  And 
actually, if this is the incident I'm remembering, it's Hermione's 
feelings he's concerned about, not Ron's:

*********************

"I can't remember all of it now, but they were plotting to kill ... 
someone."

He'd teetered for a moment on the verge of saying 'me,' but 
couldn't bring himself to make Hermione look any more horrified 
than she already did.

(GoF, Chapter 10)

*********************
<<<<

Now Me:
We have different incidents in mind. (My fault, as I didn't say) The 
one I'm thinking of is this:

********************

 "Listen," said Harry, " I didn't put my name in that Goblet. 
Someone else must've done it."


Ron raised his eyebrows."What would they do that for?"


"I dunno," said Harry. He felt it would sound very melodramatic to 
say, 'to kill me'.

(GoF, Chapter 17)

**********************

Until this latest discussion, I never analyzed that exchange in 
terms of Harry's character. I had always dismissed it as 
somewhat OC,  a particularly naked bit of plotting, a pretext for 
the big fight.  But think about it...Ron's been smashed  by an 
enchanted chess piece, threatened by giant spiders, come 
within a hair of being Obliviated, his leg got broken and he was 
blasted unconscious by a Dark Wizard who could just as easily 
have killed him outright, all because somebody's been trying to 
kill Harry ever since he was one year old. Why on Earth would he 
think Harry was being melodramatic?

But Harry is in the throes of adolescent self-doubt, not to mention 
denial, so he lies, not to spare Ron's feelings, but to spare his 
own. We never get to hear Ron's side of the story, but I can 
imagine that conversation over breakfast with Hermione the next 
day....

Hermione: Where's Harry?
Ron: (grumpily) Don't ask me!
Hermione: Oh, Ron! You're not still angry at him?
Ron: Right again! Amazing, you are.
Hermione: (following on from the conversation they must have 
had the night before) Ron, Harry didn't put his name in the 
Goblet! 
Ron: Oh, right. Someone else did it. And why would anybody do 
that?
Hermione: I told you! Someone's trying to get him killed!
Ron: Did he tell you that?
Hermione: Well, no, but--
Ron: Listen, I asked him why someone would've put his name 
in, and he just said he didn't know! Like hell!
Hermione: Ron! But of course he said that. He didn't want, didn't 
want--
Ron: Didn't want my help? Well, if he doesn't want it, he doesn't 
have to have it, does he? Whatever he's up against, I'm sure 
famous Harry Potter can manage without *me*. Not that he's up  
against anything. If he thinks someone's trying to do him in, why 
didn't he say so?"
Hermione: Why don't you ask him?
Ron:(furiously) I DID!

And after the breakfast scene, Harry tells Hermione exactly what 
happened, and she believes him. Maybe Ron would have 
believed him too, if Harry had told him the whole story. But Harry 
didn't.  Of course Hermione must've tried to tell Ron herself later,  
but I can't blame Ron,  who is beginning to have feelings for 
Hermione, for feeling hurt  that Harry felt he could confide in 
Hermione but not in him. But he can't admit that. Of course Ron 
was being a silly prat. But so was Harry.

The proof of this lies in the reconciliation scene, with the words 
Ron uses to heal the rift.

"Harry," he said very seriously,"whoever put your name in the 
Goblet--I--I reckon they're trying to do you in!"  

Harry's realized that he doesn't have to hear Ron apologize. But 
Ron's also  realized that he doesn't have to hear an admission  
from Harry that he didn't tell the truth.

On the subject of Ginny, Penny said:

>>Actually, Harry got teased because Ron was apparently 
present when said Hufflepuff girl asked Harry to the Ball (he was 
definitely present when the 5th year asked Harry a few days 
later).  I strongly suspect if Ginny *had* worked up the courage to 
ask Harry to the Ball, she'd have done so in private, and there 
would have been no teasing of either of them because noone 
would have been privy to it.  <<

L.O.O.N. point:
Actually, Harry got teased because, just as Ron had predicted, 
"...they'll be queuing up to go with you." 

And it's not easy to keep secrets in a place like Hogwarts 
(unless you're the DADA teacher, of course.) Anyway, I think we 
can trust Ginny to understand Hogwarts dating etiquette better 
than we do, and she's the one who says that she wouldn't have 
been able to go at all if someone hadn't asked her. Although 
maybe one of the reasons she's suddenly miserable is that she 
realizes that if she hadn't been so scrupulous she could've 
asked Harry after all. You know, I think that scene  in the 
Common Room could be the first time that Ginny realizes that 
Harry isn't The Boy Who Lived but rather a young man who's just 
as wretched with this whole boy-girl business as she is. That 
could be a turning point for her...we don't  see her blushing and 
giggling over Harry after that, do we?

Penny:
 >>But, she had a plot purpose for giving us the wrong 
impression of Sirius.  Not to say that she *can't* undo her 
heretofore skeletal development of Ginny, but I suppose my 
question is: if she does intend Ginny to be Harry's eventual love 
interest, why on earth has she kept Ginny so poorly-developed 
for the last 2 books?  What's the *plot* point to this?  She's 
certainly made no secret of Ron's burgeoning romantic interest 
in Hermione or of Ginny's crush on Harry?<<

Erm, you're asking why JKR wouldn't be obvious? She hasn't 
made a secret of Ron's interest in Hermione, true, but  we 
certainly don't know the depth of Hermione's feelings about  
Krum. We know that Krum has strong feelings for Hermione, but  
just as in Ginny's case we don't know very much about what sort 
of person he is. We know all about what Harry's like, but  we 
don't know whether he could ever feel anything for Hermione 
besides friendship. JKR's narrative makes things clear only on 
one side of a potential pairing. 

It's not clear how much the love interest will have to do with the 
plot at all, if you mean the eventual defeat of Voldemort. But one 
of the major *themes* of the book is that our impressions of 
other people are often wrong, and that  people change,  so we 
can be wrong about them even after we've known them a while.  
Despite Harry's statement in Book One, "I think I can tell who the 
wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he's actually not very good at 
it. No one is.


Pippin