Friendships in WW

[corinthum]

No: HPFGUIDX 43799

Ginny wrote:

> People have been discussing whether Harry or Hermione have enough 
> friends, how well they get along with others at school, etc.  But I 
> was noticing, there don't seem to be a lot of close friendships in 
> the WW.  I am specifically thinking about the Weasleys.  They have 
> Harry over all the time, and Hermione pretty often.  How come the 
> rest of the kids don't have their own friends over?

Well, we don't know that she doesn't, do we?  The books are told from 
Harry's point of view, so we never see Ginny when she's not with her 
family (either all the Weasleys at home, or when she talk to Ron with 
school).

> Why doesn't Ginny have any girlfriends in her own year?  Yes, she's 
> friends with Hermione, but is she the only one?  She should be 
> having 
> sleepovers all summer at her age.

Again, we don't know that she doesn't.  She seems to be a pretty 
happy, well-adjusted girl.  We've never seen her complain about a lack 
of friends, or seem jealous of Harry being invited, so I'd assume she 
has friends who do visit her; we just haven't seen them (yet).
 
> I suppose you could say the twins have each other, 

ahhhh!  <twin rant> This doesn't relate to the post really, but please 
don't assume twins don't need outside friends because they have each 
other.  People always seem to assume this, and it's completely 
misguided. </twin rant>

> but wouldn't Lee 
> Jordan have loved to sit in the Top Box with them?  Is there some 
> unspoken age limit over which guys can't have sleepovers anymore?

I think the reason Harry is often invited to the Weasleys is because 
Molly and Arthur know the sort of home life he has.  Would Lee Jordan 
love to sit in the top box?  Of course.  But he has parents who can 
take him to see the match.  The Weasleys aren't rich, and as much as 
they would like to, Molly and Arthur can't afford to bring all their 
children's friends to the match.  They invited Harry because they knew 
he would never be able to see the Cup otherwise, and Hermione for the 
same reason (her parents are Muggles and wouldn't be able to take 
her).
 
> Percy not having Penelope over is, I think, understandable.  But 
does 
> he not have any male friends? 
> Surely Bill and/or Charlie have significant others that would visit 
> or at least be mentioned?

Again, we haven't been offered any evidence to the contrary.  We 
didn't meet Bill and Charlie themselves until Book 4, and we know very 
little about either of them.   
 
> My point is, for those who think Harry or Hermione have too few 
> friends, as far as we know, they have MORE friends than anyone else. 
> Real, best friend-friends, I mean, not just see-you-in-class 
> friends.  (I'm excluding Draco and Crabbe/Goyle, as I wouldn't call 
> what they have friendship.)  Is this indicative of something in the 
> WW, or just an artifact of JKs focus?

JUst an artifact of JK's focus, in my opinion.  She manages to include 
an amazing amount of detail about hundreds of minor characters through 
her writing style.  But she can't really afford to sidetrack into 
minor characters' lives unless it directly impacts Harry's story.


- Corinth, who has had to switch to a dial-up connection and can no 
longer keep up with this board.  Very peeved.