Friendships in WW

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 43834

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "corinthum" <kkearney at s...> wrote:
> Ginny wrote:
> > 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.  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.

I think that's 90 percent of it. If JKR gave us details about every 
single character's life, we'd be waiting decades for the next book.  
Not that I wouldn't love to see the background notes she has on the 
secondary characters like Bill and Charlie.  But, to this point, 
they're not central to the story.

In fact, the only other characters that have been spoken about as 
being great friends are James and Sirius.  And we don't learn that 
until PoA.  Perhaps this is to provide a parallel between 
generations, although I'm not fond of the idea of trying to find 
exact matches between HHR and MWPP.  That always struck me as too 
neat and precise. 

But, James, or at least the idealized James in Harry's mind, in an 
influence on Harry.  And one of the few adults he trusts is Sirius, 
and I'm sure in large part that's because he was James' best friend 
and, because of that, provides Harry with more than a casual link to 
his father.

As for Harry' contemporaries, we are seeing things mostly through 
Harry's eyes.  Because of that we don't see the love and caring and 
support that exist between Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. <snorts into her 
coffee trying to keep a straight face...>

Marianne