Truth, SHIPs, and Rita Skeeter (was Re: SHIPping Attitudes)

[Ebony]

No: HPFGUIDX 55836

You know, I said I wasn't going to look at this thread, but I did...

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Eileen <lucky_kari at y...> wrote:
> I've said several times that I plain don't see H/Hr in
> the books. But that's not entirely true. I don't see
> the prospect of H/Hr in the books, but H/Hr is most
> definitely *in* the books. Rita Skeeter wrote H/Hr
> fic, after all! 

No, there is a very distinct difference between fiction and yellow 
journalism.  Good fiction IMO is an imitation of life.  Yellow 
journalism is the truth, poisoned.  Rita Skeeter is the latter, and 
to imply that her articles are anything like H/H fic is pretty 
laughable. 

Another thing that I find interesting is that readers of the series 
tend to have completely opposite reactions to certain romantic 
pairings than do the characters within the books.  I plan to write a 
post about this one of these days (*pencils this in on list of 
Things To Do*)... the more and more I thought about it, the more 
interesting this seemed to me.


> JKR does not skirt the idea of H/Hr, as can quickly be
> established from reading GoF. But what is the role of
> H/Hr in the series?
>

You've done a fair job of looking at H/H from Hermione's PoV, and 
you've raised an interesting question.  Has Hermione weighed both of 
her best friends in the balance and found one or both lacking?  
(That sounds really calculating and un-Hermione-like, doesn't it?)  
Perhaps.  However, I find it rather interesting from a narrative 
standpoint that several characters outside the Trio's inner circle 
believed in the possibility of H/H (Colin, Mrs Weasley, Viktor Krum, 
etc.), and that Harry and Hermione are doing absolutely nothing to 
refute the fact that they are a couple, other than Harry telling 
Krum and Mrs Weasley that they are not.  

The truth is one thing.

What the wizarding world believes is another, as far as the 
narrative is concerned.  

JKR has played with this idea before, in the Sirius Black plot that 
began in PoA and is still continuing... Harry and a few chosen 
others know the truth about Sirius, but the rest of the wizarding 
world believes that he is not.  Yet even if the truth makes free, 
the lie that Peter began might prove deadly for Sirius in future 
books... if he appears in public before he is cleared.

I used to believe, like many R/H shippers did, that the Rita Skeeter 
articles served no other purpose besides to prove that H/H would not 
happen, or that it was a rather blatant red herring.

But now as OotP looms near, one must wonder if those articles did 
not have another purpose as far as the narrative is concerned.  Not 
only has it been in wizarding Britain's media *twice* that Hermione 
is Harry's girlfriend (which as of GoF she is not), but that first 
article publicized her Muggle-born status (which she is).  

And Voldemort is back, and has the advantage of stealth on his side.

No wonder JKR asked in an interview why no one ever worries about 
Hermione dying.  Sure, Hermione is the only developed younger female 
character, but that doesn't make her immune.  Death is only a bit of 
what might happen.

So therefore, it's a bit misleading to deem the Skeeter articles H/H 
fiction.  In this case, the "fiction" could have really negative 
consequences... but then again, I tend to see a bit more darkness on 
the horizon in canon, and I don't think that SHIPping is going to be 
divorced enough from the rest of the plot to rest easily with OBHWF.

--Ebony, jumping in anyway