SHIP: Re: Harry, Hermione, Ginny & Ron (long)

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 74861

Geo:"Tension does not equal future relationship. Imo the R/H shippers
are playing right into her hands by believing that the Katie Couric
interview was a confirmation on her part. If anything that was a dodge
by Rowling."

Absolutely. JKR is the Knight Commander of the Order of the Red
Herring.  I've never seen anybody better at keeping everybody
guessing, bless her heart.  

Toad:"Ms. Rowling strikes me as a fair player. She's laid her clues,
it's up to us. In interviews she either tells you that she's not going
to answer the question, or she avoids answering it. I watched that
interview again today (have it on tape) and while she didn't directly
answer the question, the look on that woman's face when she questioned
Katie Couric's choice of Harry and Hermione as, uh, snoggers put a
rather nice sized hole in the H/H ship for me. I'm an H/G shipper, but
would have been ok with H/H in the end. Heck, I just want the boy to
be happy."

I'm an H/H shipper because time and again Harry and Hermione are
perfect for each other, but I started out as an H/G shipper and still
have a soft spot for it, so you, Toad,  and I are not opponents, but
mirror images:

THE CASE FOR HARRY AND GINNY

Toad:"See, I [see] this completely different [than GEO does]. Ginny is
over her hero- worship crush. She sees Harry with all his flaws. The
stage is set for true love to enter the picture. I actually have more
hope for an H/G romance after reading OotP. They wouldn't have stood a
chance if Ginny fell in love with the Boy Who Lived."

I agree completely.  H/G would never work if she was in little girlish
infatuation.  Now we see Ginny growing up in a really good way.  This
girl's head is screwed on straight.  She's her own person, and I like
how she's integrated  Fred and George into herself.  She has the
gumption and character for a complex guy like Harry.

Ron wants it, FWIW, and he's Harry's best friend.  I absolutely do not
believe that Ron's promoting H/G to leave Hermione clear for him; I am
sure Ron is completely sincere in wanting to see his sister and his
best friend together for both their sakes, which brings us to a
mine-field concept in the shipping lexicon:

ONE BIG HAPPY WEASLEY FAMILY

OBHWF is a minefield in shipping debate, beginning with a double R/H
and H/G wedding, and everybody living happily ever after on Walton -
er, Weasley - Mountain.  Many shippers find it too corny and
saccharine for words, but I don't.  Harry's going to be beat to hell
at the end of the war, wounded, in mind and probably body, exhausted,
and more stressed than anyone should ever be.  He'll need all the
support he can get, and most people would count themselves blessed to
be in the bosom of a family like the Weasleys, who know him, love him,
and understand him.  Love is the greatest power in the Universe, and
the deepest mystery in the Department of Mysteries.  Where else but
OBHWF would there be more in one spot?


THE CASE FOR HERMIONE AND HARRY

I said I'm an H/H shipper, for one overriding reason: never have two
people been more suited to each other, perfect soulmates.  Hermione
has been the person who has prepared him for his challenges; while he
is the greatest natural talent of his generation, she is the exemplar
of what hard work and application can do - a perfect yin and yang. 
She understands him better than anyone else.

Hermione cares for him as much or more than anyone. When she asks
after Harry and Cho, what's going on there? Is she not interested in
Harry, or not aware of *how* she might care for him, or is she mature
enough to know his feelings for Cho have to be resolved, that the risk
must be run?  I don't know, but I know that Harry and Hermione love
each other already.  It may not be romantic love, but they are
incredibly close.  Hermione with anybody else - even Ron - would be a
step backwards in intimacy.

Hermione knows exactly what Harry needs.  Her DA idea was brilliant,
giving him a purpose and a boost he badly needed at the same time
providing others with something they needed as well.  She sees in
Harry his natural leadership qualities and the isolation that was
hurting him, and came up with just the right thing that helped him
keep going.  It's not an accident that JKR tells us more than once how
much the DA means to Harry.  Let's remember whose idea it was, and how
she cared for him at a time when Harry was just plain unlikeable. (I
was mad at him about fifty times in OOP). 

Harry has noticed her, and the subtlety of the clues make them more
convincing.  In OOP, when she suggests he tell Cho how ugly he thinks
Hermione is, he says 'but I don't think you're ugly!' which was a
spontaneous letting out of his feelings.  In GoF, there were true
sparks when he noticed her at the Yule Ball.  These seeds are not idly
planted.  They will burst out someday.

Harry's 'saved' Hermione, too.  I don't mean physically, although he
has, but Hermione knew early that she would be a different person and
a lesser one without being in the Trio.  She started out with an
affinity to Percy, but look at how the two have diverged.   Because of
her adventures, because she's discovered real purpose, she's a young
woman of character and moral courage and Percy's a disgusting
sycophant.  She might have been a Ravenclaw at heart when she arrived,
but there never was a truer Gryffindor now. She's seen what bravery
can do.  Hermione has gained immensely from knowing Harry.

WHAT DOES HARRY NEED?

If Harry ends up with Ginny, he's going to have a supportive, loving
woman and family, a healing balm for all the hurts he's got and will
get.  If it's Hermione, she's going to care for him in a different
way, pushing him when he needs it, tough when she has to be,
challenging him back to health.   Which does he need?

If anyone wants to argue their viewpoint based on the idea that "JKR
says so," that's weak, IMO.  JKR doesn't want us to do that.  She
wants us to find it in her text. She keeps telling us everything is
there, and it is.  

I come down on the H/H side, but I won't cry for him if he ends up
with Ginny, no way. She's a great girl, and they all deserve to be happy.

Jim F.