Ginny ,what we don't know for sure(Was:H/G and other unobvious SHIP alternat

[Judy <penumbra10@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52315

I originally wrote:
<snip> 
>> Ginny is teased by her brothers, she knows that teasing hurts. 
> How could she not know that he'd (Harry) be teased and tormented 
> further for having received a singing valentine?<<

Pippin responded: 
> Eh? The girl not only knows it's silly to be obsessed with 
> someone's looks and reputation, she can poke fun at herself for 
> it.  Do "really divine" heroes have eyes like a fresh pickled 
toad? The irony is so thick you could spread it on a bagel. ;-) 
> When everybody is genuinely afraid that Harry is the Heir of 
> Slytherin, Ginny reminds everyone, EVERYONE, that he's only 
> human, and does it in a way that calls Draco's malice on her, not 
> Harry. 

Me:   
There is no way she could possibly know that Draco Malfoy would 
respond in the way he did or even that he'd be present when the 
valentine was delivered.    There is no canon evidence that Ginny 
ever laughs at herself.   She is not another Hermione who thinks it 
silly to be obsessed with someone's looks and reputation.    Indeed, 
in GoF, Ch 22, she nearly apologizes for going to the ball with 
Neville.  There is, however, evidence that she abhors being teased.  
We see this as Riddle recites from the diary:
CoS, Ch 17-- "My diary.  Little Ginny's been witing in it for months 
and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes--how her 
brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand 
robes and books..."  She writes "no one's ever understood me like 
you, Tom..."

"Pippin":
<snip>
> As for Ginny knowing Harry beyond the superficial, how can she? 
> He's never given her the chance. We're privy to his inmost 
> thoughts, she's not. 
> 
Me: Harry spent two full weeks at her house in CoS, and more time 
during GoF.  Of course she was able to observe things about him that 
had nothing to do with his looks or his famous scar.  She could have 
learned plenty was she interested in who he was as a person.  From a 
strictly canon point of view, Ginny doesn't see Harry as a three-
dimensional human being.  

I further said:
> >>>Kloves wrote the `are you O.K.?' question into the 
> movie, because it seems so obvious, but it is not in the book.<<

"Pippin" responded:
> What would be the use of her asking, Are you okay? The only 
> answer is, of course yer not, but yeh will be. Such questions are 
> asked to prompt comfort for the asker, or in the movie's case, the 
> audience. <snip>
Me:
The picture JKR gives us is this:  Ginny just woke up in the Chamber 
of Secrets having last remembered Riddle coming out of the diary.  
There is a gigantic dead snake with a sword through the roof of its 
mouth lying nearby and a twelve-year-old boy drenched in blood 
kneeling beside her.  IMO the first logicial, obvious question --is 
this blood Harry's or the creature's--(In other words--was Harry 
bitten???)  The second obvious question--is Harry hurt too badly to 
leave the chamber (ie. Can he stand? Can he walk? Is he poisoned???) 
(In other words--Must I try and go for help or can he make it out on 
his own???)  Asking Harry if he is all right would be a VERY 
reasonable, perfectly logical question given the situation.  Were 
she demonstrating any of the legendary Gryffindor bravery here, she 
would absolutely need to know, to help assess the situation they 
were in.  As it stands, however, this is a flat, two-dimensional 
picture of the fair maiden being rescued from the "dragon" by a 
valiant young hero, whom she allows to do all the thinking.  This 
scene could have important allegorical significance, but doesn't 
show Ginny in too positive a light.

"Pippin" wrote:
> Yes, she cries. Unlike Harry, she isn't too proud or too brittle 
to let her need for comfort show.  And though it seems as if she'll 
> never stop, she does. That could be something Harry will learn 
from her, someday. And how do we know Ginny's tears at the 
> end of CoS are for herself alone? She takes it for granted that 
> she deserves punishment--that's hardly lack of concern. The 
> words Dumbledore uses to comfort her, "There has been no 
> permanent harm done, Ginny"  after he's already told her there 
> will be no punishment, make no sense unless she was 
> showing distress over the people in the hospital wing.

Me:
This is exactly the point I was making in my original post. We fill 
in the blanks for Ginny.  All we know for sure about her crying and 
crying and crying is what she says.  Ginny starts crying not when 
she tells Harry about her being the person responsible for all the 
problems, but after Harry says "Let's get out of here."
CoS, Ch 17: "I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept as Harry helped 
her awkwardly to her feet. "I've looked forward to coming to 
Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and--w-
what'll Mum and Dad say?"  She never mentions all the people that 
were petrified or the obvious ordeal Harry went through to rescue 
her.  This is what I meant by how easy it is for us to make a 
complete picture out of an individual who is only presented to us as 
an incomplete sketch.
All we are allowed to see here is a distraught girl feeling very 
sorry for herself.  It is left to Mrs. Weasley in GoF after Cederic 
Diggory's death to begin to help Harry understand it is not a bad 
thing to cry.

I have to reiterate, we really, really don't know Ginny Weasley at 
all.  We don't know JKR's plans for her, but I'm certain we will--
whether they are for good or for ill.
--Judy