Rowling’s Red Flag (Was: SHIP: That Darned Kiss--The Problem With Reading R/H in

Mon Jan 20 09:56:27 UTC 2003

No: HPFGUIDX 50172

>That Darned Kiss:
>"Bye, Harry!" said Hermione, and she did something she had never 
done before, and kissed him on the cheek. (GoF, UK paper ed., p. 636)<

Ok Ebony, I loved your post. It made compelling reading even to a 
staunch non-shipper, `cause leaving the R/H thread aside, it
captured some character formation. See, here's Hermione in her
pivotal fourth year in the wizarding world, growing in confidence in 
her abilities ("you're the cleverest witch of your age I've
ever met"), finding a cause to fight for (her own battle, not
Harry's or anyone else's), triumphing over her personal enemy (bug!
Skeeter), and conscious for the first time that she is attractive to 
the opposite sex. To her certain knowledge, an international 
Quidditch star as well as one of her best friends have both shown an 
interest in her. And what does she do with all that growing 
confidence? *She does something she's never done before* and kisses 
Harry on the cheek.

Red flag indeed.

I've pondered that red flag for quite a while now, as have many,
many people before me – but I just had to say my piece. 

Red Flag scenario #1: It's really red - a red herring.

Sure, its not the first time JKR has done such a thing. There's a
lot going on in that last chapter and that phrase makes you focus on 
that kiss. Consciously draws attention, doesn't it? But away from
what? In a story laden with SHIPping, propping a flag like that is 
guaranteed to capture the audience and divert attention, or so she 
could have hoped. <g>. (Come now! She couldn't have known that
OotP would take so long, nor anticipated the LOONy extents to which
we've been pushed). And it's good storytelling to throw in something
towards the end of the book that totally disrupts what's been built up
upto that point, which was an apparent R/H subtext. Just right to 
leave you guessing – and it needn't be important at all. Without
that red flag, it really wouldn't have been. 

And Rowling has stated that she's very proud of her last chapter.
But further speculation on what this herring hides is for another 
post. 

Red Flag Scenario #2: The Hermione POV:

Ebony:
>>I think she kisses Harry and not Ron because Harry needed that kiss 
far more than Ron does. He's just been through quite the ordeal. He 
is about to go out into the Muggle world, and the place he is going 
will be totally unsupportive about what he's going through. The 
Dursleys will not understand what he is going through... and neither 
does anyone else in the world, really. That kiss is a gesture that 
speaks far less of superficial"like" than it does of a deep and 
abiding friendship.<<

Yep, that could well be it. A friendly, compassionate farewell.
That's my first instinctive reading as well, and I intend to hang
on to it.  But taken in the light of Hermione's growing confidence,
it could bolster the H/H if it is her way of putting up her stake. 
Having assured herself that she *is* somewhat attractive, she gets up 
the courage to make the first move
though Harry is completely
clueless.  Does this imply that she's been secretly moping for
Harry and feeling inadequate thus far? NO. I don't think so. But is 
sheat the point where she sees new possibilities? When you feel great 
about yourself, the world does seems richer; you can react without 
inhibition to situations you would have, quite subconsciously, 
blocked out from consideration as impossible at another time.

To quote Ebony again, if slightly out of order,
>>It was about *Hermione*--Hermione and the way she views herself as 
an emerging young woman.<<

Red Flag Scenario #3: The Harry POV:

Maybe this flag has less to do with Hermione than to do with Harry. 
Ron is a given for `the typical teenage guy' who can't figure out his 
own mind. Now how is Harry different? We see the entire world from 
Harry's POV, *this phrase included*. It's not Rowling narrating for 
our benefit, its not Hermione making a decision, but it's *Harry* who 
suddenly notices here that it's something that Hermione hasnever done 
before. Why? 

Note, I'm NOT shipping here... looking at authorial intent perhaps? 
Take this to be a misguided attempt to look at one of the most 
intriguing phrases in the books, brought on by Ebony's essay! And
of course, I'm certain all this has been debated before – how else do 
you think we got up to post # 50170 or so?? <vbg>

Errol