OOP: The case for a Ron - Luna Ship

[tristan_ana2004]

No: HPFGUIDX 65597

> MarEphraim wrote:
The case for a Ron - Luna Ship.

Ana T responds:
No.  Luna is for Harry.  Your arguments only make sense if Luna was 
a manipulative girl like Cho -- that is acting in a calculating way 
to attract a boy or fishing for a compliment.  Luna is not like 
that.  She is straight-forward and honest.  She is an indpendent, 
free thinker.  My argument is not that she is after Harry but that 
Harry will learn to appreciate her over time and will slowly fall in 
love with her.  She will gain his love without ever trying.

Okay, now the direct attack against the Ron/Luna ship.  Ana T will 
be using the US Edition

> MarEphraim wrote:
> Points to consider (using the UK edition):
> 
> But p. 171, after being out of the loop conversation-wise 
> for 'nearly and hour' (p. 170) she re-emerges to speak to Ron. 
Note 
> particularly the quote ' "She doesn't think you treated her very 
> well, because you wouldn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have 
> minded," she added thoughtfully, "I don't like dancing very 
much." '

Ana T responds:
Luna is not coming on to Ron.  She just sucks at small talk.  Her 
comments are a non-sequiter.  She was thinking, said it out loud and 
cared less if it was connected to the conversation around her.

> 
> On p. 172, "nobody laughed harder than Luna Lovegood" at Ron's 
joke. 
> Ron is so unprepared for the degree of her appreciation at this 
that 
> he even questions whether she's making fun of him. When Harry asks 
> to borrow her magazine, "She nodded, still gazing at Ron, 
breathless 
> with laughter." (p. 173) Later, she volunteers to take Ron's owl 
(p. 
> 177) thus ensuring that she'll have another contact with him.

Ana T responds:
If Luna was really trying to impress Ron, she would have stopped 
laughing or at least blushed when Ron said, "Are you taking the 
mickey?"  (p190 US Edition) If something strikes her funny, she will 
laugh as loud and as long as she likes.

> Note that in Harry's conversation with Cho (and Luna) pp. 350f, 
Luna 
> really seems to be just chatting, perhaps boasting, but IMO, not 
> attempting to impress Harry particularly.
> 
> At the Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch match, Luna supports 
> Gryffindor, but in offering her best wishes she particularly 
speaks 
> to Ron: "Anyway ... good luck, Ronald!" (p. 357) Note the 
hesitancy 
> and use of the formal name, versus the more informal "Ron" which 
> indicates she intended to get his attention. Her only show of 
> support otherwise is to wear an eagle at the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw 
> game (p. 602)
> 
Ana T responds:  I'll take the above two paragraphs together.  
Again, Luna just says what she thinks.  She hates the Ministry and 
supports Griffindor in their match.  She says "Ronald" instead 
of "Ron" because she is strange.  

Also, please note at this particular Quidditch match, even though 
Ron is terrified, he "touched the spot on his face where Hermione 
had kisssed him, looking puzzled, as though he was not quite sure 
what had just happened." p.404 US Edition.  And then on p.458 US 
Edition, after Hermione declares that Harry is not a bad 
kisser, "'How do you know?' said Ron in a sharp voice.'"  There are 
a load more clues that point to a Ron/Hermione ship but these two 
are the most glaring.

> Some have remarked that the mistletoe incident shows Luna has an 
> interest in Harry. Not so. She notices the mistletoe and when 
Harry, 
> under the mistaken impression that she would to kiss him, jumps 
> back... ' "Good thinking," said Luna very seriously, "It's often 
> infested with Nargles." ' (p. 400)

Ana T responds:
The mistletoe incident is important but not because Luna shows an 
interest in Harry.  She doesn't and Harry obviously doesn't have any 
interest in her.  This scene is important because it is JKR 
foreshadowing.
> 
> The Hogsmeade Weekend.... Hermione has arranged for Rita Skeeter 
to 
> do an interview with Harry... 
> Luna "sang 'Weasley is our King' dreamily under her breath and 
> stirred her drink with a cocktail onion on a stick." (p. 500) 

Ana T responds:  
Okay, this is way off.  Luna is humming a tune that trashes Ron for 
his poor playing performance.  This scene occurs before the lyrics 
have been changed to something favorable to Ron.  Luna just likes to 
hum when she is not interested in the conversation around her and 
the "Weasley is our King" melody is catchy.  She likes to hum, you 
know, like psychotic people do.

> And when the 
> article is published, she goes to the Gryffindor table and 
squeezes 
> in to sit "on the bench between Fred and Ron." (p. 510) There 
seems 
> clearly to be a natural attraction at work here.

Ana T responds:  Hmmmm, hmmmmm, Weasley is our King, hmmm.  Oh 
sorry, just humming.  Maybe Luna just sat down where she saw a small 
space to sit.
 

> (As an aside to the Luna+Neville shippers, note that when Harry 
and 
> the gang are captured by Umbridge, Neville is capture for '"trying 
> to stop me taking her," he pointed at Ginny...' (p. 654))

Ana T responds:  Okay, I'm with you there.  Neville/Ginny.  
Absolutely.

> 
> During the set up for Harry's attempt to discover if Sirius has 
been 
> taken by You Know Who, Luna asks several questions (not knowing 
the 
> back-story) which Harry completely ignores. Later in the forest 
when 
> she asks who Gawp is, it is Ron who answers her (he thinks higher 
of 
> her than Harry?). (p. 670) When Luna persists in noting that they 
> can fly to London it is Ron who engages her in argument, not Harry 
> (p. 671). This shows that Ron is more aware of her than Harry. 

Ana T responds:
Look, they are just talking.  Plus Harry isn't talking to anyone at 
the moment unless he absolutely has to.  All he wants to do is fly 
to London and save Sirius from being tortured to death!

> 
> In the fight at the MoM, when the group become separated, 
initially 
> it is Ron, Ginny and Luna are together (p.695-697) (I admit this 
is 
> a bit weak, but I see the author's hand at work in the grouping.) 

Ana T responds:
If you want to talk grouping, at the end of the MOM adventure, it is 
Harry, Neville and Luna kicking DE butt while Ron, Hermione and 
Ginny had been eliminated.

> When the group are reunited and Luna is explaining to Harry and 
> Neville what happened to them the only time a real emotion is 
> mentioned for her is when she tell what happened to Ron (p. 702)

Ana T responds:
Lets be clear about what you are referring to.  Luna says "I don't 
know what they hit him with,' said Luna sadly, 'but he's gone a bit 
funny, I could hardly get him along at all...'" p,796 US 
Edition,  "Sadly"?!  That's real emotion?

> 
> And finally, the Luna-Harry encounter... People seem to have read 
a 
> lot into this conversation, but if you consider it objectively, 
> Harry and Luna both have experienced death, and Luna notes that 
her 
> mother's death was "rather horrible." (p. 760) This is two people 
> who can speak about a topic (death, mourning, etc.) because they 
> both have experience with it. Harry can't identify with Hargrid 
(age 
> difference), and can't discuss it with Ron and Hermione who have 
> never experienced it like Harry, so discussing it with Luna is a 
> natural. 

Ana T responds:
Yes!  Exactly! This is a big thing to have in common - a unifying 
force he shares with no one else.  Remember, it is Luna who is by 
Harry's side when he encounters the veil for the first time.  She 
can hear the voices. p.863 US Edition.  Harry can't find comfort 
from Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione or even Hagrid after Sirius' death.  
It is Luna that helps Harry begin to overcome his overwhelming 
grief. "She walked away from him, and as he watched her go, he found 
that the terrible weight in his stomach seemed to have lessened 
slightly." p.864 US Edition.

> 
> In all, Harry's encounters with Luna have no more spark of romance 
> than his encounters with Sunan Bones. Yet Luna is revealed to have 
> at least the semblance of a preoccupation with Ron. I think there 
is 
> more significance to Ron's answering her question at the MoM in 
that 
> while Harry and Hermione totally ignore her at this point, he is 
> aware of her presence and accepts her as a member of the group.

Ana T responds:
I agree that there are no sparks between Luna and Harry.  But I 
think we can all agree that OOP is a foundation laying book. JKR has 
sketched the blue print to build the Harry/Luna ship in Books 6 and 
7.  Plus, I just can't see Ron appreciating Luna.  She's not his 
type at all. 

Finally, there are two points of my own that support a Harry/Luna 
ship:
1)  Her name:  Loony Lovegood or Crazy love good or Crazy love is 
good for Harry.
2)  JKR named chapter 10 "Luna Lovegood."  Do you bestow the honor 
of a chapter title in a Harry Potter book to someone who is going to 
end up being Ron or Neville's girlfriend?

Nope.  Luna is for Harry.

Ana T