SHIP: Harry/Ginny: what are the odds?

[Jesta Hijinx]

No: HPFGUIDX 54260

Me replying to Calliope - starts by Calliope quoting me:

>Felinia:
>
> > One thing you're not mentioning here is Ginny's feelings about *him*.  
>I,
> > for one, strongly believe that him saving her will increase her feelings 
>for
> > him over time.  And I think Harry would be a sensible young man to allow
> > someone having strong feelings for him be a factor in his returning them 
>and
> > coming to love someone who loves him, rather than chasing the 
>unattainable -
> > like Cho.
>
>me:
>
[snip of "is it a healthy crush?"]
>
>I don't have my book with me, (I'm slacking off at work, waiting for time 
>to go
>home) but I do remember she started pestering her mom to let her go see him
>*after Fred-George told them he was THE Harry Potter.*  She made no mention 
>of
>him, said nothing to him, until she found out who he was.  Then she talked 
>about
>him all through the summer between SS and CoS, according to Ron.  What the 
>heck
>did she talk about?  From the time she saw him on the platform in SS and 
>the
>time he showed up at her house in CoS, she hadn't seen or spoken to him.  
>All
>she knew was whatever her brothers wrote home about.
>
>She has kept up this crush all the way through the books so far.  I just 
>don't
>think it's *healthy* to crush on someone *that* long!  Four years.  It's 
>almost
>bordering on obsessive.
>
Ummmm...again, no disrespect intended, but it's not.  :-)  I speak from the 
perspective, again, of sociology and psychology grad work:  it's fashionable 
now to disdain any kind of focus on anything as "obsessive" because society 
favors dilettantes with short attention spans.  :-)  (Unless we're talking 
Olympic athletes.)  The difference is largely in choice and control.  
"Obsession" is another club to beat people with (and I get attempted beaters 
a lot, whom I fend off and they don't realize they've been fended ;-), 
because I'm very focused and tight on my interests and don't put a lot of 
time into things that don't relate to them - as a mature adult, I've learned 
to budget my time, and there's nothing at all obsessive about that) that has 
been overextended and misused:  true obsession is usually coupled with 
compulsion (not always), and is *involuntary*.  There is *ample* evidence 
that Ginny is not obsessed:  going to the ball with Neville because she 
promised, a priori.  :-)  She doesn't hang around Harry's dorm - there's 
really no evidence that she makes any deliberate attempt to have him fall 
over her at all.

Harry has made an impression on her, with reason, and to lightly paraphrase 
Jane Austen, she's not seen a more amiable man or one with more pleasing 
attributes since then.  But she did go to the Ball with Neville, and that 
right there is evidence of a commitment to principles and a lack of any sort 
of dangerous fixation.

>If someone crushed on *me* for four months, hardly knowing me, and without
>encouragement of any kind, I might think it was cute.  If it went on for 
>four
>*years*, without encouragement - I think I might begin to look over my 
>shoulder
>everywhere I went.
>
Ummmm...again, I'm more old-fashioned.  I have friends who have had 
crushes/been in love with people for years.  They're not stalking them; they 
are even dating and looking and not pining away.  But this one person made 
such an impression on them that they remain the epitome of what they would 
like.

Remember, too, that Ginny has had "encouragement" in the form of getting to 
have Harry at her house and to speak to him, and he was her rescuer.  
There's no evidence that he *has* to look over his shoulder; she's not 
haunting the common room, and frankly the *Creeveys* were much more 
tagalongs that Ginny ever has been...  I think that they're both just a 
little too young for that kind of "encouragement" either way.

>Especially if said person had been influenced by my worst enemy.
>
>That is another reason Ginny with Harry bothers me - Tom Riddle's diary.  
>She
>has been raised smack in the middle of the wizarding world, whose parents 
>have
>specifically told her "never trust anything if you can't tell where it 
>keeps its
>brain!" (not an exact quote) and yet she had no idea what she was getting
>herself into.  Yes I know Dumbledore wasn't upset with her.  But it still
>bothers me.  If she were "with" Harry, it would be too easy for LV to use 
>her in
>some way - knowing it had been done before.  It just makes me very uneasy.
>
Hm - interesting perspective.  I'll have to contemplate this.  :-)  Thanks!

>Me:
> > >In addition, there has been *no* development of Ginny's character in
> > >four whole books.
>
>Felinia:
> > As you say, not yet.  :-)  But there may yet be.  This series if pretty
> > tightly focused on the main trio.
>
>Me:
> > >Obviously that objection would disappear if JKR actually *does*
> > >something with Ginny besides have her fawn over Harry from afar in
> > >book
> > >5. If she waits till after this book, IMO it's too late.
> > >Just my two knuts.
>
>Felinia:
> > My view?  It's never too late.  :-)
>
>Me:
>
>If JKR waits too long to develop Ginny's character and then all of a sudden
>pairs them off, it's almost like a *deus ex machina* situation.  I would be 
>very
>disappointed if she paired them off with very little development - ie, the
>current level of Ginny-appearances up until halfway through book 7, then in 
>the
>epilogue mentioned something about them being together.  I don't think 
>she'd do
>that, but...I'm still suspicious.
>
I would not put it past JKR at all to use a deus ex machina (and I'm soooo 
delighted to find someone else who uses this expression in casual writing!  
;-)):  she's used plenty of other literary devices (caricature, 
exaggeration...)

And that's a tag remark I'll insert here:  JKR tends to use a building to 
exaggeration, often in threes, which is a fairly common literary device (and 
one I use myself in casual conversation) - sometimes in Dumbledore's 
remarks, which people then seem to take seriously.  For example, this is not 
a "triple whammy" example - but Dumbledore's scar that is a map of the 
London Underground...casual throwaway line, and I really don't think it's 
meant to go anywhere and be anything profound - just humorous that 
Dumbledore would notice such a thing.  :-)

Felinia


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