SHIP: Re: Who is the boy? and Why I hate the H/G Ship

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 54383

Penny said:
>>But see, I don't necessarily forsee or even want Harry to 
become involved with Hermione as a teenager.  I'd prefer to see 
them both grow up and then realize what's been sitting in front of 
them all these years.  To do that, they'll each need to have some 
heart-aches, disappointments, failed romances and the like.No 
fairy tales for my characters, thanks.  :--)  <<

No fairy tales? How sad! But as C.S. Lewis said of using 
"stained glass" as a metaphor for rigidity and lifelessness, 
people need to remember what stained glass is really like.  Fairy 
tales are full of heartbreak, cruelty, disillusionment and young 
men torn apart by thorns. 

But I'm not sure I understand. What exactly is sitting in front of 
them?  They've shared a lot of laughs and hard work, (and a few 
moments of agonizing peril) which makes them *friends*.  Harry 
and Ginny, on the other hand, do have something sitting in front 
of them--they both know what it's like to be haunted by 
Voldemort, and unless things change drastically in the 
remaining books, that's something Hermione will never know.

Penny said:
>>>But, Harry already has confided in Hermione!  He has shared 
feelings with her, and she has acted as his confidante (during 
the entire fight with Ron in GoF).  He also confided in her about 
thinking that he'd seen his dad on the other side of the Lake in 
PoA.  

To the extent that Hermione tries to "improve" Harry, I think it's 
always out of concern for his safety and well-being.  It's not 
because she thinks he's not a good enough person as is.  Yes, 
she harps on *both* boys about their schoolwork (but even that 
is becoming less and less as time goes on).  Her other actions 
with regard to Harry always revolve around his safety, not his 
character flaws or failings as a human being.  

I somehow doubt that Harry wants Ginny to fawn over him 
adoringly.  I somehow picture he'd want someone who would 
challenge him, someone with enough backbone to both support 
him but tell it like it is when need be.  If Ginny's principal 
strengths as a future mate for Harry are her status as a Weasley 
and her undying devotion to the notion that Harry Potter is perfect 
just as he is, I think Ginny has a tough case. <<<<<

And Erica said:

>>>I do not see Hermione 'trying to improve him', why would she 
want to? I was under the impression that she already thinks very 
highly of him (You're a Great Wizard Harry!). <<<

This actually  illustrates my point.

"Harry--you're a great wizard, you know."
"I'm not as good as you," said Harry, very embarrassed, as she 
let go of him.
"Me!" said Hermione. "Books! and cleverness. There are more 
important things--"

He tells her his feelings here, and she immediately denies 
them. Yes,  it's the right thing to say and he needs to hear it, but 
all the same, it's not about how he does feel, it's about the way 
she thinks he *should*  feel. And he *avoids* confiding his 
feelings to her during the quarrel with Ron. "I don't miss him!" He 
knows it's only his pride talking...but he's not about to admit that 
to her. 

 All through GoF, Hermione's trying to get Harry to do things: 
make up with Ron, support SPEW, study the Egg, etc. I'm not 
saying these are bad things, but her vision of what Harry ought to 
be is foremost in her mind, and doesn't allow her to appreciate 
Harry the way he actually is--and he knows this. Yes, it's all for 
his safety and well being, but it's still  a barrier to intimacy. 

Ginny fawning would certainly turn Harry off but...when have we 
seen Ginny fawn over Harry? She begs her mother for the 
chance to go see him on the train platform, but she doesn't know 
he's listening (and judging by her behavior in CoS, she'd  be 
mortified if she did.) She sent him one valentine and one 
get-well card, over the course of three years. She apparently 
gushed about him to her Diary, (though Riddle's acccount is 
certainly self-serving and may be outright lies) for which she's no 
more answerable than Harry is for secretly wishing he could put 
the Cruciatus curse on Snape. 

 Ron teases that Ginny and Colin will be forming a Harry Potter 
fan club--but that's a joke. No fannish behavior ever materializes. 
She never makes a claim  on his attention, which is a very 
unfannish way to think. 

Ginny's not blind to Harry's shortcomings--she gets him back 
good for laughing at Neville. But she's not trying to make him live 
up to her vision of what he could be. 

Pippin 
who stands humbly corrected--Harry did tell his friends about 
hearing his parents' deaths.