SHIP: On girls, boys and all that mushy gushy garbage

Fri Mar 28 04:16:31 UTC 2003

No: HPFGUIDX 54478

I have been kind of following the shipping debates for a while now. I don't
typically say much since I tend not to have time to say much, but since I am
sitting in a lecture on fat and feces, I figured I would write down my
thoughts. This was typed exactly as it was originally written.

As I have said before, I was Hermione. The daughter of a dentist, a bookworm
who still never cares about her appearance, the teacher's pet, a know it all
who never kept her mouth shut and who was friends with mostly guys, if she
was friends with anyone. So I think I know where she is coming from with her
need to prove herself and her self-conscious nature. 

I have always pictured Hermione as the youngest in the class, who was either
an only child or who had a significant gap between herself and a younger
sibling. My reasoning is as follows. I know that personality, I was that
personality. I am the eldest child and only girl who was one of the youngest
in my class. I had a huge need to prove myself. I was use to praise from my
parents when I took care of my little brothers while they were in meetings
or at work. All of our vacations were educational, but many of them included
dental seminars where I would be left in charge of my younger brothers for
hours at a time. When I went to school, I was use to being the boss from all
of those trips. Coupling that with being highly intelligent and you get a
bossy know it all. Because I was younger than the rest of the class, I felt
the need to prove that I belonged and had earned my place in the class.
Needless to say, the girls had no use for me because I was not a girly girl
but rather a bookworm. I'd rather sit in the library reading than play
dolls.

Because I isolated myself, I became an easy target. The girls liked to pick
on me because it was easy. I wasn't into the latest fashions, didn't know
what to do with my unruly hair, or anything that they were interested in.
Eventually, I became friends with a guy and his best friend because they
were as socially different as I was. My best guy friend had always been
different because he was fascinated with electronics while having no
interest in American football (down here in the South, it's a sin). His
friend was a Yankee who didn't understand the rigid social pecking order of
our school. 

With my two best friends, I kept doing exactly what I had been doing. And
while they eventually taught me to lighten up and how to pull a prank or
two, I still lectured and mothered the both of them, still do, even down to
tying or straightening their ties almost every morning through high school.

Eventually, I figured out that I liked the first guy. He had taken my side
in schoolyard squabbles, stood up for me against other boys, etc, but I knew
that he had a crush on another girl. At that point, I had a few other
friends and I remember being told "You like him, you talk about him all the
time" and I didn't realize I talked about him at all. Although we have never
dated, it has caused huge difficulties in relationships. All of his
girlfriends are insanely jealous of me and some have gone so far as to
forbid him to see me, which never works out. Despite the fact that we both
deny that anything would ever go on, it seems that when one of us needs
something, the other is always there. Even my classmates, who have never met
him, tell me that we will end up together. It makes sense to them.

That is why I can see a H/Hr ending although I think there will be some R/Hr
moments. Hermione always talks about Harry. She probably doesn't realize how
often she does. She would be horrified to know that Krum approached Harry. I
also think that she has figured out that Ron likes her. Her mothering
actions probably feed his ideas that she likes him as well. I think that
eventually Ron will swallow his pride and ask Hermione out. She will accept
and maybe go on a few dates with him or date him briefly, because it's not
in her nature to be cruel and she won't know how to let him down and because
Harry isn't noticing her, but it will be awkward for both. Because she is
very logical, she will let him down gently to preserve their friendship. 

Because of who Harry is, he will need a strong woman to be his future mate
(assuming that he survives and because I don't see JKR pairing Harry with
Ron or Draco, sorry). Hermione is that woman. Although Ginny could be a
major character, she still sees Harry as "The Boy Who Lived" rather than
just Harry, the orphaned boy who grew up in a cupboard, who likes sports and
other things typical boys like. Harry is ultimately a normal kid, or he
wants to be. It is part of his charm. His future mate has to accept that and
be ready for the media frenzy that will surround Harry forever.

(Pause here as fat lecture is over, will pick up during kidney lecture)

(Ok, back, where was I?)

Looking at Ginny now, I will seek to explain why Ginny won't work for Harry.
>From the beginning, Ginny has seen Harry only as the figure she was told
about as a child. She largely ignores him the first time she meets him,
until she knows who he is, and then she wants to go gawk at him. She
apparently talks non-stop about Harry once Ron gets home until Harry shows
up, at which point she hides from him, after putting her elbow in the
butter. She is clearly star-struck. She does stand up for Harry, however
that may have been either to try and redeem herself or it may have been
simply a plot device to get her the diary. However, it must have been pretty
obvious that Ginny was mooning over Harry for Draco to notice. Later in the
same book, she is manipulated to get to Harry. Harry then has to save her,
adding to her fantasy image of Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived.  This is her
heroic moment with Harry, where she is the "damsel in distress" in need of
saving by her hero. 

(at this point, I realized that I have been asleep for several minutes, back
to work)

Throughout book three, Ginny seems to disappear. Although Harry knows she is
affected by the Dementors, he does not seek her out to talk nor does she
seek him out. Instead, he has a heroic moment with Hermione when she is not
the "damsel in distress" but rather an active participant in the heroic
moment. Both girls have secrets from Harry throughout the book leading to
the heroic moments, but while Ginny is the cause of her heroic moment,
Hermione is the solution to her heroic moment with Harry.

During book four, we have more of the same. Although Hermione is there for
Harry when the rest of the school seems to turn against him, there is no
mention of Ginny. Although Ginny has the opportunity to ditch Neville and go
with her hero, she, in a sign of maturity, does not although she has a sad
look about it. I think that Harry not asking her plays a part in this. Had
Harry asked, she may have accepted. Instead, it was Ron who said "You can
take her" to Harry, like she was his property. Being in her third year and
approximately 13, she is starting to want freedom from the controlling
influences of her family.

The night of the ball, neither boy recognizes Hermione at first. Once they
realize it is her, rather than tell her she looks nice, Ron accuses her of
fraternizing with the enemy. Hermione had to have been hurt. As Ron
confronted her, the boy she likes says nothing. By the end of the evening,
Hermione loses her cool with both of the boys. She snaps and says something
she regrets later. It is going to motivate her acceptance of a future date
with Ron. 

Kissing Harry on the cheek at the end of the semester is her way of staying
close to him. Hermione is a smart girl. She saw how Fleur's kiss affected
Ron. She is doing the same thing with Harry. She is leaving him with
something to think about. 

(concluded after class)

In conclusion, although I think that there will be some R/Hr moments and
maybe a few dates or a small relationship, ultimately that will not work
out. Both Ron and Hermione are too headstrong for each other. Hermione is
not going to forget what Ron said to her and it will ruin whatever
relationship comes between them. Harry and Hermione are better suited for
each other. They compliment each other in ways that Ron and Hermione simply
do not. But I don't think that either of them will admit it for a while yet.

-Meg (who hopes this all made sense and who guesses she just admitted she
was a H/Hr fan) 

Read the untold story of life as a first year medical student at:
As The Scalpel Turns -  <http://www.livejournal.com/users/megd/>
http://www.livejournal.com/users/megd/

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