SHIP: Hermione, Ginny and Luna Oh my!

[Richard]

No: HPFGUIDX 84869

For Harry, you have the Big Three, post OotP, as the Harry/Tonks 
folks seem a distinct minority.  All three of these have their merits 
and their problems, with the Tonks camp facing a few more problems 
than do the devotees of these three principal Harry-SHIPs.

In my opinion, the Tonks camp isn't dealing well with the fact that 
Tonks really IS that much older than Harry.  She is at least 21 years 
old, and possibly 25 or older.  Why do I say this?  Well, assume she 
graduated from Hogwarts at 18, then spent three years in training as 
an Auror, and you get 21.  We are told that she is a "new" auror, so 
she can't be too far from completing her training, but from my own 
experience I know that folks can spend years as "new" whatevers, 
often graduating from that perception only by dint of grey hairs or 
some number of newer newbies arriving on the scene.  As we know that 
nobody has been accepted for auror training for more than three 
years, there can't be too many newer aurors to displace Tonks as 
a "rookie."  Further, in a Wizarding World where considerable 
antiquity is not only attainable but relatively routine, the number 
of years required to earn "veteran" status is likely greater than in 
the Muggle World.

Now, dealing with a putative age of 21 for Tonks, a six year 
difference in age isn't NECESSARILY that much, but in this case we 
have to consider just which six years we are speaking about.  In 
OotP, these years are the 15-to-21 years.  Frankly, up until the age 
of 21 to 28, most young people change a great deal.  Viewing these 
changes can be a bit like watching time-lapse photographic 
sequences.  Anyway, for a Harry-Tonks ship to work, Tonks will have 
to remain available until Harry is at least 21, possibly older, 
before Harry is likely to be relatively stable in personal 
development, and thus a candidate for serious interest of the 
matrimonal sort ... which is, after all, where SHIPping meets 
handling.  This means Tonks will be at least 28, and perhaps well 
into her 30's before settling into something serious with Harry.  I 
have a hard time believing this practical, even from an epilogue's 
perspective.

With regard to Hermione, I have a serious problem with the Ron-
Hermione match-up.  First off, JKR has a penchant for 
disinformation ... well, maybe not "dis"-information so much as 
laying so many trails that picking the right one becomes a matter 
more of guesswork than of logic and deduction.  JKR has dropped some 
comments about more "chemistry" between Ron and Hermione than between 
Harry and Hermione, which, given JKR's aforementioned penchant, makes 
me more than a little suspicious of the RH factor.  But, there is a 
more basic reason for not thinking this a good match.

I spent several years as a staff member in a large residence Hall on 
an American university campus, and saw a good deal of "chemistry" of 
all sorts.  Romantic chemistry was definitely one of them.  From my 
experience, the chemistry between Ron and Hermione might well lead to 
some romantic fireworks, but not to a stable, healthy relationship.  
The old "opposites attract" theory just doesn't work, when it comes 
to long-term relationships.  What makes for stable relationships is 
common beliefs and values, along with common experience, leavened 
with a great deal of respect.  Ron and Hermione are too often at 
opposite poles of interest, beliefs and values, and both have almost 
routinely expressed impatience with, and even contempt for, the 
others views.

Sure, both are going to change dramatically in the next two 
installments, but I don't see them drawing fundamentally closer on 
core principals in such a way that Ron will respect Hermione's causes 
(and activism in those causes) and Hermione will respect Ron's 
indifference for such.

So, I see Ron and Hermione as "bad medicine" (Disagree if you will, 
but spare me the flames.  JKR will settle this all in the end, and 
until then all reasoned opinions are of approximately equal value), 
which I think reduces one of the objections to a Harry-Hermione match-
up.

Now, this match has its problems, but Harry and Hermione are much 
closer when it comes to values than are Ron and Hermione.  Harry sees 
the inherent evil in house-elf servitude, even if he isn't as 
interested in trying to immediately remedy it, and even see that many 
of the house elves LIKE this arrangement ... even if he doesn't 
understand WHY they would.  Ron just doesn't see what Hermione is 
upset about, and is VERY patronizing about it.  (OK, so Harry doesn't 
want to be bothered with this sort of thing, but then he has had some 
rather serious issues to deal with, hasn't he ...)  Harry seems to 
have greater respect for Hermione as a person than does Ron, who 
seems to respect her encyclopedic knowledge more than her person.

The biggest problems I see with this match-up are these: friendship 
and distraction.  By "friendship" I refer to the real barrier to the 
development of romantic interests when dealing with a friend.  As for 
distraction, well, wouldn't you be distracted if people really were 
plotting to murder you, and your whole World was dependent upon your 
beating them to the punch?

If Harry survives, the distraction that is his prophecied fate will 
disappear.  Enough said.  Time can, and I believe will, eliminate 
this obstacle.

A peculiarity noted in Israeli kibbutzes is that boys and girls 
raised together in the same kibbutz almost never marry one another.  
There is also a fair bit of documentation about friends trying to be 
romantic feeling it all "incestuous" in a very basic way.  However, 
those relationships that make it past that barrier tend to be 
extremely strong, stable and rewarding.

So, is a Harry-Hermione SHIP possible?  I think so ... but that 
doesn't make it a given.  For one thing, it is JKR's story, and 
she'll have her characters do what she decides, not what we decide.  
My only hope is that whatever JKR does with regard to the R/H v 
H/H "controversy" is in the end both believable and consistent with 
her tendency to realism.  She will have a hard time convincing me 
that R/H works, in the long run, if those two don't move 
significantly towards each other in terms of both values and respect 
for person.  Likewise with an H/H match, she will have to show why 
they can make it past a very solid friendship to romance.

The Ginny-Harry match has some real charm to it.  Ginny is growing as 
a person, with real strength and independence.  Yet, it is a little 
on the "pat" side, and suffers from the fact that Harry is now 
effectively a Weasley.  With a few more years there could well be the 
same kind of problem with a feeling of "incestuousness" that the H/H 
match must conquer.

I know there are plenty of reasons given by both the R/H and H/H 
crowds why their causes are just and the others' idiotic, but really, 
both of these ARE within the realm of possibility, especially in a 
fictional world where an author can make anything he or she wishes 
happen, provided the necessary foundation is laid to make the result 
believable to the readers.

Luna is a late comer, and we really don't know that much about her.  
Harry certainly thinks her odd, but has real sympathy and respect for 
her.  I don't see that we have much else than this to base a strong 
SHIP thesis on, but isn't that like much of life?  Who knows why we 
fall in love with any one person, and not with another?  With all the 
changes that are both possible for and certain to arise in a group of 
mid-teens, a Harry-Luna match is quite as plausible as many 
another ... just as the H/H and H/G matches are.

As for whether JKR will build a match for Harry, I doubt it, but it 
certainly isn't impossible.  I don't see her manufacturing some 
Valkyrie, super-model or such, as JKR is so very fond of realism in 
her portrayals of central characters, and particularly of Harry's 
emotional responses.  He is still in school, so "the one," if she is 
to exist at all, will most likely come from the World as Harry knows 
it now ... if it is to occur within the framework of the present 
story.  I won't count out Cho, or any number of other existing 
characters for the role of Harry's Great Passion, as again, fifteen-
year-olds are going to change a great deal.

BUT(!!!), my personal beliefs is that the final SHIPs are matters for 
the epilogue, especially for Harry.  I see no reason why Harry MUST 
find love while he is still the fulcrum of fate.  At least where I 
live, most people don't find their mates until either in college or 
into their careers.  There certainly are exceptions, but I won't be 
surprised if a complete unknown shows up in the epilogue, and we are 
left with little idea of who this person is, and little to explain 
why.  So long as the body of JKR's tale is confined to Harry's 
Hogwarts years, I see no reason for us to insist that resolutions for 
such important personal matters for the main characters be resolved 
before the epilogue.  I think JKR can paint a convincing H/H, H/G or 
H/L SHIP within the confines of Hogwarts ... but don't be surprised 
if you don't get what you want and expect.