SHIP: Pairing hints in EBD transcript

[paul_terzis]

No: HPFGUIDX 110172

> <musicofsilence at h...> wrote:
> Stefanie:
> |Q:Will Ron and Hermione ever get together?
> |
> |A: Well—[Laughter.] What do you think? 
> |[Audience member: I think they will]. 
> |I'm not going to say. I can't say, 
> |can I? I think that, by now, I've given 
> |quite a lot of clues on the subject. That 
> |is all I'm going to say. You will have to 
> |read between the lines on that one.
> http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/news_view.cfm?id=80
> 
> Now, JKR certainly wasn't forthcoming with this answer, as I'm 
sure 
> we all expect her to behave with questions like this...but the 
> answer, nonetheless is quite interesting.
> 
> "You will have to read between the lines on that one"
> Could this be a hint towards an H/HR leaning? It's often been 
touted 
> that R/HR is "obvious," especially by R/HRers themselves, while 
H/HR 
> supporters wave the banner of subtext. One certainly doesn't need 
to 
> read between the lines to glean a R/HR leaning.
> 
> Of course, there are other 'ships that one could "read between the 
> lines" for. I'm sure supporters of many ships could use this quote 
> as supporting evidence, but as the main questioning that JKR has 
> dealt with concerns a "trio pairing," it's not an off assumption 
to 
> keep it to that.
> 
> Since the "read between the lines" quote came after her 
> conclusive "that is all I'm going to say," does it even apply at 
all?
> 
> So, canonically, what lines up with this quote? There's certainly 
> H/HR between the lines, with Hermione constantly paying attention 
to 
> Harry on a more personal level than others, their ability to read 
> each other, and plenty of other things that I'm sure have been 
> hashed and rehashed on the board. One can also say that Hermione's 
> feelings for *anyone* require the reading between the lines, as 
> she's certainly not obvious to the 3rd person-limited POV either 
> way. No quote is going to be the be-all end-all to any 'shipping 
> debate, but I can see a bit of a H/HR favoring in this. What do 
you 
> all think?

HURRAH! Ship Wars Episode XVI: The return of the Trio! OK, enough 
joking. I couldn't help it. To business now. JKR reminds me the 
Oracle of Delphi. Everything she says about future events is vague:

JKR hypothetical quote: Ron and Hermione will fall in love not 
separate.
Possible meanings:
1) Ron and Hermione will fall in love, not separate Or
2) Ron and Hermione will fall in love not, separate. 

You see how simple is to confuse someone. We can debate for an 
eternity where the comma goes but the truth is that only JKR knows.

Cheers,
Paul

PS 1: I know. Not a proper English sentence the above quote. I 
purposefully make it like that in order to prove my point.

PS 2: I put my bet to the second meaning. After all I am a H/Hr 
shipper.