Ship predictions(scenarios)

[Hitomi]

No: HPFGUIDX 90733

Hey guys.  I've been reading over this thread, not so much out of 
interest for the actual shipping, but because I find it interesting 
to read over other views and opinions of characters and their 
personalities/relationships.  In response to Neil and Charlotte's 
discussion, about how Harry is still immature, needs to grow up, how 
Hermione and Harry might or might not work, etc., I looked for this 
interview from Time magazine with JKR that I found highly 
interesting.

The excerpts I'm giving give insight into quite a few threads of 
late, and I hope others find it useful as well, especially 
considering the proof we've been given of JKR heading more R/H in 
her interviews.

JKR:
"The bonding that takes place among Harry, Ron and Hermione is 
because each of them is disadvantaged in some way. Hermione is 
deeply insecure under her know-it-all manner, and the way to 
underline that aspect of her is to make her come, like Harry, from a 
different world [her parents are both Muggles, i.e., nonwizards], so 
that this is scary to her, and she copes with it the only way she 
knows how to cope, which is to overachieve." 

"Harry has been catapulted into this [the Hogwarts experience], and 
he operates on a need-to-know basis only. He doesn't really want to 
go looking things up. The whole thing is very surreal to Harry. He 
copes in a very different way from Hermione--he's sort of sink-or-
swim, I'll just deal with it minute to minute, which is possibly a 
more boyish way of coping, rather than go over and over all the 
angles, as I think a lot of young girls do. 

"As much as Ron loves his father [a wizard who is unusually curious 
about the nonmagic world], that can also be an awkward thing for a 
child, to have a particularly unconventional parent. It's plausible 
that these three kids would get on so well together because they are 
all to some extent oddities in the world." 

"Harry's more likely than Hermione and Ron to be depressed. He's got 
to fight harder against that because he went through 10 years of 
neglect [from his cruel relatives], and that leaves you with an 
enormous emptiness inside you. He really is a damaged person. So 
yes, he's more vulnerable. He's also a very brave person, who's 
going to keep fighting against depression. 

"I admire bravery above almost every other characteristic. Bravery 
is a very glamorous virtue, but I'm talking bravery in all sorts of 
places. It was brave of Harry to answer back to the Dursleys [his 
aunt and uncle]; they had all the cards, and he was standing up for 
himself even then. That's why I love him so much. He's a fighter." 

"No one's wholly good.  I would say Harry has flaws and failings. He 
was too proud [in the fourth book] to talk to Ron about what was 
bothering them both. Harry was walking around thinking, 'I'm the one 
with all the problems,' and he did have a lot of problems, but Ron 
had been a faithful friend for three years, and I would have cut Ron 
a little more slack. And what about Ginny [Ron's younger sister]? 
Poor Ginny, languishing in love for Harry, and he's merrily asking 
out other girls right under her nose! But that's just a boy thing." 

"If we're going to talk about flawless little gentlemen, I don't 
think Harry is one. But he's an old soul compared to Ron, who's just 
your classic 14-year-old. I see Harry as an old soul. And you meet 
kids like that; I've taught kids like that. They are my people. I 
like those kids."



I liked it, anyway.  And I'm not sure who brought it up, but I agree 
with the Fitzwilliam Darcy/Elizabeth Bennett allusion.  Ron and 
Hermione have always reminded me slightly of Austen-esque 
relationships, and are, at the very least, great comic relief.

~ Hitomi, who doesn't think people should apologize for discussing 
ships, when everyone is at least a little curious to see who ends up 
with who - it is a natural human inclination, after all