SHIP: Harry and Hermione together per JKR chat?

[serenadust]

No: HPFGUIDX 92620

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Ferer" <jferer at y...> 
wrote:
> Pippin:> Is there any indication that Hermione identifies with the 
way 
> Harry thinks or hears his voice inside when she's got a difficult 
> decision to make, or that he cares what *she* needs? I think 
> Harry would be happier in a more equal relationship, myself."


Jim replied:

> Hermione's life has been completely transformed by knowing Harry.  
She
> could have easily ended up another Percy, a Ravenclaw prig. 


I absolutely agree that PS/SS Hermione had the potential to become 
another Percy, particularly in terms of being unable to relate to 
her peer-group and her intense need for approval from authority 
figures.  Where I'm afraid I disagree is that simply knowing Harry 
has been the life-transforming event that saved her from ending up a 
Ravenclaw prig.  I don't think that Harry and Hermione would have 
actually had a friendship without Ron's involvement, and that like 
Harry, spending time with the entire Weasley family (as well as her 
adventures with both Harry and Ron) has been the catalyst for her 
growth as a more well-rounded human being.



> 
> Harry has been the one who needed to stay in one piece most of the
> time, and he hasn't thought about her needs much; but he's 
starting to
> identify with her thoughts and realize how much she means to him; 
in
> the MoM battle, for example, when she's wounded.


Well, of course he cares greatly when he thinks she may have been 
killed at the ministry but I don't think he's beginning to "identify 
with her thoughts" in the sense that he's begun to think the way she 
does... or have I misunderstood your point here?


Jim wrote:

> But how could a partnership be more equal than theirs?  She 
prepares
> him for his challenges, curbs his excesses (with varying degrees of
> success) and knows just what he needs.  

  

I'm afraid I have to agree with Pippin on her point that Harry and 
Hermione have a fundamentally unequal relationship, based on the 
fact that he very often avoids engaging with her when he expects her 
to go into her nagging mode.  Actually, I think that while they have 
a very good friendship, Hermione often doesn't really "get" what 
Harry needs emotionally.  A couple of examples from GoF come to 
mind.  When he's devistated over his falling out with Ron, Hermione 
drags him off to the library which does nothing but frustrate him 
and causes him to miss Ron even more.  Earlier at the Burrow when he 
tells Ron and Hermione about his scar hurting and Trelawney's 
prediction, Hermione tells Ron off for suggesting that they play 
some Quiddtich as opposed to her idea that what Harry should do is 
rest.  Which suggestion works best for Harry?
 

Jim continued:

> Harry and Hermione are converging.

Converging into what?  My impression from OoP is that Harry has 
moved beyond the cozy circle of the trio and while Ron & Hermione 
are still his best friends, by the end of the book he has moved a 
bit farther away from them emotionally.

Jo S.