SHIP: Holding the Tiger's Tail

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 92967

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Ferer" <jferer at y...> wrote:
<snip> 
> I agree with you that pointing to a list of situations doesn't do 
much
> to tell us what's going to happen. I think you have to look at their
> development more broadly.  Harry and Hermione are converging all the
> time, working, thinking and acting together.  Ron, for all his
> valuable friendship and loyalty, seems to be along for the ride.
> 
> I think Ron's an ordinary guy – a good ordinary guy – who wants a 
wife
> he can come home to, talk to, and bring up a family with.  
That's
> perfectly fine if that's what his wife wants, too, but that's not 
for Hermione. She will always seek challenges, tests, to stretch 
herself. It's not a life Ron would be comfortable with, but it's been 
Harry's whole life.  He's held the tiger's tail forever, and he can 
>do it with Hermione.

I find your position here odd, on several levels. First, this picture 
of an "ordinary guy". What exactly is that? Who do you put on the 
ordianry and who on the extraordinary side? Hermione is formidably 
intelligent, which is extraoridnary in the ordinary sense, that she 
is very far from the average in *this* quality. But, does this make 
her extraordinary in other ways? You seem to be thinking in an 
incredibly victorian way - that if a woman is intelligent, not to 
mention highly educated, then she is somehow unsuited for a family 
life. And because Ron isn't an academic genius, then his only 
recourse in life is to be a generic husband and father?  
People's desire for, and success in, family life, have very little to 
do with abilities, other than emotional health. Hermione's talents in 
no way mean that she won't desire somebody to "come home to, talk to, 
and bring up a family with" - just as much as anybody else does. 
Having some kind of intellectual career doesn't mean she won't want, 
and have, a completely normal family life. 
On another level, I disagree with your understanding of Ron. I think 
he is plenty ambitious, as we see via the mirror of Erised. He works 
hard at Quidditch in OoP; he becomes a prefect. He is a *Weasley*, 
for God's sake, and to be born to such a family means that you grow 
up with very high expectations from yourself. That's what makes him 
so insecure - the fear that he won't live up to these expectations. 
But he has dreams of glory, and who better than Hermione to push him 
towards their fulfillment? 
Another point is your understanding of Hermione. I agree that she is 
ambitious, but holding the tiger's tail?! Of the three, she is the 
least courageous. She is by no means a coward, but she lacks Harry's 
brand of reckless courage. If you look to partner Harry with a girl 
who is like him in that sese, then Ginny is the best fit, I would say 
(so far). 

Naama