A different and totally serious Harry 'ship

[Marcus]

No: HPFGUIDX 98273

I haven't posted here for many months.  So I checked back clear
through December to see if anybody has seriously posted what I am
about to suggest.  I found nothing but a few gag posts.  So here goes.

Harry will not end up with Hermione, Ginny, Fleur, Luna, Parvati, or
any of the other usual suspects.  He will end up with Pansy Parkinson.

The germ of this idea comes from an interview Rowling once gave.  She
was asked about unusual pairings.  She replied that there was one that
nobody had guessed, but went to the very heart of the series.

That got me thinking.  I had always been an H/H shipper because they
are both strong characters, and they need strong partners to balance.
 However, it is becoming increasingly obvious that Hermione is
destined for Ron -- if he can ever get his act together, that is.  So
who does that leave Harry with.

Ginny?  She is fairly strong, but I don't think she is Harry's type. 
Apart from Ginny's original crush, there has been nothing between
them.  She is turning into a miniature Ron.  Besides, if Rowling was
talking about Harry, Ginny certainly has been guessed.  That would
eliminate her.

The other Gryffindor girls?  Too giggly.

Luna?  Too loony.  The other non-Slytherin girls?  Too vague or
non-existent.  Certainly not very strong.

That leaves the Slytherin Girls.  Millicent is just a thug and about
as subtle as a lead pipe.  She seems to exist solely to beat up
Hermione and turn her into a cat.

Pansy? Pansy... Hmmm, Pansy.  Well, why not?  

Let's see.  She is strong.  She seems to be the leader of the
Slytherin Girls.  She made Slytherin prefect.  She could balance Harry
nicely.  

She has a good side.  She showed genuine compassion and concern
towards Draco when Buckbeak hurt his arm in PoA.  True, it was
directed towards a scumbag; but if you hold that against her, then
what does that say about you?  More on this scene later.

She was delighted with the Unicorn in GoF.  True, she was a member of
Umbridge's Inquisition squad and ended up with antlers on her head for
a day.  However, she is pointedly absent from further I.S. mentions. 
Did she learn that siding with Umbridge is not the smartest thing to
do?  Draco should be so smart.

If Harry ends up with Pansy, this would tie in the uniting of the
houses that was first introduced by the Sorting Hat in OoP.  It would
provide closure for Harry's original anti-Slytherin prejudice.  It
would prove that not all Slytherins are evil.  It would show that
people can change.  Is this not the very heart of the series?

Why would Pansy even consider Harry?  Well, in case you haven't
notice, Draco isn't providing a whole lot of competion of late. 
Malfoy is a loser, even more so with his dad exposed as a DE.  Harry,
on the other hand, is ascending.  Slytherins look out for themselves.
 Staying tied to the boat-anchor Draco isn't going to do Pansy any
good.  So why not join D.A. and be with the winners?

The thing that really clinched it in my mind is the new PoA movie. 
Cuaron is being very ruthless.  Anything that doesn't further the plot
is cut.  Looking at the stills from the movie lo and behold we find
that little Pansy-Draco-bad-arm scene intact.  I would think that this
would be a prime cutting candidate. If all it did was prove Draco was
faking, that could be done easily elsewhere with no loss to the PoA
plot.  Since it is still there, it is likely that Rowling needs it to
establish Pansy as having a good side.  Let's face it, there aren't
many glimpses of anything good in Pansy.  They become that more
precious and require preserving.

The nice thing about this theory is that it can be proven before book
#7.  It is not likely that Pansy could go from totally off Harry's
list to the very top of it in the course of a single book.  Therefore
she needs to start moving up the ladder in book #6.  So if Pansy
begins thawing towards Harry in book #6, the theory is confirmed.  If
not, it's bogus.

Marcus