SHIP! H/G indicators of Harry's feelings for Ginny (+ Emma)

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 136780

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Marianne S." 
<schumar1999 at y...> wrote:
> I think maybe people are making much too much out of the simple
> truth of Harry and the Love Potion. 
> 
> To Harry, the POTION that smells like Ginny. He does not fall for 
> her because of this, but quite the opposite... he smells this 
> because he has already fallen for Ginny and doesn't realize it. 

Yeah, I agree with you. I doubt that H/G was born out of a love 
potion. As entertaining as Stalker!Ginny can be I doubt it will be a 
storyline. there are too many other more important things to go 
over. 

Of course now I have a great plotline for a post HBP fic so there ya 
go.
 
> Another thing I find very interesting is all the shipping for 
> characters that you have to read deep into JKR's subtext to find.

How is Harry experiencing a quiet, profound moment with Luna 
(something he had yet to experience with either Ginny or Hermione) 
searching the subtext for a ship? There is plenty of evidence to 
guess that H/L could be a ship that would sail.  Even in HBP which 
was dominated by Harry's unrequited lust for Ginny, the only actual 
date we see him go on in the book is with Luna. What's that about?
 
 I don't think 
> that we have to worry about other Emma like twists, such as Luna 
> being similar to Harriet and falling for Harry... and if by some 
very
> slim chance it did, I think Harry would still find a way to let 
her 
> down gently and stay with Ginny. But even this, what I think is 
> the most probable of remote Emma correllations, is highly unlikely
> because Luna does not seem as concerned about finding love as 
> Harriet is. Nor do I think Ginny has been offering advice to Luna, 
> and I don't think Luna's the type to ask for it. 

See, thats where I think you're wrong. Luna wasn't in much of the 
book, but in practically every scene she was in her loneliness was 
palpable.  When Harry asked her out as a friend to go to the slug 
party the change in her was amazing.  Even beyond my H/L love, I 
think it would be a shame to leave such a character as Luna on such 
a lonely note. I might be thinking about the possiblity of 
Neville/Luna but JKR already sank that ship, so if she's going to 
pair up the main characters, she has to find someone for Luna.

Just for the record, I also ship Ron/Luna, but thats more to keep 
the poor guy out of Hermione's clutches.

> All of this makes me wonder how and why people are able to see 
> things and ships like H/Hr or H/L when they are clearly not what
> the author intended, and go not only against canon and the 
author's 
> implied pointof view, but the point of view she has explicitly 
stated 
> in interviews.

She didn't explicitly state her pov until after HBP was printed. I 
also don't think her intentions were clear at all--at least before 
HBP. If Ginny is supposed to be Harry's perfect girl, why did he 
have almost no scenes alone with her in the book? Why did he spend 
more time alone with Hermione comforting her? Why did he go out with 
Luna? In OOTP Harry notices Luna's appearence as much if not more 
than Ginny's and her comforting him after his godfather's death is 
at least as important as Ginny comforting him during the Christmas 
possession. Harry notices that Ginny flies well. He also notices the 
same thing about Luna when she flies with them to the DoM. Ginny is 
supposedly tough and magically powerful, but Luna is the last girl 
standing at during the DoM battle.

No, I don't think H/G was *clear* at all.

 That is, we are not meant to imagine ships between 
> characters that she doesn't intend ships with.

Well, thats the price of writing vaguely. she wanted to keep the 
pairings secret for a long time--that was the price she paid. She 
factionalized her fans.

 Anyway, it just seems rather dissatisfying to
> imagine the convoluted ships that the authorhas not intended, and 
> I fear it makes some people miserable reading the books when there 
> is so much more to enjoy! 

I know I probably come across as a complainer, but I really did like 
the HBP outside of the ships.  I thought DD was great, Harry was 
great, the Horcrux idea was very interesting (and dovetails neatly 
into a fic I was already writing) and the set up for the next book's 
treasure hunt is exciting.

That having been said, me not liking the ships really does cut down 
on my enjoyment of the series. In the back of my head there is alway 
a little voice muttering, "but she's so annoying. Dump her harry!" I 
am a character driven reader, not a plot driven one. No matter how 
much I like the plot, if the characters or the relationships annoy 
me, I lose enjoyment. Of course the converse is also true. If I like 
the characters I will put up with pretty crappy plots just to see 
them interact with each other.

JKR is a good enough writer that she makes me care enough about her 
characters to complain about them. There are plenty of stories out 
there I don't care enough about to complain about them (Ursula K. 
LeGuin I'm looking at you).  There has only ever been one series so 
good I have literally nothing bad to say about it  (A Song of Ice 
and Fire by George RR Martin. Read it. Know it. Love it).

What's frustrating to me is that it wouldn't have taken all that 
much to get me on the HG love train. I became a H/L shipper after 
two scenes. Ginny is a character with a lot of potential but the way 
she is written and characterized drives me to froth at the mouth. 
It's just so *bad* in my view I can't help but hate her. The LI and 
ship of the main character needs to be done better than what was 
shown in my view. H/G in HBP was just hollow and boring.

phoenixgod2000, who really is looking forward to the next book. Now 
if only Luna were to get involved...