SHIP: Ginny Unknowingly Wearing Love Potion

[mad_maxime]

No: HPFGUIDX 137239

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Pat" <5682574 at s...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mad_maxime" <mad_maxime at h...> 

> > Max wrote:
> > The problem is only minutes later, Ginny and Harry are once again
> > in close proximity in Slughorn's train compartment and Harry shows
> > no sign of being 'oddly attracted' to Ginny. In fact, Ginny is 
> > surrounded by five boys, and none of them show any signs of giving
> > her any more attention than would be expected. Surely if she were
> > wearing LP perfume we should expect to see some sort of odd 
> > behavior from the boys but we don't.
> 
> Pat responded:
> The fumes from the most powerful love potion made Harry feel 
> content, with no outward signs or actions to show that he was being 
> effected, pg 183 US. He sat at the table with it for the rest of the 
> class with no unusual behavior.  
> 
> Ginny can't be wearing Amortentia, or Harry would be smelling 
> treacle tart and his Firebolt, too, so it has to be a weaker love 
> potion.  So why couldn't the effects of a weaker potion just make 
> Ginny popular with the boys? On page 150, Pansy says "a lot of boys 
> like her", and Harry and Ron agree Ginny is too popular for her own 
> good. 

Max responds:

Point taken about the other four boys, though I still think there
would have been more than the usual glances her way if this is really
a LP we're talking about. However, we *were* privy to Harry's internal
thoughts and feelings during that scene and during the brief
conversation immediately following. If she's wearing love perfume that
helps her to be so popular with the boys then why is Harry so
completely oblivious to her "charms" in this scene. It's like he can't
wait to get away from her to go spy on Draco. If you ask me, maybe
it's Draco wearing the LP! :grin:

Personally, I don't think Ginny needs love potion to be popular with
the boys if that's all we're talking about here. Up until the age of
13, she was probably more shy around boys because of her crush on
Harry. Not to mention the physical changes a girl can go through at
the ages of 14 and 15 are quite significant. A girl, who at 13 drew no
attention from the boys, might become very interesting indeed at 14
and 15. That coupled with the fact that she became more vivacious and
confident around boys is a strong enough reason for me to believe her
 seemingly sudden change in popularity with the boys.

> Pat wrote:
<snip>
I might be dead wrong, but I still see it as a viable possibility for
a twist.

Max responds:

Well never say never, right? Especially with JKR. :)

In the absence of the interviews, I personally would be more open to
the possibility of a romantic twist in Book 7. However, I can't see
how her statements on the matter of H/G can be denied, unless we're
going to completely misconstrue what she said. It seems to me she was
being up front and honest about her shipping choices here. And it's
important to note that JKR has never lied to us about anything in the
books. She's been cryptic, and withholding of information, but she's
never out and out lied.  So if she says that Ginny is the perfect girl
for Harry, then I think we're meant to believe it. We don't have to
like it, mind you, but I think we can assume that the facts have been
laid out for us - ie. H/G, R/Hr. Unless someone dies, i think we
should assume these will be the ships at the end of the series.

Anyway, that doesn't mean we should stop imagining all the various
plot possibilities even though many of them will never make it to
canon. Half the fun of the books is speculating about them. And the
wonderful world of fanfiction will remain alive and vibrant long after
the series has sealed all it's fates.

Max