Slughorn makes me uneasy

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 138457

---
> > >>a_svirn:
> > <snip>
> > And whether he loves kids in general, or some of them in 
particular
> > I agree with Del: his, well, fondness, for Harry is 
indeed        
> > expressed by JKR in a very suggestive language. And, as 
you       
> > yourself noted, it does look like she "borrowed" him from 
Evelyn  
> > Waugh's "Scarlet Woman" where homosexual Dean of 
Balliol "Sligger" 
> > never missed an opportunity to pet the Prince of Wales 
and        
> > otherwise shower him with attention.
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Yes, that's what I see as well.  Both with the connection back to 
> Sligger (which makes a lot of sense to me) and with the way 
Slughorn 
> interacts with Harry.  He's *flirting* for goodness sake.  
However, 
> I don't see it being a problem *because* Harry is sixteen years 
> old.  He's quite close to sexual maturity now and people around 
him 
> are responding to it.  Romilda Vane, Ginny and yes, Slughorn.
> 


a_svirn:

I don't see it as a "problem" exactly. However, one of the things 
that struck me after first "gulp" of HBP was the not-quite-faint 
suggestion of the "wrong" kind of sexual tension. I mean, yes, the 
sixth year at Hogwarts was bound to be hormone-charged, and the Trio 
discovering their sexuality was something lots of fans and most 
especially "shippers" among them had been eagerly anticipating. JKR 
for her part did treat us with a fair amount of snogging, 
relationship broken and built anew, lovers' intrigue and the like. 
Yet somehow Harry-Ginny romance for instance doesn't *feel* like a 
real thing. We are *told* that Harry apparently cares for her, but 
the best we can do is to take JKR's word for it, since she didn't 
choose to actually *show* Harry's being in love with Ginny. (Apart 
from his jealousy, and even that was in fact considerably mild by 
his standards. We've seen Harry's temper when something *really* 
gets to him.)

Now, this would be OK with me, I am quite prepared to believe that 
JKR knows best (because she does when all's said and done), but I am 
curious as to why she for instance describes Harry's other and by 
definition less caring and less intimate relationships in language 
that strongly suggest sexual rapport? OK for Slughorn, at least it 
is he who is clearly attracted (why though it is so important for 
JKR?) But these "false leads", so to speak, are not by any means 
limited to Slughorn. Take for example Harry's "obsession" with 
Draco. I am fairly certain and willing even to bet that JKR does not 
envision Harry as a latent gay, and still less does she intend to 
pair him off with Draco. Yet, for some reason she describes Harry's 
attitude towards his old rival in a language fraught with sexual 
innuendos. We are *told* that Harry sometimes dreams of Ginny, but 
we never actually *see* him doing that. Yet we see him spending 
night after night thinking of Draco. We never saw him admiring 
Ginny's appearance or worrying because of some changes in it. (And 
he certainly never bothered to notice how pale or otherwise 
distraught Cho had been, even though it would have been a good move 
for an aspiring lover). Yet he takes in every change in Draco's 
appearance and positively monitoring him for signs of illness and 
decline. Draco gives up Quidditch and Harry looses any interest in 
it. His obsession makes even his best friends uneasy. And, really, 
all these "was it his imagination or did Draco really look thinner 
(or paler, or sicker)" sound almost like paperback romance cliché. I 
am fairly certain that it is not accidental. Yet I am damned if I 
know what she means by it.