SHIP: Pirate Ginny

[mg_mchenry]

No: HPFGUIDX 133585

zoe0coll wrote:
> Just wondered if any of you have actually been 16/17!  Or have 
> you just forgotten!
> 
> I just feel JKR is writing with a knowledge or rememberance of what 
> it's like to be that age and I felt transported back to my teenage 
> years and felt like I was right there with them.

I was having a similar reaction to many of the comments that I saw. 
I'm 28 now, but only stopped being a teenager a year or two ago. ;)

Let me start by saying that though I sway back and forth on this, I'm
skeptical of the ships we saw in HBP.  Something was up.

I believe that people have to evaluate the main characters of the
books as children and then young adults even though they are special
cases of such.  These are not full-grown adults projected into small
bodies.

Harry showed areas of immaturity in OotP, at the same time proving he
could lead those seemingly more mature than himself.  Harry excels at
what he has to do to survive, but because of growing up with the
Dursley's is stunted in dealing with other people.  Being subjected to
Dudley's and Vernon's bullying has made him extra defiant and tough,
which has ironically saved his life.  He's also the type that can have
a bad childhood and grow up to be a happy person because of his innate
inner strength.  Harry has enormous pressures put on him in the shape
of the tasks he is required to perform/survive.  Otherwise, you have
to think of him as a normal kid.

Hermione probably realized she was different from an early age and
turned to books for comfort when she couldn't find the right friends.
 Her self-esteem is tied to her achievement in her studies.  Her
determination to achieve academically has put her behind the curve
socially.  Her bravery and loyalty (She'd otherwise be Ravenclaw)
align her with Harry.  Harry's need for her support is a big
responsibility, but otherwise, she's a normal kid.

Ron is... good at wizard chess.  Ok, not my favorite character. 
Again, Griffindor House, so loyal.  Not as brave as I might like, but
he's got Harry's back anyway and is often in unusual danger because of
it.  Ron is poor and the youngest boy of a large family, leading to
his outsider status and immaturity.  He may have a case of wizard ADD,
but otherwise, he's a normal kid.

I've met people like this in my life, even grouped together, and they
read as reasonably real in JKR's books.

My point is, the dire focus of the stories often misleads you about
the true maturity of these people because they behave somewhat more
adult-like under stress.

These kids are still kids, though, and finally discovering their
sexuality.  (later than I might have though, given the amount of
unfettered access to friends of the opposite gender).

These are the reasons I find myself apologizing for the other side:
1) Harry's attraction to Ginny - Maybe it seemed sudden, but not
altogether impossible.  
**Reasons it was slow**
-Harry is a year older than Ginny, so an attraction at an earlier age
would have been less likely.  
-Ginny was infatuated with Harry, so that would have biased him
against the attraction.  
-Harry and Ginny didn't hang out at Hogwarts, so their relationship
really only develops in the short spurts they spend at the Burrow and
finally at DA meetings.
-While at the Burrow, Ginny had to compete for Harry's attention not
only with Ron, but with the closer and much more mature Hermione.

**Reasons the attraction pulled into high gear**
-Ginny was there at the MoM standing with Harry against the Death
Eaters.  That goes a long way toward proving she is one of Harry's peers
-Have you ever seen what happens around the time a girl turns 15?  She
may have been cute before, but now she's nearly a woman and more
likely to awaken certain beasts within Harry.
-Ginny's string of relationships and showdown with Ron underscore her
womanhood.
-Team sports - quidditch brought them closer.

It really has a lot to do with their age.  Comparing Ginny to Lily is
baffling, but the sudden fling is really plausible.


2) Hermione OOC in pursuit of Ron:
- Hermione is ready for a more intimate relationship.  She's old
enough that she's probably feeling lonely and she's past Krum.
- Hr/R has been hinted at for a long time.
- If she goes about it strangely, you can't blame her.  Her
interpersonal insights might be very acute, but her command of social
behavior is not as good.
- Actually explaining to Ron that public snogging in front of her is
obnoxious is beneath her dignity.  Ron will learn better by example.
- Hermione may not be as uber-feminine as Ginny(who ironically is
almost a tomboy), but she is becoming an attractive woman as well, as
Harry and Ron realized (*suddenly*) in GoF. She probably wants to
experiment with her feminine wiles.
- She did not pursue Ron violently or obsessively like someone under a
potion.


3) Ron
- Won-won was under the effects of love potions during his
non-Hermione attracted behavior.
- Ron *is* immature.  He would have seen making out with a random girl
a fine way to get back at Hermione, and to make sure he didn't make a
fool of himself with the girl he really wants.  immature!
- Once Ron finds out how much fun making out is, he doesn't want to
give it up, even if he doesn't really care for the girl.  He's "whipped".
- Ron would be an idiot not to make up with Hermione and get as close
to her as she'll let him.  (Ok, I have a personal Hermione bias)

4) Ginny
- I've always thought Hermione the girl who was too good to be true. 
Ginny's character has developed quite naturally over the last five books.
- You have to understand the pressure Molly is putting her under.  I
can only imagine.  She finally has a girl after all that trying (you
don't think she wanted all those boys, do you?), and this girl is
going to be as feminine as she can manage.
- Ginny grew up in a house full of older boys.  I know people like
this in real life that are quite a bit like Ginny.  Great basketball
players.  Fiercely independent.
- Because she's a Weasly and because she adores Harry, she's going to
take being a foot soldier in DA quite seriously.  Cho didn't - she's
not a Griffindor and she doesn't have the competitive spirit of Ginny.
- It's not a surprise that a DA member, MoM veteran would know a few
good hexes , and have them down pat.
- Ginny is too proud to use a love potion on Harry.  And she knows better.
- Letting Harry off the hook too easily when he wants to isolate
himself...  Hard to explain, but I don't think she really lets him go
at that point.  There's no way she would let Ron and Hermione have all
the fun following Harry. (except she's not of age as they are)


I'm a big fan of the Dallas Theory, but if you take into account that
these are teenagers, I think the ships and behavior are not so
improbable.  

Comparatively speaking, this book was light on (frequent) immediate
physical danger and school stress, so it gave more time to the ships.
 The books were too busy before to detail the snogging going on in the
common room, but the audience was younger then.  Imagine a
mixed-gender bunch of 16 year olds with practically no supervision and
common living quarters.  What do you think will happen?

I can only imagine that witches solved the contraception problem ages
ago, so what we see in print in the book is pretty tame.

I'm really beginning to think that a love-potion conspiracy is too far
fetched and the ships stand as they do.  Which doesn't mean that Harry
won't have to deal more completely with his Ginny ship and that
Hermione won't eventually end up with someone else.

But we only get to see the events of another year, and a busy one at
that, so ships are secondary to the upcoming plot - with one
exception.  Harry will need to find more strength in love in order to
defeat LV.

Or, Hermione will end up with a gaggle of red-headed children in the
epilogue and thousands of people will simultaneously barf on the last
pages of the last book.

I think JKR will leave it open.

mchenry