SHIPs: Comments on the Dallas Theory/Room of Requirement

[Adam C. Pozek]

No: HPFGUIDX 133708

Greetings from a list neophyte.

I joined last night and have been weeding through the hundreds of posts, so
please forgive me if I am re-hashing something.

Neil espoused the Dallas theory (message 133249) in which the SHIPs in HBP
are potion-induced and evidenced by unusual behavior.

Hermione was the only one I thought was out-of-character when she interfered
with Quidditch tryouts.  Not only has she never cared about Quidditch, but
the fact that she would break the rules and give Ron another excuse to
neglect his schoolwork simply doesn’t fit.  The others, however, are not
that odd.

In GoF, Ron’s jealousy of Harry caused him to behave rashly and stop talking
to his best friend.  It is not that odd that his jealousy of Hermione/Krum
(well documented in GoF) would cause him to again behave rashly. Add to that
Ginny’s scorching tirade, and it is completely believable Ron would hook-up
with Lavender to get back at Hermione and disprove Ginny.

 The Harry/Ginny SHIP has been simmering pretty much from the beginning, and
it did not surprise me at all in HBP.  It is consistent with human nature
that Harry would suddenly realize his feelings for Ginny upon seeing her in
the arms of another.  While he had know of her SHIPs with other boys, IIRC
he never actually saw her lip-locked with any of them.  I did find the
break-up a bit cliché.  In fact, when they initially got together, I thought
there was no way JKR would such a completely typical thing like this.  I was
a little surprised at how well Ginny took it, or how little attention was
devoted to it.

Besides, Snape and Malfoy undoubtedly already knew of the relationship and
would pass along that useful bit of info.  Since they were already gone at
the time of the break-up, they wouldn’t know it had ended.  In addition,
Harry and Ginny no longer being involved would not change his feelings for
her.  In fact, it would probably make them stronger.  Since both LV and
Snape are skilled Legilimens (sp?) and Harry is no good at Oclumency (sp?),
isn’t it likely that any encounter with either one of them would reveal
Harry’s feelings for Ginny.

I also wonder if this doesn’t have something to do with Harry’s ability to
love that DD references numerous times.  I am sure he loves Ron and Hermione
in a different way.  However, he does not try to deter them from helping him
find the Horcruxes, even though their friendship and continued support would
surely put them at as much risk (if not more) than Ginny.

I know it is odd for a guy to wonder about this, but I think it is the only
one of my questions that hasn’t already been thoroughly explored on the
list.

Apart from the ridikulus cliché of the Harry/Ginny breakup, I think HBP was
brilliant.  The next couple of years will be quite long.  As least we have 1
(and maybe 2) of the movies to look forward to in the interim.

Any thoughts?

Adam C. Pozek