Harry and "shipping"

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156467

Lynda wrote:
>
> You sound much like me when our fictional favorite hero was younger. I
> would hear people coupling off Harry with others and my reaction was
"He's
> eleven! or twelve! or..." and the truth be told there is no need to
couple
> the kids off in this manner. JKR has chosen to send them on dates,
though
> and set them up in relationships, lasting or nonlasting. Maybe she's
> choosing to reflect reality. I see kids as young as middle-school
with boy
> and girlfriends, some of them changing them out every other week it
seems.

Carol responds:
I don't want to get entangled in a shipping thread since I'm perfectly
happy with Ron and Hermione as a couple, and I saw Ginny/Harry coming
from the moment Mrs. Weasley showed up with a little girl who was too
young to go to Hogwarts, but I want to make one quick point.

For about ten months of every year, Hogwarts is essentially a closed
world. The only young people the students see during their entire
school career are fellow students. (The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons
students were a special case.) The students they know best are those
in their own year and their own House. We shouldn't be surprised if
two kids from the same House marry right out of Hogwarts. It happened
with the Potters; it happened with the Weasleys. The Malfoys were in
the same House if not in the same year; same with the Lestranges. I'm
guessing that it's the norm, especially for purebloods, some of whom
would marry a Muggleborn or a Half-blood but probably wouldn't marry a
Muggle even if they met one. (Maybe George will marry the girl he
showed his card tricks to, but I doubt it.)

There's no college to attend in the WW. Kids (unless they're so rich
they don't need to work) get a job (or train for one) right out of
Hogwarts. The WW considers them adults at seventeen.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to have Ron and Hermione marry as soon
as they finish school (though they may be delayed a year because of
Voldemort and the Horcruxes and have to wait till they're nineteen
instead of eighteen).

Setting aside Ron and Hermione, who else is Harry likely to meet that
he'll like better than Ginny? He's paid attention to exactly two
girls, and the first was an adolescent crush based solely on looks
(and a common interest in Quidditch). Ginny also plays Quidditch,
she's spent a lot of time with Harry for someone not in his year
(including the MoM battle), he considers her funny and attractive, and
she never cries (unlike "the human hosepipe"). Sure, Ginny could die
in Book 7, but I don't think she's going to. And I can't see him
marrying anyone else if they both survive. Luna? Lavender Brown?
Parvati Patil? There's no foreshadowing of any of those relationships.
And Harry himself is concerned about being the outsider in Ron's and
Hermione's relationship. He never feels jealous of Ron, only afraid
that the three-way friendship will fall apart.

The difference between Ron's experience and Harry's, IMO, is that a
deep and abiding affection for Hermione, mixed with a physical
attraction to her that Harry doesn't share, crept up on him unawares.
Hermione knew it long before he did, but when she finally spoke out
after the Yule Ball, he still didn't recognize his own feelings. It
took being attacked by her birds and nearly being poisoned for him to
finally figure it out. But it also took a shallow, purely physical
relationship with Lavender for him to understand that there's more to
love, even if you're sixteen or seventeen, than "snogging." I think
they'll marry at the first opportunity, as soon as they finish their
seventh year and the battle against Voldemort. I'm 100 percent sure
that's what JKR had in mind with her Erised answer last night, and I'm
99 percent sure it will happen.

Harry, in contrast, recognizes jealousy when he feels it and avoids
lashing out at Dean and Ginny much as he wants to. Once it dawns on
him that he likes her (I'm not saying that he loves her), he examines
his feelings and realizes that if it comes to a choice between her and
Ron, he'll choose Ron, but he'd rather have both. and once DD dies and
Harry goes into "marked man" mode, he's wise enough to put the
relationship aside so that Voldemort (ostensibly) can't use her
against him and he won't be distracted from the terrible things he now
has to do. Once Voldemort is defeated, he'll have the luxury of being
JustHarry, with plenty of time for the relationship to develop at its
own pace. Ginny is not my favorite character by any means, but it's
clear that that's where JKR is going, assuming that they both live.

As for JKR being "arrogant" about the shippers, I think the blame lies
mostly with the person who asked the question (yes, I know who it
was). That particular answer should have been treated as part of a
private conversation, IMO. JKR has the right to think whatever she
likes about her fans, some of whom can be rather scary, but both
she and the person asking the question should perhaps have been a bit
more discreet knowing that Harry/Hermione Shippers would be reading
the interview. I *do* think she dropped anvil-sized hints (and the
films picked up on them with her approval). Ask any twelve- or
thirteen-year-old fan whether it's Ron or Harry who likes Hermione as
more than a friend. I'd be very surprised if the kid got it wrong
(meaning "wrong" according to what JKR has revealed).

Carol, surprised that she had so much to say on this topic since it's
one of the few that seems beyond debate