SHIP: Ginny, Harry, Crushes, Love

[fett_dfacto]

No: HPFGUIDX 154555

I'll begin by saying that I'm sure this has been covered umpteen 
times, but I couldn't find the relevant posts. If someone could 
point me in the right direction I'd be grateful. Seeing as I 
couldn't find the relevant posts, however...

At what point does Ginny's crush turn into love, and why? 

It's fair to assume that her crush develops between Harry's first 
and second year, as her reaction in PS isn't one of star-struck 
adoration, but excitement about seeing Harry Potter! 

By CoS, however, the crush is in full swing - cue one elbow-butter 
intersection. She's blushing, shy and extraordinarily accident prone 
given the degree of co-ordination Quidditch probably entails. 

OotP onward, it can be taken for granted that the crush has 
dissapeared, to be replaced by love (or something like it). That, 
and a ruthless long term plan to seduce Harry, courtesy of Hermione -
 but let's gloss over that little detail. 

That leaves the time between PoA, and the start of OotP for Ginny's 
crush to develop in to full-bodied love. As in OotP, Hermione says 
that Ginny gave up on Harry "months ago" during the Hogsmead visit, 
it can be assumed that the event occurs by the end of GoF. 

After being rescued by Harry from the Chamber, she seems to be even 
more embarrassed by being in Harry's presence than ever (her 
reaction to seeing him for the first time after he saved her is to 
be "heartily embarrassed"). Despite this, she seems to have matured 
enough to be able to talk in his presence and is capable of making 
eye contact without going into hysterics. She does send a singing 
get well card when Harry's in the hospital wing, however. This could 
be seen as an indication that she's still infatuated with Harry, as 
while Harry would probably appreciate a card, I highly doubt he'd 
want the attention a singing card would generate. 

At the begining of GoF she still goes red when she sees Harry, but 
treats him like a normal human being, and is quite capable of 
operating in his presence. 

Ultimately, Ginny's crush develops in three stages: 

Post CoS 

Here, Ginny's crush is replaced with a love for her rescuer, her 
knight in filthy school uniform. She no longer has a crush on the 
boy-who-lived, but a love(?) (perhaps it's merely a massive 
infatuation rather than a crush) for the boy who risked his life to 
save a stupid little girl. She doesn't see Harry as a real person, 
but is still aware enough of him to know that he'd hate her to treat 
him any differently to anyone else - so she keeps quiet, only 
speaking when she knows she's not going to make a fool of herself. 

Post PoA 

Ginny has matured considerably during PoA, and while she still 
harbours the lingering remnants of Damsel in Distress Syndrome 
(blushing once), she's more or less dealt with it. Harry is, to her, 
just another friend of Ron's. Harry is just like Hermione was when 
Ginny first met her - Ron's friend, but someone who could just as 
easily turn into her friend in time (only she doesn't want Hermione 
to sweep her off her feet). She treats him like anyone else and has 
crushed the crush into dust. Has the crush turned to real love, 
however?

GoF 

This is the crucial section in Ginny's evolving feelings for Harry. 
Hermione, being Hermione, will (I'm sure) have wanted to rant and 
rave about Ron's cluelessness, Harry's less than gentlemenly 
agreement with Ron's belief that they need to move fast or the only 
things left will be Trolls, Harry's attitude to the second task and 
someone to talk to about her worries about the tournament. Not to 
mention Harry and Ron's stupid feud. Ginny begins to see Harry as a 
real person, with all the same flaws and insecurities as anyone 
else. I also find it nigh on impossible to believe that Hermione 
could not tell Ginny (who appears to be her sole female friend) some 
of what happened in the graveyard. Ginny now must surely realise 
just how human Harry is. She can clearly see the effect Cedric's 
death has on him, and realises that he's not a knight in shining 
armour. He's human, and is barely hanging in there. 

Mrs Weasley's coldness toward Hermione as Harry's alleged girlfriend 
can be seen as an indication that Ginny is well on her way to love 
by the end of the year. Mrs Weasley would never encourage her 
daughter to crush on anyone, and if Ginny had a crush on Malfoy it 
is highly unlikely that Mrs Weasley would be frosty with Malfoy's 
girlfriend. The fact that she does treat Hermione frostily, however, 
is a clear signpost that Mrs Weasley believes that her daughter is 
well on the way to being genuinely in love with Harry. 

Ginny suddenly gets a real insight into the problems of Harry's 
life, and now understands just what sort of person he is. He can be 
insensitive, unthinking, stubborn, deceitful (Was Hermione really 
convinced he had the egg under control?) and shallow. But he is also 
honourable, talented, and never gives up regardless of how bad it 
is. This is the moment when she truly opens her eyes, truly sees 
Harry Potter the boy, and truly loves him.

Is there a specific moment when it suddenly dawns, or is it a 
gradual relaisation over the year? I'm not sure myself. If there is 
one event, it'd be the aftermath of the Triwizard, but I don't think 
she really sees enough of him to pick out the effects.

OotP 

As stated above, this is where Ginny comences her plan to ensnare 
Harry in her web by using her wiles on other people. Her utterly 
brilliant treatment of Harry while he suffers from Post-Traumatic-
Stress-Disorder shows just how far she's come from the infatuated 
little girl she once was. Her deft handling of him from the moment 
she first sees him is testament to her newly minted love for Harry. 
After GoF she understands him perfectly, but that doesn't mean she 
accepts his behaviour. She sees Harry at his worst. Moody, utterly 
self-centred, wallowing in depression - and then he finds out 
Voldemort's inside his head. 

If she didn't love him before, she does now. 

~~~~~~~~ 
Fett d'Facto 

P.S. On a side note, if Ginny and Harry did do as fan-fic writers 
seem wont to do and throw the two of them into a "marriage-bond" 
after the Chamber of Secrets (which seems to translate as an excuse 
to marry them at an excessively young age and acts as an exceedingly 
poor plot device to make Ginny pregnant sans consequences, 
naturally), how would Ginny react and would it have changed their 
relationship?