[the_old_crowd] Re: OOP: Some shipping thoughts

[pennylin]

Hi --

I'm so glad to have this group, because I'm finding the main list of HPfGU to be overwhelmingly daunting right now.  Eep!  I plan to dip my toes in over there too soon though.  Soon.  In the meantime:

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I enumerated what I thought were the three instances in OoP where Rowling signals that Ron still has romantic interest in Hermione.  Naama helpfully pointed out a 4th instance.  But, I still think that overall, the hints of Ron---------->He are overwhelmingly more *subtle* in OoP than in GoF.  I really felt she was banging us over the head with it in GoF; the impression I have from OoP is more that she's just slipping in some soft reminders.  "Pssst!  Hey!  Reader!  Don't forget, will ya?  Ron has a little thing for Hermione, okay?!"  

<<<<<<<<It was so obvious, that I felt that JKR 
was ramming "Ron is falling for Hermione" down our throats. I think 
it's a clear signal for the reader that something is going to happen, 
romantically, between Ron and Hermione.>>>>>>>>>>

Why is it a "clear signal?"  It might just as easily be a red herring (red hairing!).  The beauty of the way she's handled the potential for romance in OoP is that every single shipping "moment" has a perfectly rational counter-argument in favor of another ship altogether.    

<<<<<<<<My prediction is that JKR is 
building towards Hermione slowly (or maybe suddenly?) discovering her 
true feelings for Ron, surprising herself by falling in love with him 
(and what could be more Austen-esque than that? <g>)>>>>>>>>>>>

Oh, I'm willing to acknowledge that as a very viable possibility!  Surprised?  But, the beauty of it is that it's every bit as possible that she'd fall for Harry (or has fallen for him already).  It's equally possible that Harry might eventually fall for Hermione or Ginny.  The OoP shipping is really a thing of beauty.  I wouldn't have imagined her capable of such delightfully intriguing clues and red herrings.  So, when she said in a recent interview that she "sweated blood to lay her clues and red herrings," I for one believe her. 

As one example, that kiss that you mention above.  You do know that many H/H'ers are convinced that Hermione kissed Harry on the cheek for good luck too, right?  You see the beauty of something so inocuous as a punctuation choice:  that ending dash leaves it completely open.  "And you Harry --------."  And you WHAT, Harry?  If she only was verbally addressing him, she'd have said, "And good luck to you too, Harry."  Right?  Probably?  *nods*  See!  It's just beautiful.  Rowling doesn't explicitly confirm that she did kiss him too, but she leaves it very, very open with her word choice and the punctuation (one might say it's strongly implied).  

Penny
(who is more and more enamored of OoP, despite the Death-That-Must-Not-Be-Mentioned)   



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