188 comments ↓

#1 Samanther on 02.19.09 at 3:08 am

Wait, Harry marries WHO?!

I agree with you.

#2 Keira on 02.19.09 at 9:43 am

Yep- Harry and Ginny get married and have three kids which we see in the epilogue as they depart for Hogwarts.

#3 Tracy on 02.27.09 at 10:20 am

I think that Harry and Ginny are equal to each other. Ginny was possessed by Voldemort and they both share that in common. Ginny also understands Harry ,and she knows when to push him and back off. Hermoione nags him all the time and Luna makes him unconfertable. Oh yea and Ginny is a powerful witch and she is smart mabe not as smart as hermione is but she is no dummie. Ginny got over her chrush on Harry when she started talking to him and saw him as just her brothers friend. I could go on but this is already really long. Oh and one last thing there were any little clues that in the books that Harry and Ginny were going to be together.

#4 Defender Paladin on 02.28.09 at 5:17 pm

Can we just drop the insanity known as cannon. I agree with this article. I could see Harry with…Fluer’s little sister just as easily as I could with Ginny. They have just about the same amount of ‘screen time’ after all. (Until Book 6) How the blazes is someone supposed to go from ‘I don’t really care one way or the other to: I love you!!!’ In a heartbeat. Yes, Ginny may be this sweet girl. But we really know next to nothing about her.
Harry and Hermione, or Harry and Luna, or even Harry and Cho are much more realistic relations. People grow because of the people the associate with.
A marriage is based on trust.
If we ignore the epilouge We must answer this one question.
Who Does Harry trust the most (female wise)?
Would it be Hermione, who never, literally never, left his side, point just once where she truly left him, I am fairly certain it is not going to happen. Ginny who’s last words to Harry in book six were Something like…’You won’t be happy unless you’re fighting him’. (Does Harry like getting into wars or something Ginny?)
Cho, who was the leaky faucet and used Harry to get closer to Cedric, or Luna, the oddball that helped heal Harry after Sirius died.
I could go on but I don’t want to start a tirade here.

#5 Tracy on 03.01.09 at 9:22 am

What Ginny ment in book 6 is that she knew Harry would not just sit back and wait for Voldemort to come and get him,or watch other people get hurt becuae of him. Also Harry risked his life for Ginny by finding and going in the Chamber of Secrets. Thats not really something you do for someone you don’t care about. He seamed really worried about her.When you said marriage is based on trust,so you think HArry does not trust Ginny? The other things you said about not know Ginny at all,but what do we really know about Luna or Cho ? We know just as much about Luna that we know about Ginny. How did Luna help harry heal ? She might have made him feel better for that time ,but when Harry went back home for the summer he was still greaving. He did not want to talk about Sirus at all.

#6 Ciara on 03.05.09 at 10:37 am

I completely agree with the article. I could see Harry/Hermione or even Harry/Luna happening before Harry/Ginny, even when the books were still being written. Hermione is his only constant friend throughout the series – Harry and Ron get into a few notable fights, but he and Hermione don’t. Luna shares his pain as far as losing parents go, and while being a bit strange, they can also connect because she is an outcast and he is essentially one when they meet up in the fifth book. Ginny, on the other hand, was essentially a fangirl, who had the privilege of being younger sister to the Boy-Who-Lived’s best friend. If Harry didn’t become friends with Ron, Harry most likely would not have gone to save Ginny in the Chamber. Or if he tried to, the urgency would have been a bit less, and he probably would not have gotten there in time and she would be dead. Despite this, Ginny then disappears for pretty much two books, making a small appearance in the fifth book and then going back into the background until the 6th. The whole series could have been done without her, and frankly the adolescent romance would not have gotten in the way of the 6th book.

#7 Chris on 03.15.09 at 7:32 pm

I agree with the article. While it is true Harry saved Ginny in the Chamber in Book 2, he did the same with Hermione, troll, in Book 1. If you’re going to say they share a connection to Voldemort in common then I’m somewhat icked to say that Harry and Ron share that same connection. There was no connection between Harry and Ginny until Book 6 at which point Harry randomly discovers he has feelings for her. If there was any hinting it was towards Cho, Luna, or Hermione. Rowling pushing Hermione at Ron shows that girls should be attracted to people they argue all the time with and have little in common with. Yeah forgive me if I don’t want to marry someone I’d likely argue with more then agree with. Cho could be pushed aside as Harry’s first crush and bad luck on getting the rebound.

#8 Keira on 03.15.09 at 7:51 pm

Thanks Defender Paladin, Ciara, Chris! (Tracy too!)

Hermione and Ron are my second least favorite couple in the series. I could write a post on that but the title for that post would just be weird lol and Chris nails exactly what I despise most about them as a couple.

Really? Hermione wants to be with a guy that alternately cries foul that she knows more than him and then belittles her for not knowing everything he does.

Then Hermione acts towards Ron in a similar manner as Molly and that’s too weird for me . If anybody needed a mothering presence in his life it’s Harry, not Ron. Molly is plenty all on her own. lol

#9 Tracy on 03.18.09 at 9:23 am

Harry tried to save Hermione ,but it was really Ron who saved her by knocking the troll out. I don’t really know what you mean by Harry and Ron ,but what I ment was that Harry and Ginny were the most hard hit. Yes you could argue that everyone was affected but they were the key players. The one thing I feel that is special about Harry and Ginny’s relationship is that Ginny was right in front of him the whole time and he did not notice her at all. Harry even says somthing like we could been together all long ime ago if I wasnt so dumb. Like I said before Ginny understands Harry and respects him. When he brakes up with her she just lets him ,and she dose not try to fight him about it or try to come with him because Ginny knows that he needs to do this by himself and that she would only be in the way. I really don’t think that Hermione would be able to just let Harry do his thing. I guess we have to agree to diagree. LOL HArry and Ginny are my fav couple if you can’t tell.

#10 Carmen on 03.18.09 at 10:15 am

I think Hermoine and Ron were a better literary couple. I love Harry, but I’m with you, not in the top 5!

#11 Zack on 03.25.09 at 9:21 pm

The books were enjoyable even if the literary romance wasn’t, i guess you’d call it, top notch. The old patriotism found in the Hermione and Ron pairing was somewhat touching, even classical if you like the ‘love you under my words’ garble. But what upset me most was that dark space where Ginny and Harry should have been. The relationship could have been a whole lot stronger, even inspiring, if J.K. made the relation a bit more obvious and in the open. Sure there were hints, but i can’t help but feel Ginny and Harry were neglected in the whole plot of things. A repetition of their bonding would have been nice. Something of a recurrence (in all books) of their relationship would have enlightened me. Instead , the feeling like a bombshell went off near the 7th book raised an eyebrow. As for other pairings besides Ginny for Harry… eh, not quiet fond of any of them unless they’re in a fiction sense. Presumably, J.k. decided Ginny and Harry at one point for her series, so anything else would be like be like filling the king’s seat with the wrong person. Hope that’s not to contradicting to what i said earlier…

#12 Ian on 04.18.09 at 8:24 am

In an amazing feat of literary crap… Rowling failed in the writing of books 6 and 7. What a shame, really.

#13 Professor Y on 05.05.09 at 2:48 pm

While I agree with almost everything in the article, you overlook one huge event in the story that, in fact, does set up a Ginny/Harry relationship.

That is the events of second year, in particular, the close call in the Chamber of Secrets.

Of course, the events that transpired within can be refuted and picked apart to show that, indeed, Ginny and Harry were never a romance, however… sacrifice does come into play, however briefly, and pathetically.

#14 Keira on 05.05.09 at 4:32 pm

Ah, you’re right of course… but…

Harry noticed Hermione’s absence during the Halloween emergency in year one and forced Ron to help him find her and save her from the troll. In year four, Harry saved Gabrielle, Fleur’s sister from the mermaids. In five, Harry desired to help find Luna’s stolen things and to protect her from her classmates picked on her.

Not to mention the other people he saved throughout the series or tried too. So it could be contributed to his saving people thing more so than any romantic inclination.

#15 mitch on 05.06.09 at 4:18 pm

i agree with everything in this article. Sorry but there is simple no way that Harry and Ginny realistically stand a chance of having a long surviving realtionship, they may get together in the end but it would soon fall apart. As far as the Chamber of secrets goes i don’t think it really mattered that it was Ginny down there, if it were anyone else boy or girl Harry would have gone down there to save them. Not to mention with the troll it was Harry who noticed Hermonie’s missing, Harry who had to drag Ron to find hermonie and Harry who jumped on the Trolls neck to distract. Comparing that to ron who had just said a magic spell which he should have gotta anyway from living surrounded by magic everyday it just doesn’t make me say oh Hermonie and ron are goign to get together

i don’t know how Ginny can understand Harry, and as far as just letting him go and fight voldemort without any help just sounds pretty cowarly to me. she knows she can’t help him. however Hermonie doesn’t let him go alone because she knows he’ll get killed, and she also knows that she is one of the few who can help him.

Also Ginny being right in front of him for most of the years but hermonie has been with him for all of those years so tracy you can see why i don’t agree but eh to each their own.

PS ignore any spelling mistakes i am running late for school so i don’t have time to fix it up laters.

#16 Tracy on 05.27.09 at 8:39 pm

Harry showed no love interest in Hermione at all. They were just friends that is all she has ever been to Harry nothing more nothing less. Your right Ginny can’t help Harry because she is underage and still has the trace on her. Ginny also knows that Harry said that he had to do it alone and that he did not want her to get hurt, and she expected him to brake up with her. She may not have wanted this but she excepted it. In the end Ginny did what she had to do and went behind everyone’s wishes and fought that’s not being a coward. I understand that a lot of people don’t like Ginny , but what I don’t see is where people say that I could have seen him with Hermione or Luna. I don’t really recall any clues that is was going to either of the two.

#17 mitch on 06.01.09 at 4:48 am

sorry but i disagree, there are certain parts within the series that show that harry does really care for hermione and tht she cares for harry just as much such as the troll incident, being pertfrified, helping sirius escape etc etc (though i think that the one most commonly used is the kiss at the end of the fourth book). and like i said before with Ginny she can’t possibly understand Harry because she didn’t go through the same kind of hardships that he went through hence why she is completely wrong when she said he had to do it alone why else would Ron and Hermione go with him? because they know he can’t do it alone that was pretty much the point of the power of love!. i Don’t really see Harry saying i don’t want you to get hurt just to Ginny because the type of character harry is he wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt for something he feels is responsible. Though then again you could just chalk it up to Harry believign that she is not strong enough to endure what the trio has to, which i just another point against Ginny anyway. and going behind everyone’s back fighting is pretty much a given like hell you wouldn’t do that, i would of been surprised if she didn’t.

as far as you not seeing where people say Harry could be with Hermione or Luna well that is completely up to you and how you read the books, no one will be able to change your opinion of it, only influence it. But my main point is that Harry lovign Hermione is not really told in the books so much as it is shown, yes there is friendship, there would not be a couple still together who could not say that their relationship is minimum a friendship and at most lovers. Again it comes back to how you read the books, that collective points in the series like i have mentioned above illustrate the H/Hr ship.

oh btw reading over my last comment i would like to say sorry to anyone i am have offended i was a bit of an arse in trying to express my point. So sorry

#18 Nettie on 06.05.09 at 2:55 pm

I agree with everything in this article. I loved the HP series, and it has given readers something that has been missing from children’s literature for a long time. A story that dares to tackle big questions like life and death, and love and hate.

I am not a shipper and have no real interest in who Harry ends up with. But I am a believer in Story, and whether we like it or not all stories have rules that we instinctively know to be right and which feel wrong if violated. The rules for Story are the same for life. Just as in real life we feel deceived if indications of a relationship turn out to be false, we also feel deceived if indications of a close relationship between two characters are ignored by an author in favor of an another pet character.

The fact is, the way the series was written, most readers were lead to the obvious conclusion that Harry would end up with Hermione. If Ginny really should be The One,
then we wouldn’t have to hunt through the book with a magnifying glass to find fleeting signs of interest. Nor would we have to explain to others their match. There would be no debate. Find me one person that thinks that Mr Darcy should have married someone other than Elizabeth Bennet.

Now, Ginny and Harry. It is apparent that Ms Rowling had always planned Ginny (a thinly veiled idealized version of herself, right down from the red hair to the similar consonantal sounds of their names) and Harry to meet and marry from the very start. She was as far as JK was concerned, the book’s true unsung heroine. After all, every storytelling tradition since the beginning of time has the hero marrying the heroine, no?

But, if she had intended this then why did she break the first law of the fictional heroine, by making her completely peripheral to the ENTIRE series, and giving the super intelligent Hermione (interestingly enough, a portrayal of her less idealized self) the Heroine’s role.

The heroine’s role in traditional heroic tales is not of a spunky, popular, pretty girl who is good at sports. The heroine is always the hero’s wise counsel, his help mate, his oasis and ultimately his savior. She is the one he guides him on the right path, and confronts him when he steps out of line. She is the one who is always by his side when death is staring him in the face.
If Ginny was supposed to be the heroine, the girl who at first puts her elbow in the butter then goes on ultimately to save his soul, then a skilled author would have allowed her to go on the journey WITH Harry, not allowed to languish on the sidelines till the nth hour. Then everyone would have cheered poor Ginny along the way, without FAIL.

Instead we have many fans confused because the traditional heroine role is played by Hermione! We all know it’s an authorial error, because it’s the way of story telling traditions from the beginning of time. The woman who is SHOWN to have the most growth in a story alongside the hero is the one who marries him in the end.

What she did with poor Ginny and Harry, is the literary equivalent of a Kitty Bennet marrying a Mr Darcy.
And what did Kitty do throughout the entire book apart from going to dances and being popular with boys?

And don’t get me started on the why any father would send his children to a school which was merely providing cannon fodder for Voldermort, I shall never know.

#19 Nettie on 06.05.09 at 3:53 pm

I should have said “why any father such as Harry Potter, would then send his children back to a school that ultimately provided cannon fodder for Voldemort , I shall never know.”

#20 Nathan on 06.16.09 at 10:56 pm

Ok, I’m going to do a couple of responses:

@ Tracy, #5: You say, and I quote,
“Harry risked his life for Ginny by finding and going in the Chamber of Secrets. Thats not really something you do for someone you don’t care about. He seamed really worried about her.”
First off, hate to be a nit-picker, but its seemed. Second, as Mitch brought up, Harry would have rescued anybody that was down there. Whether Hermione, or hell, even Malfoy, I believe, as Harry has his saving people thing, he would have gone down there to save him/her.

“How did Luna help harry heal ? She might have made him feel better for that time ,but when Harry went back home for the summer he was still greaving. He did not want to talk about Sirus at all.”
Right… How exactly did Ginny help Harry heal over that summer? I must have missed that.

@#6: Ciara: Yes! thank you for bringing up the fangirl. Wasn’t she more or less in love with him from like age 5? Before she even met him? I wouldn’t put it past a crazy fangirl who is sure she is in love with Harry to use Amortentia…

@#9:Tracy (again)
Ok, sure. Ron knocked out the troll. Big frickin’ deal. Would he have gone if Harry hadn’t dragged him? Who was the first to respond in the bathroom? *CoughHarryCough* Who tried to tackle a troll? (See previous cough) Who was the reason she was in there? Ron of course!

@ #16: Tracy! What a surprise!
“Harry showed no love interest in Hermione at all. They were just friends that is all she has ever been to Harry nothing more nothing less.”
Right… and lets think about something for a second. disregarding the “beast” that appeared in book 6, when did Harry show any love interest in Ginny? They were just friends, and it appeared in the fifth book it was going to stay that way.

“In the end Ginny did what she had to do and went behind everyone’s wishes and fought that’s not being a coward.”
Right… and so did Colin Creevy, and a whole bunch of others. you don’t see Harry marrying them, do you? (granted, Colin died, but still. He was the same kind of crazy fan…)

“but what I don’t see is where people say that I could have seen him with Hermione or Luna. I don’t really recall any clues that is was going to either of the two.”

Okay. that’s a valid point. no real hints are dropped that he wants to go out with either of them. Well, he does ask Luna out (though as friends), but besides that, your right.

Okay, now my questions/responses:

-anyone else weirded out by how Ginny’s description matches Lily’s pretty closely?

-Anyone have parents (I’m assuming a stable family life here, so please don’t respond if you are otherwise. not to sound cruel, but that’s a small minority) that seem to always be fighting? No. Most couples tend to trust one another with almost anything (*CoughHermione/HarryCough*)

#21 Tracy on 06.17.09 at 5:43 pm

Your right Harry does have a saving person thing and you could argue that he only went after Hermione in the bathroom because of his saving people thing too. Ginny made Harry happy by making him laugh (laughter is best medicine) She played Qudditch (I didn’t say Ginny helped him heal) the reason I said that Ginny fought in the last battle was because someone said that Ginny was a coward. I wasn’t saying that she was the only person to fight. As far as the fan girl thing goes Ginny was not the only one who got excited about Harry being a celebrity (example Ron, Fred, George) she had a crush on him she was not a fan girl Romilda Vane no thats a fan girl. I think most people talk to celerity’s and don’t get so embarrassed that they don’t talk to them. She was 11 years old it was just an innocent crush.

#22 Realistic_dove on 06.25.09 at 2:47 am

I just don’t get how people see Harry saving Ginny as a base for romance when Hermione said in book five or six that Harry has a “Saving people thing” If it would have been RON or HERMIONE in the chamber he would have done the SAME THING. It had nothing to do with romantic feelings and that shouldn’t have been the base for it. Harry and Ginny have essentially nothing in common aside from their love for quidditch and the heck if that makes a romance. both being in the same house doesn’t either. Ginny being brave doesn’t either because all of Harry’s friends are brave. All of Harry’s friends risked their lives, I don’t get why Ginny suddenly became his love interest when their were no real clues previously.

Honestly, I like Ron/Hermione. Their arguments may seem stupid, but their is a wonderful explanation for it. Both Ron and Hermione like their squabbles. Harry doesn’t and it may seem annoying as its from his own view because he himself doesn’t like arguing, but Ron and Hermione do. I also am a fan of Harry/Luna. I thought they’d be better than H/G.

#23 Shadow on 06.30.09 at 1:57 am

Tracy read the books through out the whole serious she is pointing toward Harry/ Hermione. Then WHAM, he is head over heals in love with Ginny right after they learn about love potions. Also their is NOT ONE little hint about Hermione liking Ron, who by the why ruined the biggest night of her adult. Can you look me in the eye and say that you would date the guy that ruined your prom because he didn’t like your date?

didn’t think so you would have strong feeling for said idiot and i know the like wouldn’t even be in the same time zone. get real Harry with Ginny makes about as much since as Albus Servius Potter…. How stupid does Rowling think we are?

#24 Lina on 07.01.09 at 9:32 pm

Why do people like Harry/Luna ? He laughs at her, feels embarassed for her and by her, feels pity for her and describes her in the most unattractive way possible. He also doesn’t feel that comfortable around her. How on earth would that make a good pairing ?

#25 Tracy on 07.02.09 at 10:56 am

Shadow I have read all the books several times and don’t see how it was point to Harry and Hermione. Seriously give some examples in the books because I don’t see it. That’s ok if you don’t want to be in a relationship with someone like Ron .but Hermione does. I agree with Lina about Harry and Luna.

#26 tanasha on 07.07.09 at 5:02 pm

i dont and will never agree with this artical. It is full of balone. I think harry and ginny are a great couple. I mean sure she wasnt in a few books but still they are perfect for each other. and probable the late bloom of love and passion harry & ginny have for each other is because that love was just building and building over time.
I also think ron & hermione are a great couple. I mean sure they dont have alot in comen but they have loved each other for years are you that stupid. there were loads of sighns. In the second book book hermione huged harry because they were just friends but she didnt hug ron they just shook hands, then it got all ocwared bettwen them.
And with that i rest my case. some people are just totaly clueles wen it comes to relationships.

#27 tanasha on 07.07.09 at 5:08 pm

and i also definatly disagree with shadow mabey you should read the seventh book again mabey you will understand about albus severis potter.

#28 Harry Potter romance a total failure. « m e l i s s i m o on 07.20.09 at 4:05 pm

[...] honest, I thought it was just bad acting and screenplay on the movie’s part but after reading why JK Rowling would be absolutely useless at writing anything remotely related to romance; I’m convinced that Harry x Ginny fanboys/girls are absolutely deluded. That and I have [...]

#29 Kat on 07.20.09 at 10:15 pm

We all know it’s an authorial error, because it’s the way of story telling traditions from the beginning of time. The woman who is SHOWN to have the most growth in a story alongside the hero is the one who marries him in the end.

I disagree with this comment. Not every story telling tradition requires a romantic ending, so I don’t see how this could be true.

I agree that Harry and Ginny had very little chemistry as a couple. (At least, in the book. I think there was more in the films, but I’d have to watch them again to be sure.) But at the same time, Harry always struck me as someone who just wanted a quiet life with a loving family. In that sense, marriage with Ginny gives him his dream.

I love that Rowling resisted the temptation to pair Hermoine up with Harry. I think there was a bit of do-I-don’t-I for harry in Goblet of Fire, but I love that Rowling keeps it platonic.

I love Ron and Hermione. I wasn’t at all surprised by this couple because they were shown spending lots of time together during their holidays. I love that the guy who’s always in Harry’s shadow gets the best girl in the end.

#30 Keira on 07.20.09 at 10:41 pm

There was more in the movie. It’s actually quite plausible due to the acting and movie script.

Still, Ginny is very left field. She really is not in the picture until she’s suddenly in the picture.

Harry doesn’t have any real conversation with Ginny; not like with Luna.

In the movie, Ginny comes across like she cares for Harry.

The books read more like the fangirl getting her dream guy… it was just shallow.

I’m listening to the audio version of Half-Blood Prince again. I will post more observations as I hear them.

#31 Keogh on 07.21.09 at 8:50 am

In my personal opinion, the way Rowling wrote Harry/Ginny’s romance merely seems like a highschool crush. How it sort of appears out of nowhere, yet how it seems like its a forever thing.

If Rowling fleshed out the romance a bit in the previous books, the fans of the series wouldn’t be scratching their heads and complaining like they are (no offense intended).

#32 Asha Greyjoy on 07.25.09 at 3:53 am

Lol – delusional fangirl shippers are delusional.

You seem to forget that Harry Potter is not romance literature. It is not literature about romance.

It is literature that includes (a bare minimum) of romance.

The romantic development happens off-page. Because this isn’t a story about romance.

Of course delusional HarMOANians and H/L shippers will never understand that.

(Link found via Portkey)

#33 Keira on 07.25.09 at 11:28 am

I don’t deny that Harry Potter is NOT romance. I wrote the article as a response (to a now invalid link) at Miami Book Examiners that put Harry/Ginny in the top 10 Romantic Literary Couples of All Time.

#34 Serena on 07.30.09 at 7:54 am

I am sorry that some H/G shippers (I repeat, SOME) feel the need to respond to this well written article calling anyone who doesn’t share their view “delusional”… it reflects really badly on the fans of couple, who before this comment had been discussing the issue in a completely civilized manner.
Anyway, I’m here thanks to a link posted @ Fanforum’s Couples We Dislike Thread (which, as you can imagine, is pretty much ruled by Harry/Ginny dislike) and what can I say other than wonderful article, I agree with every point. It is indeed true that both Harry/Hermione and Harry/Luna would have made far more sense.

#35 lil c on 07.30.09 at 3:56 pm

harry wud hve saved anybody, thats who he is. he has saved malfoy ron ginny mr weasley hermione from death and in the last book alot of muggle borns while he was in the ministry. little on page action between harry and ginny. like someone said it just happened, a monster roared within his chest its just like all of a sudden out of nowhere he notices her. as for ginny rowlings did drop hints throughout the whole series that she has loved him. starting when fred george and ron take harry to the burrow and ginny runs off when seeing harry and knocks things over. in the first book ginny begs her mother to let her see him and gets excited but at the time of course we think thats only becuz hes famous. but if u look throughout the book series there are hints and its obvious this ginny/harry thing has been planned since the beginning

#36 Cris on 07.31.09 at 11:22 pm

Lol, Harry and Luna? Many people don’t even think this pairing exist at all. Luna barely got any development in the books, she never changes and she’s this adorable loner we’re suppose to love. She’s the Mary Sue. And she’s like a child, Harry would be like a pedophile if he ever date Loony. Any pairing but this.

#37 Taryn on 08.03.09 at 2:40 pm

But what if the Harry/Ginny relationship developed after Book 7?

I mean, by the time the series is over Harry is 17 and Ginny is 16… hardly anyone has a serious relationship at that age. I didn’t start one until I was 19, with a guy I knew since I was 14… yet we never showed any romantic interest in the other until I was 18.

Hence, I agree with the article in that there wasn’t much H/G romance throughout the books and any of the other girls could have been a better romantic choice for Harry. The H/G romance didn’t seem realistic.

But again, my point is… what if Harry and Ginny didn’t really hit it off as a rightful couple until after Ginny graduated from Hogwarts? They would have a 5 year span (at least) to build a relationship before James II is born, and since there’s no Voldemort around anymore I don’t think they would have had much interruptions xD

#38 q on 08.03.09 at 2:42 pm

while i agree that harry and ginny are nowhere near the top 5,let alone top 20,some of your arguments to back it up are a bit tame,especially those that think that harry would have likely ended up with either luna or hermione,i mean come on..lol..what indication in the books,a true indication down on paper was there that suggested that he would end up with one of the 2,especially luna,you surely know harry better than that.on the other hand there also was no hint what so ever about ginny.my biggest problem about the 2 is that jk never gave them a single conversation in book six to show the reasons why harry liked her to begin with,coz even though he talked about liking her and fighting that ‘monstor’ he never actually really explains the qualities that make him like her..the relationship between him and cho,though doomed for various reasons,was a lot more realistic and satisfying..this one was just…rushed..
it’s not a romance novel yes,but hello,not even a decent conversation between the 2 of them while they were a couple,apart from the break up bit?puh-lease
.)

#39 Nemrut on 08.04.09 at 1:46 pm

Great article , I agree with everything you’ve said. My personal favorite would be Luna, or even better, just forget the epilogue. Without it, everyone could have made their own ending of Harry Potter and it would have been perfect, Instead we got this mushy crap fest, which was the only part in any Harry Potter book I genuinely disliked .

#40 Julie on 08.06.09 at 10:37 am

Wow, a lot of different opinions. First of all, I don’t really like disagreeing with the author about how the story goes or who ends up with who. Rowling saw them together in her head and she wrote it so well that I just can’t see any other couples than the ones she wrote about.
You could notice from book one that Harry and Hermoine would be and stay friends, nothing else. And about Ginny… Well, I know that there aren’t much people who like her but I liked her because she was mysterious. And after that I liked it even better, to learn more about her. To me, she is the perfect fit for Harry. She’s Ron’s sister, which makes the best friends even closer, she’s quite intelligent, and I guess that the both of them look soooo much alike with James and Lily. I could go on, but bottomline, I think they’re really adorable. Ron and Hermoine even so. They are my absolute favourites. They complete eachother, isn’t that enough? Why do you have to be similar in a relationship? Sounds like a enormous mistake to me.

#41 Lessa on 08.07.09 at 10:39 pm

I agree with this article. But I want to make a comment about being in a relationship with someone similar. It’s not always an enormous mistake. My boyfriend is very similar to me. The main differences between us is he’s a game freak and I’m a book freak. Just because your similar doesn’t mean it’s a mistake. After all not everybody who is similar is exactly alike it just means they have common interests. I’m going to quote one of my favorite authors on her comment about Love when asked why her character Alanna ended up with George instead of Jon. “It’s hard to describe a relationship like theirs to people, because most of us were raised to think love is fire, passion, and prolonged bouts of giddiness and strained emotions. The quieter kind of love looks kinda boring on the surface, even cool-hearted. Nobody wants that at first. Some people never learn how wonderful it is to be friends with a lover or spouse, to know that here is someone you can be yourself around, and they will love you anyway, sometimes not in spite of your worse characteristics, but because of them. That kind of lover will stay with you through thick and thin, will make you feel valued always, and will make any disastrous occasion seem less so because you are with that person.” That’s just a snippet but I think it fits rather well. I think it fits especially well for Harry and Hermione. They’re my favorite pairing but I can read just about any pairing. I personally just never thought that Harry/Ginny made no sense. I can agree about romance being developed but some people are forgetting that Ginny told Harry that she always knew she would end up with him. I can’t remember the exact quote now but that sounds a little like a fan-girl to me. Someone commented on Ron and the Twins getting to know him for his fame. Yes that’s true but they also got over it in his first year. Ron kept showing the signs of jealousy true but the twins never did. In fact they didn’t want to take Harry’s winnings from the Tournament he had to force them do so. Please do let me know where Ginny gets over that after meeting him? Also someone commented about the Lilly thing and I have to agree that it would be disturbing to date someone who looked like my dad. I’m a girl so obvioulsy I’ve switched it but the reasoning still stands. Also Harry appears to get jealous out of nowhere and in book 5 he didn’t care that she was dating different guys in fact I don’t believe he took much notice of it at all. Sorry for my absurdly long post. I like to chat and I also enjoy debates so I couldn’t resist adding in my own two cents.

#42 Tracy on 08.08.09 at 9:46 am

First off Gnny never said that she always knew she would end up with him. Ginny said she never gave up hope that he would finally notice her. I also want to point out that crushes docome out of nowhere all the time. One day you could be friends with someone at the next ay you could have a crush it happens. Harry suddenly had a crush on Cho in his third year, and that came out of nowhere but people don’t complain about that. I don’t think Ron knew he had a crush on Hermione until she went out with someone else. The something happened to Harry with Ginny. She got to spend all summer with Harry and she showed her personality and they had fun together. Throughout the 6th book we get kind of see that Harry missed spending time with her because they did not really hang out with the same people at school. Harry just did not realize that he had feeling for her until he saw her kissing Dean.

#43 Lessa on 08.09.09 at 4:13 pm

True enough. You make some good points Tracy. I know some people get violent over the pairings but like I’ve said I will read just about anything. The main reason I always thought he and Hermione would be a great pair is because she was at his side through thick and thin and always looking out for him. In a way I think Hermione probably understands him better than anybody. That’s just me. I think that really Harry could end up with just about anything and on the Cho thing that would be because he’s a teenager in that book and Cho is one of the prettiest girls in the school and he probably noticed her because of the Quiditch thing. That crush was a bit more consistent than the one he had on Ginny because to me he was crushing on Cho for about 3 books. The Ginny thing kinda seemed forced to me and that was because his best friends had gotten wrapped up in their own little problems and he felt maybe a bit left out and he was still upset about Sirius’s death. Someone commented on how she knew when to not force him well sometimes you do need to force your friends to talk. After all it’s not healthy for them to keep everything bottled up inside.

#44 Bri on 08.09.09 at 7:37 pm

I DO NOT AGREE with this atrtical at all! How do you think Harry\Luna be a good relation ship? So he took her to Slighorns party. he only took her because she was the only girl not begging him to take her. Cho betraied him. Hermione is like a sister to him. She’s his best friend. Harry and Ginny are a match made in heaven. So is Hermione and Ron. Out of the four girls either Ginny or Hermione would be his best match but Ginny is the very best. Ron and Hermione are my favorite couple and Harry and Ginny are my second. I agree all the way with Tracy.

#45 Andie on 08.16.09 at 12:24 pm

All issues of other pairings aside, I think Harry/Ginny fails on its own merits – or lack of them. But on the whole Rowling seems to fail at her romances. She’s clearly an adventure/mystery writer and I think she probably would have done well to just avoid the subject for the most part, rather than throwing in epilogues that marry people off and weird gratuitous pairings. I mean, when you think about it, Tonks and Remus came out of nowhere and had no development, and so did Bill and Fleur. Arthur and Molly were probably her best couple and they were already well-established in their marriage. Lily and James and Lily and Snape were both romantic in their own ways but were only ever seen through fairly distant lenses, and for all we know Lily and James would have been divorced in a few years if Voldemort hadn’t killed them. Ron and Hermione had that whole love/hate thing from the get-go, but even though it was clear (to me, anyway) that she was going to pair them off from the first book, she did such a poor job actually developing the reasons why they SHOULD be together (versus the obstacles she gave them) that the whole thing just seemed pretty anti-climactic when it finally happened. In the same way Harry and Ginny might have had hints early on, but they were far more vague and subjective and in the end the pairing was poorly executed. Harry’s thoughts seemed more lustful than loving – tempered by the fact that he’s a good person, and so not an utter jerk to people he lusts after and probably unfamiliar with recognizing the difference in feelings – and none of the issues for the pairing are ever really resolved. There are too many reasons for Harry to be with Ginny that have nothing to do with Ginny. People cite her being Ron’s sister as a benefit – but Harry wants to have a family like the Weasleys, and so from a romantic perspective it actually puts a dent in the idea, because what if her appeal for him has more to do with her family than herself? It’s sort of like if someone who’s always wanted to be a head chef dates someone who owns a restaurant. Even just subconsciously they might have ulterior motives, and unless those are addressed I’m left to think that they’re unresolved. My impression of the pair is that Harry started dating her and wound up marrying her because he couldn’t break ties with her without feeling like he’d be breaking ties to her family as well. Not very romantic. Then there is, as someone mentioned, the fact that what we know about Ginny and what we know about Lily is freakishly similar. Considering the pedastal Harry puts his mother on… well, it just makes me think that he doesn’t know Ginny at all. In Chamber of Secrets when he goes to rescue her he’s not thinking about how a friend of his is in trouble. He’s thinking about how nice the Weasleys have been to him, and how Ron’s his best friend and he doesn’t want them to lose their little girl. There’s nothing to indicate that Harry’s there for Ginny in specific and not her family in general, and that holds true for the entire series.

#46 Andie on 08.16.09 at 12:28 pm

Also, to Cris’ comment about Luna being a Mary-Sue – a Mary-Sue is a wish-fulfilment character who is unrealistic and acts as an avatar for the author (or the reader, sometimes) to insert themselves and live out a fantasy with impossible standards, either from the world they’re in or from the other characters of the story. How is that, in any way, Luna Lovegood?

#47 Julie on 08.19.09 at 4:58 pm

Lessa, of course you don’t want to date anyone that looks exactly like your father or mother; but It was actually proved that you find people more attractive if they have the same features as your parent from the opposite sex. It’s nothing freaky or anything, just science. But you do have a point about the love thing. With some people love is passionate and for others it means stability. But I think you have to have loads of passion at first and later on, as the relationship evolves, you have other priorities. Though I believe, when in a healthy relationship, the passion never dies.

Anyways, everyone has their own opinion. I don’t mind, keeps things interesting

#48 Arya Stark on 08.26.09 at 2:05 pm

@#32: That is exactly what I thought when I read the crazy debate going on here. (Plus, love your ‘name’! Can’t wait for the next book!)

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of course, but in the end Harry DID end up with Ginny. Therefore discussion about alternatives is in and of itself, ridiculous. Personally, I find Ron/Hermione to be the relational travesty in the books and not Harry/Ginny.

The majority of comments here are severely off topic, since this article isn’t about whether or not Harry and Ginny should have ended up together, and instead whether or not they should be counted as one of the great literary couples of all time. In which case I first refer back once more to Asha’s comment at #32. This isn’t supposed to be romance! And secondly say, agreed. Since they aren’t developed a romantic couple, they don’t really stand up next to couples that are (Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett being the primary example).

#49 Vivi on 08.31.09 at 6:05 pm

I totally agree with you!
Harry and Ginny was never meant to be, maybe only in Ginny’s head. Ginny was one of the most boring character there was in the JK world, she wasn’t developed very well, the readers’d always be told she was special, but in fact we’ve never really got to see it. And then their romance started out of nowhere.
I was for some time a H/Hr fan, and I still like them together, but over the years I’ve got more and more convinced that Harry and Luna should be the ones together. They just seemed to get each other. Sometimes I even think that maybe JK thought it too, but in the end she didn’t have enough courage to make them a couple.

#50 Mandy on 09.07.09 at 4:31 pm

I completely agree with this article, and in fact I am glad there are people around who like me strongly disliked the 7th book, and the romance in HP.

First of, I believed in the beginning of their adolescence that Hr/R were destined to be together. When Book 7 and Ron’s ‘betrayal’ came out though, I felt it was stupid to let the most intelligent witch of her generation and a stupid bloke who happens to be good at chess (I seriously can’t explain that talent) get together.

Now, there are arguments against and in favor of all ships, but personally I just can’t see Harry with any of the girls… Sure Hermione helps him, but… It is always a sisterly kind of love, there are some people who just can’t be romantically involved. Heck, I am a fan of HP Slash, as long as it’s well written, but Harry/Ginny… I’ll explain why it is utterly pointless immediately.

Ginny is, was, and will be, a fangirl. I agree with Tracy’s comment on how all crushes start out of the blue, but it’s just that, CRUSHES. No way can you fall in love, yet alone marry a person you met when you were 12 and realized they existed after 5 years.

There’s no dynamic in the pair. Harry is too kind, gentle, and broken from life for Ginny to understand, who grew up in a loving family and faced no true danger until the Riddle incident in CoS. She just passes off as Ron’s little sister until in Book 6 she is suddenly transformed into a rare beauty, with, I quote “her long red hair dancing behind her”. If that’s not OOC, then I don’t know what is!

I had not thought of the possibility Ginny used Amortentia on Harry… Interesting idea, and it would fit with Harry being powerful enough to fight the sudden impulses that appeared in the beginning of the school year.

Er. Tell me again, how in the blazes Ginny is the perfect match for Harry? They share nothing in common, and Ginny was turned into a Mary Sue in B6. Sarcastic, funny, with witty comebacks, a temper, beautiful, and popular. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Harry is too deep and Ginny too shallow.

I don’t think H/Hr would work, as I said, siblings in my head, Luna… Haven’t read a story about them yet, I can see her with Neville more easily. If you are against slash I suppose your choices are limited, but I’m not so…

Really though, guys, JKR had to give Harry a romance acceptable by the teenagers, as I guess most H/G and Hr/R supporters are. After GoF, the books for me went downhill in regards of character development, though the plot and the Horcrux idea was amazing, not to mention the Deathly Hallows. The moment HP became the most popular book in the world, JKR had fans to please before creating the story as it was in her head. I for one believe she intended to kill Harry, thus the non-existent romance (I’m not counting Cho) and the sudden appearance of his everlasting love for Ginny. I guess it wouldn’t be a good idea to kill the hero of so many kids, so she had to follow a different course. My guess is she doesn’t even like the romance, but had no other choice.

Thankfully there’s fanfiction around!

#51 Holly on 09.08.09 at 2:45 am

I have to say that i agree with the author of this article entire, in fact I would say it doesn’t go far enough. I have wondered since OotP what happened to this story as less than half way into the book it was if a different author entirely took over the writing. Harry Potter started as a series for children and ended the series in a pair of books I would not let a child read.

The whole Harry/Ginny mess was…pitiful. Harry who has always hated attention and notoriety is suddenly paired with his greatest fangirl who according to the books used to play marrying Harry Potter as a child. In fact I kept flipping back and forth in the books trying to figure out where I missed the lead in to the ‘romance’ and wondering if there was a missing unpublished book or if a psychotic editor had done a hack job on the manuscript or the characters had suddenly developed schizophrenia as at times I really had trouble recognizing them as the the same characters from earlier books. I too as many have mentioned kept waiting for the Amortentia punchline and found the joke was on me.

So I wouldn’t call it ‘great literary romance’ I would in truth be hard pressed to call it even teenage hormones.

#52 khrystal on 09.15.09 at 2:27 am

Just want to share my shallow comments. I don’t feel any chemistry between Harry and Ginny. Compared to that pairing I’d rather go for a Malfoy-Hermione pairing. Now, that would be a great story. haha..

#53 That Guy on 09.22.09 at 2:23 am

“I had always planned that Harry’s true soul mate, which I stand by, is Ginny, and that Ron and Hermione have this combative but mutual attraction. They will always bicker, there will always be rough edges there, but they are pulled together, each has something the other needs.”

I stared at her, sensing she wasn’t finished, and a sense of foreboding crept in around the edges.

“[Kloves] felt a certain pull between them at that point. And I think he’s right. There are moments when [Harry and Hermione] touch, which are charged moments. One when she touches his hair as he sits on the hilltop reading about Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and [two] the moment when they walk out of the graveyard with their arms around each other.”

I was holding my breath at this point. She wasn’t done.

“Now the fact is that Hermione shares moments with Harry that Ron will never be able to participate in. He walked out. She shared something very intense with Harry.

“So I think it could have gone that way.”

Directly From J.K’s mouth. She preferred Ginny, but it easily could of been Hermione. One of the reasons she didn’t change it was because of how far the story was already planned for in advance. Also Hermione was based on her, Ron on her EX-husband, Harry on her current husband, and Ginny how she wished she was like back as a teenager. When looked at like that its hard to deny that Hermione and Harry had only a brother/sister connection. Even the director from blasted movies even thought that it was gonna be H/Hr.

#54 lissa on 09.24.09 at 9:05 am

i disagree with the article. maybe there is no conversation between harry and ginny till the 5th book,so what! ginny had always loved harry but she could never tell about it to him.harry could not realize his love for ginny because he did not spend enough time with her. but in the sixth book , harry spends time with ginny. he starts having feelings about her and feels jealous when he sees her with dean. i think harry/ginny is a great couple.
even ron and hermione is also a great couple. JKRowling had always given clues of their being 2gether. sorry for spelling and grammatical mistakes.

#55 LynnS/AAR on 10.19.09 at 3:18 pm

I totally agree. When I read the books and it became obvious these two were getting together, I kept thinking, “Where did SHE come from?” I liked Ron and Hermione, but Ginny seemed a bit bland and her character never really came to life for me.

#56 Keira on 10.19.09 at 3:36 pm

Ginny is very generic. She’s practically a Mary-Sue if you think about it. Pretty. Popular. Sporty. Smart. She’s too good at everything to be realistic.

#57 Bridget on 10.24.09 at 1:47 pm

I disagree the article.

Ginny was possesed by Voldemort in book two. She probaley didnt have that many friends that year like Harry shuns his in book 5. Ginny is strong and knows not to push Harry like Hermione. Hermione just nags and Luna always stares off in space. Ginny makes Harry laugh and forget about all of dark lord problems when they are around each other, he said this himself in book 6. While hermione always wants to plan it and Luna just says riddles about the furture.

What people dont understand is that the book doesnt say every interaction with every character. Harry and Ginny could of talked alot during the summer to book 6 so he starts a crush that turns into jealousy with dean. J.K. Rowling knows the characters better than everyone else and she said so herself that they are ‘soul mates’ so I think we should just leave it to her to know what kind of people have the best romantic conncections.

#58 Linda on 10.30.09 at 2:07 am

What’s the point in getting into such a fuss over someone’s PERSONAL choices ? No wonder people say HP shippers are crazy.

#59 HPfan on 10.30.09 at 9:38 am

It’s ironic how Harry being with his “#1 fangirl” is the very thing that made him feel for once like he wasn’t the famous Harry Potter.

Harry told Ginny that their time together was like something out of someone elses life. Being with her made him feel like a normal wizard, who didn’t have the fate of the wizarding world resting on his shoulders.

(From DH Chapter 8:

Harry’s mind wandered a long way from the marquee, back to afternoons spent alone with Ginny in lonely parts of the school grounds. They seemed so long ago; they had always seemed too good to be true, as though he had been stealing shining hours from a normal person’s life, a person without a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.)

After all that Harry had suffered, he deserved someone that could give him that life, free of Voldemort, free of the war.

Ginny grew out of her fangirl phase, just as Harry grew out of his phase with Cho.

Also, the whole “Amortentia” excuse is really getting old! I think you’re confusing Ginny with that Romilda Vane chick.

Mary Sue? The book is told from Harry’s POV and he thought Ginny was perfect! That’s why Ginny comes off looking like a Mary Sue, when she is anything but!

#60 Maria on 11.03.09 at 1:13 am

to be honest, I don’t care about Harry and Ginny much. my fave couple, and not only in HP, but in the whole literature is Ron and Hermione. they really match each other. yes, they love bickering. maybe that’s because each of them tried to hide feelings for another…
I didn’t see in the books any hints on H/Hr. and I’m sure that if they’re together, they would die from boredom. both Harry and Hermione need someone who will provide lightness to their lifes. and those people are Ginny and Ron.
not to mention that Harry likes pretty girls. and he obviously never saw Hermione as one of them.
and I hate that JK listen to that idiot Kloves…
sorry for my English

#61 Juanita on 11.04.09 at 11:59 pm

I could never really see Harry with Ginny aside from the “oddly furtive look” in HBP, but I disregarded because everyone was insanely out of character. The only constant for Harry throughout the entire series has been Hermione.
Book 1, she’s with him up until the potion scene.

Book 2, she’s petrfied, but solves almost everything before she goes.

Book 3, that was her book. The entire plot centralized on her.

Book 4, even with the interest of another guy, she’s still with Harry 100% even after Ron walks away.

Book 5, she and Harry in battle together was an incredible visual and the scene where he thought she was dead was pretty powerful. They were even paired up how I thought they would be romantically in the Department of Mysteries: Harry/Hermione, Ron/Luna, and Ginny/Neville.

Book 6, when she’s wrong, she’s not off by much. Even in an argument, she’s still there for Harry. Doesn’t anyone else find it weird that she knows the way to Harry’s heart?

Book 7, three words: Bonded for Life. Need I say more?

The Epilogue? Harry and Hermione didn’t even speak. Even Malfoy got a head nod, what the heck? In fact the only person she spoke towas Ron.

#62 Tracy Cooper-Posey on 11.05.09 at 12:32 pm

Wow, I came into this one late, didn’t I?

I admit I felt cheated by the love relationships in Potterworld…they never did seem to sit right with me. I was shocked as hell when I found out that Hermione didn’t end up with Harry. I thought perhaps there might be some sort of lover’s triangle thing go on for a while with Ron, but Harry would win the day. But Ginny??? Out of left field.

#63 Keira on 11.05.09 at 4:31 pm

@Tracy Cooper-Posey: Very left field! I think Harry and Ginny come off as a tell not a show in the writing. As in JKR went, “Dangit! I meant these two to get together from the beginning and they will because I say so!” as opposed to any actual text to show readers they were meant to be together.

@HPfan:

Harry told Ginny that their time together was like something out of someone elses life.

Exactly and that’s how it read to others. It wasn’t HP anymore it was some random bloke like Perry Rotter.

#64 Unic on 11.06.09 at 6:32 am

“But, Harry and Ginny ARE romantic! She loves him for the longest time and he saves her from the Chamber and then he started to notice her but they can’t be together yet and he goes off to kill the bad guy and then he comes back and marry her!” That’s what my 12-year old cousin told me in regard of H/G being romantic or not.

So, I guess Harry and Ginny ARE one of the Great Literary Romances, at least for a child, well it’s a child book to begin with anyway. But, if you analyze it with an adult point of view, yes, they seem to be something missing there…

And I think that’s why JKR jumps to 19 years later, Harry Potter is NOT a romance book.

#65 Rettop on 11.09.09 at 3:56 pm

I think there is more material that would make a Harry/McGonagall pairing than Harry/Ginny.

I think the only semi-pairing that was good was the one-sided love between Snape and Lily.

Harry/Luna or Hermoine would have made more sense. Both of them are rather knowledable about the wizarding world and they would know about books that were writen about him and his parents. The only diference between Luna and Hermoine is that Luna gently pushes Harry into the right direction whereas Hermoine forces him.

None of the pairings in the series made sense, The only married couple we saw were the Malfoys and the Weasleys. Neither of them was romantic in any way.

#66 jay wolfe on 11.13.09 at 4:36 am

Read my facebook on the matter of their relationship! I agree, Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley were never meant to be together.

#67 Lina on 11.15.09 at 7:47 pm

I’m amazed so many people just couldn’t see the Harry/Ginny coming. It just seemed so clear … anvil sized hints and all. But of course, if one things being nagged or laughing at, pitying someone and being embarassed by them has romantic potential, then maybe it’s not such a surprise.

#68 Lina on 11.15.09 at 7:48 pm

Also, Rettop – Does Ginny not have any knowledge of the Wizarding World ? You know, being a witch all her life and not just gaining the info from books ? WTF biased much ?

#69 Stephanie on 11.20.09 at 4:30 am

I realize this is kinda late but maybe someone will come across it and agree. Anyway I always felt like the H/G and H/R romances [which I don't support] were forcing them all into being a family since Harry has no one and Hermione had her parents sent to Australia (?) but is basically alone. This way they were all incorporated and would be forever tied together. But I also felt that was stupid after everything HHR went through. Does this make any sense? Anyway I wanted Harry/Hermione or Harry/Luna and Hermione/Anyone but Ron [Actually I like Hermione/Draco but that wouldn't fit into what's been presented in the books]

#70 heidenkind on 12.02.09 at 11:06 pm

Aw, I missed a great discussion. I agree with you for the most part–the idea of Harry and Ginny as a “romantic couple,” let alone of the greatest of all time, is hi-larious. I actually do like Harry and Ginny as a couple–at least now Harry gets to be part of the Weasely family–but I was very disappointed in the way it was handled in the books. You’re right, there’s like 3 lines of, “Oh, I spent the summer with Ginny and it was awesome!” and that about it.

As for Hermione and Harry, or Hermione and Ron, I always thought it was a bit odd Harry never even thought of her as more than a friend. It’s great that we’ve reached a place in male/female relationships where boys and girls can be friends and everything’s cool, but I (vaguely) remember being a teenager, and I just can’t see any of the kids not at least playing the scenario out in their minds, you know what I mean?

Harry and Hermione I can see as a couple. Hermione and Ron…? Yeah, it’s a bit odd. He’s not really at her level.

As for the REAL epic romance in HP–urm, the one between me and Snape that goes on in my head? ;P Oh, no, wait–Snape and Dumbledore! They were having an affair the entire time. It all makes sense now….

#71 Keira on 12.02.09 at 11:49 pm

LMAO!

Actually I think it must be Dumbledore and Grindelwald – their lurv was star-crossed, unrequited, caused Wizard World War 1, involved the most epic of epic trophy wands, a struggle between friendship and frienemies, forced one to imprison another in a tower for the rest of their freakishly long lives between two uncannily intelligent men with a knack for foolish wand waving.

#72 heidenkind on 12.03.09 at 12:27 am

That’s genius. Oh, the tortured love life of Albus Dumbledore, always pining for Grindelwald but knowing he can never have him….

#73 Keira on 12.03.09 at 9:45 am

Snape might be there somewhere in the middle too – poor Snape. Caught between Voldy and Dumbledore. Plus his unrequited love for Lily.

#74 Beth Kery on 12.03.09 at 10:17 pm

Oh, wow, brilliant post! Cheers to someone who thinks about these ‘so’ important matters as much as me.

I will admit it, there have been times when I wondered why, oh why, Harry and Hermione couldn’t have been meant for each other?–why Harry smelled Ginny’s scent on the Amortentia fumes in book six, for instance, while Hermione smelled…what? ( I always wondered, because it clearly signaled Ron, because she blushed and stopped talking, recognizing the connection. Dirty socks? Owl droppings? Aunt Tessie’s armpits?)
In J.K.’s defense, these things are inexplicable, no only in romance, but real life. AND, Rowling wasn’t writing a romance.
I just had to add, at the risk of people throwing tomatoes at me for being Freudian: Harry never had a mother. Genny is red-haired like his mother. She’s feisty and full of vibrancy. She’s the ‘favorite’ of Slughorn, just like Lily was.
Er…yeah, I think J.K. knew she was making these parallels.
Thanks for the fun post!

#75 heidenkind on 12.05.09 at 12:38 am

Oh, I think Snape and Dumbledore are definitely man crushing on one another. Why else would Dumbledore put up with him?

#76 Clara on 12.20.09 at 6:27 pm

@#47 The whole passion before settling down thing doesn’t seem like as much to me. I’m probably biased but when I read The Song of the Lioness series the Heroine Alanna ended up with George because whenever she walked into a room that he was in she was home. George and Alanna had a quieter love but there was passion to it. George worried over her whereas Jon cheated on her. I also agree with the whole bit about Ginny being so popular. Ginny has very little she and Harry can share. Luna as someone pointed out has known Loss and Hermione has always been there for him and she doesn’t let him bottle everything up. She makes him let it out because it’s healthier. Ginny was raised on bedtime stories of him. They just don’t work to me.

#77 Nick on 01.01.10 at 6:21 pm

Ginny also shares Loss with him doesn’t she ? She also tells him to STFU when he needs it where Hermione doesn’t ( aka read OOTP). And she also shares a common sense of humour with him and passion for quidditch. Finally, she is the ONLY person who shares a possession by Voldermort. Very little that she and Harry can share ? Are you serious ? Did you even READ the books ? If Luna and Harry sharing “loss” can be enough for the basis of a relationship (say what ?) then surely Harry and Ginny have the most basis because they share the most than Harry does with Luna or Hermione !

Also, she was raised on bedtime stories of him ? Not in my copy of the book – that’s your own personal projection I think – it’s never stated anywhere in the book ya know ?

#78 Nick on 01.01.10 at 6:24 pm

Also I have to laugh at all the comments about Ginny being boring and undeveloped and then all this stuff about Luna being so great. Seriously ? That’s Luna – boring and undeveloped. Plus Harry kind of laughs at her and pities her – no way did JKR ever consider going there. Or else, woah, that’d be a major fail.

#79 Alice on 01.08.10 at 10:44 pm

I like Harry Potter as a mystery, adventure, fantasy story I complete ignore the undeveloped, unrealistic, shallow, and forcedly written romances in this book, every single one. I always wanted Harry to die. After reading the books over and over I have come to the conclusion that Harry Potter is such a shallow jerk. Hermione is a bossy old maid, Ron is for comic relief (sidekick) Ginny is fangirl.
To be on topic I really don’t think Harry and Ginny relationship should be on the same level as Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy – that is just offensive. So I guess I agree with everything said in this article.

#80 vir on 01.18.10 at 1:29 am

i agree that rowling did a shitty job writing the relationship, but i think they would have made a good couple otherwise… well to be honest, harry was too busy surviving and saving the world to have “true love” romances. it would be better if ginny was just portrayed as a distraction, as the hot piece of ass harry got to have with and enjoy for a while… and then went onto his mission. but no, she is supposed to be like his soulmate, and its sooooo terribly written!! =/

i’m a huge ron/hermione shipper though. they belong together.

#81 vir on 01.18.10 at 1:33 am

why are there so many harmony shippers?? it was obvious that ron would end up with mione since the first meeting. its the takahashi couple, one that never gets old if its well handled. i think ron/hermione was well handled, or at least decently. i dont see any h/hr hints at all o.O

#82 vir on 01.18.10 at 1:37 am

and ron isnt stupid. i think people are watching the movies too many times. ron is insecure about his abilities and feels like less when he isn’t, that’s why he acts stupid. he’s smarter than he acts. he and hermione balance out each other really well.
the romance in harry potter made sense to me. although yes harry ginny was not well written but when it comes out from the mouth of a bitter h/hr shipper i get annoyed.

#83 vir on 01.18.10 at 1:42 am

there were many conversations between ron and mione that harry missed too. its just told from harry’s pov and we don’t see them. ron and hermione belong together in jo’s world, and maybe hermione belongs with draco in fanfiction world XD. but h/hr is ridiculous!! what are people thinking?

#84 vir on 01.18.10 at 1:44 am

and ron and luna?? what? ron thinks she’s nuts. yes, he starts admiring her courage, uniqueness or whatever it is later like harry in book six, but that doesnt automatically mean romantic love. jeez…

#85 Keira on 01.18.10 at 1:59 am

takahashi couple???

#86 vir on 01.18.10 at 2:06 am

the bickering couple… rumiko takahashi is famous for all her bickering couples, thats why i called ron/herm a takahashi couple.

#87 Christina on 02.10.10 at 1:29 am

Actually, I disagree. Entirely. You seriously need to read the books again, and perhaps this time you should read them a little bit more thoroughly. Throughout the entire series Harry notices little tidbits about Ginny. He watches her run after the train, notices that her eyes glitter in the fire and that she acts like a cat. They have the fact that they’ve both been posessed in common, Ginny understands what Harry has gone through more than anyone else because she was mentally raped by Voldemort her entire first year. It was slowly developed, and Ginny is the perfect person for Harry. While Ron and Hermione cower and cry when Harry gets mad at them, Ginny always stood up and put him in his place. Hermione and Harry would have been another Lily and James. Lily was the smartest witch of her age…Hermione was the smartest witch of her age. Lily frowned upon rule breaking…Hermione frowned upon rule breaking. Lily and Hermione were both book worms, both bossy, both muggle born. The only thing Ginny and Lily have in common is their red hair…which isn’t even that in common, see ing as Lily’s hair is auburn and Ginny’s is ginger. Hermione was too much of a mother for Harry, Harry didn’t need someone to coddle and worry about him nonstop, nor did he need someone like Luna who was unstable and a bit crazy. He needed someone who understood him and would let him be the hero, would let him go off and do what he needed to do because she understood what a monster Voldemort was. Read the books, and you’ll notice how often Harry’s eyes turn to Ginny.

#88 ebony on 02.10.10 at 6:45 pm

I think Harry loved Ginny because she had the family he always wanted. There isn;t any real chemistry between them. Rowling made them out to be the next James and Lily. Like James Harry didn’t find out he loved Ginny until his 7th year and like Lily Ginny is a red-haired strong will type of girl who fight back.

#89 Christina on 02.10.10 at 11:26 pm

To Ebony: Where on earth in the book does it say James didn’t find out he loved Lily un til his 7th year. He asked her out in fifth year, he liked her in fifth year. Not 7th year. Plus, Ginny is nothing like Lily and Harry is nothing like his dad, so therefore they are nothing like another Lily and James. The only thing Ginny and Lily have in common is that they were redheads, Hermione and Lily are far more alike.

#90 Christina on 02.10.10 at 11:28 pm

Not to mention, Harry already had the Weasley family without having to be with Ginny. He was best friends with Ron and had saved many of the Weasley family members countless times, they already considered him a part of their family long before he realized Ginny was his ideal girlfriend. After all, in the fifth book, Molly says that Harry is as good as her son.

#91 d4r7h on 02.28.10 at 10:18 pm

look you think you can tell the story better than rowling the write you own damn book….but i think she did harry+ginny justice!! (even if the movie didnt)

#92 Lins on 03.02.10 at 9:39 pm

I can’t take any Ron/Hermione shippers complaining about Harry/Ginny seriously. I’m sorry but the complaints of a badly written, chemistry less romance describes R/Hr PERFECTLY.

#93 Zyyle on 03.07.10 at 2:34 pm

I can’t help but laugh at this whole comment thread. You are arguing over something you had no control over. The Harry and Ginny ship has more basis than Harry and Hermione. Hermione is treated like a very good friend. How many people have romantic feelings for close a female (male for girls) friend? Ron has shown he had feeling for Hermione it has been subtly shown in the books. Also I am no shipper just a man with good eyes.

#94 Keira on 03.07.10 at 3:59 pm

It’s not a matter of control — it’s about analyzing what was in the pages of the books. There really shouldn’t have been any romance at all, but especially not the ones JKR force fed. The only basis as far as I can see is JKR decided it would be Harry and Ginny and refused to even consider other possibilities.

Some readers have pointed out that Ginny was also possessed like Harry, but I am of the opinion being possessed by a 16 yr old Riddle who is only beginning to find his true power/evilness and in actuality is a shadow or a faint memory of the real deal is not like being possessed by Voldemort as we knew him in person. There really isn’t a comparison. Ginny was powerless with 5 yrs difference give or take between her age and the age of her possessor. Harry fought against and won against a stronger and much older version of Voldemort.

#95 Tracy on 03.08.10 at 10:23 am

Keira you make it sound like she was to scared to put other couples together, but it’s her book and she made the charters up hence she gets to decided who they end up with. I get that you don’t like the couple that’s fine but don’t say she don’t have the guts to do something. That’s just makes you sound really bitter.
The second part you said about Ginny not being on the same level as Harry man she can’t catch a break can she? It may be true that he is more powerful but they both know what it’s like to have him in their head. He tricked both of them into believing something that was not true. With Ginny he tricked her into believing that she could trust him and Harry thought he was saving Sirius.

#96 Tracy on 03.09.10 at 9:37 am

My bad I sound kind of snarkey sorry about that. I was just woundering if you have seen A Very Potter Musical on you tube and if you have do you like the way they portrayed Ginny and her relationship with Harry?

#97 Keira on 03.09.10 at 4:53 pm

I just saw it for the first time based on your rec. A Very Potter Musical is fantastic! Right up there with Potter Puppet Pals!

#98 Tracy on 03.10.10 at 10:23 am

Yea I love I’m always singing and making my sister mad. : ) they are making a sequel this summer. I can’t wait.

#99 Keira on 03.10.10 at 11:54 pm

Seriously? A sequel — all the same people? YES! I loved Voldemort and Quirrell they were hilarious.

#100 Luna on 03.11.10 at 12:54 pm

Erm, about the complaints about how Ginny being possessed by a 16 year old Voldermort means nothing .. are you freaking serious ? Quirrell couldn’t stand it and neither could the trio in DH. And he didn’t mentally rape them. Sorry but your casual dismissal of mental rape makes me just laugh at your opinion.

#101 Tracy on 03.11.10 at 3:02 pm

Um I don’t know if it’s going to be all the same people but I hope they have alto of them and add more characters to it if you want more info on them here is there website.http://www.teamstarkid.com and there is more musicals on you tube that they have done.

#102 Thereaderofonlyfive on 03.14.10 at 6:28 am

I totally agree. I saw no hint of any sort of relationship between the two. I saw more interaction between Harry and Luna than him and Ginny.

Now that would have been a more believable match up.

To tell the truth I saw a decline in the later books, and the epilogue just seemed to be tagged on. Giving everyone an obvious ending that everyone expected rather than an unexpected one that would have been interesting.

I actually think he was put with Ginny solelyy because she was I think the second most mentioned girl his age in the books.

#103 red queen on 03.17.10 at 7:02 pm

lol!…have you really read the book? have you really understand every thing that is said about ginny?…pathetic insight of yours…especially about cho and ginny…

cho lost quidditch against ginny.. a ginny made it win…
who would want a relationship with a pathetic girl who’d been crying in years because her ex-beau is dead…

ginny is a smart close enough to hermione…they never know it because jkr’s attention were all hermione…
ginny is a sportsminded with brain…that’s the difference between ginny and hermione..while hermione was just the most intelligent of her age…

true, there’s nothing much about h/g relationship in the book…but it’s really obviously understandable what it says there…not to mention having a crush at the age of 11…i had a crush when I was 11…10 actually

#104 Luna on 03.17.10 at 7:20 pm

Can people please explain the Harry/Luna ? Apart from the fact that Luna is even less developed than Ginny, and that she has even FEWER interactions, their interactions that people say would make them believable ? Hmm, let’s see. He laughs at her. Pities her. Mocks her. Describes her in the most unflattering terms ever. Doesn’t feel comfortable around her.

If this is a belieavble for you, I feel sorry for you.

#105 den on 03.17.10 at 7:41 pm

harry/hermione, nuh! ron/hermione makes more sense that h/hr in the book…r/hr had been there since book 3…more so…harry/luna? doesn’t make sense…harry asked luna on the party cos he has no other choice & a friend to luna…ginny is with dean…
yeah i agree with would you date a person you think is mental?…

yeah, it’s not a romantic book, that’s why jkr didn’t concentrate on the romantic thing…which is why people didn’t understand about h/g

if i were you, read what jkr said about h/g on wikipedia..then you’ll understand…

fyi, hermione suggested ginny to date so she could gain confidence around harry…which happened…
ginny made friends with harry on Bk 5. but remember harry’s attention was with cho, so it would make sense he wouldn’t notice ginny at that time…
harry only noticed ginny at bk 6 cos that’s when ginny started making a real conversation with ginny which jkr didn’t go much details about that.which made some people really didn’t understand

#106 tin on 03.17.10 at 8:12 pm

you know I agree with this “tiger says:
Wow, do I agree with this, thanks for writing it up. I’ve always been a fan of this couple. In fact, this made me want to list some of my favorite things about the two and why I like them.

I think most people can agree that Harry needs someone who can offer him some comfort and solace after everything he’s seen and been through. I think Ginny gives him this. After he sees his father treat Snape horribly in the pensieve, she’s there to listen and let him open up about wanting to talk to the only other person who might have answers: Sirius. After Dumbledore dies, she’s the first one who is able to get him to move. In the beginning of Deathly Hallows, the two seek comfort in each other simply by holding hands while waiting for the others to arrive from a deadly mission. Along with offering comfort, she also snaps him out of his bad moods.

Another thing I think Harry really needs is someone with a similar sense of humor. Hermione, as much as I love her, does not share Harry’s humor. Harry relies heavily on having a good time (he didn’t miss Ron so much in Goblet of Fire for nothing!) – he even gave his winnings in the fourth book to Fred and George because he thought they could all do with more laughs. It’s clear in the books that Ginny not only likes many of the same things Harry does (Quidditch), but that they have the same sense of humor. There are many instances in the books where they’re both laughing together, before and after they are a couple. This is why I think Harry and Ginny work so well: they’re able to comfort each other in dark times and lighten up and have some laughs during the good times.

And of course, like you said, it all started with Ginny’s crush. That was what clued me into the fact they’d eventually hook up back during my Chamber of Secrets read. Like you said, people love to root for the underdog. Hermione, Cho, whoever else… they were not the underdogs concerning romance when it came to Harry. I was rooting for Ginny to get with Harry for this reason and I was lucky enough to enjoy the ride JKR set up for them. I’m sorry others weren’t, but that’s their view and they’re welcome to it like anyone else.

In regards to Ron and Hermione, I respect your opinion, although I don’t agree with it. I also enjoyed them but for different reasons. I do think the Ron and Hermione fans should relax and let you have your own opinion, though. Thank you again for writing this!
February 18, 10:55 PM”

#107 Shinstar on 03.18.10 at 1:13 am

Eh, I disagree but whatever, it’s your opinion.

But seriously, Harry/Luna is more believable ? Really ? How ? In reality he would never ever look at her twice and in the books, he only happens to realize her existence because he’s forced too. Apart from death, which is not something that is unique to them, they have no shared interests and that would lead to a pretty bad relationship. Plus, Harry needs to feel normal and yeah he’d feel like that in comparison to Luna who’s just not there but isn’t that pretty pathetic and lame ? And don’t both deserve better ?

#108 lauren on 03.18.10 at 5:16 pm

ginny and harry are PERFECT together they understand eachother and when harry wants to talk to sirius he talks to her about it and she personally asks fred and george to find a way. also he does have fun with her and a laugh even when she calls ron a prat after he punches demelza in the mouth during quiddich practice and harry tells her not to call him a prat and she replies ” Well, you seemed to busy to call him a prat and i thought someone should” and harry forced himself not to laugh.

he sacraficed his love for her so she would be safe by breaking up with her. and when in the forest in dh he over hears dean and ted tonks saying ginny luna and neville tried to steal the sword out of snapes office and got caught and he was silently praying that someone would ask if ginny was ok. he was very thankfull to here she only got a detention with hagrid and no more hogmeads trips. he also always took out the maurauders map to follow her label around hogwarts. so he really did miss her! also in dh when aunt miriel comments on ginnys dress being far to low cut and out of the whole crowd ginny turns and winks and grins at harry. and whenever ron complimented hermione ginny and harry grin at eachother silently. so they have a great relationship even before they go out. harry also during the wedding thinks about his days at hogwarts with ginny in deserted corridors. and he leans against the pillar and watchs her dance regreting his promise to ron about not treating her like his girlfriend anymore.

ginny also clears her throat loudly when gabrellie bats her eye lashes at harry. and when victor krum comments on how beautiful ginny is harry tells him shes going out a big tough guy you wouldnt want to cross. when ginny comes into the room of requirment before the battle at the end she gives harry a winning smile and harry realised he never realised or never fully apreceated how beautiful she is. and when he is about to die in front of voldemort of all the people he loves his mind drifts to her and the feel of her lips on his. ginny is also very pleased when harry tells her he thinks dating oppertuies would be very slim while he was off finding the horcruxes. ginny also fiercely tells cho that luna can take harry up to the ravenclaw common room when cho offers to. and when harry passes her on his way to the forest he wants to talk to her but cant and she seems to scense him go by. so i really think she loves him and he loves her and that they ARE romantic not the most romantic but romantic all the same. needless to say he did also save her life in the cos!! and she also is not afraid to stand up to him by snapping at him and telling she could help him find out wether or not he is pocessed. but i think there were hints in the book and even if they were not obvious it still way to obvious that harry and hermione would get married to be true!! jkr i think reeled you in to belive that but then cut the line by completely changing it around…..AND harry smelt ginnys flowery scent in the love potion but not realising its was her until she was concerned about him and the book came over to talk to him and he smelt it…..AND she was the only one who was able to get him away from dumbledores dead body and he allowed her and only her to guide him away to the hospital wing…….. anyway i feel i have made my point feel free to comment!!

#109 Stacie on 03.18.10 at 6:52 pm

I absolutely agree with you! Harry/Ginny is the most disgusting couple that I have ever had the misfortune of reading. I actually threw my book down at the epilogue… :gag:

Romances should be like Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice where people can visualize the slow dance of love, not a sudden BAM! and they are married with three kids.

There’s no conceivable reason why or how he ended up with Ginny of all people. Hell, I would have been happier if he had married Draco Malfoy, at least they had spark, and he was actually in the story.

Ginny was simply his best friend’s little sister and a fan girl, which makes her the worst romantic candidate for him. I had honestly thought that their relationship was a farce in the beginning, like how people date someone and realize that she/he is not the one, and then go to the one they were meant to be with.

Out of all the girls in the story, I support Harry/Hermione the most. She’s there with him the whole way, and part of the Golden Trio. She helps him in all his obstacles and has never doubted him. Ginny is simply an outsider, always looking in on the action, but never part of it herself.

Plus, as readers, we are not involved in the growth of Ginny at all. She has grown in the series, but we don’t go through that process with her, so we are not committed to her like we are to Hermione who blossoms from a timid bookworm into a strong, intelligent, young woman who’s not afraid to stand up for her self or her ideals. It’s just really doesn’t make sense on how Ginny ends up being the one Harry falls for. All I can say is that J.K. Rowling must be delusional, smoking something, or a bad romance writer. Or she just simply lost her mind during the last two books.

#110 sakura on 03.18.10 at 9:14 pm

stupid delusional HARMONIANs always STUPID and DELUSIONAL. never change so far i guess.

#111 lauren on 03.19.10 at 1:48 am

soo really there were quite a lot of hints as you can see from my last comment and that wasnt all of them eg. when he got the felxis filiuis luck potion and when ron and hermione think its good to use it to get slughorns memory for dumbledore he in this head was hoping to use it somehow to break up dean and ginny and to start going out with her and for ron to be ok with ginnys new boyfriend (harry). also when they kiss for the first time the roaring monster he had in his chest while ginny and dean were together had gone because they were now together! also ginny cant resist a long kiss from him at the burrow and he is thinking while kissing her the feel of her hair and that she is the only true thing in the world. they also find comfort in eachother just by holding eachothers hand while waiting for everyone to return from there mission. also when he returns and sees her all he wants to do even in front of mrs weasley is to hold her and never let go!! they are romantic!!

#112 vir on 03.21.10 at 3:34 pm

i dont think r/hr were badly written. say but you want, but it was made obvious that they were closer than harry and hermione.

#113 lauren on 03.22.10 at 11:48 am

i totally agree vir it was so obvious!! but i loved the way when ron had left and harry and hermione were in the graveyard and when they leave harrys parents graves they put their arms around eachother and then when ron saves harry and comes back, harry has to explain that himself and hermione were just friends and harry actually said…… “After you left, she cried for a week. Probally longer, only she didn’t want me to see. There were loads of nights where we never even spoke to eachother. With you gone… She’s like my sister,”he went on. “I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me. It’s always been like that. I thought you knew.” so i thought that was really sweet and then they hug!! aww!!! tear tear!! :’)

#114 Xelan on 03.23.10 at 11:43 pm

I agree with the article. I think a Harry/Hermione relationship would have made more sense. THAT was devotion, IMHO. During OoTP, I think it could have gone either way, and even in the later books, I think it could have easily been re-written to end H/Hr. I’m a harmonian, so I am somewhat biased, and while I do agree with the article, I think the greater injustice was what happened to Hermione. Smartest witch of their generation with guy with the emotional depth of a teaspoon. Tragic injustice. I still believe that for any of the last 3 Harry Potter books to make believable sense, a love potion must have been involved, someway, somehow.

#115 lauren on 03.24.10 at 12:55 pm

well………. it wasnt!! jkr always said when people asked her why chose H/G she said from the very start she had planned for them to be together and she saw R/H together from the start too and its her book soooo she can do what she likes with it…… i also was watching this program on the harry potter HBP DVD and they were actually filming her when she just finished the final book and she told the camara that she was really pleased with it and hopefully the fans would like
it too… soo shes happy so im happy!! i also am happy because i think the book is brill and i love harry and ginny together.

#116 The_Void on 03.24.10 at 1:51 pm

The main crux of the Harry/Ginny problem is that Harry’s feelings appeared without any precipitating event. They spend the summer like they always do – Harry hanging with Ron and Hermione with Ginny occasionally tagging along. Harry and Ginny do not spend any significant time together, just them. Then they continue to interact on a very basic level back at school – they’re together occasionally, but never just the two of them, and their interactions are not
deep, they’re just friendly.

Then all of a sudden, Harry sees Ginny kissing Dean and, bam, he realises he has feelings for her. These feelings came out of nowhere. Yes, there were hints
that he did have feelings for her prior to this, but theses hints equally came out of nothing – he started subconciously having feelings for her, but there
was no reason shown as to why. They shared no notable interaction prior to that point. There was nothing to indicate why, exactly, Harry started having
feelings for her.

Harry/Ginny completely violated the age-old rule of “show, don’t tell.” We were told that Harry has feelings for her. Nobody’s arguing against that. But WHY
did he have feelings for her? Nothing changed in their relationship, they didn’t especially bond over the summer, there is no interaction to justify his
feelings. We’re just told that they’re there. And then when they do get together, all the time they spend together was skipped over and condensed into a
sentence where Harry commented on how great they were. Again, we’re told that they’re great, we don’t actually see anything for ourselves. It’d like what it
would be like if we had simply been told that Voldemort was really evil, rather than actually seeing him do evil things. The readers need to see it to
believe it.

Also, I agree that Ginny’s “fangirlishness” makes her a bad choice of girlfriend for Harry. He needs somebody who sees him as “just Harry” not “the Boy who
lived”. Ginny’s crush – which he are told she never stopped having – started before she even met Harry, when all she knew was the stories of him. Her
perception of Harry is completely based on the myths of the “Chosen one” alone. Harry does not need someone like that. Which brings us back to the “show,
don’t tell” thing again. In DH, he says something along the lines that Ginny makes him feel like he’s just a normal guy. We are simply told this, but there’s
absolutely no explanation or indication as to why or how Ginny makes him feel like this – in fact Ginny seems like the least likely candidate to make him
feel like that.

And @ Luna:

“Can people please explain the Harry/Luna?”

Certainly

“Apart from the fact that Luna is even less developed than Ginny,”

What makes you say this? We know plenty about Luna – about her family, the loss of her mother and her feelings about it, her ostracisation from her peers
and how she feels about it, her feelings about the DA and the friends that it brought her, etc. Ginny had her character fleshed out a similar amount, though
probably slightly less and throughout more books. Plus when it comes down to it, Ginny’s character is much less interesting than Ginny’s. I like her and all,
but she’s very much a normal, regular Jane. Luna is anything but.

“and that she has even FEWER interactions,”

In the last three books, Luna shares more time, or at least equal time, “on-screen” with Harry than Ginny does.

OotP – H/G both at Grimmauld Place, but they’re never “together”, Ginny is just there. L and G both on the train. Both G and L are at the DA meetings, and
Luna gets more one-on-on interaction with Harry in them (see the awkward mistletoe scene). L and G both at the Dept. of Mysteries. Both at the hospital wing
afterwards. L is at the Skeeter interview, G is not. L and H share a very notable scene at the end of the book, when she comforts him about Sirius.
Conclusion: They have a roughly equal presence, but Luna probably wins out and most importantly shares more one-on-one interaction.
HBP – H/G both at the burrow, but again do not share much one-on-one interaction, G is just part of a group. Both G and L appear infrequently throughout the
book. G features at Quidditch sessiosn. H invites L to Slughorn’s party. H/G spend a lot of time together once they start dating, but it is all off-screen.
H/G share one notable scene at the end, when he breaks up with her.
Conclusion: More Ginny in this one, natural seeing as it’s supposed to be establishing and developing their romance.
DH – Both feature at the wedding – both have conversations with Harry, though Ginny’s is slightly longer. G is then absent for a massive part of the book,
while L features significantly at Malfoy Manor and Shell Cottage. Both G and L fight in the battle. G is in the epilogue, but in the background.
Conclusion: More Luna than Ginny in this book.

Then there’s PS-GoF, but you can hardly blame Luna for not being a character back then. And Ginny wasn’t noticable in any of them bar CoS anyway.

“He laughs at her.”

Er, when?

“Pities her.”

Is this supposed to be a bad thing? It’s not like he looks down on her or anything – he genuinely feels sorry that she’s bullied. What self-respecting human
being wouldn’t feel sorry for Luna in that scene?

“Mocks her.”

Again, when? Are you just making things up now?

“Describes her in the most unflattering terms ever.”

His initial description is of someone with “straggly, dirty-blonde hair and protuberant eyes”. No, not a vision of perfect beauty, but he hardly thought she
looked like a troll. It’s pretty much a simple description. And later he describes her eyes as “misty, silvery orbs”, showing that her apperance grows on
him. At Slughorn’s party he described her appearance as “quite pretty”, and at Bill and Fleur’s wedding he notes that her outfit is unorthodox but, overall,
“pleasant”. It is quite clear that he does not find her ugly whatsoever, and never describes her in an outright negative way.

“Doesn’t feel comfortable around her.”

This is complete rubbish. Yes, he is somewhat disorientated by her at first – who wouldn’t be? But she undoubtedly grows on him. By the end of the book he
feels completely comfortable talking to her about Sirius’ death – despite the fact that he didn’t want to talk to Ron, Hermione, Hagrid or Dumbledore. Then
in HBP he enjoys her company – he chats to her comfortably, praises her bravery and “coolness” at the ministry and invites her to Slughorn’s party – he could’ve taken anyone, but he invited Luna because he genuinely enjoyed spending time with her. Then in DH he is cheered up by the prospect of seeing her when they go to visit Xenophilius. Whether or not you like the idea of them as a romantic couple, to suggest that she is not a friend to him is complete rubbish.

#117 lauren on 03.24.10 at 4:07 pm

even though i dont agree with some of your points (i dont agree with the article) you, and this is coming from the heart the_ void, make an exelent arguement you really should do debating if you dont already!!! no joke!! but i dont understand are you for the article or not or neither??? as for luna and harry as a couple i do belive that they are friends if not good friends and i do belive that they have a realtionship that will stay bonded even when they are older and married also because ginny had quite a good realtionship with luna for example when luna told harry that ginny stood up for luna when some boys were making fun of her and when ginny came up to harry after overhearing ron giving out to harry saying that he could of taken anybody and he chose lonny lovegood and she said she was pleased he was taking her because luna had told ginny how excited she was about going. luna also said while commentating the quidditch match ” and thats Smith of hufflepuff with the Quaffle, he did the commentary last time,of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, i think probably on purpose – it looks like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, i expect he regrets that now he’s playing them – oh, look, he’s lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, i do like her, she’s very nice” so i dont deny that they were good friends but i couldnt see them as a couple!

#118 The_Void on 03.25.10 at 9:31 am

“even though i dont agree with some of your points (i dont agree with the article) you, and this is coming from the heart the_ void, make an exelent arguement you really should do debating if you dont already!!! no joke!!”

Hehe, thank you. I would suck at real-life debating though, I get too het up. I need time to chill and write stuff down.

“but i dont understand are you for the article or not or neither???”

On the whole, I’m for the article, I didn’t think that the Harry/Ginny romance was very good. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it (and I did hate the epilogue). And I don’t agree with the whole article – I don’t think that Hermione would have made a good romantic match for Harry.

Yes, I agree that they were good friends. I could definitely see that friendship developing into something more though.

#119 lauren on 03.25.10 at 12:16 pm

im the the same the_void i find it easier to comment and not debate!!! i think that for people who havent read the books and have just seen the movies or even if they i have read the books they just cant let it go that hermione and harry should be together and ginny should marry some randomer who didnt even go to hogwarts because i remember seeing harry potter cos for the first time and being convinced that harry and hermione should be together cause i was only like 7 or 8 at the time and you know how little girls are… i mean every character has to have a partner to marry and thats that!! and to my friends and me it was always harry/hermione, ron/some random girl or no one at all…. and ginny/ now i used to think long and hard about this one because when we used to renact the scenes i ALWAYS played ginny she was my other half!! and after sitting and thinking about it i always i am ashamed to admit it but i will anyway, it always came down to ginny/DRACO!!! :S….. i know!! i mean when i think about it now i feel really really daft!! and quite stupid………. you see i thought draco would somehow turn really really good, good enough for ginny to MARRY!!! hahahahahahaha good times, good times!!
but i was sooooooooo over that when i found out harry and ginny together even when i found out ginny and micheal corner were together, i was over it actually probable way before that!!

#120 Lisa on 03.29.10 at 12:10 pm

Wow, have people here never fallen for others before ? You just start falling for someone sometimes without realizing it and it hits you in the face. Happens to me quite a bit – you don’t always know you like the person for years you know ? Never shown why ? Erm whatever.

But yes, Ginny is such a fangirl to Harry at the end. So much, that she’s not the person who tells him to STFU when needed or not take that tone with him. Such fangirl reactions. /sarcasm.

This is the moment when I personally knew it was going to be Harry/Ginny :

“Come on,” said Harry dully. “With Umbridge policing the fires and reading all our mail?”
“The thing about growing up with Fred and George,” said Ginny thoughtfully, “is that you sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”

Harry looked at her. Perhaps it was the effect of the chocolate – Lupin had always advised eating some after encounters with Dementors – or simply because he had finally spoken aloud the wish that had been burning inside him for a week, but he felt a bit more hopeful.
“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?”

Also, adding to the fact that Harry was always noticing Ginny everywhere in that book and even before that even though he wouldn’t notice so of his classmates.

So much for they never had a one to one conversation and that Harry never felt any different and he never confides in her (course I forget that things like that only count when It’s Hermione or Luna that they are arguing for)

Also, Luna as an alternate. Please. Chick is so overrated and boring and just … blergh. LOL at people arguing that she wins out.

Most of all – they are a fictional couple. Get over it. Especially since romance isn’t a big part of the series.

#121 Lisa on 03.29.10 at 1:10 pm

Also, Ginny just being there are Grimmauld Place and not interacting with Harry totally ignores this very notable scene where Harry actually says sorry to someone. First time we see him do that I think ?

The scene:

“Yeah?” growled Harry, his hands deep in his pockets as he watched the snow now falling thickly outside. “All been talking about me, have you? Well, I’m getting used to it.”

“We wanted to talk to you, Harry,” said Ginny, “but as you’ve been hiding ever since we got back -”
“I didn’t want anyone to talk to me,” said Harry, who was feeling more and more nettled.

“Well, that was a bit stupid of you,” said Ginny angrily, “seeing as you don’t know anyone but me who’s been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels.”
Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. Then he wheeled round. “I forgot,” he said.

“Lucky you,” said Ginny coolly.

“I’m sorry” Harry said, and he meant it. “So… so, do you think I’m being possessed, then?”
“Well, can you remember everything you’ve been doing?” Ginny asked. “Are there big blank periods where you don’t know what you’ve been up to?”

Harry racked his brains. “No,” he said.
“Then You-Know-Who hasn’t ever possessed you,” said Ginny simply. “When he did it to me, I couldn’t remember what I’d been doing for hours at a time. I’d find myself somewhere and not know how I got there.” Harry hardly dared believe her, yet his heart was lightening almost in spite of himself.

Also another moment where Ginny makes Harry feel better. So much for not showing why Harry falls for Ginny and their interactions and blah blah blah.

Also, Ginny is one of the first people, if not the first as my memory is very sketchy at the moment, Harry willingly hugs:

Laughing, Harry broke free of the rest of the team and hugged Ginny, but let go quickly.

The signs are all there.

Also compare this from OoTP :

“Well, hello there!” he said. “I expect you’d like my autograph, would you?”
“Hasn’t changed much, has he?” Harry muttered to Ginny, who grinned.

and this also from OoTP:

Ginny caught Harry’s eye and looked away quickly, grinning.

To this from PoA:

Ginny caught Harry’s eye, and they both turned away to hide their laughter as Percy strode over to a girl with long, curly hair, walking with his chest thrown out so that she couldn’t miss his shiny badge. stood back to let him on.

Notice a trend ? He kinda laughs at Luna, gets annoyed with Hermione but laughs with Ginny. Very important thing in a relationship.

I also love him being so annoyed when Ginny didn’t sit with him on the train.

#122 Isa on 03.29.10 at 3:06 pm

@The Void:

I’m not the person you were replying to but I don’t think that poster was saying that Harry doesn’t consider Luna a friend – where on earth did you get that from ? I think you may have been reading a bit too much into it.

As for Luna vs Ginny – I really don’t agree with you in that Luna is fleshed out more than Ginny. In fact, Luna’s character is remarkably one dimensional through out and she has no character growth/arc while all the others do. She seems to exist for comic relief/personal projection/self-identification.

And I think it comes down to personal taste on who’s more interesting. For you, Luna may be interesting and unqiue but to me she’s boring, generic, unnoticeable and she just doesn’t addanything to the story for me. Remove her and everything is the same.

Generally I prefer normal characters with flaws and all. I know people claim Luna has flaws and all but meh- JKR sure doesn’t say it. Her being childish, is written as how she’s supposed to be endearing. Her being rude – oh wait, she says uncomfortable truths. So it’sall just a bug thumbs down. Her painting -slightly creepy and weird but it’s like JKR is hitting you on the head and forcing you to find her endearing.

I sound like I hate Luna but I don’t. I just don’t care for her whatsoever.

Also, I am not sure I agree with you on the whole Harry/Ginny thing either. Why does there have to be a precipitating event that makes someone fall in love with another ? Why is hanging out and having one and getting to know the person …. a bad thing and not deep and not a reason why you can start liking someone ? WTF is wrong with that ? I’ve seen a few Harry/Luna shippers say that their conversation at the end of OoTP is why they ship them and as I gather you are one also ….. why ? Harry doesn’t feel anything for her there and why would a conversation like that be a basis for a relationship ? Why is that needed ? Oh looky they had this one scene and now they can hook up ? Er what ? Why isn’t spending time with someone, liking their company and respecting them not a basis for a relationship? Not to mention, that’s so realisitc. Why does Harry fall for Ginny is clearly shown : he likes spending time with her, she makes him laugh, they have similar interests, she understands him, she can relate to Voldermort, he’s attracted to her ….. need I go on ? So why Harry falls for Ginny is quite clear – perhaps some people just required him to spell it out and list it or something. But that is how one develops feelings for someone ……. in most cases. There doesn’t need to be a precipitating event ….I can’t even think of one in any literature piece.

Just realizing you have feelings for someone else all of a sudden is very realistic, especially of teenage boys so I’m sorry but … I don’t see your point whatsoever. Especially since Harry starts noticing Ginny more and more in OoTP, starts feeling different towards her at the end of OoTP and the beginning of HBP is flirting with her, laughing with her, annoyed when she doesn’t sit with him, smells her in a potion ….. Harry/Luna would have been out of nowhere after all that. Harry/Ginny isn’t.

I think it’s quite clear that Ginny gets over her fangirl phase in OoTP. And since she lives a normal life, that makes Harry feel normal. Though I suppose Harry could feel normal in a relationship with Luna – in comparison to Luna that is. So not cool … not to mention unhealthy.

#123 Isa on 03.29.10 at 3:07 pm

Also, I do agree that Harry/Hermione had more basis than Ron/Hermione.

At least with H/Hr, you could see that they both care for each other. With R/Hr, not so much. It’s obvious that Ron cares deeply for her, but Hermione’s feelings for him were so out of nowhere to me.

#124 Isa on 03.29.10 at 3:15 pm

Also, I am pretty sure that Harry does laugh at Luna multiple times but I don’t recall where and when. Not bothered and busy to find it though …. but that’s what cemented me against a Harry/Luna relationship.

Come to think of it, all the three girls are not as well developed as the males. We know more about Ginny and Luna than we do about Hermione who is the least developed of the trio. We don’t even see her face her insecurities like everyone else.

#125 The_Void on 03.30.10 at 1:30 pm

Wow, that’s a lot to reply to. I’ll give it a go.

“But yes, Ginny is such a fangirl to Harry at the end. So much, that she’s not the person who tells him to STFU when needed or not take that tone with
him. Such fangirl reactions. /sarcasm.”

You say that sarcastically, but when push comes to shove, she does roll over to Harry’s wishes. Like when Harry breaks up with her, or when he tells her to
stay in the RoR in the final battle (yes I know she left eventually, but she did it in secret, in the vein of a kid rebelling against their parents. Not a
sign of a healthy relationship).

“*Insert OotP chocolate scene here*”

This is prime evidence of what I’m talking about when I said that the H/G was all tell but no substance. In this scene, Harry feels better after talking to
Ginny. Why exactly? Well, there’s no reason in particular. Ginny’s “advice” to him was, in short, rubbish. It basically amounted to “I’m sure you’ll think of
something”. That’s the kind of advice I’d expect from an acquaintance in a hurry, not my supposed soulmate. I’m not buying that advice that lame and generic
would suddenly make Harry feels better.

“Also, adding to the fact that Harry was always noticing Ginny everywhere in that book and even before that even though he wouldn’t notice so of his
classmates.”

He wasn’t always noticing her. He obviously noticed her more than before since she was now a member of the DA and was becoming more extroverted, but he
doesn’t notice her especially. And even if he did, again this would just add to the evidence that he has feelings for her – but it does not at all explain
why. Like I said: Show, don’t tell.

“So much for they never had a one to one conversation”

I never said that, I just said that they never had a one-on-one conversation “on-screen” while they were dating. In fact they didn’t have a single one
throughout HBP until the breakup scene. In the book that was supposed to be largely about developing the romance between the main character and his supposed
soulmate, there was a total of one one-on-one conversation between the two, in which they broke up.

“and that Harry never felt any different and he never confides in her (course I forget that things like that only count when It’s Hermione or Luna that
they are arguing for)”

They only count when there’s some substance behind it.

“Most of all – they are a fictional couple. Get over it. Especially since romance isn’t a big part of the series.”

OK, so if you don’t think this subject merits debating, why are you debating it? We’re here to discuss Harry Potter canonical and hypothetical romantic
relationships, if you don’t think it’s worth your time then don’t post, but don’t post telling other people not to post.

“*Insert “lucky you” scene here*”

This scene is even more flawed than the chocolate scene. Firstly, it’s not just Ginny in that scene. Ron and Hermione are there too. It is a group
intervention. That scene does not show Ginny, and solely Ginny, making him feel better, it’s the combination of all his friends.

Secondly – it is just sooo romantic that Harry goes and forgets the most pivotal and traumatic event in Ginny’s life. What a great guy he is for her. I can
almost buy Harry’s feelings for Ginny, but why exactly is she with him? He never seems to take any interest in her life beyond her firewhisky kisses, he
completely forgets about her experience with the diary, he treats her like easily breakable china (the HBP break-up and the RoR in DH), which was the very
reason she broke up with Dean. Why exactly is she with him?

Thirdly, this scene is time and time again used as evidence that the two of them have been through similar experiences and can relate to each other. Despite
the fact that the very point of that scene is to show that they have NOT been through similar things, that they can NOT relate to each other.

“Also, Ginny is one of the first people, if not the first as my memory is very sketchy at the moment, Harry willingly hugs:”

When is that quote from? I genuinely don’t remember. It sounds like it’s from OotP or later, by which time he has already hugged Hagrid, Ron, Hermione,
Sirius, Molly, and perhaps more.

“Notice a trend ? He kinda laughs at Luna, gets annoyed with Hermione but laughs with Ginny. Very important thing in a relationship.”

Yes, it is an important thing. But it’s not anywhere near the top of the list of important things. Yet it is one of the only things going for H/G. Besides,
Harry also shares the same sense of humour as Ron, does that mean they are soulmates?

“I’m not the person you were replying to but I don’t think that poster was saying that Harry doesn’t consider Luna a friend – where on earth did you get
that from ? I think you may have been reading a bit too much into it.”

Well the poster in question claimed that Harry wasn’t comfortable around Luna, which implies that he does not enjoy her company. Which is disproved by the
simple fact that they are good friends.

“As for Luna vs Ginny – I really don’t agree with you in that Luna is fleshed out more than Ginny. In fact, Luna’s character is remarkably one dimensional
through out and she has no character growth/arc while all the others do. She seems to exist for comic relief/personal projection/self-identification.”

Luna’s arc is subtle (she slowly becomes more social, more confident in herself and happier as a result of the DA and the friends she made), but it’s there.
Ginny, on the other hand, didn’t have an arc – she changed from a shrinking violet to a confident, brash, independent woman overnight, off-screen. That’s
not an arc. Also, Luna is a secondary character that was only in 3 books. Obviously she’s not going to have as big an arc as Harry, Ron or Hermione.

“And I think it comes down to personal taste on who’s more interesting. For you, Luna may be interesting and unqiue but to me she’s boring, generic,
unnoticeable”

OK, so you don’t especially like Luna and think she’s overrated. Fair enough. But “boring, generic and unnoticable”? That’s probably the last adjective you
would ever assign to Luna, except maybe “normal”. Luna is a lot of things, but boring certainly isn’t one of them. It would be like me criticising Hermione
for being too dumb, or Voldemort for being too nice.

“Remove her and everything is the same.”

Except that the wizarding world would never have started agreeing with Harry as that article would never have been published in the Quibbler, the sextet
would never have gotten to the Ministry on Thestrals, Harry would have never opened up about Sirius and would probably still be angsting about it, the trio
would still be trapped in Malfoy Manor, Harry would’ve had his soul sucked out by dementors…

“Generally I prefer normal characters with flaws and all. I know people claim Luna has flaws and all but meh- JKR sure doesn’t say it. Her being childish,
is written as how she’s supposed to be endearing. Her being rude – oh wait, she says uncomfortable truths. So it’sall just a bug thumbs down. Her
painting -slightly creepy and weird but it’s like JKR is hitting you on the head and forcing you to find her endearing.”

I’m gonna have to say I disagree. These are endearing flaws. The best kind of flaws, the flaws that make a great character, IMO. Fair dos if you don’t agree
though.

“Also, I am not sure I agree with you on the whole Harry/Ginny thing either. Why does there have to be a precipitating event that makes someone fall in
love with another?”

Maybe “precipitating event” wasn’t quite the right phrase to use. But something to show a change in the relationship dynamic, therefore sparking a change in
the feelings of one character towards another. If a character changes his feelings for another character, there must be some change in the relationship
between the two. Maybe they have a conversation, or they find out something about one another, or they go through a shared experience. In the case of H/G,
they went through the summer with the exact same relationship – she was still just Ron’s little sister that hung out with them sometimes – except in that
summer it lasted a little longer.

“Why is hanging out and having one and getting to know the person …. a bad thing and not deep and not a reason why you can start liking someone?”

It’s not bad thing. The problem is that Harry and Ginny didn’t actually get to know each other, nor did they have any conversation in HBP whatsoever before
Harry’s chest monster appeared,

“I’ve seen a few Harry/Luna shippers say that their conversation at the end of OoTP is why they ship them and as I gather you are one also ….. why?”

It’s not the be all and end all of why I ship them, but it does display many of the reasons why they are good together. I honestly don’t have the time to go
into massive detail, so I’ll give a bullet-point list instead.

a) Luna gives Harry hope. Hope that there is something beyond life, that the ones we loved and lost are still with us, still looking down on us and waiting
for us. After losing so much and living such a depressing life, Harry desperately needs that hope. She brings light and optimism into his dark and depressing
life. After the conversation, “the terrible weight in his stomach seemed to have lifted slightly”.
b) Also important is her ability to believe in the impossible. She saw the thestrals and coule hear voices behind the veil, as did Harry. She believes it,
and in that scene, so does Harry, he “almost dares himself to believe it”. Luna opens Harry’s eyes to a whole new world, and makes him happier and more
hopeful for it.
c) Harry wants to help Luna. Asking if he could help find her stuff is a tiny gesture, but hugely significant. Throughout that whole book, Harry had been in
permanent self-involved, angsty capslock mode, but in that moment he realises that even though he has problems, so do other people. He becomes less self-
involved, and more thoughtful. It shows that Luna has a positive effect on Harry, and also shows why Harry is good for Luna. He genuinely feels for her, he
can relate to her social isolation (which he experienced in CoS and OotP), and he is always kind to her. Most people at Hogwarts wouldn’t give Luna the time
of day, but Harry does.
d) It clearly shows that they have something in common. They’ve both lost parents, and this scene shows that they can use that common experience to relate to
one another, and Luna uses her experience to make Harry feel better. The loss of his parents is something that completely defines Harry’s character and his
actions, and I think he needs somebody who can understand it. Ginny, with her massive family, certainly cannot.

“Harry doesn’t feel anything for her there and why would a conversation like that be a basis for a relationship? Why is that needed? Oh looky they had
this one scene and now they can hook up? Er what?”

It wasn’t just that scene though.

Earlier she tells him that she can see the Thestrals, her ability to believe in the impossible again making him feel better.

Then later she tells him that she believes him about Voldemort, a very brave step on her part. And he doesn’t reject her support like Hermione does, he
doesn’t dismiss her opinion because of her oddities, he defends her and appreciates her like he would apprecaite anyone else.

She also suggests that they fly on thestrals to the Ministry, again demonstrating how useful her out-of-the-box way of thinking is to him.

Then in HBP he says she’s a friend and that she’s cool, again appreciating who she is and liking her for it, not asking her to change but appreciating how
great she is the way she is. He even chooses her over everyone else to take to Slughorn’s party, something that nobody has ever done for her before.

Later, in a small moment during Quidditch, he is cheered up by the roaring of Luna’s “ludicrous lion hat”. It’s a tiny moment, but it just shows the
ridiculous, bonkers, and brilliant ways that Luna can cheer Harry up.

In DH, she recognises him in polyjuice disguise from his expression alone. She clearly understands him.

When they realise Luna has been put in Azkaban, he puts his faith in her. He doesn’t try to shield her like a little girl, he notices her strength and is
confident that she’ll be alright. It seems that Harry sees Luna as much more of an equal than Ginny.

During the battle at Hogwarts, Harry is at his lowest. He’s seen good people die, the fight against Voldemort seems futile, he’s just ready to give up and
die. And who’s there by his side, being strong, helping him, giving him hope and getting him back into the fight? Luna. She is his strength. She is his
hope and light, and at his lowest she gives him the strength and hope to full off a Patronus.

After the battle, Harry wants to get away from the party and be with Ron and Hermione alone. Luna immediately recognises this, again demonstating how much
she understands Harry, and creates a distraction to allow him to get away.

Luna and Harry share several scenes that time and time again indicate to me that Luna understands him better than almost anyone, that she gives him strength
and he respects her strength in returns, that she gives him hope (which he needs more than anything), that they are equals, that he likes and respects her,
and overall that they are (IMO) perfect for each other.

“Why isn’t spending time with someone, liking their company and respecting them not a basis for a relationship?”

It’s excellent basis for a relationship. Only Harry never spent time with Ginny on-screen while or after they were dating, and only had two (flawed) scenes
together in the book before. And he doesn’t seem to respect Ginny’s skill at all, as I said before he treats her like easily breakable china – hence breaking
up with her to protect her and not letting her fight in DH.

“he likes spending time with her, she makes him laugh, they have similar interests,”

This is fair enough, but it’s hardly enough to make them soulmates. That’s the basis for a good friendship, but not a deep, meaningful relationship, and
certainly not a great literary relationship. Harry likes spending time with Ron, he makes him laugh and they share similar interests (moreso than H/G). Are
Harry and Ron soulmates? No, just great friends.

“she understands him”

Give me a scene that shows this. Explain how it shows it.

“she can relate to Voldermort”

No, as I said that scene explicitly points out that they have not been through the same thing, therefore they cannot relate to each other.

“he’s attracted to her”

Attraction =/= soulmates.

“perhaps some people just required him to spell it out and list it or something.”

Perhaps some people wanted some scenes demonstrating any of that in the actual book.

“There doesn’t need to be a precipitating event ….I can’t even think of one in any literature piece.”

If a character changes his feelings for another character, there must be some change in the relationship between the two. Maybe they have a conversation, or
they find out something about one another, or they go through a shared experience. In the case of H/G, they went through the summer with the exact same
relationship – she was still just Ron’s little sister that hung out with them sometimes – except in that summer it lasted a little longer.

“Just realizing you have feelings for someone else all of a sudden is very realistic, especially of teenage boys”

It’s not the “just realising” bit that annoys me. It’s the fact that Harry’s feelings appear despite no change in their relationship. If Harry/Ginny had had
one or two on-screen conversations early in HBP I could’ve bought it, but as they didn’t, I didn’t. Also, more importantly, I still see nothing in their
relationships that implies that they are right for each other, much less soulmates.

The set-up for H/G was fine if it was just a hormone-fuelled teenage fling, but as they were supposed to be soulmates who eventually got married, that’s
what really bugged me.

“so I’m sorry but … I don’t see your point whatsoever. Especially since Harry starts noticing Ginny more and more in OoTP, starts feeling different
towards her at the end of OoTP and the beginning of HBP is flirting with her, laughing with her, annoyed when she doesn’t sit with him, smells her in a
potion ….. Harry/Luna would have been out of nowhere after all that. Harry/Ginny isn’t.”

Again: Minor foreshadowing (and it is very minor, compared to the anvil-sized hints for R/Hr) =/= reasons why.

“I think it’s quite clear that Ginny gets over her fangirl phase in OoTP.”

Exactly! Which makes it so insulting and demeaning to her character that her getting over Harry was retconned in HBP. And rhere was nothing to indicate that
her feelings had ever changed from the childish crush/idol-worship that it was.

“And since she lives a normal life, that makes Harry feel normal.”

That’s a very poor reason. For a start, the world is full of “normal” people, so why should he be with Ginny especially? Secondly, I don’t think your
soulmate should ever be just “normal”. They should be special, at least in your eyes. The idea that Harry sees her as just normal makes their relationship
even worse.

“Though I suppose Harry could feel normal in a relationship with Luna – in comparison to Luna that is. So not cool … not to mention unhealthy.”

He doesn’t think Luna’s weird. Well, he does, but in an affection way. He doesn’t think that she’s any less of a person for her weirdness, he very much
respects her and regards her as an equal. He certainly doesn’t see himself as superior in any way.

@ISA

“Also, I am pretty sure that Harry does laugh at Luna multiple times but I don’t recall where and when. Not bothered and busy to find it though …. but
that’s what cemented me against a Harry/Luna relationship.”

I don’t recall a single time.

#126 blackbird on 04.08.10 at 9:20 pm

Well, this has certainly strayed away from the topic at hand.

Some may argue for H/G, H/Hr, H/L or whatever, but there should be universal agreement that Harry/Ginny cannot be counted as one of the great romances.

This should be common sense; Harry Potter is not a romance novel. It did not focus on romantic relationships. Hence, NO pairing (canon or not) in it can be counted as a true romance.

On the “why do people hate Ginny so” part of the discussion:

It’s not hate, per-say. Well, maybe it is. Some fans were just outraged as what they saw as an insipid attempt to draw in more readers (romance = marketable) by pairing them up.

Other fans were angry about Ginny’s total change of character. I think many people had thought of Ginny as a timid sort of girl (who definitely wasn’t super-popular), and didn’t like Rowling’s insta-changing her personality (and looks, and skills etc.) for the sole purpose of making her Harry’s romantic interest.

Yeah, I realize that it can be argued that “Ginny grew up, duh”, but that’s the point. The readers certainly never saw her growing up – and thus were clothes-lined with Rowling’s sudden and new portrayal of her. She had rarely been mentioned before becoming Harry’s interest. It broke the readers’ suspension of disbelief.

Here are some statistics:
Times names are mentioned
Philosopher’s Stone
Harry: 1318
Ron: 453
Hermione: 269
Ginny: 5

Chamber of Secrets
Harry: 1634
Ron: 694
Hermione: 319
Ginny: 114

Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry: 1986
Ron: 755
Hermione: 638
Ginny: 17

Goblet of Fire
Harry: 3162
Ron: 1040
Hermione: 870
Ginny: 46
Cho: 32

Order of the Phoenix
Harry: 4016
Ron: 1298
Hermione: 1306
Ginny: 245
Cho: 151

Half-Blood Prince
Harry: 2782
Ron: 886
Hermione: 690
Ginny: 234

Deathly Hallows
Harry: 3128
Ron: 1179
Hermione: 1222
Ginny: 121

As you see, Ginny came in from nowhere, making it hard to accept her as a legitimate character.

It’s not that her personality is bad, or that she’s a bad person. She’s just a bad CHARACTER. Why is she a bad character? Because she’s elevated to a position of importance (in our minds), that of romantic interest, with little to no depth.

Rowling starts displaying and emphasizing Ginny’s traits and personalities, realizing that to pair H/G, we needed more info on Ginny. So she told us: look at Ginny! She’s pretty, good at lots of things and she’s really popular too! But she overdid it. She forgot to actually write Ginny out to be a proper character, with her own flaws and negatives (which we, as readers, crave – in order to identify ourselves with the character). All we got was a shallow doll of a character stuffed to the brim with positives attributes.

In reality, she comes off as the hot prep-girl or cheerleader in school by Half-Blood Prince. She has no bad detractors. And if there’s one thing everyone hates, its a Mary-Sue.

Of course, had Rowling paired Harry with anyone else (with the tentative exception of Hermione – whose character is fleshed out), there would have been the same outrage, but expressed towards that character instead.

H/Hr, though, is generally bad as well. This is mostly due to fanon!Hermione. A lot of harmonian writers seem to live out their fantasies through Hermione – almost always making her smarter than she ever was, and adding traits where they see fit. Sort of like canon!Ginny.

But that’s okay, because that’s just fanon. The problem with canon!Hermione is that she’s too compatible with Harry, IMHO. You can’t have romantic tension with compatibility. It’s boring. That’s why most romances have two characters who have different social backgrounds, different opinions, and are generally irritable to the other.

In regards to Harry/Luna. It works, but only because we know almost nothing about Luna (some of her personality, some background history, some recent events). This is good, because it lets the reader ‘fill in the blanks’. You think Luna is quirky? Then she’s quirky. Batsh*t insane? Sure, why not. Secret Einstein-esque genius? Go for it. Tragically ignored truth-sayer? Why not. Harry/Luna works because Rowling gave us just enough information to make her more than a side-prop, but not enough that we couldn’t add to her personality.

Harry/AnyoneElse is very much similar to Harry/Luna. The dis/advantage (it can be either) of AnyoneElse is that they have very little characterization to speak of. This can be good: allowing the reader to build up personalities from scratch. Fleur: exotic, delicate woman? Daphne: cold, but with a heart of gold?

TL;DR: Yeah, pairings are just personal preference, but no one can deny that HP pairings cannot be counted as ‘great romance’.

On another note: Rowling needs to take ECON lessons. Her math != sense.

#127 lauren on 04.09.10 at 2:09 pm

wow….. some of those comments were long!! i like the idea of H/G but i do agree it wasnt well organised and as a huge H/G fan i was really waiting for them to have a really intense, heartwarming, tears to the eyes sort of conversation or at least a private flipping conversation!!!!!!! but that fact that they didnt even have a proper conversation unilthey broke up annoys me!! we were told in the book that they had a nice little walk on the grounds after they kissed but im quite nosey!! details details PLEASE i want to know what happened!! and then harry said i think in the 7 book he remembered the deserted corridors he and ginny would time in……. WTH happened in them i mean i have a hunch that they just chatted and snogged a good bit but i wouldnt be that much effort to add in a little private conversation while they are a couple!!! really the only conversations they had private were the one in the libary and ginny was under the personation that she was going to cheer him up about breaking up with cho his EX!! as far as im concerned if i have liked someone since i was 10 i wouldnt want to cheer them up about their ex and put them in a good mood to forgive their ex!! but then again if i fancied my friend i would want to be a good friend………. ugh!! its debatable lets put it that way!!! and the other private one was when they were broken up but still attracted to one another and that was only like all together one page of talking and then they were snogging again!! so i would have liked a more stable and heartwarming realtionship but unlike a lot of people i really like the idea of them together!!

#128 SHadowFires on 04.10.10 at 12:38 pm

Regarding Ginny being a Mary-Sue: In an earlier comment with that JKR interview: “Ginny is what I wanted to be in high school.” From this line we hear that Ginny is a Mary-Sue from the Authors mouth!

About Ginny being the same as Harry by both being Possessed by Voldemort:

When Ginny was possessed by Voldemort all that happened to her was that she lost her memory.

When Harry was possessed by Voldemort at the end of OOTP Harry was aware of him being in his head and was feeling Pain not Memory Loss.

H/G vs. H/Hr

H/G: I agree with the article and the H/Hr shippers.

H/Hr: I also agree that as a Lit Romance it is not “good”, but for real life Harry should be with Hermione because he does know her the best and I believe that if Ron hadn’t been so ticked at Hermione because of the Firebolt Harry would have seen the merit of her logic.

#129 Imogen on 04.15.10 at 1:52 am

I agree to some extent because what you have to remember is that Harry Potter is not a romance novel. It’s about Harry fighting the war and besides a lot of stuff could have happened in those the nineteen years.

Harry and Hermione are not right for each other. It’s been Ron and Hermione from the start. Harry and Luna or Cho would just not have worked.

Ginny is not a Mary-Sue! She is not perfect. Ginny has a huge family, is poor and is always being left out from things her brother does. The Chamber of Secrets thing only happened because she felt left out and poured all her thought into the diary.

Overall Ginny and Harry belong with each other. True Ginny should be more developed but still it works.

#130 Keira on 04.15.10 at 8:50 am

…remember is that Harry Potter is not a romance novel.

Exactly – Just another reason why H/G are not a great literary romantic couple.

#131 The_Void on 04.16.10 at 4:07 am

“Harry Potter is not a romance novel” is the worst excuse for H/G I have ever heard. If their relationship was only ever going to be a half-hearted romance, what’s the point in adding it in in the first place? Seriously, what did it do? There’s no point doing anything by halves, and H/G was done with scraps that fell off the kitchen surface.

#132 Kai on 04.19.10 at 3:31 pm

To explain the Harry/Luna belief, since I’m a Hufflepuff:

The first hint was that Harry and Luna had a dysfunctional family, and experienced the loss of a parent(s), evident by the thestrals and how Luna would comment on her father telling her about Snorkacks and such.

The second hint of Harry/Luna was at the end of book five, where it was not Hagrid, his friends, or Dumbledore, or Nick that gave him peace, but Luna.

As they talk during that instance, the strain of Sirius’s death in his heart lessening a bit, we discover two things– that Harry can relate to the bullying that Luna experiences, and that after the talk, Luna no longer makes him uncomfortable. In my opinion, Harry from then on was more amused at her antics, which contrasted earlier when he was annoyed with her when they were about to go to the Ministry.

In book six, he chose Luna as a date to the Slug party. Not Susan, not Parvati, Luna! He could’ve picked a less weird girl, but he picked Luna! That meant that Harry trusted her and treasured her.

Hermione is probable, but was already “assigned” to Ron, noted by the obvious hints that Rowling gave us, in the form of the ‘bickering couple ish in love’ cliche. I believed for a time that she would be his love interest, but I was proven wrong as Ron and her’s relationship developed.

Hermione and Luna were the only characters developed enough, never mind compatibility, to be Harry’s love interest. Girls like Susan Bones or Lavender Brown couldn’t be with Harry because their characters weren’t developed enough for the readers. And with Hermione crossed off, that left Luna.

Until Ginny came into the picture.

When she arrives again in book five, we have no idea who she was. We know she’s Ron’s little sister, had been posessed by Tom in 2nd year and rescued by Harry, was Neville’s Yule date, and had a massive fangirl-crush on Harry since childhood. But that says nothing about her individual uniqueness.

During her brief appearance, we assume that she had given up on Harry, noted by her casualness and by the background info on her recent dating.

Then she disappears again for the most part, until.. BOOM. Monster in Harry’s chest. Hormones? Possibility, I thought.

Let’s skip to the end of book six.
When Ginny was introduced to the books again, I was patient. (Hufflepuff!) I was sure that I’d come to like her. I read it over and over, trying to find anything that would give a reasonable answer as to why Harry was loving her.

I couldn’t. Everything about Ginny was facts, like her hair, her quidditchness, her bat-bogeyness, nothing individual about her personality. Her speech was predictable, and at times annoying.

My loyalty to the books made me deny it for a while, but I was forced to conclude that, yes, Ginny is a Mary Sue.

Of the little respect I had left for Harry, it was gone by the end of book six. It felt like he was a hormonal teen, just as embarrassing as when he was entranced by the veela at the World Cup!

Anyway, got a bit off-topic there.

#133 The_Void on 04.20.10 at 10:11 am

I don’t believe that Ginny is a Mary-Sue, but in Book 6 she does exhibit SOME qualities of a Mary-Sue. She is highly idealised – pretty, smart, funny, kind, popular, great kisser, good at Quidditch, etc. JKR has even said that Ginny is how she wished she had been in secondary school, highlighting the self-insert “wish fulfilment” elements of a Mary-Sue. She is never once presented as being wrong, and the hero inexplicably falls for her.

However, I think that CoS show her to have major faults, therefore she cannot be a true Mary-Sue. I just think her characterisation got screwed over in HBP for the sake of H/G.

#134 Jamie on 04.20.10 at 10:11 pm

By pairing Harry and Ginny along with Hermione and Ron, JK Rowling gives Harry what he has been longing for since page one of the series….a loving family. The Weasleys and Hermione adopted him early on as such. The pairings simply put a ribbon on it and made it official….good post…Trult a “happily ever after”

#135 The_Void on 04.21.10 at 1:57 pm

…Which just highlights how shallow and offensive H/G is. Ginny is reduced from a character to nothing but a gateay to Harry’s “happily ever after”. And it’s entirely pointless anyway, as the Weasleys had always considered Harry part of the family anyway.

#136 Harry B. on 04.23.10 at 9:02 pm

To be fair, Harry Potter series isn’t a romance fiction series. It’s a fantasy series. So the plot wasn’t exactly build around any romantic pairing possibility – which is maybe why there is not much build up toward H/G relationship, but this is just an assumption though. If I’m allowed to make a guess, those epilogue was thrown in as a bonus or a closure of some sort of HP fans.

#137 Sheila on 04.29.10 at 10:28 am

Umm I’m sorry but anyone who argues that Ginny isn’t well developed but that Luna is a well developed character just looses all credibility in their argument IMO especially with comments like this that follow : “Everything about Ginny was facts, like her hair, her quidditchness, her bat-bogeyness, nothing individual about her personality. Her speech was predictable, and at times annoying.” Or if you make a comment like this : “she comes off as the hot prep-girl or cheerleader in”. Good god, where is this coming from ? LMAO, whole lot of projection going on there IMO. Because clearly Ginny is the girl you don’t identify with it you see this from what’s in canon, which is a way off interpretation IMO.

Also, who you ship ? Total personal opinion and just arguing it is really ridiculous. Harry/Ginny is canon and some people love it. Shouldn’t those of you that don’t like it focus on the ships you like and just stop freaking complaining about what you don’t like ? What a whole waste of time and energy. I think H/G works in the books very well – anything else would have been utter BS and out of nowhere and she’s the only one who Harry was compatible with ( you can go blue in the face and tell me that Luna was compatible with Harry but I would never ever agree with that – I have never seen a more mismatched couple). But whatever, I won’t deride you of your opinion.

Also, just because HP isn’t a romance novel, it doesn’t mean that people can’t think that romances from it are their favourites etc. Yes, their was very little screen time given to any romance on the whole in the books (and thank god because if I had to read about R/Hr making googy eyes at each other I’d barf) but people saw what they liked and you know what ? That is fine. And not a bad excuse or not a reason why a couple can’t be well liked etc.

Basically my point is, get over it no ?

#138 The_Void on 04.30.10 at 7:53 am

Sigh… it’s called a discussion. You don’t want to discuss the quality of Harry/X? Fine, then don’t post here. Other people clearly want to put their various points forward, and are entitled to do so.

#139 Karly Black on 05.10.10 at 6:54 pm

Hi eveyone! I just joined this little discussion thing…
Anyway…I completely disagree with this article! I’m a huge Harry/Ginny supporter! I think they’re adorable, but I may be a little biased since Ginny’s my favorite female character and my 3rd favorite character in all, but I think she rocks! She’s tough, smart, won’t take crap from anyone, and can make Harry forget he’s even Harry Potter, The Chosen One. And I’m ready for ANY trash talk ANY of you Harry/Luna or Harry/Hermione can give me! I’m ready for any opinions at all! Just tell me any opinions you have! And btw, for those fo you who are saying Harry and Ginny’s relationship happened out of no where…JKR didn’t have another 7 books to actually DEVELOP Harry/Ginny! She made it short and sweet romance which I TOTALLY love! So ANY OF YOU; Harry/Ginny is my FAVORITE pairing! Well…that’s all I have to say for now!

#140 Karly Black on 05.10.10 at 7:29 pm

Also, this “discussion” to me, is more like a war! I mean, this comment in 140 or something! But that’s not to say this discussion thing isn’t fun!

#141 The_Void on 05.11.10 at 4:40 am

“Hi eveyone! I just joined this little discussion thing…
Anyway…I completely disagree with this article! I’m a huge Harry/Ginny supporter! I think they’re adorable, but I may be a little biased since Ginny’s my favorite female character and my 3rd favorite character in all, but I think she rocks! She’s tough, smart, won’t take crap from anyone”

Yep, Ginny is awesome. Which is why she deserves someone who will treat her like an equal, and won’t patronise and mollycoddle her. Harry breaks up with her “for her own safety” and forbids her from fighting in the final battle. She canonically hates that kind of treatment, so why does she roll over and take it from Harry? Bad writing, that’s why. Ginny’s character was pidgeonholed into a place it didn’t belong. Despite Ginny in theory not taking crap from anyone, she repeatedly succumbed to Harry’s wishes.

“and can make Harry forget he’s even Harry Potter, The Chosen One.”

Again, I present my “Show, don’t tell” argument. We’re told that Ginny makes Harry feel that way, but that makes no sense. There is nothing to indicated why or how she makes him feel that way. I don’t see anything in Ginny that would make him feel that way. Quite the opposite even – she historically hero-worshipped him, and in HBP says herself that she likes him because he is heroic. She likes Harry because of his heroism, yet somehow she makes him forget his hero’s duty? These statements are somewhat contradictary.

“And I’m ready for ANY trash talk ANY of you Harry/Luna or Harry/Hermione can give me! I’m ready for any opinions at all! Just tell me any opinions you have!”

Awesome.

“And btw, for those fo you who are saying Harry and Ginny’s relationship happened out of no where…JKR didn’t have another 7 books to actually DEVELOP Harry/Ginny!”

It would hardly have been hard to develop it. Give them one or two one-on-one conversations in HBP that show them interacting on an emotional level, and we’d be able to see why exactly they are good for each other, and see that they have a deep connection beyond snogging and Quidditch.

There were so many missed opportunities with H/G. It could have been phenomenally better with just a couple of minor tweaks.

Example – End of HBP, Ginny says that she “never gave up on Harry”. This retcons her character development in OotP, makes her look pathetic because all the changes she made in herself were for Harry, and is all-round insulting to Ginny’s character. Why not simply have Ginny actually getting over Harry? Insert a small scene in HBP before they get together, where Harry is good to Ginny in some way, making her have feelings for him again – proper feelings, not hero-worship. There, now Ginny’s feelings for Harry are not a convenient retcon, but a legitimate development of her character. We also get to see why Harry is good for Ginny.

Another example – the Room of Requirement scene in DH. Harry tells Ginny not to fight in the battle. Ginny takes his crap. This scene shows how OOC Ginny has to be to fit as Harry’s LI, and how Harry and Ginny are not equals at all in any way – Harry treats Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, and the rest of his year as his equals, but not Ginny. Why not have Harry stick up for Ginny? Mrs Weasley tries to stop Ginny fighting, that was a great opportunity for Harry to come in on Ginny’s side. Have him say that she faced Death Eaters last year, and the year before, that she survived possession by Voldemort himself, that he trusts her completely and wants her fighting by his side. That would improve H/G tenfold. It would show us why Ginny falls for Harry – because he treats her like the strong witch she is – and would make the relationship much more equal.

So yeah, I’m not buying the “didn’t have time” excuse. Tiny adjustments that would’ve taken up no more pagetime, or a few pages at most, would have made the relationship much better. R/Hr was developed well enough in 7 books, hell, Bill/Fleur was well developed in the space of 2 or 3 pages. H/G did lack simple time to develop, but what really killed it was that the way it was written was so awful in thd first place. H/G could have been really good, it’s a few minor adjustments away. But as it stands, I think it was written badly.

#142 Fiatan on 05.12.10 at 3:33 pm

I absolutely agree with this article. I would have LOVED Ginny and Harry as a couple, but it felt very forced. It’s not a good thing when the author’s intent is so completely transparent like that. I think good characters should drive the story. You could tell she put Ginny and Harry together just because “it had to happen” without doing any of the hard work of making it believable.

I would have been happy if there was no Epilogue at the end. Then, fans could have “made up” what really happened to the characters, etc. Instead we get this awl-fullness about Harry and Ginny getting married and Hermoine becoming basically a house-wife. It seriously ruined the series for me.

#143 Lisa on 05.18.10 at 8:46 pm

I can agree with the whole basis of this article — that the Harry/Ginny ship is NOT a great literary romance — but that’s beacuse I’m of the firm opinion that Harry should have ended up with someone who’s life he did not DIRECTLY save. It is emphasized in the books that Harry never liked his fame or wanted to be seen as a hero, so pairing him with some who he swooped down and saved seems shallow to me. When you save a person’s life, they’ll always think of you as their hero — because you ARE!

Moving on, I will also agree that ‘Harry Potter’ as a series is not a romance, nor is JK Rowling a romance author.

That said, I don’t approve of the Harry/Hermione ship either — she nags like she’s his mother, and cannot see how by always solving Harry’s problems for him she has shorted him. By the end of the books Harry is incredibly lazy, having had all of his awe and excitement at the thought of learning magic been sapped out of him by Hermione’s willingness to do everything for him. To me, the Harry/Hermione ship is a bit incestuous because Harry relies on her as one would rely on a parent.

As for the Harry/Ginny ship I will start by saying that I agree that there is very little MUTUAL on-screen romance between them. Ginny has loved Harry since she was young, and after he rescued her in ‘Chamber of Secrets’ her affection for him grew. I will agree that JK made Ginny’s love for Harry seem all-encompassing (even if I personally do not like the pairing), but there are very few instances where she even IMPLIES that Harry’s feeling for Ginny are the same. I dislike the pairing not because Ginny started out as a fan-girl, but because I feel like the affection Harry shows for Ginny pales incomparison for what she feels for him. To me, the Harry/Ginny romance is very much like the Lily/Snape romance in that it is painfully obvious that one party has much deeper feelings than the other does. Ginny got what she wanted in the end, but she DESERVED a realationship with someone that loved her as much as she did them.

As for the Harry/Luna ship I will say this: I like Luna as a character, but they were only ever meant to be friends. Harry doesn’t really know her, and thus, despite the shared experiences between them, he cannot really understand her.

The only pairing that seemed believeable to me were the ones between the adults. The James/Lily romance that was a long time in the making and foundation upon which the series was written; the one-sided Snape/Lily pairing, where he loved her his entire life, even after she’d died; and the Molly/Arthur ship where we see a love that supports an entire family. These are all background romances that are secondary to the main plot –the progression of Harry’s life — and that, I think, is what makes them so much better than the other pairing in the books.

#144 Cherry on 06.02.10 at 7:53 am

I feel a little guilty, breaking the 143 comments on your page. But … I love you anyway because of your article.

I agree that Harry and Ginny have no chance against the other literary couples. Their condensed relationship was never built – sort of like a mansion hastily made out of sticks or something.

I would have really liked the HarryXGinny pairing … but like I said, their relationship was “condensed”.

I also agree that the most believable relationship was the JamesXLily pairing. Heck – almost every single one of the BACKGROUND pairings was developed better than HarryXGinny!

I need to stop right now – because if I continue, I could probably make an entire 500 word essay. Even though the arguments about the pairings are long gone.

#145 Keira on 06.02.10 at 9:00 am

Don’t feel guilty lol You’re right in that the background relationships had much more meat on their bones compared to HxG. If you feel like writing 500 words on the subject, my comment box is open for your rant!

#146 Nindhi on 06.03.10 at 9:09 am

Eh, I was fine with H/G but I can see why others aren’t because it’s all about personal preference. TBH, I can’t see him with Hermione and Luna (that’s a joke right ?) and I can see him and Ginny happily living together so …

Though for people saying Harry and Luna had a bond – remember how he had to be reminded that she’d been taken away in DH ? Can’t say that’s a viable romantic pairing at all. As for the argument that Harry shares stuff with Hermione/Luna that he doesn’t with anyone else, that’s false. In OoTP, Ginny is the only one he tells about his wish to speak to Sirius so there goes that argument.

Now I realize some people like to think that oh my preferred ship had meaningful interactions, which I don’t agree with because I’d say all ship had that, but really, you need attraction as well and Harry’s only ever attracted to Cho and Ginny. If you go looking for oh my god, we had one conversation that was all “meaningful” you may just end up going for a guy who laughs at you.

#147 The_Void on 06.04.10 at 5:14 am

“Though for people saying Harry and Luna had a bond – remember how he had to be reminded that she’d been taken away in DH?”

He didn’t have to be reminded, he remembered, and felt bad that he, understandably, forgot, what with everything else happening at the time.

He also had complete faith in Luna that she was strong, and would be teaching all the inmates about Nargles. He puts his faith in Luna and treats her as an equal – something he does not do with Ginny.

“As for the argument that Harry shares stuff with Hermione/Luna that he doesn’t with anyone else, that’s false. In OoTP, Ginny is the only one he tells about his wish to speak to Sirius so there goes that argument.”

Harry wanting to speak to Sirius is pretty much common knowledge, it’s not exactly a big secret he’s unveiling. It would be like him confiding in Ginny that he doesn’t like Voldemort very much.

On the other hand, he is completely comfortable with talking to Luna about Sirius when he cannot talk to anyone else in the entire world.

“Now I realize some people like to think that oh my preferred ship had meaningful interactions, which I don’t agree with because I’d say all ships had that, but really, you need attraction as well and Harry’s only ever attracted to Cho and Ginny.”

And Harry complementing Luna’s appearance on two seperate occasions means nothing?

Also, this line of argument is one of the many reasons why H/G is percieved as a “superficial” relationship.

#148 Tracy on 06.04.10 at 9:05 am

How does Harry not treat Ginny as his equal? If Harry wanting to talk to Sirius was deffetnlly not common knowledge then why was nothing done about it till after Ginny talked to Fred and George? If Ron and Hermione knew that he wanted to talk to Sirius I’m sure they would have come up with a plan before. How does Harry treat Luna like and equal? They are friends and can be nothing more because he will never understand how she sees the world, and she believes in.

#149 The_Void on 06.05.10 at 10:05 am

“How does Harry not treat Ginny as his equal?”

End of HBP – breaks up with her to “keep her safe”. Doesn’t even tell her what he is doing.

DH – Forbids her to fight in the battle, against her wishes.

“If Harry wanting to talk to Sirius was deffetnlly not common knowledge then why was nothing done about it till after Ginny talked to Fred and George? If Ron and Hermione knew that he wanted to talk to Sirius I’m sure they would have come up with a plan before.”

Talking about it made it clear that he wanted to talk to Sirius immediately, but it was hardly a big secret he was confiding.

“How does Harry treat Luna like and equal?”

He fights alongside her in the final battle, he trusts her puts his faith in her strength, believing that she is strong enough to survive imprisonment, and is proved right.

“They are friends and can be nothing more because he will never understand how she sees the world, and she believes in.”

He doesn’t believe in most of her theories, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand them. And in OotP, he realises that Luna is right about several things – the Thestrals and the voices (“…Luna believed so many incredible things… Harry almost dared himself to believe her…”). And he completely respects her other beleifs, he never thinks her less of a person for them.

And I think that it’s good that he doesn’t believe in Nargles or Snorcacks. Luna believes anything as long as there’s no proof, she needs grounding. He needs her hope and idealism, she needs his cynicism. They balance each other out beautifully.

#150 Tracy on 06.05.10 at 8:17 pm

At the end of HBP Ginny did not agree with Harry breaking up with her but she respected Harry enough to go along with because she knew she is what he wanted and needed to get the job done.
In DH harry did not forbid Ginny to not fight he shook his head no. She was under age and most of her family did not want her to be in the fight. Even if harry did want Ginny to fight he would have had to change Mrs. Weasleys mind and that would have not happened. Can you really blame Harry for not wanting to her there it would be one less person he had to worry about. Also just because she wanted her to be save does not mean that he did not think she was not capable of taking care of herself.

#151 The_Void on 06.06.10 at 3:30 am

“At the end of HBP Ginny did not agree with Harry breaking up with her but she respected Harry enough to go along with because she knew she is what he wanted and needed to get the job done.”

Yes, that’s how good relationships work. The woman doesn’t agree with what the man says at all, but she follows his wishes regardless.

“In DH harry did not forbid Ginny to not fight he shook his head no.”

That’s the same thing.

“She was under age and most of her family did not want her to be in the fight.”

So? Ginny had as much right to fight as anyone else. Did everyone just forget that she had fought the Death Eaters that last two years and survived both times? Or that Harry himself had been regularly facing evil since he was 11 years old?

“Even if harry did want Ginny to fight he would have had to change Mrs. Weasleys mind and that would have not happened.”

He could have at least made an effort. He should’ve come out on Ginny’s side, even if it was a losing battle, not Mrs Weasley’s side.

“Can you really blame Harry for not wanting to her there it would be one less person he had to worry about. ”

I don’t blame Harry. But what Ginny wants more than anything is to be respected and not treated like a little kid, or an easily breakable piece of china. Harry treats her as such, which is why I think that he is completely the wrong guy for her.

“Also just because she wanted her to be save does not mean that he did not think she was not capable of taking care of herself.”

Clearly he does not think she is capable of fighting (despite her having shown she was twice previously), else he would’ve wanted her to fight.

Besides, since when was it Harry’s decision? Ginny wanted to fight, he should’ve respected her decision. That’s how good relationships work.

#152 teriyaki on 06.06.10 at 7:20 am

I really wanted to read through all of these comments, but I just don’t have the time xD However, here’s my two cents:

Firstly, Harry/Ginny as a high school romance is okay. It makes perfect sense to me that a guy suddenly starts having feelings for a girl out of the blue. Particularly at that age, it’s a common thing, what with the fact that he’s used to baby-Ginny and suddenly, whoa, she’s actually an adult, and she’s pretty hot…

I also understand JKR’s rationale for the pairing: that Ginny’s strong enough and feisty enough to understand why he has to leave, and lets him.

What I take issue with is, sadly, the epilogue. I can’t see Harry/Ginny surviving into a marriage scenario. After Voldemort is destroyed, JKR’s rationale for the pairing is null and void. There’s no need for Harry’s partner to be someone who’ll let him go and fight, because there’s no fighting to be done. I think that immediately after the final battle, they’d try to pick up where they left off, but it would fizzle out pretty quickly and they’d part mutually, staying friends.

Just look at the fact that, after the battle is won, Harry makes no attempt to go and talk to Ginny. Luna understands him and sends him off with Ron and Hermione. That seems very incongruous with his fretting over Ginny during the whole battle, which also seemed disproportionate to his feelings for Ginny leading up to this moment.

It’s as though Harry has decided Ginny is his soulmate, but doesn’t feel the need to tell us why. I think JKR had in her head such an idea of how great Ginny was and of how the pairing just made perfect sense, that she forgot that we, the readers, weren’t privy to that knowledge – she forgot to share it with us, and that’s why it’s so hard to believe the pairing.

As for other pairings, I don’t really see Harry/Luna. It’d be cute, but not convincing – as several people have said, Luna makes Harry a little uncomfortable; he likes her, but not enough for a relationship. The only person I’d have been happy to see Harry with is Hermione, because of her constancy. But I really think that Ron/Hermione is the best relationship in the books – it was clear from the very beginning that all the chemistry was between them. If it weren’t for Ron, maybe Harry/Hermione would have happened, but as it stands, Harry has no option (whether he loves her or not).

I’d say Harry has to be with Hermione or alone. Anyone else is just an unsatisfactory comedown for the main character. I’d say leave him be. He’s already practically brothers with Ron so he has a good family with the Weasleys, and he’ll later be reconciled with Dudley. JKR seems to have made another error in assuming that for a character to be happy, he *has* to be married and have a family. Personally I don’t subscribe to that, and I’m certainly not sure Harry would want more responsibility, especially so soon.

Though I have to say, my least favourite HP pairing is definitely Lupin/Tonks. It came out of nowhere, served no purpose except to give poor Lupin yet more angst AND spoil his character in the process and then came to nothing when they both died off screen. A saddening attempt to silence us Sirius/Lupin shippers in my view

One final point: JKR has said that everyone’s free to make up their own minds about what happened afterwards. The epilogue was just her way of communicating to everyone what *she* thought would happen. In other words, JKR herself has stated that the epilogue isn’t canon. Interesting, huh? ^^

(Sorry for such a long comment!)

#153 Lisa on 06.07.10 at 11:01 am

Erm The Void – you may want to re-read OoTP again. Harry wanting to talk to Sirius was not common knowledge and he felt very relieved after he said it – it was not something he felt like he could say. It’s in freaking text there. Geez, this is exactly why I can’t take rapid shippers seriously. In a similar vein I could say, well everyone knew that Harry was upset about Sirius’s death and so that he could talk to Luna about it means nothing.

Wanting to protect someone from fighting because they mean everything to you =/= not thinking they can’t fight. Is it Ginny’s fault that people cared for her and didn’t want her to fight ? No, Harry didn’t support her desire to fight and it’s shown that he couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to her – he almost gives up his clear shot on Voldie to protect Ginny FFS. There’s a difference between that and not respecting someone’s abilities and I don’t see proof that Harry doesn’t respect Ginny’s abilities – what you give is just ….. nothing. Neither is there any proof that Harry understands Luna despite what you say but I cannot say that I am surprised.

#154 The_Void on 06.07.10 at 1:55 pm

“Erm The Void – you may want to re-read OoTP again. Harry wanting to talk to Sirius was not common knowledge and he felt very relieved after he said it – it was not something he felt like he could say. It’s in freaking text there.”

I’m not going to trapse through the books looking for quotes, but time and time again throughout GoF and OotP, Harry expresses a desire to talk to Sirius. It’s why he appears in the fire. It’s why they arrange to meet in Hogsmeade. It’s why Sirius gives him the mirror.

That’s the strange thing about that scene, the scene treats Harry’s revelation as though it was a big secret he’d never told anyone else, when in actual fact it’s not. The scene is fine if you don’t think about it, but when you do it makes very little sense.

“In a similar vein I could say, well everyone knew that Harry was upset about Sirius’s death and so that he could talk to Luna about it means nothing.”

Partially true, I should clarify. It was common knowledge that Harry was upset. However, it was clear that Harry couldn’t talk to anyone about it – he felt “cut off from the rest of the world”. He didn’t speak to anyone about his death, until Luna came along. And while he felt pangs of pain when Ron or Hermione or Hagrid mentions Sirius, he doesn’t mind Luna talking about him. That’s what’s important here – when Harry cannot connect to anyone else, he can connect to Luna.

“On Ginny’s abilities, Harry’s treatment of her.”

Look, I’ve said it before and I don’t like repeating myself. I am not saying what Harry did is wrong, or out of character. I’m saying that it shows that he is not the kind of guy that Ginny would not want to be with.

Ginny wants to be respected for her talents and not treated like a useless little girl. She would want to be with someone who would treat her like the powerful woman she is. She would not want to be with someone overprotective, however well-intentioned they are.

“Neither is there any proof that Harry understands Luna despite what you say but I cannot say that I am surprised.”

He understands her compltely at the end of OotP, realising that she could see the Thestrals and gaining insight into her view of the world. In HBP he notices how much the DA must have meant to her. In DH he believes in her strength to survive imprisonment and is proved right, and instantly recognises her “dancing” as batting away Wrackspurts.

#155 Lisa on 06.07.10 at 2:19 pm

I still don’t get how Harry opening about wanting to talk to Ginny is different than him opening up about Sirius to Luna ? How does one count and proove a ship while the other doesn’t ? It’s the same thing – he opens up and talks about it to the girls when he can’t to anyone else and now your argument just sounds hypocritical. He connects to both but apparently only one is right. Seriously ? Whatever.

He understands Luna better in the last three books yes, but he doesn’t get her still – her beliefs, interests and values mean nothing to him when you think about it and the ship just doesn’t make sense. Like honestly, what would he rather talk about quidditch or house elevs or imaginary creatures ?

And with that I am done.

#156 The_Void on 06.08.10 at 5:44 am

“I still don’t get how Harry opening about wanting to talk to Ginny is different than him opening up about Sirius to Luna ? How does one count and proove a ship while the other doesn’t ? It’s the same thing – he opens up and talks about it to the girls when he can’t to anyone else and now your argument just sounds hypocritical. He connects to both but apparently only one is right. Seriously ? Whatever.”

Have I not explained this already? He had not spoken to ANYONE about Sirius’ death before he does so with Luna. On the other hand, he has told MULTIPLE PEOPLE of his wish to speak to Sirius before he does so with Ginny. Luna is the one and only he can talk to, while Ginny is one in a long line of confidantes.

“He understands Luna better in the last three books yes, but he doesn’t get her still – her beliefs, interests and values mean nothing to him when you think about it.”

“Like honestly, what would he rather talk about quidditch or house elevs or imaginary creatures?”

D) All of the above. With the woman who clearly enjoys quidditch, as evidenced by her dressing up in a costume built specifically for a match and volunteering to commentate, who speaks of Dobby’s bravery in Malfoy Manor, saying every Harry wanted to say for him, and who believes in the impossible and therefore gives Harry the strength to believe himself.

“And with that I am done.”

Nice talking.

#157 The_Void on 06.08.10 at 5:45 am

Sorry, forgot to add a bit:

“He understands Luna better in the last three books yes, but he doesn’t get her still – her beliefs, interests and values mean nothing to him when you think about it.”

See my previous post on the subject:

http://www.loveromancepassion.com/why-harry-potter-and-ginny-weasley-are-the-least-romantic-literary-couple-of-the-age/comment-page-3/#comment-7559

#158 Tracy on 06.08.10 at 9:22 am

Harry did not tell anyone that he wanted to talk to Sirius after he saw his Father and Mother in the pensieve but Ginny. Here is the quote from book five. ” Harry looked at her. Perhaps it was the effect of the chocolate – Lupin had always advised eating some after encounters with dementors – or simply because he had finally spoken aloud the wish that had been burning inside him for a week, but he felt a bit more hopeful…….”

#159 The_Void on 06.08.10 at 12:15 pm

“Harry did not tell anyone that he wanted to talk to Sirius after he saw his Father and Mother in the pensieve but Ginny. Here is the quote from book five. ” Harry looked at her. Perhaps it was the effect of the chocolate – Lupin had always advised eating some after encounters with dementors – or simply because he had finally spoken aloud the wish that had been burning inside him for a week, but he felt a bit more hopeful…….””

That’s true, he hadn’t spoken of it since the pensieve incident. However he had spoken of it many times before. His great secret is “I want to speak to Sirius… for a slightly different reason than the many previous times.”

That is why the chocolate scene is so emotionally empty. It’s nothing new that Harry unveils, it’s a slight variation on a theme we’d scene time and time again before. The details differ, but the wish itself stays the same.

#160 Well on 06.19.10 at 4:17 pm

I’m a Harmony fan and I dont mind Ginny/Harry…If Giny and Harry had more on page romance. yes, it wasnt a romance novel and such but some books that are action packed and magical like Harry DO have time to introduce the love interest. Even if Ginny came in book 2, because she was a fangirl most of the time and was barely even there, there’s no WAY that you can take that relationship seriously. If J.K. put it more on page than off page, then not many people would have a problem with it.

The reason me and other like Harmony is because of the on-page action and such. If Ginny, when she was immediately put in book 2, was more interactive with them and wasnt that much of a fangirl in the beginning, I bet that the majority of Harmonians would be on the side of Ginny and Harry. But since harry and Hermoine’s page time was RIGHT in our faces, we took that he’d end up with her. Or if he didnt, he’d end up with no one and he’d watch Ron and Hermoine’s kids off to Hogwarts at the end(or atleast i did).

There’s NO problem with subtle clues, but dont make it SO subtle that it’s almost nonexistan. That’s how I feel on that situation. Now off to read another story.

#161 becca on 06.28.10 at 8:54 pm

Well, I don’t think they were the best LITERARY couple, but they were also fairly realistic. They weren’t that romantic, but not all relationships are like that. Hermione and Ron were the passionate, always fighting couple, whereas Harry and Ginny are the level-headed, but still in love couple. And Harry does admire Ginny. She has courage and guts, and Harry admires this. Plus Hermione and Ron are completely created to be together, so Harry and Hermione would just be wrong. They think of eachother like brother and sister. Luna is too odd for Harry, and she’s always seemed to kind of have a crush on Ron.

#162 becca on 06.28.10 at 8:56 pm

And crushes come out of nowhere all the time. Yes, at first, Harry’s liking for Ginny was just a crush, but I believe it turned into more.

#163 The_Void on 06.29.10 at 6:06 am

“Luna is too odd for Harry,”

Nope, she’s just odd enough.

“and she’s always seemed to kind of have a crush on Ron.”

This is wrong, incorrect, the opposite of true. She laughed at his joke in OotP, that got fed into the fanon machine and we ended up with this perception in fandom that Luna has a crush on Ron. She doesn’t. This is non in the story.

“And crushes come out of nowhere all the time.”

No, they don’t. They usually come out of friendships. You do not know your best friends little sister for years and barely think about her at all, then suddenly become head over heels for her at random. It’s unrealistic.

“Yes, at first, Harry’s liking for Ginny was just a crush, but I believe it turned into more.”

When? In the scene when they broke up? When the snogged in Ginny’s room? Was there a single scene in the whole books when they got to know each other better?

#164 penny on 06.29.10 at 3:56 pm

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH U…

According to me
“JKR could have created one of the greatest romances in fiction if she had paired Harry and Hermione…they truly understand each other and are truly made for each other…..”

#165 Cris on 07.08.10 at 2:00 am

H/Hr & H/L fans, just get over it already. Go outside and enjoy the day instead of spending your lives bitching for something that will never change.

And it’s hypocrisy calling Ginny an underdeveloped character but not Luna. Luna never changes/evolves throughout the series. Even the actress who plays her said that. How can someone like that work for Harry? He needs someone ‘sane’ and ‘not acting like his mom’ all the time. He needs his equal, who is Ginny.

#166 Cris on 07.08.10 at 2:06 am

And Harry Potter’s not all about romance. JK Rowling doesn’t have to spoonfeed every romantic detail to you. Use your brain and common sense please. If you want romance, then go and read twilight. Now there’s the book you’re looking for.

#167 The_Void on 07.08.10 at 6:10 am

“H/Hr & H/L fans, just get over it already. Go outside and enjoy the day instead of spending your lives bitching for something that will never change.”

Erm, why don’t YOU go outside instead of bitching about what other people are doing? My God, people who come onto a discussion thread and then accuse people that go on discussion threads of being stupid are just… argh.

“And it’s hypocrisy calling Ginny an underdeveloped character but not Luna. Luna never changes/evolves throughout the series. Even the actress who plays her said that.”

Luna does change in small ways, she slowly gains friends and becomes more confident and grounded from doing so. It’s small and subtle, and what you’d expect from a character only in 3 books. And although she doesn’t change massively, her character is explored in depth and so she is very developed.

I never accused Ginny of being underdeveloped, but poorly developed. She underwent a personality transplant in OotP, which was character development that was rushed and extreme. Then she gets her development retconned away in HBP, and in DH she barely appears.

“He needs someone ‘sane’ and ‘not acting like his mom’ all the time. He needs his equal, who is Ginny.”

Ginny is not his equal, he does not treat her like an equal at all. The RoR scene in DH is concrete proof of this. It’s all well and good JKR claiming that Harry and Ginny are equals, the problems is she didn’t actually show them as equals in the actual book.

“And Harry Potter’s not all about romance. JK Rowling doesn’t have to spoonfeed every romantic detail to you. Use your brain and common sense please. If you want romance, then go and read twilight. Now there’s the book you’re looking for.”

*bangs head against wall*

If you’re not going to do something properly, don’t do it at all. This applies to everything, including romance. I don’t want a romance book! Twilight is utter cack – it has a romance even worse than H/G! I love Harry Potter, almost everything about the series is brilliant, I just happen to think that the H/G romance was poorly written.

And “use your brain and common sense” – what’s that supposed to mean? Are you just slinging out random insults in place of an actual argument? FFS, don’t be so bloody rude and arrogant, either engage in debate or leave, don’t come here and just insult anyone with an opposing viewpoint.

#168 Cris on 07.08.10 at 12:08 pm

Don’t be so melodramatic. You’re blocking out every anvil sized hints of course you will not get it. Read the books again. It will help you. Not the fanfiction and assumptions of the anti H/G crowd from fiction alley. The real books written by JK Rowling.

#169 The_Void on 07.08.10 at 12:21 pm

“Don’t be so melodramatic.”

Don’t be so insulting.

“You’re blocking out every anvil sized hints of course you will not get it. Read the books again. It will help you. Not the fanfiction and assumptions of the anti H/G crowd from fiction alley. The real books written by JK Rowling.”

Sigh… I’ve read the books. I’m reading HBP right now. What is in the books I use to explain why I don’t like H/G. I’ve looked at what’s there, and I’ve decided that I believe the relationship is poorly written, and have written hundereds upon hundereds of words, in this comments section, using examples from the text, detailing why I think that. Frankly if you can’t be bothered to read my arguments (starting here: http://www.loveromancepassion.com/why-harry-potter-and-ginny-weasley-are-the-least-romantic-literary-couple-of-the-age/#comment-6445) and if you are more interested in insulting me and accusing me of things that are not true, I don’t see why I should bother talking to you. Again, either engage me in debate properly or just leave.

#170 sarah on 07.09.10 at 7:49 am

Honestly, this is not supposed to be a Romeo and Juliet. It is not a love story. Harry and Ginny are not supposed to be a perfect great literary romance. They are just teenagers that happen to fall for one another in the midst of terrors and so much more going on. This is what makes it realistic–its not some extreme love story. Harry suddenly realizes he’s in love with his best friend’s little sister, when she’s been there all along while he’s been struggling to save the wizarding world. Ginny had a crush on him forever, but he just wouldn’t notice her. This is more realistic than any great literary romance.

#171 Terapsina on 07.18.10 at 3:27 am

I think what bothers me most about the relationship between Ginny and Harry, is the fact that it wasn’t developed. I mean you could say that Harry never developed romantic relations with anyone else either, but with Ginny he never developed even their platonic friendship.
Also, I just cant see how it is healthy to marry someone you had a crush on since you were five years old. Its like getting married to the prince from your favorite childhood fairytale. When I imagine their wedding I can’t stop myself from knowing that Ginny spent that day with at least a little self satisfied smirk thinking “I TOLD mum I was gonna marry the Boy-Who-Lived”.
Also have to admit that I really like the idea of Luna with Harry, but I understand the relationship he has with Hermione might under the correct circumstances turn romantic. Either way Harry had more history and groundwork placed for hooking up with Cho, and even asking Padma to the Jule Ball than he had with the youngest Weasley.
The sad thing is, that Ginny’s and Harry’s love story COULD have been great, if only there were more scenes with the both of them, if their connection to Tom Riddle was actually USED to place them closer.

#172 The_Void on 07.19.10 at 9:23 am

“The sad thing is, that Ginny’s and Harry’s love story COULD have been great, if only there were more scenes with the both of them, if their connection to Tom Riddle was actually USED to place them closer.”

This is very true. Tiny alterations could’ve made their romance a lot better.

#173 Lucy on 07.21.10 at 5:25 am

here is why they are in fact meant to be together throwout the whole serie

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GYBsQXqGwL4J:www.mugglenet.com/editorials/madampuddifoot/edit-kkearney01.shtml+harry+ginny+feelings+hint&cd=4&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=de

#174 James D. Fawkes on 07.21.10 at 10:45 pm

Well, since everyone else seems to get so excited about this, I’ll add in my two cents.

The most distinct thing I noticed about the Harry/Ginny relationship is the odd description of Harry’s supposed feelings (which, I might add, came from nowhere). They’re described as a “monster in his chest”. Personally, I’d have to disagree with that. Any sort of loving and true relationship should not be so intense, at least not in the long run. A true romantic relationship is much softer, much more gentle, subtle. It’s like an ocean, with a smooth surface and a churning undercurrent the ebbs and flows. There are high points, waves of desire and emotion, that can either wash against you gently or crash down on top of you in an instant. No such monster.

While I will admit there were several clues and hints as to their relationship, Ginny came out of nowhere. She had virtually no significance to the plot, yet she suddenly appears as the hero’s love interest in Half-Blood Prince. She was in no way central to the storyline. She could just as easily been replaced or omitted from the books entirely.

Amortentia? That seems to be a logical explanation for Harry’s feelings in Half-Blood Prince.

By contrast, Harry and Hermione have something different. They were best friends and Hermione always stood beside Harry. In a relationship, you and your partner are supposed to be equals, and while Ginny certainly acted like Harry’s equal, she was not given such a role. Conversely, Hermione was. She stood by his side through EVERYthing. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor…well, you get the idea. Hermione was willing to risk everything, up to and including her friendship with Harry, for the sake of protecting him.

Now, I can throw a bunch of different scenes at you that hinted at Harry and Hermione getting together, including how much she was willing to sacrifice for Harry in several of the books, the fact that several of Harry’s adventures had he and Hermione separated from Ron, even alone together, and how close they were in general, but I don’t have space in this comment.

In closing, I can say, however, that Rowling wrote the books in such a way (perhaps unintentionally) that Harry could have wound up with any number of girls, including Hermione, Luna, Cho, and Ginny (listed in order of my preference). Whether a cleverly written romantic masterpiece designed to cater to the preferences of a vast fanbase, or an incredible stroke of pure luck, up until the epilogue, JK Rowling let us choose who we wanted Harry to be with.

#175 DarkWolf on 07.22.10 at 2:53 pm

Well the thing disturbs me most about the description of Harry’s suddenly and out of no where feelings for Ginny. Are that in past books when J K Rowlings describes Harry natural feelings it is never as an animal or creature of any sort that moves about within his body. All of the that happens inside him are his heart soars in his chest when he is excited and his stomach does flip flops about when he is nervous or sinks deep within him when he is depressed.

And the only time in the whole series before Half-Blood-Prince where we are told by Harry in his talk with Sirius about any animal rising up inside him. It is when Harry had the desire to attack Dumbledore for no reason at all before he was pulled away by the portkey at Christmas in Order of the Phoenix the book that proceeded Half-Blood-Prince .

Now everyone of us knows that when that happened it was explained away that it was an outside force namely Voldemort trying to influence Harry to do so. But now that an animal suddenly appears inside Harry what it must be a natural feel because it brings Harry to his beloved Ginny.

Of course a very good author doesn’t repeat a pattern in their characters and then forgets in when they wish to change the meaning of the pattern.
Though I guess the fact that J K Rowlings does so proves that she isn’t the so great author/ writer everyone of her defenders simply claim she is. She is and will be just a flash in the pan unable to truly write anything beyond the Harry Potter series and books connect to the series.

Oh, and before I forget to point out that Harry and Ginny seems to be a retelling of the backstory we got from Tom Riddle and Merope Guant in the same book. Which of course makes it just as sad and unromantic as possible. Rich boy barely notices poor girl though he knows alot about her family. Then one day out of no where he falls in love with the poor girl and she is a witch who has had a crush on the rich boy for who knows how long.

Of course yes I know some will argue that no where in the books does it say Ginny slipped Harry a love potion as it does say about Merope Guant doing that to Tom Riddle, but with the change in description pointed out above. There is enough evidence along with the similarities between the couples of H/G and T/M to argue the point especially to those who make claims that Harry and Ginny’s relationship developed off page and so open the door to the possible argument that Ginny slipped Harry a love potion but it happened off page.

#176 The_Void on 07.24.10 at 7:32 am

^I think the difference is that Ginny and Harry were implied to have gotten to know each other off-page (all those “sunlit days” and crap like that), whereas there is no implication that Ginny slipped Harry a love potion.

It doesn’t make the relationship any better written…. I just think that the love potion theory is a little bit ridiculous, and stinks of desperation.

#177 DarkWolf on 07.24.10 at 7:01 pm

Now I don’t deny that the love potion theory is a little bit ridiculous and stinks of desperation. Just compare it to the very ridiculous and ricking of of desperation explanation given by the author for Harry and Ginny. The love potion seems to be more thought out and explains the change in description between Harry’s natural feelings to Harry’s influenced feelings that appear to happen in Half-Blood-Prince.

Now for those who would argue the old argument that the Harry Potter series isn’t at romance. Can anyone then explain why four of the seven books are heavily themed that deal with relationship and romance hmmm? I mean four out of seven is more the half the books in the series and it makes me shake my head to read someone then claim that the Harry Potter series isn’t partly about romance. Oh, and for those who wonder which of the books that I mean they are books 2,4,5 and of course 6.

Book two deals with it in the form of Hermione’s fangirl crush on Lockhart. Then there is Ginny’s fangirl/hero worship of Harry or more accurately the hero who conquer the Dark Lord. Book four of course applies to Harry’s crushing on Cho and concluded that relationship in book five. Then can supper romance and hormones charged book six that forces Harry and Ginny together. Well I am going to call this a post since I am tired but will be back again to post on the subject another time. Farewell everyone..

#178 The_Void on 07.25.10 at 2:50 am

The “HP isn’t a romance series!” argument is ridiculous. Just thinking through all my favourite TV shows and books, none of them are romance series, but some of them have great romances. HP doesn’t have to be a romance series to have a decent central romance, it manages to have some great action sequences even though it’s not an action series, there are some very funny moments even though it’s not a comedy… etc.

#179 Tracy on 07.25.10 at 9:36 pm

A Very Potter Sequel is on youtube now if you din’t know It sounded like you like the first musical.

#180 Agnes on 07.31.10 at 5:37 pm

I agree with the article. I didn’t want her to pair up the trio (Harry, Hermione, Ron) with each other or anyone else (except casually dating) and not an epilogue with them all married with kids (yawn). They were still very young at the end of the series but had been through a lot. I’d have liked to see them take the time to have some fun in college and get to know themselves and what they wanted in life before settling down. It’s odd that Rowling was divorced herself so she knows pairings often don’t last, particularly ones made at a very early age, so why wouldn’t she want to give them time to grow and spread their wings? That said, I didn’t see Harry and Ginny as a good couple in the books, but particularly not in the movies – I just didn’t see the chemistry. I saw more chemistry with Harry and Hermione or Harry and Luna. But again, I wanted them to all have time to just be individuals before settling down with anyone. Nice article and nice conversation, thank you!

#181 themaaricle on 08.08.10 at 8:23 pm

I agree with this article, for the most part.
Harry/Ginny, at least the way they are written in the books, do NOT work.
I agree with the_void in the sense that the REASON for their relationship is never explained.
Also, while I can understand that at least in the 6th book their relationship can be understood as a mere crush, there are 2 problems:
1. they way Harry acts is completely out of character. A “green-eyed monster in his chest”?! WTF is that. If his attraction towards Ginny was somewhat more…Harry-like (swooning stomach, etc) then it would have been a more believable crush.
2. their relationship consisted of him staring at her ALL THE TIME, and them snogging; which is fine for a juvenile crush. (note that these 2 points I am making are arguing that Harry/Ginny don’t even stand as a in character crush/likeness.) BUT the problem with this is how the breakup is done. Rowling over-dramatizes the breakup, somehow telling us, in the thoughts of Harry, that their relationship had been the best days of his life. that they had a connection. WHERE IS THIS CONNECTION?!

so, even the idea of them together doesn’t make sense. if j.k. rowling simply developed ginny’s character a little better, and more gradually allowed Harry to notice her instead of simply using the green eyes monster, (which, by the way, i could see some hints in book 5, as a completely unbiased reader. if she just emphasized more on those, instead of having harry act like some out of character horny teenager, then it would have been a different story) then their relationship would have more of a basis.

but yeah. again, like what the_void said, even if this happened….I don’t know. I just don’t see them as equals. Harry always kind of admired Ginny, if you could say that, but put her down as well. She was always “the little sister” and her crush on him since she was like….4 years old makes me shudder at the thought of them together. I just don’t see how they can live as a married couple for 19 YEARS. it’s ridiculous.

* ex: even when harry started to see her in a different light, he still puts her down. when ginny replaces him as the seeker in OoTP, while he admires the fact that she caught the snitch, he also belittles her by knowing that he could have caught it faster.
“Harry got into bed, thinking about the match. It had been immensely frustrating watching from the sidelines. He was quite impressed by Ginny’s performance but he felt that if he had been playing he could have caught the Snitch sooner.There had been a moment when it had been fluttering near Kirke’s ankle; if she hadn’t hesitated, she might have been able to scrape a win for Gryffindor…”

there isn’t really anything about ginny that harry finds himself in awe over. sure, she can calm him down (sometimes), but that’s about it.

whereas, with hermione, it’s her intelligence, the way they can finish each others’ sentences, and i can go on and on.

i wanted to save the fact that i’m a harmonian until the end, so no one can discredit me at least whilst they are reading what i wrote in the beginning.

#182 Sosumi on 08.08.10 at 10:51 pm

I think it is brilliant what Rowling did.
She provided a Mary-Sue to fall in love with Harry.
Sure, she provided the physical discription and social status, but any girl and throw her personality into Ginny’s head and believe herself to be the perfect match for the Hero Harry Potter.
Ginny isn’t developed enough to be more than a one dimensional character. The reason people see Luna/Harry more likely than Ginny/Harry is because Luna is more developed, despite having less “screen time” as it were.

Her quirkiness and background already provide her more depth and personality than Ginny’s robotic actions.

Ginny started off as a robot, and Rowling couldn’t figure out how to get Ginny from plot device to person.

I think Rowling wrote Luna for the pure fun of Luna, and so she shined through, and captured a loyal fan base.

I completely agree with the article, I just think that Rowling did it on purpose.

She provided the clues about Amorentia (sp?) at the same time as Harry fell for Ginny to keep the readers guessing until the very end. Brilliant tactic to keep the franchise going on for years after the final novel’s publication.

#183 Zovesta on 08.08.10 at 10:58 pm

Couldn’t agree with ya more, lass. Great job bringing up these points.

#184 The_Void on 08.10.10 at 4:44 am

Sosumi, you’re pretty much completely right.

“I think it is brilliant what Rowling did.
She provided a Mary-Sue to fall in love with Harry.
Sure, she provided the physical discription and social status, but any girl and throw her personality into Ginny’s head and believe herself to be the perfect match for the Hero Harry Potter.”

It’s like Twilight, where Bella is such a non-character that any girl can put themselves into her shoes and imagine they’re getting with Edward/Jacob. Although I don’t think Ginny is a Mary-Sue, she is a very weak and undefined character.

#185 Hayden on 08.16.10 at 1:19 am

I definitely agree with this article.
To me it should have been Harry and Hermione. My reason is because of the attachment you get to those who are fully developed as a character. Hermione was from the beginning to the end at Harry’s side. Ginny was plain and dull and even when her character finally starts developing–which doesn’t happen until like book five–there is nothing about her that makes her stand out. Hermione has such a powerful character that you grow much more attached to her.
Those who are saying Hermione nags too much are somewhat being counter-productive in their argument… first of all: every girl nags too much lol. But mostly-harry is better suited to be with someone who nags. He’s pretty reckless throughout the books and needs to be kept in line. Same with Ron, which is why she does well with him. However, Ron is seen as more of a comedic character and really isn’t portrayed as a character to be with Hermione.

At the end of the day though, they’re amazing books nonetheless. And let’s face it, no one reads Harry potter for the romance lol.

#186 Noelle on 08.20.10 at 9:10 pm

Ok let’s start off with your so called “points”.

Point 1:
Just because the romance was not rowling’s main focus wasn’t romance didnt mean that it was nonexistent. She was, afterall, writing a childrens story, and as an older sibling of 3 i know that children (namely boys) are not interested in romance as much as action. Rowling may also not have been the best writer when it comes to romance writing, her strengths lay in other areas. Not to mention that their relationship was beleivable in a way that requires the reader to read in between the lines. Something you seem to have missed.

Point 2:
How can you say that Ginny had no strengths? She had to be strong to fight in the war as an under age witch. It was clearly shown in both thebooks and th movies that she was bright and powerful women; seeing as she had 6 older brothers to stand up against. She had to have been strong to survive Voldemort at age 11. Just because the 2 had more alike than most couples seem to, doesnt mean that they didnt compliment each other well.

Point 3:
Ok so Harry didnt sacrifice himself for only Ginny. Big deal! He had a larger burden on his shoulderTHE FLIPPEN WORLD. I would die for humanity too. Their sacrifice was clearly the year they spent apart. After Harry getting a taste of what life could be like with Ginny he unwillingly broke it off for her safety. During their kiss in the 7th book it clearly shows that Harry would miss her and he wanted her but he wouldnt let himself think of her because he had to save the world. Rowling only wrote his conscience thoughts and never went into detail about his subconscience which was obviously filled with Ginny. Why else would he stare at her dot on the map???

Point 4:
How are they not well matched? Reading between the lines, you would find that all of Ginny’s hidden traits match Harry’s needs perfectly. Rowling let’s the idea of Ginny being a fangirl fade when he saves her from the chamber of secrets.(not to mention that the chamber was a sacrifice from harry, seeing as he risked his life to save her)

point 5:
In Harry’s case everyone was basically an under dog. He was famous and ‘the chosen one’. Who could compete with that? Yes, Rowling suggest that Ginny was well-known but she was also the underdog when it came to Harry. Ron and Hermione always came first in his eyes and she fought for his attention.

Conclusion:
Harry and Ginny are a supreme example of going against the grain. There is a time for cliche and a time for independent ideas to be set free. Rowling already had the entire hero journey so the girl needed to be different. From the eyes of one who only sees through past literature, yes, Hermione Granger would Harry’s match. But if you closely and from another angle, then it is obvious that Ginny is the best choice for him.

Oh and the fact that Harry and Ginny were married for the epilogue only says that they were able to work out any kinks in their relationship. Rowling never said when or how they got back together.

Last thing, insulting an author who is clearly brilliant is not very classy. I understand insulting an author in discreet ways but coming right out and saying it is disrespectful to their work.

#187 Keira on 08.21.10 at 12:44 pm

I’m not denying she tried to incorporate romance, I’m saying it was badly done. The whole post was done to counter another blogger’s points that placed Harry/Ginny in the top 10 romances ever written. HP is not a romance as so many people have said and that alone should disqualify the couple from major league romances.

Harry/Ginny is out of the blue. The hints and so-called reading between the lines are only there for those who wanted Harry/Ginny to get together. Prove to me using quotes from the book that imply how they will get together and all you can find is her fan-girl behavior and his ignoring her as his friend’s younger sibling.

Ginny as others have said is a total Mary Sue – She goes from a Crushing Geeky Nobody to Perfect Miss Somebody of Awesome x2. Her first year is the only time she wasn’t hugely popular in Hogwarts and that could be blamed on the diary and Tom Riddle.

Speaking of the Chamber of Secrets, it could have been Ron, Justin, Ernie, Sean, Luna, Hermione, Cho, Padma, Random X House Member from Slytherin (even Draco), and Harry still would have gone to the Chamber of Secrets to save them. That’s just the type of character he is. Ron came because it was Ginny.

Did Ginny’s fangirl love for Harry go away? Or did his rescuing her from CoS merely make it larger? It seems to me Ginny got exactly who and what she wanted – Gryffindor Golden Boy, Chosen One, Boy-Who-Lived, etc. Harry got a mommy look alike…

As for her specialness in fighting during the war. Ginny was never on the front line. She like the rest of the Hogwarts students all faced the same troubles seventh year and they all had to cope. Neville led the resistance and at the Hogwarts final battle, the kill/fight that would have made her equal to Harry was stolen from her by Mrs. Weasley.

I think you’re giving Ginny far too much credit. All she seems to have done is show up. That alone should not entitle her to Harry’s affections.

#188 Jay on 08.23.10 at 10:36 pm

I agree with everything the article has to say. In truth, I first thought Ginny had slipped Harry a Love Potion when he started obsessing over her. Surely that isn’t a good sign.

Everything Ginny did was so ‘perfect’ and ‘beautiful’ that it began to get on my nerves. I couldn’t go anywhere without hearing these Ginny-fanatics obsessing over how pretty/beautiful she is and how sporty she is. Everyone seems to have slipped into the stage where Cho Chang is a slut who only wanted Harry for good looks.

First of all, Cho was not a slut; the only boyfriend she was known to have was Cedric Diggory and it wasn’t really even confirmed if they were dating or just close friends.

I’ll cover the next point rather quickly, seeing as I’m drifting into my ‘Harry/Cho stage.’ Cho went for Harry for comfort and attraction. She really did like Harry, even loved, but needed someone to help her get over Cedric.

Now, what I hated about Ginny. Almost everything. She was so good at Quidditch, so skilled with hexes (though the only spell we are told she’s good at isn’t even seen), so everything Harry could possibly want. There were no flaws, no downsides to Ginny. She was too perfect.

Everything Ginny did made the other girls look poor in comparison. Cho lost to Ginny several times in a Quidditch match and now Ginny seems to be unbeatable?! Hermione tries to show she has some knowledge of Quidditch and Ginny snaps at her?!

I could go on and on and on about how poor a character Ginny is. The romance between them was too predictable and not even worth reading. J. K. Rowling disappointed me with the last three books in terms of Harry’s romantic life and character, for that matter.

*I am a Harry/Cho shipper, in case you’re wondering and I don’t care what anyone else says.*

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