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This is an essay about Harry Potter. If you do not like Harry Potter, or are not interested in reading essays concerning aspects of its canon or musings on the futures of its characters, do not read it.
In anticipation of people who don't give a rat's ass about Harry Potter or HP fandom clicking past the cut: it's my journal, fuck off.
Here is an essay about why Harry/Ginny makes sense, entitled, "Why Harry Picked Ginny, Rather Than Hermione, As a Romantic Partner: An Analysis of Sexual Attraction and Humour."
I'm one of those people who despises Harry/Ginny, not because I think Harry should necessarily be matched up with someone else (although I must admit, Harry/Luna would make me squee like a little bitch), but because it annoys me that JKR created Ginny specifically for the purpose of being Harry's love interest. It has never occurred to me to ship Harry/Hermione, nor am I delusional enough to hope for a canon slash ship, much less one involving Harry. I just really dislike Ginny because I dislike Mary Sues in general, even canon ones. I think this essay does a good job of pointing out that every goddamned aspect of Ginny's personality and behavior matches up with what Harry wants and needs in a girlfriend.
She's perfect, and I hate that, and that's pretty much all there is to it. I like my characters to have flaws and dubious motives and dark sides, and Ginny has none of these things. (As an aside, I adore dark!Ginny fic, where she has a facet of darkness and imperfection that JKR can't possibly explore in the books because Harry Potter's girlfriend can't possibly be tainted in any way, either fundamentally or as a result of exposure to evil at a young age.)
However, towards the end of the piece, there is a bit pointing out that family is one of Ginny's most important values. I agree with this assessment, but I think that in the end, if Ginny and Harry were in reality-land instead of book-land, it would eventually be the death of their relationship.
Draco Malfoy says of the Weasley family, "All the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford" (PS6). It's this last bit that's the relevant part. In reality-land, I can see the youngest of seven kids having absolutely no desire to have children, but in book-land, I think it much more likely that someone like Ginny will stick to her clan's paradigm (although if she were married to Harry, it's rather difficult to conceive of the number of children that would be more than they could afford, pardon the pun). This is a problem for our young lovers, I fear.
Harry has a nobility about him that makes him (well, usually) want to protect the people he cares about from unpleasant elements. He breaks up with Ginny at the end of HBP for this reason, because he doesn't want her to get caught up in the power struggle between him and Voldemort (because honestly, that's what it is, a power struggle - there are just really high stakes). He is afraid that she will get hurt or killed, and he doesn't want that. The implication of his language is that he'd like to pick it up again once the danger's gone, and since she's madly in love with him and has been for years I can't imagine that she'd object.
The problem with this, however, is that the danger will never really pass. Good might triumph over evil, Voldemort might die, but even assuming that Harry survives, the conflict that has marked his life will never really be over. And I'm not talking about rogue Death Eaters, although I think it would be entirely like JKR to make one of them into a Saruman and force a Scouring as in Return of the King. No, the enemy that I think poses the greatest long-term threat to Harry (as we know that Voldemort will be conquered by hook or by crook in the seventh book - ha, that rhymed!) is celebrity.
Harry was protected as a child from having to grow up as the Boy Who Lived, and he's definitely a better person for it - he hates his fame and wants just to be treated like a normal person instead of a savior or an icon. He becomes hostile when anyone accuses him of enjoying being famous; the largest row he's ever had with his best friend was over such a suggestion. But even as a schoolboy, he is the press' unwilling darling or scapegoat as the situation requires, and though Hogwarts' security and the wartime precautions elsewhere have protected him lately, were he to finish school and Voldemort (not necessarily in that order, mind) those excuses would quickly disappear.
Reporters would positively hound him, and there would be nothing he could do about it other than withdrawing from Wizarding society completely - something he is inherently unwilling to do, as there is no love lost between Harry and the Muggle world and he isn't reclusive by nature anyway.
Ginny might accept this. Part of what makes them such a good fit together (again, thank you JKR for making her so bloody perfect) is that his notoriety famously fails to impress her (again, forgive the pun). And Ginny is something of a force of nature; I find it difficult to believe that someone as strong-willed as she is would allow something as trivial as paparazzi to keep her from her man, however understanding she was of the need to remove her as a target for Voldemort. Who knows, she might even enjoy it for a little while, as we're given at various times to believe Ron might. No, the issue isn't with Ginny or with whether or not her relationship with Harry would be strong enough to survive that kind of scrutiny; I'm fairly certain it would.
But suggesting that Harry would be okay with having children in that sort of environment is preposterous. I am equally certain both that he would remember Dumbledore's non-blood-magic-related reason for placing him with the Dursleys and that he would not wish growing up with the expectations commensurate with being the children of two heroes of the Second War Against Voldemort on the offspring of his worst enemies (well, his worst enemies will all be dead or in Azkaban by that time, but you get my meaning), much less his own. Additionally, the thought of giving up his children to be raised in innocuous, sheltered environments would be equally repugnant to Harry, assuming that he could find an innocuous environment in the first place - his best friends, should they also survive (although I'm much more sure they'll live than I am that Harry will at this juncture), will almost certainly be married and breeding and also subject to the press' ceaseless attention. Thus, I believe that it's entirely likely that Harry would choose not to have children at all.
This brings me back to Ginny. Would she stay with a husband who refused her children? Hell, would she even marry a boyfriend that didn't want kids in the first place, knowing that as popular and beautiful she is, she could find someone who she loved a little less who could give her what she wants? These are interesting questions, and I think that the answer to at least the first is "no."*
I don't argue with Harry/Ginny as a viable emotional or sexual attraction. But I don't think that it'll last given the opportunity.
*I wrote a fic that delved into this a little bit. It's short, Remus/Harry, PG-13 average rating (the only action is drunkenness and a little snogging, but I say "fuck" a lot). In case any of you have not read it, this is it and I would appreciate feedback if you are so inclined. That is all.
Goddamn, I can't believe I spent an hour and a half on that.
In anticipation of people who don't give a rat's ass about Harry Potter or HP fandom clicking past the cut: it's my journal, fuck off.
Here is an essay about why Harry/Ginny makes sense, entitled, "Why Harry Picked Ginny, Rather Than Hermione, As a Romantic Partner: An Analysis of Sexual Attraction and Humour."
I'm one of those people who despises Harry/Ginny, not because I think Harry should necessarily be matched up with someone else (although I must admit, Harry/Luna would make me squee like a little bitch), but because it annoys me that JKR created Ginny specifically for the purpose of being Harry's love interest. It has never occurred to me to ship Harry/Hermione, nor am I delusional enough to hope for a canon slash ship, much less one involving Harry. I just really dislike Ginny because I dislike Mary Sues in general, even canon ones. I think this essay does a good job of pointing out that every goddamned aspect of Ginny's personality and behavior matches up with what Harry wants and needs in a girlfriend.
She's perfect, and I hate that, and that's pretty much all there is to it. I like my characters to have flaws and dubious motives and dark sides, and Ginny has none of these things. (As an aside, I adore dark!Ginny fic, where she has a facet of darkness and imperfection that JKR can't possibly explore in the books because Harry Potter's girlfriend can't possibly be tainted in any way, either fundamentally or as a result of exposure to evil at a young age.)
However, towards the end of the piece, there is a bit pointing out that family is one of Ginny's most important values. I agree with this assessment, but I think that in the end, if Ginny and Harry were in reality-land instead of book-land, it would eventually be the death of their relationship.
Draco Malfoy says of the Weasley family, "All the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford" (PS6). It's this last bit that's the relevant part. In reality-land, I can see the youngest of seven kids having absolutely no desire to have children, but in book-land, I think it much more likely that someone like Ginny will stick to her clan's paradigm (although if she were married to Harry, it's rather difficult to conceive of the number of children that would be more than they could afford, pardon the pun). This is a problem for our young lovers, I fear.
Harry has a nobility about him that makes him (well, usually) want to protect the people he cares about from unpleasant elements. He breaks up with Ginny at the end of HBP for this reason, because he doesn't want her to get caught up in the power struggle between him and Voldemort (because honestly, that's what it is, a power struggle - there are just really high stakes). He is afraid that she will get hurt or killed, and he doesn't want that. The implication of his language is that he'd like to pick it up again once the danger's gone, and since she's madly in love with him and has been for years I can't imagine that she'd object.
The problem with this, however, is that the danger will never really pass. Good might triumph over evil, Voldemort might die, but even assuming that Harry survives, the conflict that has marked his life will never really be over. And I'm not talking about rogue Death Eaters, although I think it would be entirely like JKR to make one of them into a Saruman and force a Scouring as in Return of the King. No, the enemy that I think poses the greatest long-term threat to Harry (as we know that Voldemort will be conquered by hook or by crook in the seventh book - ha, that rhymed!) is celebrity.
Harry was protected as a child from having to grow up as the Boy Who Lived, and he's definitely a better person for it - he hates his fame and wants just to be treated like a normal person instead of a savior or an icon. He becomes hostile when anyone accuses him of enjoying being famous; the largest row he's ever had with his best friend was over such a suggestion. But even as a schoolboy, he is the press' unwilling darling or scapegoat as the situation requires, and though Hogwarts' security and the wartime precautions elsewhere have protected him lately, were he to finish school and Voldemort (not necessarily in that order, mind) those excuses would quickly disappear.
Reporters would positively hound him, and there would be nothing he could do about it other than withdrawing from Wizarding society completely - something he is inherently unwilling to do, as there is no love lost between Harry and the Muggle world and he isn't reclusive by nature anyway.
Ginny might accept this. Part of what makes them such a good fit together (again, thank you JKR for making her so bloody perfect) is that his notoriety famously fails to impress her (again, forgive the pun). And Ginny is something of a force of nature; I find it difficult to believe that someone as strong-willed as she is would allow something as trivial as paparazzi to keep her from her man, however understanding she was of the need to remove her as a target for Voldemort. Who knows, she might even enjoy it for a little while, as we're given at various times to believe Ron might. No, the issue isn't with Ginny or with whether or not her relationship with Harry would be strong enough to survive that kind of scrutiny; I'm fairly certain it would.
But suggesting that Harry would be okay with having children in that sort of environment is preposterous. I am equally certain both that he would remember Dumbledore's non-blood-magic-related reason for placing him with the Dursleys and that he would not wish growing up with the expectations commensurate with being the children of two heroes of the Second War Against Voldemort on the offspring of his worst enemies (well, his worst enemies will all be dead or in Azkaban by that time, but you get my meaning), much less his own. Additionally, the thought of giving up his children to be raised in innocuous, sheltered environments would be equally repugnant to Harry, assuming that he could find an innocuous environment in the first place - his best friends, should they also survive (although I'm much more sure they'll live than I am that Harry will at this juncture), will almost certainly be married and breeding and also subject to the press' ceaseless attention. Thus, I believe that it's entirely likely that Harry would choose not to have children at all.
This brings me back to Ginny. Would she stay with a husband who refused her children? Hell, would she even marry a boyfriend that didn't want kids in the first place, knowing that as popular and beautiful she is, she could find someone who she loved a little less who could give her what she wants? These are interesting questions, and I think that the answer to at least the first is "no."*
I don't argue with Harry/Ginny as a viable emotional or sexual attraction. But I don't think that it'll last given the opportunity.
*I wrote a fic that delved into this a little bit. It's short, Remus/Harry, PG-13 average rating (the only action is drunkenness and a little snogging, but I say "fuck" a lot). In case any of you have not read it, this is it and I would appreciate feedback if you are so inclined. That is all.
Goddamn, I can't believe I spent an hour and a half on that.