Very much DISagree about Drarry- but boy oh boy
I Goooootta disagree about Harry and Ginny REAL HARD, y’all.
I highly disagree on Hinny being ‘forced fake and rushed’- no no no, friends.
Still, hey, speaking of Draco- even HE calls Gin Harry’s girlfriend in book 2.
“Leave him alone, he didn’t want all that!” said Ginny. It was the first time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at Malfoy.
“Potter, you’ve got yourself a girlfriend!” drawled Malfoy.
;) I kid, I kid! But, hey- How’s that for romantic foreshadowing? :)
Seriously, though. Hinny was lead up to for 5 books, son! :) In no way is that rushed.
Harry and Ginn’s love story is basically one of bad timing, where themes, foreshadowing, language and characterization have been used to slowly establish Ginny as special in Harry’s life, and forge the foundation on which their relationship is built in book 6.
Book 1 - first girl he meets
she’s the first weasley kid/first nice kid he even hears speak actually, there’s this brief description of him watching her I find very poetic:
The train began to move. Harry saw the boys’ mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed; then she fell back and waved. Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner.
Book 2- giant book of foreshadowing
So, this book ties Ginny and Harry thematically, establishes certain patterns with them, ties Gin to the main themes of the books very inextricably, ties her to Harry in a way no other character is tied, and also establishes her as a future love interest for Harry.
In NO way am I saying Harry had romantic notions about her at this point in the series (heck no! He’s just 12!)- but rather from a writing perspective, things were put in place to establish future H/G goodness.
From the get go, she is described, again, in somewhat cute/‘poetic’ language
At that moment there was a diversion in the form of a small, red-headed figure in a long nightdress, who appeared in the kitchen, gave a small squeal, and ran out again.
Harry just caught sight of a pair of bright brown eyes staring at him before it closed with a snap.
Ginny seemed very prone to knocking things over whenever Harry entered a room. She dived under the table to retrieve the bowl and emerged with her face glowing like the setting sun.
“Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?” Harry asked Ginny. She nodded, blushing to the roots of her flaming hair, and put her elbow in the butter dish. Fortunately no one saw this except Harry’
So she’s this adorable little winsome gal who Harry (established as pretty effing rude about most girls/women he describe), is giving language I’d love to have written about me even now, as a full-grown married woman.
So, of course we start off book 2 with Ginny being a shy little sister, who has a a crush on her brother best friend/is enamored with the boy hero. Even though she could have been written as burdensome or annoying to Harry- he never once feels that way about her (even when tackled by that cupid dwarf with her singing valentine.)
To the contrary, he’s always quite sweet with her, giving her his books, notices when she’s out of sorts, pulls out his wand to expeliarmus Draco when he’s taunting Ginny by holding her diary (which mirrors Ron’s going after Draco when Draco was calling Hermione mudblood), and then he freaking saves her.
The language when he saves her, again, has emotional resonance than he had for almost anyone else in the series for the first few books NOT ROMANTIC- just establishes a theme of how Harry considers her and has a softspot for her (seriously, read this, then go back and read his underwhelming reaction to Ron possibly being severely injured in PS/SS with the chess match… like… for reals):
He couldn’t not go, not now they had found the entrance to the Chamber, not if there was even the faintest, slimmest, wildest chance that Ginny might be alive.
And between the feet [of the statue’s robes], facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.
“Ginny!” Harry muttered, sprinting to her and dropping to his knees. “Ginny — don’t be dead — please don’t be dead —” He flung his wand aside, grabbed Ginny’s shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was white as marble, and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn’t Petrified. But then she must be —
“Ginny, please wake up,” Harry muttered desperately, shaking her. Ginny’s head lolled hopelessly from side to side.’
Also, in this book, though it’s quick little bits here and there, they establish also how Harry and Gin instinctively ‘get’ one another, despite their lack of interaction- like when she defends Harry to Draco with ‘he didn’t want all that’- or when he keep Ron from prying after he saves Gin
“I’ll explain when we get out of here,” said Harry with a sideways glance at Ginny, who was crying harder than ever.
“Later,” Harry said shortly. He didn’t think it was a good idea to tell Ron yet who’d been opening the Chamber, not in front of Ginny,
This is how they work later in the series- they just get each other’s motivations/needs- hints of it established - as hey, some people just get one another- even when they are platonic childhood friends.
So on top of all the above, she’s connected to him in that she knows horcruxes and Tom Riddle basically better than anyone, really. (I was sort of bummed they didn’t use this more later, though DAMN is she doesn’t sass Harry out of yelling in book 5 over it :D). She introduces one of the most important things in the series- needing to know Voldemort, Voldemort’s soul imprints, and how to defeat horcuxes.
Only four characters have ever had the mental influence of a horcrux, that we know of- Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione. Of them all, only Harry and Ginny ever really got perspective on Riddle/Voldemort- vs Ron and Herm were influenced, not sharing back and forth. This makes Ginny stand out thematically from any other character in the series- that she shares this connection with Harry.
Harry saves her in probably the most traditionally romantic/fantasy driven/fairy tale way- literally the hero saves a damsel in distress from a giant reptile with a sword- but Rowling subverts this by having them literally have no romance build from there for another 4 books- because they are kids.
So yeah- she’s established early on, writing-wise, as a future flame for him, and tied them very closely.
Book 3 - briefest of shared moments
Ginny is barely present in this book, but despite her crush making her rather mute in front of him- they have a share moment of humor (which seems to be a big connection for the two of them- the two always catching each other’s eye and smirking at eachother later in the series.)
“Ah, there’s Penelope!” said Percy, smoothing his hair and going pink again. 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.
Both are deeply affected by dementors (along with Nev, though his is just mentioned as being pale along with Gin) on the train.
Ginny, who was huddled in her corner looking nearly as bad as Harry felt, gave a small sob; Hermione went over and put a comforting arm around her. “But didn’t any of you — fall off your seats?” said Harry awkwardly. “No,” said Ron, looking anxiously at Harry again. “Ginny was shaking like mad, though… .”
And she gives him another card when he’s in the hospital (which he keeps, even though he hard to literally keep it under a fruit bowl so it won’t sing anymore- he’s dispationately thrown out Hagrid’s rock cakes and Ron and Hermione’s gifts he actually enjoyed before- so here he is, still having a tender (but platonic) spot for Ginny.)
Book 4- character establishment and missed opportunities
So, again, Ginny isn’t around much in this book. She still blushes around him a little, but is able to smile and talk with him much more easily, especially about the twins’ joke shop endeavors, and definitely has a lot more of her sass come out (fleetingly saw a couple of times of it in book 3).
She’s still not included in any of the trio’s antics (not even being told about Sirius’s innocence)- and they mainly establish that she has a great sense of humor like her brothers, laughing a lot at things Harry and Ron do (while Hermione can’t bring herself to laugh, b/c it’s hermione), and being compassionate as per usual to people and animals alike (as in book 3).
Anyways, the main thing that stands out in this book- is the missed opportunity for all the main characters to go out with their future romantic partner/s.
Ron and Hermione don’t go to the ball.
Harry and Ginny don’t go to the ball.
Harry and Cho don’t go to the ball.
It’s a big missed moment for them all, really. :P
So yeah- we all are very aware of all that yule ball, who is going out with who drama-
Anyways, another moment I like is Weasleys are always his escape - and she’s a part of that. :
Fred, George, and Ginny came to sit next to [Ron and Harry] too, and Harry was having such a good time he felt almost as though he were back at the Burrow; he had forgotten to worry about that evening’s task, and not until Hermione turned up, halfway through lunch, did he remember that she had had a brainwave about Rita Skeeter.
Book 5 - Establishing the foundation through interactions, themes and language.
So, this is where we get to see full-out Ginny. No longer is it just hints at her sass, pieces of her compassion, tiny shared moments between her and Harry- oooh no. This book is where we finally have Ginny’s full glory out and about, and it’s awesome. She is ballsy, she is cool, and lord help me, I love her so much. JKR establishes a very very firm foundation for a romantic relationship between them to blossom in this book.
From the get go, Ginny is on point.
So a quick exploration of how awesome Ginny is:
The door opened and a long mane of red hair appeared. “Oh hello, Harry!” said Ron’s younger sister, Ginny, brightly. “I thought I heard your voice.”
This is after he was screaming, and had just been teased by the twins for it. Again that poetic language is used for her, and she’s now part of his gang- and intimate along with Ron and Hermione (or as close as anyone can get) with his plans and life.
Like, I could go on forever about how cool Gin in this book, but I’ve literally written pages at this point. Suffice it to say- she kicks arse - like, she’s hangin with the twin and being cool in Grimmauld place, she’s kicking butt at quidditch, she’s flying into Smith when he’s an arse, she’s known for her bat bogey hex.
“Yeah, size is no guarantee of power,” said George. “Look at Ginny.” “What d’you mean?” said Harry. “You’ve never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey Hexes, have you?”
And she’s compassionate too, as she’s kind to Luna and Neville a whole bunch in this book
“I’m nobody,” said Neville hurriedly. “No you’re not,” said Ginny sharply. “Neville Longbottom — Luna Lovegood.”
She and Harry share grins and laughs throughout the book
Well, hello there!” [Lockhart] said. “I expect you’d like my autograph, would you?” “Hasn’t changed much, has he?” Harry muttered to Ginny, who grinned.
So yeah, Ginny is amazing, so it’s not really a surprise that the next book, when Harry is no longer crushing on Cho, he takes notice.
The main points of connection between Harry and Gin are a few times in this book he relies on her to help him emotionally, or she just steps up to do it- at times she does it better than any other pier of his, including Ron and Hermione.
First moment where she really helps Harry out is on the Hogwarts Express:
The train was gathering still more speed, so that the houses outside the window flashed past and they swayed where they stood. “Shall we go and find a compartment, then?” Harry asked Ron and Hermione. Ron and Hermione exchanged looks.
“We’re — well — Ron and I are supposed to go into the prefect carriage,” Hermione said awkwardly. Ron wasn’t looking at Harry; he seemed to have become intensely interested in the fingernails on his left hand.
“Oh,” said Harry. “Right. Fine.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to stay there all journey,” said Hermione quickly. “Our letters said we just get instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol the corridors from time to time.”
“Fine,” said Harry again. “Well, I-I might see you later, then.”
“Yeah, definitely,” said Ron, casting a shifty, anxious look at Harry. “It’s a pain having to go down there, I’d rather — but we have to — I mean, I’m not enjoying it, I’m not Percy,” he finished defiantly.
“I know you’re not,” said Harry and he grinned. But as Hermione and Ron dragged their trunks, Crookshanks, and a caged Pigwidgeon off toward the engine end of the train, Harry felt an odd sense of loss. He had never traveled on the Hogwarts Express without Ron.
“Come on,” Ginny told him, “if we get a move on we’ll be able to save them places.”
So back to school they go, and poor Harry is all alone and a bit lost as to what to do with himself when Ron and Hermione leave him for prefect stuff. Ginny immediately takes charge and is super sweet, finding him a compartment, hanging with him and Neville and Luna. I’d like to point out, she didn’t HAVE to help him out at all. She has her own friends in her year (who hail her over the second they’re in the great hall) and a boyfriend- she’s just being awesome.
She then comforts him about Cho for a sec (as she gets the whole trying to look cool
Harry slumped back in his seat and groaned. He would have liked Cho to discover him sitting with a group of very cool people laughing their heads off at a joke he had just told; he would not have chosen to be sitting with Neville and Loony Lovegood, clutching a toad and dripping in Stinksap.
“Never mind,” said Ginny bracingly. “Look, we can get rid of all this easily.” She pulled out her wand. “Scourgify!” The Stinksap vanished.
Ginny, unlike the other young ladies in Harry’s life, has the ability to bring calm to the storm at times with pointed humor. Like the first DA meeting, when Luna and Hermione break into a fight that derails the whole thing:
“Yes, he’s got an army of heliopaths,” said Luna solemnly.
“No, he hasn’t,” snapped Hermione.
“Yes, he has,” said Luna.
“What are heliopaths?” asked Neville, looking blank.
“They’re spirits of fire,” said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening so that she looked madder than ever. “Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of —”
“They don’t exist, Neville,” said Hermione tartly. “Oh yes they do!” said Luna angrily.
“I’m sorry, but where’s the proof of that?” snapped Hermione.
“There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you’re so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you —”
“Hem, hem,” said Ginny in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. “Weren’t we trying to decide how often we’re going to meet and get Defense lessons?”
Ginny is able to calm him where no one else can when he’s afraid after he’s had the dream with Mr Weasley- not only de-escalating him, but also cheering him up, while standing up to him full on and able to snap him out of it and make him listen:
[Hermione] sat down next to Ginny, and the two girls and Ron looked up at Harry. “How’re you feeling?” asked Hermione.
“Fine,” said Harry stiffly. “Oh, don’t lie, Harry,” she said impatiently.
“Ron and Ginny say you’ve been hiding from everyone since you got back from St. Mungo’s.”
“They do, do they?” said Harry, glaring at Ron and Ginny. Ron looked down at his feet but Ginny seemed quite unabashed. “Well, you have!” she said. “And you won’t look at any of us!”
“It’s you lot who won’t look at me!” said Harry angrily.
“Maybe you’re taking it in turns to look and keep missing each other,” suggested Hermione, the corners of her mouth twitching. “Very funny,” snapped Harry, turning away.
“Oh, stop feeling all misunderstood,” said Hermione sharply. “Look, the others have told me what you overheard last night on the Extendable Ears —”
“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-KnowWho, and I can tell you how it feels.” Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. Then he turned on the spot to face her.
“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.
[Herm and Harry give input on how he was in bed the whole time and no one apparated into hogwarts]. I’m not the weapon after all, thought Harry. His heart swelled with happiness and relief, and he felt like joining in as they heard Sirius tramping past their door toward Buckbeak’s room, singing “God Rest Ye Merry, Hippogriffs” at the top of his voice.
So yeah- Ginny was able to bring him peace of mind in a way LITERALLY NO ONE ELSE COULD.
She goes on to bolster him about his quidditch ban (and is the only person to really do so, it seems) and then again shows her ability to ‘get’ him:
“Good catch,” Harry told Ginny back in the common room, where the atmosphere closely resembled that of a particularly dismal funeral.
“I was lucky,” she shrugged. “It wasn’t a very fast Snitch and Summerby’s got a cold, he sneezed and closed his eyes at exactly the wrong moment. Anyway, once you’re back on the team —”
“Ginny, I’ve got a lifelong ban.”
“You’re banned as long as Umbridge is in the school,” Ginny corrected him. “There’s a difference. Anyway, once you’re back, I think I’ll try out for Chaser. Angelina and Alicia are both leaving next year and I prefer goal-scoring to Seeking anyway.”
Harry looked over at Ron, who was hunched in a corner, staring at his knees, a bottle of butterbeer clutched in his hand. “Angelina still won’t let him resign,” Ginny said, as though reading Harry’s mind.
Then she inspires hope in him, yet again:
“It’s Easter eggs from Mum,” said Ginny. “There’s one for you… . There you go… .” She handed him a handsome chocolate egg decorated with small, iced Snitches and, according to the packaging, containing a bag of Fizzing Whizbees. Harry looked at it for a moment, then, to his horror, felt a hard lump rise in his throat.
“Are you okay, Harry?” asked Ginny quietly.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Harry gruffly. The lump in his throat was painful. He did not understand why an Easter egg should have made him feel like this.
“You seem really down lately,” Ginny persisted. “You know, I’m sure if you just talked to Cho …”
“It’s not Cho I want to talk to,” said Harry brusquely.
“Who is it, then?” asked Ginny.
“I …” He glanced around to make quite sure that nobody was listening; Madam Pince was several shelves away, stamping out a pile of books for a frantic-looking Hannah Abbott. “I wish I could talk to Sirius,” he muttered. “But I know I can’t.” More to give himself something to do than because he really wanted any, Harry unwrapped his Easter egg, broke off a large bit, and put it into his mouth.
“Well,” said Ginny slowly, helping herself to a bit of egg too, “if you really want to talk to Sirius, I expect we could think of a way to do it… .”
“Come on,” said Harry hopelessly. “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… .
So on top of ALL THAT- there are literary themes tying Ginny and Cho together. His current flame is somehow always getting cocurrently talked about or written about with Ginny flitting around in there. Ginny and Cho’s lives mirror each other, or they are inexplicably linked in scenes. We see scenes where they intersect, Ginny and Cho are in competetition (note, Ginny always wins), and their love lives seem to twist into one another’s. Coincidence?! I think not! :D
“Ginny used to fancy Harry, but she gave up on him months ago. Not that she doesn’t like you, of course,” she added kindly to Harry while she examined a long black-and-gold quill. Harry, whose head was still full of Cho’s parting wave, did not find this subject quite as interesting as Ron, who was positively quivering with indignation, but it did bring something home to him that until now he had not really registered.
“So that’s why she talks now?” he asked Hermione. “She never used to talk in front of me.”
“Exactly,” said Hermione. [hermione shops]
Ron still breathing down her neck. “Ron,” she said severely as she turned and trod on his feet, “this is exactly why Ginny hasn’t told you she’s seeing Michael, she knew you’d take it badly. So don’t harp on about it, for heaven’s sake.”
“What d’you mean, who’s taking anything badly? I’m not going to harp on about anything …”
Ron continued to chunter under his breath all the way down the street. Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry and then said in an undertone, while Ron was muttering imprecations about Michael Corner, “And talking about Michael and Ginny … what about Cho and you?”
Somewhat to Harry’s disappointment, it was Ginny who managed to find Cho Chang and her friend first
“The Defense Association?” said Cho. “The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we’re talking about?”
“Yeah, the D.A.’s good,” said Ginny. “Only let’s make it stand for Dumbledore’s Army because that’s the Ministry’s worst fear, isn’t it?” There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this.
“All in favor of the D.A.?” said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion to count. “That’s a majority — motion passed!”
Harry glimpsed Ron and Ginny skimming over the stands and felt a horrible pang that he was not up there with them… . “You really miss it, don’t you?” said Cho.
“Yeah,” said Ron slowly, savoring the words, “we won. Did you see the look on Chang’s face when Ginny got the Snitch right out from under her nose?”
“I suppose she cried, did she?” said Harry bitterly.
“Well, yeah — more out of temper than anything, though …”
Harry looked around. Cho was passing, accompanied by Marietta Edgecombe, who was wearing a balaclava. His and Cho’s eyes met for a moment. Cho blushed and kept walking. Harry looked back down at the chessboard just in time to see one of his pawns chased off its square by Ron’s knight.
“What’s — er — going on with you and her anyway?” Ron asked quietly.
“Nothing,” said Harry truthfully.
“I — er — heard she’s going out with someone else now,” said Hermione tentatively. Harry was surprised to find that this information did not hurt at all. Wanting to impress Cho seemed to belong to a past that was no longer quite connected with him. [paragraph about Sirius’s death]
“You’re well out of it, mate,” said Ron forcefully. “I mean, she’s quite good-looking and all that, but you want someone a bit more cheerful.”
“She’s probably cheerful enough with someone else,” said Harry, shrugging.
“Who’s she with now anyway?” Ron asked Hermione, but it was Ginny who answered.
“Michael Corner,” she said. “Michael — but —” said Ron, craning around in his seat to stare at her. “But you were going out with him!”
“Not anymore,” said Ginny resolutely. “He didn’t like Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch and got really sulky, so I ditched him and he ran off to comfort Cho instead.” […]
“Well, I always thought he was a bit of an idiot,” [Ron] said, prodding his queen forward toward Harry’s quivering castle. “Good for you. Just choose someone — better — next time.” He cast Harry an oddly furtive look as he said it.
“Well, I’ve chosen Dean Thomas, would you say he’s better?” asked Ginny vaguely. “WHAT?” shouted Ron,
SO THERE YA GO- ALL THAT BUILD UP- :) was it fast and out of nowhere? no way! Reread and see it right there in the books, mates!
Like, you can not like their ship- but there is no denying the buildup.
