What if Hogwarts had a tradition where, on the first night at Hogwarts, every Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first-year made a bet on a Slytherin and Gryffindor who they think will end up together.
The art of this lies solely in first impressions, which is why Draco x Harry was popular immediately. Naturally, all the teachers are in on it (because, really, why else would Slytherin and Gryffindor be together in every class?). This gives them a front-row seat to the sexual tension that is Draco and Harry. As the stakes get higher, so do the bets.
By third year, someone (nobody knows who) suggests Pansy x Hermione, and everyone is instantly hooked. The ship emerges from the fall of Hermione x Ron. After all, pairing the arguably most attractive girls from two opposing houses is bound to make more waves then the stereotypical jock x nerd.
No one really knows where Blaise x Ron came from, but it catches on even more than Hermione x Pansy. People are fascinated by how Blaise seems to bring out the worst in Ron, which becomes the heart of the shipâs appeal.
(Yes, people also bet on Cedric x Harry during fourth year. And if I said that it was Cedric himself who started it, just know that nobody else knew.)
While these three ships dominate the charts, other pairings also see a fair amount of bets, like Fred x Hermione x George - yes, both Weasley twins. That one dies down after about a week, though. People didn't quite like the power dynamics in that one.
Surprisingly, Neville x Blaise blows up too. The unspoken beef between Longbottom and Weasley is never fully understood, but it only fuels the shipâs popularity.
The betting may or may not involve some foul play, so when someone slipped Marcus Flint a note proclaiming that a certain red-robed keeper was waiting for him out on the quiddich team... Well. Oliver Wood x Marcus flint was one of the most anticipated ships of the 1970s and the only successful on too.
But remember, this is a tradition - one thatâs been around since not just the â90s but the â70s as well. The sheer amount of money lost on James x Regulus left a permanent dent in the Hogwarts betting community - a dent rivaled only by the Dumbledore x Grindelwald fiasco of the early 1900s.
People were so convinced that Regulus x James would happen (even though it didnât) that the actual chart-topping ships of the â70s turned out to be Severus x Sirius and - believe it or not - Remus x Severus. Imagine the shock and collective disappointment when Sirius and Remus ended up sucking face in the Great Hall on a Tuesday evening. No, Sirius, it wasnât homophobia - it was pure disappointment.
Sirius and Remus were taken, and as the scarce Sirius x Severus x Remus shippers held on for dear life, Lily x Severus gained a knew popularity. It was rumored that Dumbledore himself was quite invested in that one. But alas. The James lovers who bet on James x Lily were victorious as everyone sat gobsmacked at the failure of James x Regulus.
(A young Gilderoy Lockhart of Ravenclaw bet on Peter x Barty x Evan in his first year and was too prideful to retract the bet. He ended up winning 100 Galleons by the end of his sixth year.)
If we go even further back, the Tom Riddle x Hagrid ship started as a crack pairing, obviously, but it eventually turned into a tragic love story that would go down in history. Detective x convicted murderer - who doesnât love a good star-crossed loversâ trope?
The real reason Dumbledore didn't allow Tom Riddle to teach at Hogwarts was because if Tom were to find out about Tom x Hagrid... The war would have started way earlier.
Similarly ofcource, Severus upon learning about the ships he was... Involved in, walks to the astronamy tower and had to be coaxed off the tower by Dumbledore himself.
Now Remus finds out about the tradition in 3rd year, laughs, and desides to keep the existence of Jegulus a secret, fully knowing Regulus was rolling in his (nonexistent) grave.
Now the tradition lives even after The Battle of Hogwarts, enter, Teddy Lupin who bet on Albus x Scorpius before they were even sorted, and had a dozen gallons on Polly Chapman x Rose Granger-Weasley.
And if Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff wooped in delight after seeing Slazar and Godric also sucking face in the great hall... Nobody would be the wizer.
