For the directors cut. I was going to copy and paste the dialogue but the ask character limit won’t let me. The scene between Hannah and Ginny in the forest (year 6 part 3). One of my favorite moments but I always wondered how much Hannah was able to figure out about Ginny. She reveals more here to anyone else (except perhaps offscreen to tobias) I also absolutely love Hannah in your story and the steady, calming presence she brings along with her softness. Hufflepuff strength indeed ❤️
Ah, Hannah. I would hope, that as much as The Changeling is a story about fleshing out Slytherin as more than just the evil house, that Hannah also shows how vital Hufflepuff is, so much more than the butt of jokes or the ‘leftovers’. I love Hannah because she doesn’t fall into what has become the stereotypical ‘strong woman’ characterization trap–she’s emotional, she’s scared a lot, sometimes she can’t cope, and she definitely isn’t a physical fighter, but she is also stubborn and immovable when it comes to her belief in compassion and goodness, and she is 1000% there for people, even if quietly from the background rather than at the front of the charge. And that is equally important to Neville’s charge forward attitude or Ginny’s plotting or Luna’s ability to take leaps of logic. These are all strengths.
So the scene in question (The Changeling, Chapter 8):
“What’s going on?”
Ginny shakes her head. “Nothing.”
“You haven’t been the same since we got back.”
“I’m fine,” Ginny insists.
Hannah throws her hands up in exasperation. “You’re not. You’re…distant. Like you can’t stand to be around us anymore. And it’s only getting worse.”
Something hard seems to have lodged itself in Ginny’s chest. “You’re imagining things.”
“I’m not,” she says, chin lifting. “Is this because of whatever it is you’re doing with Snape?”
“Hannah,” she says in warning, knowing they would get here eventually.
Hannah tilts her head to the side, her voice softening. “Or is it because of Luna?”
Ginny straightens. “What?”
Hannah steps closer. “What happened to her wasn’t your fault.”
Ginny just stares back at her, her breath heaving in her chest.
I feel like that scene was so important because Ginny’s unreliable narrative is providing the story for us. We are very internal to events, with little understanding of what she looks like from the outside, AND Ginny compartmentalizes like a boss. This scene shows both what her behaviors have looked like from the outside, but also clues us in that Luna’s kidnapping and absence, for all that Ginny refuses to dwell on it, is deeply fundamental to the decisions she is making.
Hannah both notices and eventually realizes that Ginny is only going to drift further and further away from them and that they need Ginny, yes, but also that Ginny is Hannah’s friend, and she refuses to let her suffer on her own. So she screws up her courage and puts her stubbornness where it matters most. Ginny is objectively terrifying to a lot of people, but Hannah–who is frightened of a lot of things–doesn’t let that get in the way. And that is so important, because Luna isn’t there and Neville, for all his brash Gryffindor bravery, isn’t one to push back against Ginny (nor is Tobias). But Hannah does it.
I’m not sure if it came through or not, but I really wanted to make it clear that the practice of mind arts like Occlumency and Legilmency have high tolls, not just that they are difficult, but that they can exasperate isolation and disconnect. For me, this is one of the things that took someone who was unpleasant like Snape, took his already latent characteristics, and hardened them, turning him into an unyielding bully who was incapable of empathy for his students or the people around him. And Ginny was heading that way, even though her core is clearly different than Snape’s, she was starting to isolate, and struggled with the question of whether or not she could afford to have empathy. Whether stripping that away might just be a necessary step. Hannah is the key person to help Ginny remember that losing her empathy will always be too high of a price. Ginny’s friendships–particularly with people who have different strengths and different worldviews than her own–are ultimately what separate her from Snape.
