Ginny - Love, Hate or On-The-Fence?

[Boaz]

I felt cheated while reading THBP; Harry's never even batted an eye at Ginny, and then suddenly book six comes along and whoa! Harry's in love bigtime.

WHAT???

To me anyway, that was a little too sudden. I'd have preferred a gradual fondness for her, with Harry thinking "Ooh... she looks nice", or those sorts of compliments, before falling head over heels for her. But I think the reason for this is that JK wanted to play up to the is-it-Harry-and-Hermione-or-Harry-and-Ginny thing.

Pah!

So there's a theory online... that can't be true. It ruins the story... but it actually may make more sense than the actual story. The theory is that Ginny used love potions on Harry.

Harry grows through the series and first becomes aware of girls in the fourth book. He is attracted to Cho, but goes to the Yule Ball with Parvati. In the fifth book, Harry dates Cho. Harry is strongly attracted to her. In the sixth book, Harry would like to give Cho a chance if she'd apologize and renounce her friendship with Marietta. Then out of the blue Harry has fierce feelings for Ginny.

Love potions are mentioned throughout the series. Molly Weasley giggles about love potions to Ginny and Hermione. Molly does a lot of home made magical stuff because of the family budget. Fred and George make and sell them. Romilda Vane sent some to Harry... which were accidentally consumed by Ron.

The theory says that Molly perfected a low strength love potion... more of an enthusiasm potion. She used this on Arthur, who seems very low key and uninterested all the time... but who somehow becomes a tiger when intimate with Mollywobbles. Fred and George are known to have zero respect for other people's property, boundaries, and secrets.... stole the recipe. They sell a strengthened version of this recipe to their clients. Ginny who models herself more after F&G than Percy or Ron is also aware of the family secret and used this low strength love potion, a persuasion potion on Harry. She is aware of Harry's routines and habits. She dates other guys so that she seems desirable... and so that when Harry became pesuaded/enthused that he would become jealous. (Notice that as popular as Ginny is and as besotted as her boyfriends are, none of them chase her after the breakups.) Jealousy seems less suspicious/more real than instant infatuation.... like Ron with Romilda and Tom Gaunt Sr. with Merope Gaunt. Since love potions figure prominently in the very book where Harry turns to Ginny, it makes sense. Harry is already attracted to the entire Weasley clan... Molly is the surrogate mother in the story, Arthur is one of the many father figures, all of Ron's brothers (except Percy) are models for Harry, Ron is his best mate in the world, Hermione obviously is drawn to the Weasley's as well.... so much or most of Harry's close bonds (by sheer numbers, the Weasleys are the most commited in the anati-Voldemort campaign) are with the Weasleys and it makes sense to become one of them.

This low potency potion did not arouse the suspicions of Harry and Hermione (who may be under a potion's influence as well). In fact, Ginny may have been secretly supplying Hermione with the persuasion potion in order to test it. She probably tested it upon the boys she dated as well.

The theory makes sense, but ruins the story.

 

[Artoriarius]

So there's a theory online... that can't be true. It ruins the story... but it actually may make more sense than the actual story. The theory is that Ginny used love potions on Harry.

Harry grows through the series and first becomes aware of girls in the fourth book. He is attracted to Cho, but goes to the Yule Ball with Parvati. In the fifth book, Harry dates Cho. Harry is strongly attracted to her. In the sixth book, Harry would like to give Cho a chance if she'd apologize and renounce her friendship with Marietta. Then out of the blue Harry has fierce feelings for Ginny.

Love potions are mentioned throughout the series. Molly Weasley giggles about love potions to Ginny and Hermione. Molly does a lot of home made magical stuff because of the family budget. Fred and George make and sell them. Romilda Vane sent some to Harry... which were accidentally consumed by Ron.

The theory says that Molly perfected a low strength love potion... more of an enthusiasm potion. She used this on Arthur, who seems very low key and uninterested all the time... but who somehow becomes a tiger when intimate with Mollywobbles. Fred and George are known to have zero respect for other people's property, boundaries, and secrets.... stole the recipe. They sell a strengthened version of this recipe to their clients. Ginny who models herself more after F&G than Percy or Ron is also aware of the family secret and used this low strength love potion, a persuasion potion on Harry. She is aware of Harry's routines and habits. She dates other guys so that she seems desirable... and so that when Harry became pesuaded/enthused that he would become jealous. (Notice that as popular as Ginny is and as besotted as her boyfriends are, none of them chase her after the breakups.) Jealousy seems less suspicious/more real than instant infatuation.... like Ron with Romilda and Tom Gaunt Sr. with Merope Gaunt. Since love potions figure prominently in the very book where Harry turns to Ginny, it makes sense. Harry is already attracted to the entire Weasley clan... Molly is the surrogate mother in the story, Arthur is one of the many father figures, all of Ron's brothers (except Percy) are models for Harry, Ron is his best mate in the world, Hermione obviously is drawn to the Weasley's as well.... so much or most of Harry's close bonds (by sheer numbers, the Weasleys are the most commited in the anati-Voldemort campaign) are with the Weasleys and it makes sense to become one of them.

This low potency potion did not arouse the suspicions of Harry and Hermione (who may be under a potion's influence as well). In fact, Ginny may have been secretly supplying Hermione with the persuasion potion in order to test it. She probably tested it upon the boys she dated as well.

The theory makes sense, but ruins the story.

It really does ruin the story, and to be honest, it kind of feels like sour grapes from fans who hate the canon relationships? Most of the evidence is pretty specious—like Ginny having boyfriends before Harry being used as proof that she was dosing him with love potions—and it makes the main characters of the story into either dupes who are getting mind controlled and drugged their whole lives or villains who are doing the mind control and drugging. And when I've seen the secret love potion theory in fanfics, it just gets terrible—like, Ron marries Hermione so she can do his homework for him and hates her otherwise, despite the facts that she doesn't, in fact, do that, and that their marriage happens after homework ceases to be a concern. And there's no real thought about how the love potion is being administered—Harry gets most of his food at Hogwarts from the school dinners (the house elves eager to please though they are, probably draw the line at drugging the food, even if you could ensure that one student, and only one student, eats from a particular shared dish), we never see Ginny give him food or drink, and the camping trip would've provided plenty of time for the love potion to expire, especially after Ron has left and Harry and Hermione are on their own (unless they're drugging themselves?)

I find it much more realistic that Ginny's breakups were mutual decisions, the couples just began dating in their later teens, as many people do, most of the romance building happens between the final duel and the epilogue (which is a bit of a flaw on JKR's part, since it's showing not telling, but still not unrealistic), and the Weasleys are not plotting against Harry. That actually fits with the rest of what we see, and doesn't pull elements (like the love potion) out of the ether. And while JKR's obviously not a perfect author, I feel like if she had intended there to be something wrong with the relationships, she would've indicated it somehow.

 

[Boaz]

@Artoriarius Yup. It's fiction. Miss Rowling did a great job, but she (like all authors) made it up as she went along.