One More Anti-Harmony
#####################

:date: 2020-08-06T20:02:58
:category: literature
:tags: review, harryPotter, blogComment

(my comments on the thread “`why does almost everyone hate the
Harry/Hermione ship?`_” by patriot_man69420_)

I don’t `hate the ship`_, although I generally prefer Hinny,
I could admit that `Ginny is extremely poorly written by JKR`_,
and fanfiction has to add a lot of her personality to make her
viable (which fortunately Northumbrian and other great Hinny
writers did). I can even agree that when we limit ourselves just
to what’s in the books, Harmony is even more likely. I also fully
support the notion that foundation of every long-lasting romantic
relationship must be deep friendship (yes, my wife is also my
best friend, and I am very glad for it). It is one of the
greatest things I have against JKR that her romance is just about
physical relationship. What all pairs in HP universe do? They
snog, or perhaps when appropriate they ended up in the bed, not
much else. The only romantic scene in whole heptalogy is the
disastrous date between Harry and Cho at the Madam Pudifoot’s,
and that is not exactly the best example of romance. There is
even less collaboration between lovers on something else:
ignoring Trace (which I see just as a hapless plot-crutch created
in the last second) I don’t see any reason why Hermione and Ron
could be with Harry on the Horcrux action, and Ginny couldn’t.
Perhaps she couldn’t physically go with them (she was underage,
so she couldn’t leave Hogwarts without consent of her parents),
but she would be certainly in know and she could organize some
action at Hogwarts in coordination with the Trio. All those
lovely communication coins stopped work? Kreacher couldn’t
transport messages? Etc. No, the true problem is that in the JKR
mind romance is just about snogging (and that’s getting too close
to discuss her personal life, so I stop it right here).

Having said that, my biggest problem with most Harmony stories is
that they are just poorly written. Ron/Weasley/Dumbledore bashing
is not just a cute feature of those stories, but a sign of
insufficient plot and missing story. Strenuous effort to persuade
us how Harry and Hermione fit together is just boring, because
the only thing we ever learn about the development of their
relationship is that there is none. They just so well work
together, and they so love each other, and there is no conflict
between them, and did I tell you how well they click together?
Their chemistry is just awesome … [reader snores]. The only
relational conflict in “`Notebooks and Letters by chem prof`_”
(which is IMHO one of the best Harmony stories, don’t let me be
misunderstood) is when almost(?) naked Cho literally jumps him,
and Harry doesn’t run away from her kiss fast enough (just
a kiss, nothing more happens). Harry is then so much tormented by
his guilt, that he almost breaks their engagement (until
fortunately Hermione’s parents explain him he is stupid). Really,
that’s it. And there is (comparing to most other Harmony stories)
at least that relational conflict.

Let us compare it with some random Hinny stories. In `Hunters and
Prey by Northumbrian`_, Junior Auror Harry Potter arrests his
beloved completely drunk Ginny when she shouts at him how she
hates him while firing curses at him (it turns later she was
under the influence of some potion given to her by Death Eaters).
Harry is after couple of weeks he spent on the Auror mission in
complete isolation when he was struggling with doubts whether
their relationship will really grow as he would like, confronted
with this. In `Inner Demons by serendipity_50`_, Ginny struggles
with PTSD to the level she makes him leave England (and
subsequently attempts suicide, when she recognizes what she did).
Harry then spends two years on the overseas mission (while the
tabloid press lies about his sexual achievements with strange
beauties of the Eastern Europe). When Harry finally returns to
England, Ginny continues to struggle with her fear and flashbacks
whenever she considers how dangerous profession Harry has. In
`Meaning of One, Part One: Stone and Fire by Sovran`_ (it is
a soul-bond story) eleven years old Harry and ten years Ginny get
around their soul-bond conflicts with her parents (no, the story
is not paedophile, I don’t think they get to having sex at all
… the story has been abandoned after CoS) to the level they
completely explode faces of both Molly Weasley and the Headmaster
Dumbledore.

Would you agree with me that these examples look more realistic
and more fun (as in interesting, not funny) than your average
Harmony story? Did I forget to tell you how perfectly Hermione
and Harry fit together?

**{UPDATE 2021-03-23}** What I have never expressed in this post,
I have only later discovered: a character must not only `move
from A to B`_ as I linked above, but it must struggle with his
character_ development.

.. _`why does almost everyone hate the Harry/Hermione ship?`:
   https://www.reddit.com/r/HPfanfiction/comments/i4u5ce/why_does_almost_everyone_hate_the_harryhermione/g0kxwpa/?context=3

.. _`hate the ship`:
   https://angua9.livejournal.com/204545.html

.. _patriot_man69420:
   https://www.reddit.com/user/patriot_man69420/

.. _`Ginny is extremely poorly written by JKR`:
   {filename}what-wrong-with-Ginny.rst

.. _`move from A to B`:
   {filename}what-wrong-with-Ginny.rst

.. _`Notebooks and Letters by chem prof`:
   https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3867175

.. _`Hunters and Prey by Northumbrian`:
   https://archiveofourown.org/works/1857084

.. _`Inner Demons by serendipity_50`:
   https://archiveofourown.org/works/601124

.. _`Meaning of One, Part One: Stone and Fire by Sovran`:
   http://www.siye.co.uk/siye/viewstory.php?sid=11833

.. _character:
   {filename}breakfast_in_new_york_02.rst