Bit of Ivory

How could it be anything else? I’m still reeling.

But first, Happy Birthday to Lisa and Laura! 20 years old– now in your troublesome tweens. Hooray!

I called it, didn’t I? I’m so glad someone else had my insight.

And now, some thoughts on shipping in OotP.

None of my ships sank, unless it’s Sirius/Abby Loomis *sob!* Let’s go ship by ship:

Bill/Fleur: How cool is *that*? We had people telling us that it would never happen, that all we had was one line in GoF to go on, and yet– Bam! Hahahahahahahahaha!

Ron/Hermione: Wasn’t really developed so much as it was reinforced. Many small things showing that there’s still feelings and tension there, but that neither one are ready to act on it yet. Which is a good thing. They’re not ready, either one of them (although Hermione is closer than Ron). But there’s still lots of fun stuff there– Hermione’s reaction when she found out Ron will be a prefect with her (although I’ve seen this interpreted the other way, too); Ron’s reaction when Hermione kisses him on the cheek; Ron’s Christmas gift to Hermione (perfume?!?). I’m looking for some actual snogging going on in book 6.

Harry/Cho: The ship has sunk. It needed to happen, and it really needed to happen in the way that it did. They both needed to realize that it wasn’t going to work. And now that Harry isn’t distracted by Cho, and Ginny has reappeared on his radar, that clears the way for my next ship. . .

Harry/Ginny: I’ve seen people saying that H/G has, if not sunk, at least taken several hits below the waterline. I have to disagree. Even with Ginny dating other people, it’s still there. In fact, it’s stronger than ever. Ginny “moving on” has to be there, or else Ginny would never feel comfortable enough with Harry to talk to him at all. I put “moving on” in quotes, because I think there’s plenty of evidence that she still cares about him, but that she’s given up on him caring about her. Anyway, there’s a lot there. Ginny has been developed as we always knew she would be. She’s the powerful, forthright, talkative, don’t-take-guff-from-anyone girl that I knew was already there. JKR established her worthiness of Harry in several small ways– her abilities at Quidditch, her powers as a witch, her connection to Harry because of the Chamber, and especially her ability to get Harry to open up after Hermione failed (in the library). Plus, Ron is an H/G shipper. Good enough for me.

Of course, this all seems rather frivilous when there was so much more going on. But I need to look at these things for Nimbus, and it helps to get my thoughts down on– well, not on paper, but in print. I do still think that Harry’s ship in particular will have a big impact, if not on the main plot, at least on his peace of mind.

I also feel that Sirius’ death makes OBHWF even more important, and more probable. Not that it was improbable before.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say on OotP soon.