Just a passing thought –

As time moves onward and authors grow a little more adventurous, one can see how Harry/Obscure Girl is becoming more popular. Whether it be Daphne or Fem!Blaise or Pansy it does not matter – it seems that authors are more than willing to butcher and maim so long as in the end, Harry can end up with different breasts.

For no reason today an association was triggered in me, and I suddenly recalled Miss Havisham, 500 pages, and Estella. For those of you who haven't read Dickens' novel, Havisham is an embittered woman whose wedding was cancelled on the day it was scheduled. In revenge against the person who caused he so much emotional grief, she decided to raise a black-hearted maiden, Estella, whose purpose in life would be to have men fall in love with her, so their hearts could be broken.

It's a pretty good subplot to borrow for deus ex-ing the Slytherin girls into putting up with Harry (rather than the two just 'happening' to meet and just 'happening' to strike a good conversation). Voldemort's newest evil plan is to break Harry's spirit through, ironically, love. Of course it could end sappily, if you wanted, having the "evil" girl decide she actually loves Harry, or something.


And on another note, how would one write a romance involving Luna? Does anyone have any particular plot bunnies they'd like to spare? The best I could come up with would be Harry stumbling upon a Snorkack and keeping it as a familiar instead of Hedwig, and having Luna wish to study it, or something. Wouldn't work too well, I imagine.

 

Well, that is actually a very good point regarding the Slytherin girls (and an interesting plot idea). Though, I must say...In my personal opinion, a true Slytherin would never be in Slytherin.

Anyways, in regards to the whole Luna thing...Who says you need a particular Plot Bunny? Just take something that will work well with her character (all the while keeping her in character). Make it slow, keep it believable (as hard to believe as anyone going out with "Looney" is).

 

And would not a true gryffindor forget school all together and go out into the world and LIVE magic, rather than try to learn it? A true Ravenclaw learn through experiencing all the houses?

I dunno, but I think Slytherin is just a hiccup in JKR's writing. The other 3 houses make sense, but Slytherin just seems like a convience for her to keep the 'bad guys' isolated and less human.

I mean, the first thing I thought of when I read the descriptions of the houses were, 'oh yeah! Socrates' 4 noble qualities! Justice Courage Temprence and Wisdom!' only that doesn't really work since Slytherins aren't really wise, just or temperate. While Ravenclaws are definately Wise (or temperate, since an intelligent person would be balanced... usually) and Hufflepuffs Just and temperate. Gryffindor's definitively courageous.

Err what was my point again? Oh yeah, somebody truly seeking to be 'sly' would indeed pose as another house member, but again, someone sly would probably realise they would eventually trip up and be hated by their particular house (after showing their true colors by accident). They'd at least be gaurenteed some sort of stable truce with the other Slytherins. Although slytherin are ambitious so I suppose they'd be willing to take the risk... I guess the whole house is just ackbwards.

 

I'd rather have Harry breaking her will and taking the girl as a slave.

 

Sheeplord, you are ADORABLE! You and your Slytherin girl-slaves...

I think that Slytherin is a tricky area to write in, mainly because of the overabundance of "Why, Harry, you just might be Slytherin after all" and similar ilk. I think it's a very easy trap to fall into, writing just plain "Slytherin is bad" business, which JKR has somewhat avoided by mostly ignoring that house completely. Sure, we see a few bad eggs, but except for the Death Eaters, nearly all "bad" Slytherin has some positive or redeeming attributes.

I've heard some people say that she writes all Slytherins as flawed, giving Slughorn as an example proving this, but I disagree - I think ALL the characters are written with flaws, which to be honest, is far more compelling than a perfect and annoying 2-dimensional character.

So what's the solution? I don't know, really, but I think a key area to potentially focus on is "cunning" and "ambition" - we know that Harry supposedly would "do well in Slytherin", perhaps because he really wants to be someone known for his own actions, not just as the Boy-Who-Lived?

I think a more realistic Harry/SkankOfSlytherin story would portray Harry as a lot like himself, without going too far into the "By GEORGE, he's cunning" nonsense. An older, wiser Harry could easily see the potential in pursuing ambitious goals, but the young Harry is too blinded by the admittedly bad Slytherins around him (Malfoy, Snape, Riddle, etc). And their Qudditch tactics aren't exactly that friendly either.

Now, Luna on the other hand... if you screw that up, you are an idiot. Luna clearly wants to "Snorkack" Harry (haven't you realized by now that everything she says is a euphemism for "knocking boots"?), and Harry is a typically oblivious male. I'd say that was cliche, but to be honest, guys really are that clueless. He's only with Ginny because she has shown him such clear interest in the past - Harry isn't exactly a kid who can read subtle social cues. Though to be fair, he wasn't raised in an environment conducive to such growth.

So once Harry was attracted to Ginny, he just assumed she'd be into it (which was a rare correct assumption about girls of his). If Cho had just shut up and stopped crying, and just continuously made out with him, they'd probably still be together.

-J

 

Well, that doesn't make much sense to me. I'd understand, if the student got to select the house, but the student has no say in the matter. I believe that the hat didn't give a rats ass whether Harry wanted to be in Slytherin or not, it knew his feelings and were just teasing him for amusement. Harry has not showed enough cunning or ambition to even be considered for Slytherin, so I do not believe that the hat was going to put him there.

Any 11 year old who is sly enough to not want to be put in Slytherin for the sake of going unnoticed by his teachers or peers will be put in Slytherin by the hat.

The hat is there for a reason, is it not?

Just remember folks, the pairing doesn't make the story. The story creates the pairing.

 

Unless the child in question has the guts to tell the sorting hat to stuff it and put him in the house of his choice, which I think would qualify as courage. But I think that would be extremely unlikely, as these are eleven year olds facing the relatively unknown HAT OF DOOM!

Besides, Harry wanted to be in Gryfindor because he was desparate to avoid Malfoy and Co. (Who I think reminded him of the Pompus Pigs Dursley's.) That lead him to asking (demanding?) to be put somewhere else.

 

I disagree. Since romance is tied into character, determining the character of the character's love will have a lot to do with the story and will help you focus on coming up with a storyline.

Sure, you can come up with a gimmick, say, Harry being super-powerful, but it seems lame when you just throw him with some girl. Even if you put Harry through the right situation that he would be likely to be attracted to a certain girl, it just seems stale.

If you decide, 'ok I'm going to write a Harry/Luna story' and ask yourself, "Hmm, what would make Harry more likely to be attracted to Luna over Ginny?", you could probably come up with a better story than saying, "Oh I'll make Harry a ravenclaw and a year younger!" and trying to write that.

Not that you can't write the other way, and not that romance makes a story, but it's a rather large part in the brainstorming process. One can't decide on a girl half-way through writing the plot and try to work her in.

 

Just a little thought about the Slytherin House concept. It is the house for cunning and ambition, but they are still naive self-centered 11 year olds. Slytherin House's purpose is more to train them to use these attributes. After all they'll be very helpful in later life when people care less about houses.

 

I seem to recall mention that Luna was one of the few non-Gryphies to support Harry (or at least not wear a Potter Stinks badge) during the Triwizard. How about Harry, fresh off of being let down by Cho as a date to the Yule Ball, runs into Luna and decides to ask her (maybe partly on a lark). You would need to pad some background; perhaps the Trio meet Luna on the Express on the way to 4th year instead of 5th. Luna could be sent to bring Harry to the weighing of the wands. Sprinkle in the odd dialog and Harry reflecting on how refreshing it is to meet someone who isn't wrapped around either hating him or worshiping him as a hero, etc.

 

From what I see, people (points at you all) want to complicate easy things.

JKR wrote Harry Potter for kids, kids who don't need 'shades of grey' (the prase is cliched, isn't it?) and all that shit. 8 year olds only need someone to point out who are good guys (Gryffindors) and who are bad guys (slytherins in HP universe).

When Harry put on the hat, it recognized Harrys power, so there were two ways for him, learning, fighting, killing and being big bad Slytherin or being noble and kind Gryffindor, who'll risk his life to save yours.

Harry chose to be good, so he got sorted into Gryffindor.
If I remember correctly Dumbledore says to Harry that choses they make define people, after Harry tells him about the hat-thingy.

 

Best I've seen so far followed one of two paths.

Either Luna was right about at least one of her odd creatures and Harry captures and/or photographs it,

or

'Luna speak' is an almost facade' that she uses purely for the fun of it. Harry either catches her acting normal (Bungle in the Jungle) or else figures out the meaning behind the words and has fun deciphering what she's actually saying. (Not Bloody Likely)

But please stay away from the 'Crumple Horned Snorkack'. EVERYONE uses that one. that and the Nargles. I know she mentions several other supposedly imaginary creatures.

 

It would be funny as hell if Luna was to talk about the mating habits of "The Gimp," and convince Harry all about how he can get some pictures for her of their wonderful mating habits for some future edition of The Quibbler.

 

The only way I see Harry getting together with Luna is if you take advantage of his hero-complex and create a maiden-in-distrees scenario.

After all, that's how the canon Harry/Ginny pairing got going.

 

I like the fourth year Yule Ball plot bunny the best so far, the others just seem a bit cliché.

Another one would be her having problems with a spell of some kind during fifth year and Harry gives her a bit of advice and help to make her work better, thus comes the initial bonding and you can proceed from there. Doesn't make for much better than a pure romance fic but can be used effectively if written right.

Aekiel