Also there's no indication that Ginny suddenly became hot in HBP, like a fanfic where Hermione turns up at Hogwarts one year in hot pants and with giant stripper titties. Rather, it's simply that HBP is the first time the reader learns that Ginny is considered very attractive.

 

Though, thinking on it, Harry is decently shallow. I am pretty sure that GoF could be the very first time Harry ever talked to Cho Chang. He thinks she is very pretty, so he 'likes' her and asks her to the dance. Rowling also went out of her way to talk about how even Blaise thinks Ginny is very attractive. Just an interesting thing to think about. I actually like his being shallow when it comes to a girl's looks because, to me, it adds more character to a person who tries to be morally good like Harry.

Personally, I would prefer pairings to take a backseat to the plot of the fic (like canon). So many fics are pairing first and in a pure romance that is fine, but it doesn't work at all when Voldemort and politics are also thrown in.

 

I think we should stop lying to ourselves and accept it happened because Rowling wanted it to. And no, Harry is not that shallow; he was at his most popular at HBP and didn't spend the year going on dates with a number of different females. The explanation as to why he liked Ginny that fits Rowling's intentions could only be 'true love'.

 

Harry and Ginny dating isn't so unbelievable. Finding 'true love' at that age is very, very rare though, I'll give you that.

 

That said, it is much more common to marry someone you met at school among those who do not continue on to tertiary education, which also applies to the magical world. I suspect that our impression that it is odd to marry your high school sweetheart is largely influenced by the fact that most of us will have gone to university, along with the rest of our social circle.

 

My parents were high school sweethearts. They didn't date anyone else and married shortly after graduating high school, so I'm aware that side of the coin.

I just don't think love at that age (and the first months of dating) can be described as 'one true love'. Love takes effort after all, you can be happy someone if you work on it. I think because we didn't see Harry and Ginny after their reunion and dating for real (and getting to know each other as more than friends), it seems weird to see them as one big happy family 19 years later.

Still, Harry/Ginny is my favorite pairing, if done right. Ironically, I read fics featuring Harry/Fleur and Harry/Hermione more.

 

My objection to the JKR R/Hr H/G canon has always been that it was just too...twee? Too meant-to-be-because-the-author-said-so? Too contrived?

I've read fics from a variety of pairings, and I think it comes down to the idea that if the author can write a romantic plot thread that feels organic and natural, the reader will go along with it.

By contrast, then JKR just...didn't or couldn't seem to do that. So the whole thing just feels forced.

 

Because none if those girls were attractive enough to gain his attention.

He only ever dated the most desired girls of each year Ginny did not ever enter his radar until she became the hottest girl in school.

Let's not kid ourselves here - if Book!Hermione looked like Emma Watson, Harry would have been all over 'that'

 

That is your headcanon. Can you prove that Romilda Vane or Hermione were not as attractive as Ginny? We get a comment on Ginny's beauty by Pansy as automatically she's the most attractive girl in the year?

 

The author explicitly said that Hermione is not as attractive as Emma Watson.

And Ginny was obviously supposed to be a bombshell.

 

She was exceedingly attractive yes (as much Ron was hinted to be), but that doesn't mean she is without equal. Hermione not being as pretty as Emmas Watson was back then doesn't mean it's not enough to attract a guy - which she did, at least on two separate occasions.

 

Canonically speaking, we can only say that the following women are attractive:

Cho
Veela
Fleur (and family)
Parvati
Padma
Yule Ball Hermione
Ginny

Pretty sure that's the extent of all women whose beauty is particularly noted.

 

Ron was never hinted to be very attractive. Lol - are you Starfox5?

And I'm not sure what you mean about Hermione? The author explicitly said that her book counterpart is not as attractive.
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And that's only because the story is told through Harry's POV. Once Hermione spent hours putting on makeup, she was suddenly "pretty" this Harry, but good enough to make Draco's mouth drop.

And the author spent an entire book (HBP) turning Ginny into a Mary Sue just so Harry would notice her.

I don't know why it's so hard for people to accept that Harry has flaws. He s shallow concerning women - it's just a nice little flaw the author gave him.

 

He's also a child; what was anyone expecting, Casanova?

 

1. Not noticing Fleur is literally the exact opposite of being shallow.

2. A fifteen year old boy being uncomfortable when a girl breaks down crying when she kisses him for the first time is hardly a basis to judge him particularly lacking in emotional expectations.

3. Ginny had, at time of Harry noticing, risked her life for him and Sirius. Rowling hamfisted a 'omg she's so hot convo' into canon on the train, but Ginny had proven herself solid gf material insofar as Rowling's writing allowed her to.

4. "Harry is a physical being" wut? Harry shows no exceptional lustful urges (and certainly had plenty of opportunity from time to time), nor is he ever shown as having any particular excesses of any other type.

Not to beat a dead horse, BUT...

Harry's physical descriptions of people are always tinged with whether or not he personally likes them; Pansy and Millicent get harsher descriptions than say, Molly Weasley. Even Narcissa Malfoy gets described in Harry's thoughts in the least charitable way possible. This is perfectly reasonable, but it would seem safe to assume that people Harry likes are perhaps slightly less attractive than his descriptions would suggest, and those he dislikes, slightly more so.

But u know which Slytherin Harry NEVER says a single bad thing about, ever. Daphne. Just sayin. Hottie, confirmed.

 

This. Also, Tracey.

 

2. I mean later, in HBP, Harry says he likes Ginny because she doesn't cry.

3. So did Luna. So did Hermione, plenty of times, yet no interest was given to them.

4. Harry being "physical" means that his life is centered on the physical aspects of life, as opposed to Hermione whose life is centered on the mental. Harry avoids discussing his emotions as much as possible, and he avoids discussing others emotions too.

And Harry actually describes Narcissa nd Bellatrix as beautiful, so you're wrong there.

 

I didn't say he referred to them as ugly: though he certainly suggests as much about Bellatrix, post-Azkaban. I said he's as least charitable as possible. With Narcissa - who is good looking - that means saying she looks like she's got an expression that suggests something smelly is under her nose. He is zoning in on a negative characteristic.

Regarding Luna and Hermione: So Harry's not hitting on all his friends, okay.

Harry's life as we see in the books focuses on not dying. He enjoys one physical hobby, quidditch, and likes to skive off of homework as much as your stereotypical teenage boy. However, he is more than capable of applying his mind when it suits - whether it's the HBP book, mastering the Patronus Charm, teaching an underground vigilante group, or getting an E on an OWL his professor spent five years trying to sabotage.

Harry has plenty of flaws. He can be impulsive, needlessly rude, prone to fits of martyrdom, and stubborn to the point it literally aids in getting people killed. But there is nothing in the text that suggests he is shallow, in so far as the word means anything beyond the fact that - horror of horrors - men are more attracted at first glance to the likes of Fleur more than Millicent.

 

If he wasn't shallow, he would have taken Hermione into consideration as a romantic partner.

But he didn't.

 

That is insane.

Edit: When should he have done this, just curious. During the time in sixth year when she was alternating between shitting on him for daring to beat her in a class, or when she was willing to talk to him because she was assaulting Ron for having a girlfriend?

Or maybe after he broke up with Ginny, when she figured during Dumbledore's funeral, who Harry eye-witnessed being murdered, she felt it necessary to have a giant 'Told You So' regarding the Halfblood Prince being a bad guy.

Books six and seven Hermione would be that absolute last person in canon to get involved with in a romantic relationship.