Hermione/Ginny (Harry Potter)

[paranoidkitten.livejournal.com]

Title: Giggling, Summer Nights, and Possible Secret Shagging
Author: paranoidkitten
Spoilers: all five HP books
Email: paranoidkitten[at]livejournal.com
Personal Website: kittenfic


Hermione/Ginny is one of the most frequently-written femmeslash pairings when it comes to the Harry Potter fandom – and quite often the first pairing people come across when looking for femmeslash based on the books. There’s been a lot of – well, some, at any rate – discussion about why this is. Is it because people are looking for two girls, any two girls, to pair up, and they’ll do? Is it because they’re two among few well-developed female characters in the series? (This is debatable, naturally, and has been thrown around less and less since Order of the Phoenix, which presented us with insight into several of the female characters – and in any case, there isn’t room in the books to go into detail about each and every character, and I’ve yet to pick up on any sign that the female characters in the books are unfairly neglected when it comes to characterisation.) I’m not so sure.

See, I read the books for the first time not looking for homoerotic subtext of any sort (“It’s a kids’ book series!” my brain cried out. “Get your mind out of gayland for five minutes!”) and finished Goblet of Fire thinking, “right, I’m going to go and write a Hermione/Ginny fic now, because it needs to be done. Oh yes.” This was with no exposure whatsoever to the fandom. It was based entirely on the text, which is why I’m inclined to believe that a lot of femmeslashers – and fic writers in general – don’t just pair off Hermione and Ginny randomly. They’ve picked up on the subtext, too.

Some people are drawn to the sort of pairings where the two characters in question spark off each other. They bicker and argue and snipe at one another, and the reader interprets this as unresolved sexual tension. This is indeed, why many people ‘ship Hermione/Ron, or Harry/Draco, or, to get back to the femmeslash, Hermione/Pansy or Hermione/Luna – and while such inter-character dynamics do have their appeal, there’s another sort of relationship that’s interesting to observe. The sort of relationship that has its roots in friendship, and progresses towards something of a more romantic nature. This is how I view Hermione/Ginny, and why they’re my favourite pairing to write about.

Firstly, I suppose, because they’re interesting characters independently. Watching Hermione’s transformation from a bossy know-it-all determined to show off as much as possible to someone with a bit more tact, someone with a heart, someone who has learned that following the rules is not always the only option – that’s one of the great joys of reading the books. She learns to loosen up, and she also develops her own ideas about what is worthwhile. Her campaigning for the rights of house-elves, for example, or her attempts to help Buckbeak in his defence, are not the sort of things that one does because one is determined to show off how clever they are – she does these things out a sense of social injustice. While her schoolwork remains important to her, her studiousness is by no means her only virtue. The fact that she is in Gryffindor is a tribute to this; while the Sorting Hat considered placing her in Ravenclaw, she ended up in a house that values bravery and chivalry over sharp minds.

This is important to remember about Ginny, as well. She’s not just in Gryffindor because the rest of her family were, but on her own merits. She confronts Harry when he’s hiding from his friends, and speaks about her experiences with Voldemort. She insists on coming with them to help save Sirius, rather than standing by and doing nothing. This bravery is evident even from an early stage – when she stands up to Draco Malfoy in Flourish and Blotts after he mocks Harry, for example. She is also kind to others – consoling Ron when Fleur turns his invitation to the Yule Ball down, and is friendly towards Neville. She may be amused by Luna, but she hides her giggles so as not to hurt her feelings.

And while Hermione may be a little too harsh on occasion, she does, for the most part, extend the same sort of kindness to her fellow classmates, helping out Neville in class and offering Harry advice on his love-life. So having established why they’re both lovely, let’s move on to reason number two for ‘shipping them – their friendship.

It’s not a friendship that a huge amount of time is devoted to describing – mostly because the books are from Harry’s perspective and not either of the girls’ – but it is there nonetheless, becoming obvious from Prisoner of Azkaban onwards. Hermione stays at the Leaky Cauldron with the Weasleys to travel to Hogwarts with Ron and Harry, but it’s clear that she also gets on with Ginny. (They were in the hospital wing at the same time at the end of Chamber of Secrets, after all; perhaps their friendship began then.) At one point they are both “rather giggly” when they discuss love potions with Mrs Weasley, and on the train, Hermione invites Ginny to come in and sit down with them, as opposed to Ron telling her to go away. When Ginny is upset after the Dementor visits their carriage, Hermione is there to put a “comforting arm” around her. (Awww, bless.)

We’re not told about whether they see each other much during that school year – but then again, Ginny is barely mentioned for the rest of the book, and Hermione’s too overloaded with work to have much time for anything non-academic anyway – but they appear together when Harry arrives at the Weasleys’ the following summer. Mrs Weasley wants to know where “the girls” have got to as they’re leaving for the Quidditch World Cup, and they arrive downstairs together at the same time; presumably they have been sharing a room. Regardless of the reasons for this – no doubt Mrs Weasley would rather have Hermione stay in Ginny’s room than in Ron’s – it stands to reason that this has made them closer. They also share a tent at the World Cup – a tent that they have all to themselves. Ahem. At this point I must force my mind out of the gutter and point out that this, too, means that they’re spending a lot of time together and that no doubt they are becoming better friends as they get to know one another even more.

It is perhaps significant that their friendship becomes much more evident in this book, at the same time as romantic entanglements become an issue for the main characters. The Yule Ball means that the central trio are expected to find dates. Harry’s crush on Cho is at its peak in Goblet of Fire. Ron is smitten with Fleur. It’s a time when gender differences become quite obvious. At one stage, when Harry and Ron go off to play Quidditch, Hermione leaves the room muttering “boys” – and, we can perhaps presume, goes off to seek female companionship. She doesn’t talk to Harry and Ron about her own love life. Instead, she talks to Ginny.

Ginny knows that Hermione isn’t lying when she says that she has a date for the Yule Ball, and also knows who it is – but she won’t reveal who to Harry and Ron, despite her admiration for Harry and her older brother. They both have secrets that they don’t discuss with the boys – but this is not merely a matter of girls versus boys, though the fact that they each find solidarity in another girl is important also. Parvati has no idea who Hermione is going with, and is surprised to learn she has a date at all. Parvati is in Hermione’s year, and they share a dormitory as well as several classes – and yet Hermione has not informed her of this. And so the friendship that Hermione and Ginny have developed from staying in the same room and being the only girls among boys (the Weasleys, plus Harry) over the summer is elevated to something more – it is not a friendship of convenience, but a friendship that they both choose to pursue, even in school, where, despite being in the same house, they are in different years. Hermione needs a close female friend but rather than seek out someone different during school time, she remains close to her summertime companion. At an age where romantic relationships can begin to interfere with friendships and where the concept of female friends begins to seem less important than having a boyfriend, Hermione doesn’t simply settle for the boy-related banter between room-mates, but makes an effort to stay friends with Ginny. Never mind looking further into that for the moment; they are good friends, and that in itself is pretty damn special.

(And while we’re on the subject of the Yule Ball, Ginny’s statement about Neville asking her “after Hermione said no” is rather ambiguous. The general reading of it is that this means after Hermione said no to Neville – and I have no doubt that is the preferred interpretation – but it’s a little moment to consider when thinking about this pairing.)

Order of the Phoenix sees them sharing a room once more, with Fred being certain that Ginny will lie awake waiting for Hermione to fill her in on the details of what’s going on with the Order. (Among other things, I’m sure…) They’ve both been regularly entertained by Tonks’s nose-changing dinner antics and appear to be sitting next to each other at dinner almost all of the time – when Hermione chokes on her Butterbeer, Ginny is there to thump her on the back. And in a lovely little moment laden with two kinds of ‘shippery (sub)text, both Ron and Ginny react angrily when Kreacher calls Hermione a mudblood.

It is her fellow cat-lover Ginny who looks after Crookshanks while Hermione is off attending to her Prefect-related duties on the train, and they go off and find a carriage together afterwards. When discussing Luna with the others at a later date, Hermione informs them that Ginny’s told her “all about” Luna, showing us that they do have conversations that the reader is not privy to. When Hermione knits, she chats “merrily” to Ginny. And when, at the meeting in the Hog’s Head, Hermione and Luna start sniping at one another, Ginny intervenes and tries to get them back on-topic, and Hermione stops instantly. “Yes, yes, we were, you’re right, Ginny.” This has always sounded rather simpering in my head, and I recently realised why – we don’t often see this kind of deference from Hermione. Later on in the book, when setting off on their rescue mission and in need of Thestrals, Hermione says they need three, and Ginny insists, “Four, Hermione” – and there is no further objection on Hermione’s part. This is indicative not only of Ginny’s determination but Hermione’s respect for it – and for Ginny herself.

Similar to Ginny knowing about Hermione going to the Yule Ball with Krum, Hermione knows that Michael is going out with Ginny, and how and when they got together. She is also aware of Ginny’s infatuation with Harry and the fact that that’s ended, and she knows why Ginny hasn’t told Ron about Michael. Girls will have their secrets, after all. They seem to spend at least some of their time talking about boys, but curiously enough, neither of them seems to be terribly bothered by the male of the species. Ginny refers to Michael as a “fool” at one point, echoing the frustration with boys that Hermione seems to have. While Hermione writes to Krum, she doesn’t make a big deal out of it and it’s entirely possible that they’re just good friends. She was, after all, embarrassed as being the thing he would “miss the most” during the Triwizard Tournament, and he pursued her, rather than the other way around. While they may have giggled over love potions with Mrs Weasley a few years previously, they are in fact far more sensible about boys than many girls their age – and Ginny, judging from the conversation in the train on the way home, is downright blasé about her relationship with Michael and their subsequent break-up. She speaks “vaguely” about being interested in Dean Thomas rather than blushing and giggling; her love-life does not appear to be her number-one priority. In the DA meetings she practises her spells rather than going easy on Michael, which is quite sensible of her. Hermione must be having a good influence on her.

Order of the Phoenix is littered with mentions of the two of them arriving together or being next to each other or what-have-you. On the day of the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match they arrive at the table together. They sit down together, with Crookshanks, to watch Harry and Ron play chess. When Ron and Ginny come in after Quidditch practice it’s Ginny Hermione addresses first. In the room with the arch, Hermione grabs Ginny’s arm, and in the hospital wing, Ginny is curled up at the foot of Hermione’s bed. On top of this, there’s the fact that Hermione knows that Ginny’s been borrowing her brothers’ brooms since the age of six – reminding us that they do sometimes talk about subjects other than boys.

And while there’s no definite proof that Hermione and Ginny are actually secretly shagging madly during those hot summer nights in the same bedroom, or sneaking off to find deserted broom cupboards to snog in during school time, within their friendship there’s certainly the potential for it to go that way – which is, after all, where fanfiction and fanart come into play. And we haven’t been told that they aren’t. They’ve a friendship that – like Hermione’s friendship with Ron and Harry – is strong enough to survive differing opinions on matters like rules and the importance of Quidditch. They spend a lot of time together talking about all kinds of things, including their love lives, though neither of them appears to ever be too interested in the boys they are supposedly involved with. And, come on, Hermione’s a crusader for the rights of the oppressed and Ginny’s turning out to be quite the tomboy, if we’re going to subscribe to stereotypes. (And wouldn’t they just be so cute together?)

Fic-wise, there’s potential for so much fluff and cuddly romance with this pair, though straightforward fluff is pretty rare. There is usually at least a little angst before the two girls find love – B’s Answered In Your Gestures deals with the girls in a relationship, but not entirely sure about where it’s going. The hints of Hermione/Ron in canon often come into play, with either Hermione realising that she’s involved with the “wrong” Weasley – see Beth825’s Confessions Of A Perfect Prefect – or with Ginny angsting over the fact that her brother is involved with the girl she loves – see Rhoddlet’s Sundress or Plumeria’s Silence. And then there’s just plain dark fic – Bec’s We All Fall Down is something of a classic.

Older Hermione/Ginny fics can be found at the Hermione/Ginny archive, which is now no longer updated, but your best bet is Girls’ Dormitory, an archive for all kinds of Harry Potter femmeslash. On Livejournal there’s the hg_slash community, specifically for Hermione/Ginny fics and fanart, as well as the larger hp_girlslash community. The girls also have a fanlisting. Go forth, and feel the love.

Further fic recs:
Almost Cut My Hair by dulcinea
And So The Year Unfolds by Applepip
Brown Ribbon by switchknife
Come Shots by Kate Bolin
Exploration by rubykate
Flight by Stefan
Fragile by Fareme
Freckles by November Snowflake
Like A Good Book by Kyra Cullinan
Mirrors by celeria
She Dreams In Sepia by celeria
Smile by Anna Maria Moss
Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice by clamchowder

Comments

[hearts-n-roses.livejournal.com]

Wonderfully written!

Hr/G is MY femmeslash pairing! I love the idea of friendship blossoming into more. It happened to me, and it is beautiful. You have done a great job of exploring the girls closeness in this essay and I really enjoyed it. You reminded me what I love about the pairing, and why I love writing them.

[paranoidkitten.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :D