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Harry ships

Well, I'm not surprised Harry dumped Ginny in typical Spiderman style. That's okay with me-- I like Harry alone best.

Although, I sincerely thought at the end of book 5 that Luna was introduced to be Harry's love interest. It just seemed the most interesting course Harry's personal life might take, and was well-set up in book 5 as Luna was brought into his life.

Book 6 has pretty much quashed that idea. I do think that we're meant to see Ginny as Harry's first love, and that will continue into book 7, even though they're not actively in a relationship. It's that Peter Parker / Mary Jane trap. I don't particularly dislike Harry/Ginny, though I feel like Ginny could do with a few more flaws to make her more interesting. Except for shyness she's been given remarkably few personal flaws in the books-- she seems to be warm, fun, smart, talented at hexes, pretty, sporty, and brave. The ideal girl.

I guess I just don't find ideal people very interesting. I'm a little disappointed in H/G becoming canon in that respect-- I think I'd like the ship a lot better if Ginny seemed a more complex character. So far her biggest personal detractors are that she used to be shy around him (isn't anymore!) and used to have a crush on Harry (which finally got reciprocated, so it's okay after all!) Harry vascilates between being a hero and an anti-hero, usually tending toward straight-up hero stuff. I guess a hero needs a hero's ideal girlfriend or boyfriend... but it's just a little disappointing because almost all the other characters in HPverse you can make a pro/con list for their peronality, some lists longer than others.

I imagine in JKR's mind Ginny is a well-rounded character with personal flaws. I'd just like to see that a bit more in the books so I can get behind the ship with some general enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, I'll probably still read Harry/Luna fic for the most part. Because so far that still seems the most interesting person for Harry, if he's got to be with anyone.

Ron/Hermione

I enjoyed it, but I feel like I've read enough about it now. I hope there's less focus on them and their relationship problems in the next book-- I'll just assume they're snogging in the background or something. Their infighting, while amusing at points, eventually became a mild distraction much like the quiddich. After a while, I just wanted them to get over it and back to the main plot.

Tonks/Lupin

I was spoiled for the Tonks/Lupin couple before hand, but in a very vague way. When it did appear, I generally liked it. From what little I've read already people seem to be claiming it came out of nowhere.

I find this a very odd...very peculiar complaint, given that we see Lupin only a few minimal times in OotP and even less in this book, and the times we do see him are almost always strictly business. That's like complaining that Kingsley Shacklebot is married and has kids.
He's not married and doesn't have kids, you say?
How do you know he doesn't? I say.

We see so little of Tonks and Remus... I just assumed last book and this book that they were doing their jobs and living their lives outside of Harry's sphere of information, like most of the adult characters in HP do. And there would be no reason to inform Harry or the other kids that Tonks and Lupin are sort of dating now. It's not Harry's business, and not really relevent.

Do I like them as a pair? I dunno. It worked for me in the book well enough, but I've never really liked Tonks as a character. Don't dislike her... just never caught on to the Tonks appreciation train. So I'm pretty null and "whatever" on the subject.

About Sirius and Lupin...

... I've avoided discussing this pairing on my journal until now. In fact, I've never even talked about it online before, except to indicate I wasn't a shipper. Mostly I leave slash ships alone entirely when it comes to analysis. But for the moment, there's something I want to say.

I have never, ever seen Lupin as bisexual or him and Sirius as a romantic pairing.

I didn't read it that way, ever. I have never seen it, and when I do come across fandom discussion on the pairing and people claim that certain dialogue or diction indicates that JKR meant to show one or both characters as being bisexual... honestly, I think that's projecting.

I know it's harsh to say, but that's what I think. As far as I can tell the HP books have been cookie-cutter het all the way across. Sometimes I wonder if gays exist in JKR's wizarding world-- if they do, I don't think she's shown them to us yet.

Some Remus/Sirius fans have this sense of canonness in their argument. The same kind of sense of canonness you see in Spike/Angel shippers in season 5 of AtS. The difference being that there were gay jokes and casual references and outright dialogue in season 5 of Angel that alluded to Spike/Angel history probably involving a sexual element. Most of that was the writers wanting to titillate and shock, I think, rather than deliver with an actual love story ending in happy vampire love the way Willow and Tara got happy witch love. In AtS, I could see the canon nudges and winks.

I honestly read nothing like that in any of the HP books. So when I read about so-called canon defending it, I just mostly roll my eyes.

Now, I'm not saying I think the pairing is impossible or wrong. As far as I can tell it does what a lot of online fandom non-canon pairings do-- take two interesting characters and put them together. In this case, two friends who (until book 6, which I think indicates that Remus was at least somewhat involved with Tonks before Sirius died) were relatively unnatached as far as canon relationships were concerned, and had a strong emotional relationship already present in their friendship. I can definitely see why the slashers took that notion and ran with it.

But the online reaction to the Tonks/Remus thing bemuses me. I bemuses me that some few considered Remus/Sirius to be canon enough that they dislike the idea of him dating someone else, especially a woman. Not that they're unhappy-- I totally understand and expect THAT (my own ship died with book 6, so I understand how they feel), but that they're so indignant about it. Like they're surprised that Lupin now has a new love interest, a female character at that. Why are they surprised? Did they fail to notice until now that pretty much every relationship in HP canon is het or platonic? This is a HP book, not a book by Joss Whedon or Russel T. Davies.

Except Dobby/Kreacher, of course. Their love/hate relationship will live forever! 4EVA, I says!