--- In TheGreatDebate@yahoogroups.com, AmeriaSaillune39@a... wrote:
> Kinsfire wrote:
> > Can anyone tell me, using only canon information, why this is a match made in heaven?

> In conclusion...we just sorely need a well-spoken D/G fan on the list. That is all.

Well. I don't know how well-spoken I am, but I'm an absolutely rabid D/G fan - I won't read fics which ship them with others - so I'll give it a shot.

To begin with, if you're looking for the kind of canon support that exists for, say, Ron/Hermione? You won't find it. Simple fact: the books are told from Harry's point of view. Neither Draco nor Ginny loom that large in Harry's mind in terms of importance, and so neither of them appear all that often. Being a bit obsessive, I went through and looked for every time in the four books that were available at the time, and then later the fifth book, to find every time either of them was mentioned, and I drew some conclusions from that. It's dependent on interpretation, and it's going to get long-winded, but here's some of my logic for this ship that leaves some of y'all confused...

First, we need to delve a bit into Draco, as most people on the list seemed to be of the "Why would anyone ever be interested in that hideous little rat?" mindset. Before we start, as I'm accustomed to this sneering insinuation being made, I'd like to make clear that I'm not a Tom Felton fangirl. I think he's cute as Draco, but as himself, he's a gawky baby. In terms of the relative attractiveness of the actors, Snape is the most likely to turn my head.

I do, however, think that, as far as we've seen, it's possible for Draco to not be Utter and Complete Evil. He's a brat: a spoiled, selfish, arrogant, intolerant, snotty brat. I could quote specifics here, but I think y'all will agree that that bit can be taken as read. However, up until book four, that's all he is; sure, he tried to turn them in, and called Hermione a mudblood, and tried to get Hagrid fired... But all of this falls more into the "schoolboy prank" file than "Hitler youth". Yes, he's a Slytherin. Yes, he was raised to believe himself superior to the majority of the world, especially anyone who isn't a pureblooded wizard. However, there are several mitigating factors here.

First off, the idea that Slytherin = evil comes from, guess what - bigotry. One-fourth of the wizards and witches going through Hogwarts are in Slytherin. Do you really think that a full quarter of any population is irredeemably evil at age ELEVEN? I tend not to think so. For that matter, look at the traits important to Slytherin house: ambition, cunning, power, the ability to manipulate... And then think, what character most demonstrates these during the books so far? In my opinion, that would be Dumbledore. There's only one Hogwarts, and he wouldn't get to be headmaster without a fair whack of ambition. He's got enough power Voldemort fears him. He's certainly showed cunning, manipulativeness and a certain degree of ruthlessness in his dealings with Harry. Work from there, and I tend not to think that Slytherin automatically equals bad.

Next up, let's discuss pureblood snobbery. I won't argue that the Malfoys are bigots. I will, however, argue that they're not the only ones. Take this little bit of conversation from CoS:

"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that - no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter - bad blood, that's what it is - come on now - let's get outta here."

Kind of a sweeping generalization, don't you think? No Malfoy ever was worth anything, because of their BAD BLOOD. And this is somehow different from the idea that muggleborns are inferior because of their birth? McGonagall in the first book, about the Dursleys, "You couldn't find two people who are less like us."(Emphasis mine.) Hagrid again, "I'd like to see a great muggle like you stop him." to Mr. Dursley. Just because it's about someone Harry doesn't like, prejudice is okay?

For that matter, you'll notice that the Weasleys are purebloods. They're considered blood traitors because they believe muggleborns aren't inherently inferior, and because Arthur is obsessed with muggles. However, if you look at the attitude of the Weasleys, you'll note they're not exactly at the forefront of understanding muggles. Check out the first thing we hear Arthur say about muggles:

"...[N]o Muggle would admit their key keeps shrinking - they'll insist they just keep losing it. Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face..."

Again this is a matter of interpretation, but to me that sounds more condescending than anything else. It's a pattern that continues through the books, with "Marvin the Mad Muggle" comic books (imagine a white boy reading a comic book entitled "Kwame the Kwazy Kenyan" if you don't understand why that's offensive) and Arthur's fascination with the things muggles come up with, and Molly's reaction to the concept of stitches... It's more like the attitude of the British in India than of Martin Luther King, y'know? The Weasleys' attitude seems more of "Some of my best friends are [insert group here], but I wouldn't want my daughter to date one" rather than complete acceptance.

Which brings me back to Draco once more. As I said before, and please don't misunderstand this, I'm not claiming that Draco is secretly a wonderfully nice person who is victimized by his father but would really like to frolic through meadows with puppies and butterflies. What I am saying is that bigotry is not by any means the sole province of the Malfoys.

It's in book four that his "evil" is supposedly shown to incontrovertibly exist. So, first off, let's look at what his main point is in the scene in the woods with the golden trio:

"Granger, they're after Muggles," said Malfoy. "D'you want to be showing off your knickers in midair? Because if you do, hang around. . . they're moving this way, and it would give us all a laugh."

He's not donning armor and rescuing the fair maiden. Draco is not, and never will be, a white knight in the grand heroic tradition - a Gryffindor. However, if you think about it, this is a girl whom he's been shown to dislike. We know his father knows who she is, and that Draco has gotten flak for coming in behind her, grades wise. If he was really, truly evil, how hard would it have been to give her one good hard shove, before the trio realized he was there, and send her straight into the midst of drunken, violent DEs? Instead he warns her to get away, albeit not in a nice manner at all.

Now, there was also a bit where Draco and several other Slytherins refused to stand during Dumbledore's speech, but considering that was to honor Harry, I think it falls into the normal obnoxious schoolboy stuff. Draco definitely has some jealousy issues with the boy wonder. So we'll just move on to this charming little scene:

His smirk widened. Crabbe and Goyle leered. "Trying not to think about it, are we?" said Malfoy softly, looking around at all three of them. "Trying to pretend it hasn't happened?"

"Get out," said Harry.

He had not been this close to Malfoy since he had watched him muttering to Crabbe and Goyle during Dumbledore' s speech about Cedric. He could feel a kind of ringing in his ears. His hand gripped his wand under his robes.

Couple of things there I thought were interesting. First off, Draco had been talking about Rita Skeeter, and how it wasn't a big deal to catch her, and then his voice goes soft while he's smirking and he says they're trying not to think about it. Yes, this needles them and yes, he gets a kick out of needling them, but this is not his standard obnoxious approach.
One could postulate that he's gotten more mature and thus is honing in on what barb will slice deepest, but considering his last insults were on the level of "Potter Stinks", it seems a giant leap in maturity for a 14-15 year old. So why is it he's theorizing about trying to pretend it didn't happen? The likeliest answer to me is that he's projecting; talking about the things he thinks and feels (but doesn't want to admit to himself that he does) as if the person thinking and feeling all of this was Harry. It's an extremely common psychological reaction, and it makes a lot more sense than to assume that Draco has such wild swings in maturity and intelligence.

And the ultimate weight on the Evil!Draco side of the scales:

"You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around with riffraff like this!" He jerked his head at Ron and Hermione. "Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well - second - Diggory was the f-"

Let's count the exclamation marks, shall we? This is an awfully shrill speech for someone who was just speaking softly, and who was supposedly deliberate in choosing the psychological impact of his words. "Too late now, Potter!" For who? Because if it's too late for Harry, maybe Draco thinks it's too late for him.

Draco's relationship with Harry is funny, because in a real way, everything hinges on that Draco offered his friendship and was rejected. How many times do you think that happened to Draco before going to Hogwarts? How much confidence do you think he has that if he tries, in his awkward, clueless, real-world-retarded way to make a friend other than a fellow member of the DE Youth, he won't be rejected again? And then there's the issue of his father, who seems to be very much into the whole 'prove yourself worthy of being my son' thing, which can seriously mess a child up even without the Dark Lord looming in the background.

Dumbledore made a point of saying that it's all about choice, but Draco probably doesn't see himself as having one. And because he is a spoiled brat with severe insecurity issues, he'd rather try to convince himself and everyone around him that the way he's stuck with is the only reasonable choice than to acknowledge his own sense of helplessness. As Sarea Okelani pointed out, "you're placed in the House you want to be in; not in the one that you "belong" to. Many of these Slytherin students probably don't have a choice; in their minds, they probably pray to be in Slytherin because they fear repercussions from their parents if they aren't sorted there."

Then there's the "Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well - second - Diggory was the f-" comment... Yeah, that's a fairly accurate statement of DE goals, but if you parse that, who if mudbloods and muggle-lovers are first, who's second? Maybe Draco realizes being on the right side isn't a complete guarantee? And yes, Cedric's death was the first in what even Dumbledore thinks might be many. It's begun, and there's no denying it. No amount of "trying to pretend it didn't happen" is going to help, and Draco's perceived
choices are to go along with it with every appearance of enthusiasm or to go along with it reluctantly; the thought that he might leave his father and the DEs for Dumbledore would be inconceivable to him. But if he's reluctant, then he's up top on the list for "who's next now that we're done with mudbloods and muggle-lovers".

Does he admit it to himself? Maybe, in the shower, or in bed at night, when the brain has too much time to turn on itself and chew on what we hate most in our lives. But maybe not; denial is a powerful thing. Does he have a choice? Maybe, if he gathers enough strength to decide that the courage needed to turn against his father and the DEs is less than the courage needed to carry on going along with them. It's unlikely in canon, I'll agree, but Snape turned away when he was even further on the side of darkness - redemption is possible for even a blackened soul.

So why would he seek redemption? A traditional scenario in any Draco fic is that it is the love of a good person, whether it be Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron, or any other of the people he gets paired with. Personally, I think that love could be an impetus, sure, but that it would not be the sole motivating factor. Ultimately, to my mind, what would make Draco switch sides would be selfishness, arrogance, and bigotry.

Yeah, you read that right. Do you think Draco knows that the great Lord Voldemort is nothing but a half-blood? What would his reaction be if he found out? For that matter, can you see Draco willingly abasing himself before anyone the way that the Death Eaters do in the cemetery scene at the end of book four? He'd think it below him, although if it was a matter of survival he'd do it. And then there's the issue of Harry; would Draco really care to have his perfect skin blemished by a permanent brand giving power over the Malfoy heir to someone who couldn't even defeat Potter when he was a baby? Voldemort has never managed to do any permanent damage to Harry other than give him a scar which makes him famous. Not a terribly admirable record against an underaged foe.

And so we now have a boy who is not evil, but not particularly a nice person, either. Why is it that I pair him off with sweet little Ginny Weasley, who everyone knows still loves Harry Potter? So now I turn a bit to Ginny's character, despite the groans of disgust at my long-windedness from the peanut gallery.

Before OotP, fanon seemed to really, really like the image of Ginny as painfully shy, desperately eager to be noticed and around the trio, frequently suicidal due to her extreme isolation, with no friends whatsoever. Her purpose in life was to sit in the background with tears always at the ready, her luminous eyes turned to Harry, Clytie to his Apollo. Except, if you actually read the first four books and paid attention, her characterization in OotP wouldn't have been a surprise.

Ginny seems to be closer to the twins than to Ron. In book one, they're the ones telling her not to cry and they'll send her loads of owls (and a toilet seat). Book 2 has George fretting about money because Ginny needs robes and a wand and everything. Book 4
has the twins and Ginny mentioned together constantly, from the Quidditch World Cup to the feast before the last task. Then in OotP, she's constantly in their company, including the "He got off" war dance. If Ginny was a shy and retiring person, scared of her own shadow, why would the boisterous twins want her around?

There's nothing to show that Ginny is necessarily isolated with only Ron, Harry and Hermione for company. There's too many fanfics to count which show Ginny moping because the golden trio kicked her out of their compartment or otherwise left her out, but the one time that they blatantly excluded her, she moved on to helping Neville find Trevor... And if you find that pathetic, think back to what Hermione was doing when we first saw her. Ginny hangs out with the twins, and she and Percy also seem to share a certain amount of affection. She knows Neville, and Colin, and any number of other Gryffindors, including those from older grades she'd have met while hanging with F&G. She really doesn't seem to be all that bothered by not being part of the charmed circle of the Gryf trinity; the only time she's upset about it is when the train is moving and she gets kicked out so they can talk, and, quite frankly, I'd be huffy too if I had to leave my comfy seat for someone else's whim.

Ginny tends to be babied more than her siblings. In book one, Ron gets to walk around on his own. In book 2, when Ginny is the same age, she still has to hold her mom's hand. But she accepts it calmly, so she's probably fairly comfortable with her role as the baby and the only girl. It wouldn't surprise me if she's got a different form of the little princess act which turns each individual brother to mush, although with Ron being the closest in age to her, it'd be least effective on him.

Fanfic seems to like making Ginny's crush on Harry be humiliating forever, and in making Ginny innately clumsy. However, she's only shown doing extremely clumsy things in the summertime before they go to school for her first year. And, honestly, cut the girl some slack. You're eleven years old, and someone who you've heard of as someone to idolize your entire life comes to stay at your house. You're telling me you'd be coherent if you came down to eat breakfast one morning, all in your pjs and morning breath and stuff, and there at your breakfast table is Prince William (Brad Pitt, Nelson
Mandela, insert-someone-you-admire-here)? Me, even at the ripe old age of 29, I'd be running back up the stairs to obsess a bit with my pal the mirror, then dropping things and blushing and otherwise making a fool of myself.

The first time she sees him in book 3:
Ginny, who had always been very taken with Harry, seemed even more heartily embarrassed than usual when she saw him, perhaps because he had saved her life during their previous year at Hogwarts. She went very red and muttered "hello" without looking at him.

The first time she sees him in book 4:
The other, who was small and red-haired, was Ron's younger sister, Ginny. Both of them smiled at Harry, who grinned back, which made Ginny go scarlet - she had been very taken with Harry ever since his first visit to the Burrow.

Note that she blushes, but that's all... And that subsequent meetings with Harry in the course of the books don't necessarily elicit blushes. She talks around him just fine all through book 4, so the whole endless awkwardness due to crushing wasn't really all
that accurate. Not only did she not dump Neville in order to go the ball with Harry, but she even met another boy there and eventually started dating him. She stood up for herself when Harry would've treated her like a convenience, she stood up for herself when Michael Corner tried to treat her badly because of Quidditch, and she stood up for herself when Ron tried to hint that she should sit in a corner and pine for Harry. This is not a girl who is going to take any guff about liking who she likes.

I'd also like to point out that, at the age range we've seen Ginny, roughly 11-14, girls have lots of crushes, frequently at the same time. She's not necessarily pining for anyone, nor is she a slut. I don't know where the idea that having more than one boyfriend before you're fifteen makes you a hussy came from, but I really wish people would get over it.

Another important factor to consider in Ginny's character analysis is Tom Riddle. Let me state right off the bat that I do not believe in the fanon theory that Tom had sex with Ginny. He was just barely becoming solid when Harry got down to the Chamber, and, not to be crude, certain elements have to be really darn solid for certain things to be done. Ahem. Um, anyway...

That's not to say that Tom didn't severely screw with her mind. Eleven's a tough age; I know when I was eleven, I was dealing with my first period, and a fun time it was not. In Ginny's case, the encroaching of puberty making her hormones be out of whack, her first truly gargantuan crush, adjusting to being away from home, the dynamic being different with her brothers at school than it was at home, AND the diary actively egging on her negativity... She didn't stand a chance.

I do think that she loved Tom. She fully believed him to be her best friend, this handsome older boy who told her she was right, and encouraged her to pour out her soul to him. A good listener is a treasure, and Tom made damn sure to at least give the appearance of
a good listener. Does she still love him? There's a part of all of us who will never forget our first love, and our first hate. He's both of those for her. Is that love sufficient to turn her to evil? I doubt it.

I don't remember the exact quote, but there's a line in a Discworld novel where Granny Weatherwax says, basically, there's all kinds of ambiguity in good and evil, but there's not a lot of leeway in what's right and what's wrong. If you know what the difference is between right and wrong, you can't choose to do wrong; so while your inclination might be to kick puppies or plot world domination, you know that it's wrong and you don't do it. Ginny might be tempted, might be seduced and intrigued, but ultimately, asking her to raise a hand against her brothers would be the point where she will break her own arms first. Don't forget, she was struggling against Tom, even down to the last second in the Chamber. Harry might not have had time to rescue her if she hadn't struggled to the very end.

She was not, however, unaffected. It's been glossed over but we know a certain amount of lingering trauma exists - look at the scene with the dementors on the train in book 3. Then there'd be a certain amount of confusion in terms of relationships, I think. More on this in a minute, because at last the background is set and I can move into the actual point.

Ginny and Draco are both purebloods, from families where that has meant something; if it didn't matter to the Weasleys, they wouldn't be purebloods - they'd have long since been intermarrying with muggles and muggleborns. That they still qualify for the term means that the Weasleys have been marrying within the circle of pure wizards, no matter what their opinions are regarding the treatment of muggles. Even if you think that they don't qualify because they're not on the Black tapestry (and keep in mind Sirius said they were blood traitors, not that they were mudbloods), the Weasley cousin who didn't make it into CoS was a Slytherin, and I doubt given what we've been told about Salazar that he'd have allowed the hat's enchantment to allow anyone of impure blood into his House.

Going back to Draco and Ginny, they've both dealt with darker elements in life; Draco via his upbringing and Ginny via the diary. They've both lived in the wizard world all their lives, and so share a common background in terms of customs. They both enjoy Quidditch, and both have been shown to have an interest in somewhat mean humor. On top of that, both of them have the lure of forbidden fruit to serve as an initial attractant; in the case of Ginny towards Draco, one important element to add in is the "bad boy" mystique. You can't tell me that the future Voldemort spent all his time over all those many months being completely sunshine and roses and 'oh isn't this nice'. He appealed to her as a friend, and he wasn't a nice person. Ergo, Ginny finds herself at least somewhat in tune with a wicked mind. Draco is decidedly that.

Ultimately, though, to me it comes down to respect and equality. When Ginny is paired with either Harry or Neville, the two most popular choices besides Draco, I think that there would be a certain amount of respect lacking in the relationship. Harry is, in large part because of his childhood, extremely self-centered. He doesn't notice Ginny, and when he does, she remains subordinate; Ginny would forever be a step behind the Boy Who Lived, and it's even odds whether he would, when push came to shove, remember to pay more attention to her than to Ron and Hermione. For that matter, their tempers would be hugely incompatible. Harry likes to keep everything to himself and sulk and brood - witness his behavior in all five books, but especially OotP. Ginny doesn't think much of this - revisit the scene in OotP where she reminds him that she's the only one who's been possessed by Voldemort - and the way she fights is to be snippy, yell, or hex. Harry and Ginny would require intensive marriage counseling pretty much immediately after the honeymoon, because incompatible fighting styles lead to two people who are stuck together destroying each other.

With Neville, the problem is somewhat the opposite. I adore Neville; I think that he's sweet and brave and deserves better than he gets. However, Neville is also accustomed to simply giving way in the face of a strong woman. Ginny would flatten him like a steamroller, without ever noticing what she was doing. She wouldn't be able to respect him if he didn't stand up to her, and Neville wouldn’t be able to say no to Ginny once she got the bit between her teeth. He'd worship her, but he'd never fight her, and that'd land them in the marriage counselor's office eventually, if not as fast as Harry and Ginny would need to get there.

To my mind, with Draco, there's the possibility for mutual respect, for a coming together of equals. They'd make sarcastic comments at each other, they'd question each other, and they'd even fight... But it would be as two people on the same level, since each can give as good as they get. With Voldemort gone, she'd be well connected to the winning side, something that would make up for the class difference between them. His father gave her the diary, but he's not his father; a point that would be driven home if he doesn't choose to follow Lucius into the DEs. It's speculative, sure, but what HP ship isn't?

I know, I know, none of these are decisive factors to make anyone declare this is their One True Pairing. I'm not trying to convince any of you to choose this pairing, just to make you understand some of why I do. Hopefully this made sense to some of you.

--Sharlene (Mynuet)