"If it wasn't for the gutter, my mind would be homeless."

Hi everybody! And welcome to my homepage. You are certainly here to read my story: Vanilla. I hope you enjoy it.

Now, for my own personal feelings on certain pairings. Please feel free to agree or disagree.

Harry/Ginny: I don't mind that Harry and Ginny ended up together in the books. My only wish was that there was more that described WHY they belong together. Their interaction's throughout the entire series is so limited that I have a hard time believing that they belong together. Plus with the "Chest Monster" in book six? Please, if that doesn't SCREAM love potion, I don't know what does. Seeing as I'm male, and I've been through high school and puberty, there is no such thing as a "Chest Monster" when you get a crush on a girl. Sorry. Doesn't happen.

Now, that being said, it could work. In The Words of Ginevra Molly Potter is a GREAT story that adds depth to the series. If this were the "missing" piece to the Harry Potter series, I would have no problem calling Harry/Ginny the proper pairing. Alas, this wonderful story is just another peice of fan fiction. I also want to address the changes in Ron and Hermione, which directly relate to H/G, but I'll get to that when I address that relationship.

Again, I DO like Harry/Ginny. They have a lot in common, and can have a loving relationship. I'm just of the opinion that is not the BEST possible pairing.

Ron/Hermione: Ron and Hermione make great friends and great companions for Harry. To me however, a romantic relationship between the two of them doesn't make any sense. I don't understand how any sort of romantic feelings came between the two of them. From day one, Ron and Hermione were at each others throats. There is supposedly "sexual tension" between the two them. Ron is supposed to have a crush on Hermione, but the evidence to me suggests (up until book seven) that he sees Hermione as more of a sister type than anything. Ron has the same reaction to Ginny/Dean in the sixth book as he does with Hermione/Viktor, which would suggest he sees Hermione with more of a sisterly love than a romantic love.

Hermione on the hand I'm completely baffled by. Why would a bright, intelligent young woman subject herself to a man who argues with her constantly, has MAJOR insecurity issues, and abandons his friends in times of true need? My only explanation to this is that Hermione herself has a huge insecurity issue as well, and doesn't think that the better choice for her, Harry, can't possibly see her as anything other than a friend. Instead of trying to find if Harry could like her like that, it appears as if she doesn't even try to pursue something with him, instead settling for second best: Ron.

However, we hardly ever see how Ron and Hermione act around one another without Harry around. There could be more flirtations going on without a third wheel there. Hermione and Ron do get to spend time with out Harry around a lot when Harry was stuck at the Dursley's during the summertime. This could account for an attration between the two, but alas, since these things are "off-stage", there is no way to tell for sure.

There is also a fundamental change in Hermione's personality from OotP to HBP. She goes from a protective, caring friend, to an antagonistic, bickering friend. Why is this? I have two theories on this.

#1: Hermione finally realizes she has more than friendly feelings towards Harry. She also thinks that Ron has a crush on her. She sees how Ron acts towards her, so she decides that this is the way to capture Harry's attention. She believes that since she saw that Ron had a crush on her, that Harry would realize that she has feelings for him, and will hopefully return them. Unfortunatley for her, Harry reacts differently to this kind of attitude, and she ends up pushing him away rather than drawing him in. Because of this crack in their friendship, Harry starts developing feelings for Ginny instead, seeing as she sticks up for him. Hermione then gives up on Harry, and settles for Ron.

While this is the "nicer" of the two theories I have, I don't think this is the more "plauable" of the two. I can't imagine a smart, bright girl like Hermione doing something like this. So that leaves my other theory, and my sincerest apologies for Ginny lovers.

#2: Love Potions. Unfortunately, this theory seems to hold the most water based on the books. Why else would love potions make such an appearance in HBP if it didn't have some sort of significance? Let's examine love potions, and Amortentia specifically. It says you'll smell things that you're attracted to. Harry smells treacle tart, the woody smell of a broomstick handle, plus the flowery perfume of Ginny. Hermione smells fresh cut grass, new parchment and something else which she doesn't reveal.

What IS the point of a love potion? I thought the point of a love potion was to get someone who ISN'T attracted to you to notice you? So why would you smell the person you're already attracted to in a love potion? It makes NO sense. Well, no PRACTICAL sense.

Amortentia is said to be the most powerful love potion there is, so it would make sense that there would be individualistic smells for each person (like Harry with the treacle tart and broomstick, Hermione with the fresh cut grass and new parchment). However, for the love potion to work in any real sense, a third aroma would be necessary to enrapture the intended target. Since we have to assume that Slughorn's potion was not tampered with, it would follow that once exposed to Amorentia, one would continue to smell that third aroma. If this is true, then both Harry and Hermione have been exposed to the love potion before.

Am I right? I don't know. Do I think Ginny is bad or evil is this is what happened? No. I like Ginny. I'm just taking a step back and examining things. The potential is there. JKR loved using little “throw away” lines that were actually a huge deal. For example: Dumbledore's reaction to Voldemort using Harry's blood in GoF (it allowed Harry to survive the AK and rid himself of the Horcrux); the small mention of the unopenable locket in OotP (turns out to be a Horcrux). So why do I bring this up? Simple. PoA, Chapter 5, page 69-70:

“...where Mr. Weasley was reading the front page of the Daily Prophet with a furrowed brow and Mrs. Weasley was telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she'd made as a young girl.”

Could mean nothing. Could mean everything. It also means that if Ginny so desired, her mother would have approved or even helped Ginny make a love potion to grab Harry's attention. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

Harry/Hermione: Ah, the good ship H.M.S. Harmony. The pairing I believe in. These two have a much better base to build a loving relationship off of than Hermione and Ron. I think that if JKR had written the end of DH to be H/Hr instead of R/Hr, it would have been a wonderful love story. Two people who wouldn't leave each other's side for anything, sacrifice themselves for each other, what could be better to build a loving relationship off of?

The biggest opposition to this pairing is the belief that Harry and Hermione have a brother/sister relationship, and nothing romantic. I don't think Harry and Hermione can understand what a brother/sister relationship is like because they are only children. Being an only child myself, I understand that no matter what female I befriend, I will always think of them as available to date. Sisters you can't do that with. So for Harry to think of Hermione as only a “sister” is a huge faux pas on JKR's part.

Being the great friend that Harry is, he knew Ron liked Hermione, and therefore put Hermione in the “unavailable” category. A mistake, but I think that's what happened. My story, Vanilla, changes that. Once Ron got out of the way, Harry allowed himself to imagine a possibility with Hermione. And I think that my story is very realistic.

I have lots of reason for why I like H/Hr, and they're too numerous to write here. Just go read my story. :)

Draco/(Hermione-Ginny-Harry-Luna): Ugh. Stop it. D/Hr is totally revolting. D/G is slightly less revolting, not much however. D/H? Sorry, not a slash fan. And it's also wrong on so many levels. D/L? Haha, that's funny. In order for ANY of these to work, Draco has to go under a HUGE character change. In essence you have a whole different character that carries the name and history of Draco, but isn't him. The only way Draco is even remotely a “light” character is in time travel fics that take Draco away from from his father, and at that point, I call him Draco Black, not Malfoy.

Harry/Luna: A fun couple. Not perfect, but ALWAYS interesting to read. I actually think Luna is a more natural fit for Harry than Ginny is. Just my opinion.

Ron/Luna: Decent pairing. Of all the canon characters, Luna is the best fit for Ron. Unfortunately, JKR made Ron's girl (Hermione) not even remotely compatible with him. He needs a smart, but yet laid back and funny girl, not the bookworm that Hermione is. Luna fits that bill, not perfectly, but the best of the bunch.

Harry/(Tonks-Susan-Parvati-Padma-Hannah-Lavender-etc): It's fun to read the “other” girls. They allow for more character development by the author. A couple of my most favorite stories are a H/Tonks and H/Susan story. I always try to read these off-the-wall pairings, there are many worth while reads.