Yes! This. I loved this post, actually, even though I forgot to reply the first time I saw it.
It is awkwardly written, perhaps because unlike with Cho Chang, the attraction isn't made as obvious - maybe the difference between a sixteen year old and a fourteen year old boy's desire made JK unwilling to write it clearly?
What bothers me the most about the H/G relationship is that JK can write romance - Ron/Hermione is never explained either, aside from Hermione's habit of going out with Quidditch players, and it still works. (Although I like it when fanfic has them ending up with other people.) Remus/Tonks I don't like, but it's still convincing interaction. Dumbledore/Grindelwald, even, works without being explicitly stated! Narcissa/Lucius, Molly/Arthur - different marriages but convincing ones. And the one we see from our POV character is just... a damb squib. I think perhaps it's supposed to be that when Harry begins to be attracted to her, he sort of turns to her and says 'of course', and we're meant to as well. As you said, he senses that they're soulmates, that she's Harry's "perfect girl", as JK says.
heh--hello, Draco and Pansy except they're right!
LOL. Totally. Draco and Pansy's an interesting one, actually. I didn't encounter fandom until after I read HBP (a necessary disclaimer re: the biased opinions of H/D fans!) but I was still never convinced they were together. Pansy's crush on Draco is more than obvious, but there's no suggestion he feels the same way - and for me, very little that they're together. I didn't get the 'romantic' vibe off their interaction on the train - I read it as Draco enjoying himself and lying with his head in a friend's lap feeling pampered, while Pansy squees internally. *shrugs* It's a weird one, because I can't work out what JK's trying to say at all.
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It is awkwardly written, perhaps because unlike with Cho Chang, the attraction isn't made as obvious - maybe the difference between a sixteen year old and a fourteen year old boy's desire made JK unwilling to write it clearly?
What bothers me the most about the H/G relationship is that JK can write romance - Ron/Hermione is never explained either, aside from Hermione's habit of going out with Quidditch players, and it still works. (Although I like it when fanfic has them ending up with other people.) Remus/Tonks I don't like, but it's still convincing interaction. Dumbledore/Grindelwald, even, works without being explicitly stated! Narcissa/Lucius, Molly/Arthur - different marriages but convincing ones. And the one we see from our POV character is just... a damb squib. I think perhaps it's supposed to be that when Harry begins to be attracted to her, he sort of turns to her and says 'of course', and we're meant to as well. As you said, he senses that they're soulmates, that she's Harry's "perfect girl", as JK says.
heh--hello, Draco and Pansy except they're right!
LOL. Totally. Draco and Pansy's an interesting one, actually. I didn't encounter fandom until after I read HBP (a necessary disclaimer re: the biased opinions of H/D fans!) but I was still never convinced they were together. Pansy's crush on Draco is more than obvious, but there's no suggestion he feels the same way - and for me, very little that they're together. I didn't get the 'romantic' vibe off their interaction on the train - I read it as Draco enjoying himself and lying with his head in a friend's lap feeling pampered, while Pansy squees internally. *shrugs* It's a weird one, because I can't work out what JK's trying to say at all.