No, I think they really are saying that she's pretty. Sure it's not like it's on every page, but it's enough (and consistent enough) that I think she's genuinely exceptionally pretty.
There's a random person on the street who calls out to her as pretty. The DE at the end *is* saying that she's pretty, he's just taunting her that he's going to cut off her head. Pansy is testing Draco but testing him because Ginny is actually found attractive by a lot of people, including Blaise she thinks. (Blaise responds by sulkily saying she's a blood traitor but not saying that she's not pretty--I got the impression that yes, Blaise did find her attractive, of course.) Viktor, too, objectively describes her as such.
That's a lot of references to Ginny being attractive (not that Hermione is the plain Jane--she's whistled at on the street). Even if everybody has a reason for doing it, I don't think that explains it all or even most of it away--she is literally a very pretty girl. She is very popular--too popular for her own good, as Harry says. Granted he's being jealous so he's oversensitive to any attention paid to her, but the book seems to say pretty much flat out that yes, Ginny is quite sought-after. That's why Harry has to act fast in asking her out. That's why her brothers begin hovering over her protectively. That the other boys she went out with are nothing special doesn't really matter, the point is that they do want her. She would never be hurting for dates. In the author's words she's "like Lily"--a popular girl.
She's not so supernaturally beautiful that nobody can resist her--I think she's supposed to be pretty in a friendly, less threatening way. But no, I don't think it's a fanon idea that she's supposed to be one of the prettiest girls at Hogwarts. I got that from reading HBP.
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Date: 2008-10-07 03:19 pm (UTC)There's a random person on the street who calls out to her as pretty. The DE at the end *is* saying that she's pretty, he's just taunting her that he's going to cut off her head. Pansy is testing Draco but testing him because Ginny is actually found attractive by a lot of people, including Blaise she thinks. (Blaise responds by sulkily saying she's a blood traitor but not saying that she's not pretty--I got the impression that yes, Blaise did find her attractive, of course.) Viktor, too, objectively describes her as such.
That's a lot of references to Ginny being attractive (not that Hermione is the plain Jane--she's whistled at on the street). Even if everybody has a reason for doing it, I don't think that explains it all or even most of it away--she is literally a very pretty girl. She is very popular--too popular for her own good, as Harry says. Granted he's being jealous so he's oversensitive to any attention paid to her, but the book seems to say pretty much flat out that yes, Ginny is quite sought-after. That's why Harry has to act fast in asking her out. That's why her brothers begin hovering over her protectively. That the other boys she went out with are nothing special doesn't really matter, the point is that they do want her. She would never be hurting for dates. In the author's words she's "like Lily"--a popular girl.
She's not so supernaturally beautiful that nobody can resist her--I think she's supposed to be pretty in a friendly, less threatening way. But no, I don't think it's a fanon idea that she's supposed to be one of the prettiest girls at Hogwarts. I got that from reading HBP.