Ha.. that is really amusing, I never really thought about that. I agree with most of you, I think that Rita will come back and she'll have more stories to write.

I don't think JKR dislikes reporters. I'm being stubborn, I know. It depends on what kind of reporters. The paparazzi (sp?) are mostly disliked because of their scandalous rumors. But there are also "good" reporters who ask things to inform the public with truths, rather than falsehoods.

That didn't really make sense...

Your idea actually gave me another idea. JK hurt Harry enough in OotP, and although we know that some worse things will come, we can also predict that in the end she will make a lot of things better for him. Harry would be quite hurt to find out that his two best friends left him as a third wheel, so I don't really think she'd do that. I don't know, just a guess I suppose...

Back on topic, I slightly disagree (I said slightly!) with some of the theories. I think that Rita's article was totally false. In fury she wanted to make Hermione seem evil and clinging on to the first thing she could find (Harry being so close to her and his popularity assuring her headlines) and wrote an article about it.

While I disagree about the reason of the article I fully believe that it is forshadowing something much better...

athena

The paragraph is based on the fact that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of Hermione. With Ron sulking away because he's not a Hogwarts Champion, Harry and Hermione had been spending time only with each other prior to the article. So there's the kernel of truth, which Skeeter blew out of proportion by pre-empting that fact with "Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts". Aside from that, the other exagerations in the paragraph are:
1. Colin Creevey as Harry's close friend (Skeeter wrote this because she needed to establish that her source was reliable, but I think she could have asked anyone in Hogwarts anf they would have said the same thing)
2. Hermione as stunningly-pretty, which is up for debate, since Ms Granger eventually stunned everyone with her looks in the Yule Ball (Skeeter wrote this because no one would like to see the Hero paired up with a -- in Ron's words -- a troll)
3. Harry being one of the top students in the school

Now what does this mean for H/Hr?

Well, first, it allowed as to see Harry's growing admiration for Hermione, which I believe not only endeared Hermione to the readers but to Harry as well. I think this ties in with Harry's growing and evolving feelings and respect for Hermione.

Skeeter's article was also the first mention of a possible H/Hr relationship. Prior to this, no one (in the books, at least) had interpreted Harry and Hermione's closeness romantically. I don't think JKR would have written this in if she did not want her readers speculating on Harry and Hermione that way, if she wanted to make it clear that it was Hr/R all the way. It's interesting that while the first glimpse of a Hr/R ship was told through Harry's perspective, thereby (mis)leading readers to think that it was the truth, the first hint of a H/Hr relationship was told through an untrusthworthy reporter, thereby (mis)leading readers to think that the idea was absolute hogwash. Hmm. Perhaps that's a red herring.

Another interesting thing I noticed was people's reactions to the article. Harry and Hermione had both received taunts from the Slytherins as a result of the article, but none of the taunts had to do with their "romantic" relationship: they were about his being a top student and her being stunningly-pretty. It's like everyone just assumed that the two of them were really together. I could easily imagine Draco and Pansy try to mock Harry and Hermione's relationship (like, "Pottyhead and Mudblood sitting in the tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G" or something like that). If there had been a scene like that, Harry would have been forced to confront his feelings about the gossip about him and Hermione.

In fact, JKR had not mentioned at all how people reacted to the love angle in the article, until after the Harry / Hermione / Krum love triangle article. People then were reacting to Hermione being a "scarlet woman". Again, there was no questioning whether or not there really was a relationship between Harry and Hermione to begin with. It's like people just assumed it was true.

Of course, Harry denied it to Mrs. Weasley, but he was doing so after seeing how cold the older woman was to Hermione. He was denying the alleged relationship in the context of Hermione being portrayed as a two-timing trollop. His denial was in her defense. Prior to that, I don't recall him denying his relationship with Hermione (I might be wrong though). Prior to that, we don't see Harry's feelings about that part of the Skeeter article -- except him admiring Hermione for the cool way she was dealing with it.

I also think that the article was partly-responsible for the Harry and Cho fiasco. Why else would Cho put a romantic angle in Harry and Hermione's relationship had Skeeter not written that article? Imagine if there was no such article in GoF, then Cho's jealous reaction to Hermione would not have made sense in OotP, which resulted in that final row between Harry and Cho (their final argument, after all was about darling Hermione ). If Skeeter had not written that article, Cho would have gladly joined Harry in meeting up with Hermione after their date. He did say that Cho was welcome to come along, which should have told her that Harry's appointment with Hermione was not a date. There had been no reason for Cho to think that Hermione was more than Harry's bestfriend if not for the Skeeter article.

Lastly, I think that we have not seen the end of the effects of that article. That almost everyone believed that Hermione was Harry's love interest may eventually lead to something unfortunate for Hermione. I'm thinking Voldemort, like everyone else, believed the Skeeter article to be true and do something to hurt Harry through his "love interest". Or maybe that's just fanfiction talking.

Again, apologies for such a long post. I just wanted to share my thoughts on this, and I hope that it would liven up the discussion.

That is one way of viewing it- however for the sake of argument, let me mention another. I stated this in a previous post-but since you have brought up the possible motivation of JKR for the Rita Skeeter episode, I thought I would bring it back up.
What if the purpose of presenting the possibility of a H/Hr romance through someone as untrustworthy as Rita Skeeter was not a red-herring, but merely a way of JKR pointing out what she the writer considers to be the absurdity of a H/Hr romance? Please keep in mind, I desperately hope this is not the case. I am basing this on the comment made by JKR on her website concerning this situation, in which she makes it plain that there are no red-herrings in the romance department and that everything is just as it seems.

Bugaloo37, who loves H/Hr but is becoming more and more convinced it will not happen

Does she now? Good question and I thought about that until something even stranger occured to me. You notice that Rita's articles have more than a hint of truth beneath them? Rita wrote articles about Harry and Hagrid being dangerous people. Well alot of what she wrote of course was not true but look in OoTP. Hagrid brought a giant to the forest and left him in the care of the students to teach him english and talk to him. That is very dangerous. It was because he was half giant that he brought Grawp with him. Anybody have any idea how much trouble that could of made for Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione. Harry when he saw illusion Voldemort fed him. How was Harry? He was pale, shaking, angry, impatient and rude. He was not thinking anything through. His rash actions led to his friends nearly dying (more than once) and it was partly responsible for the injuries to the others (including the Order) and Sirius's death. With the Viktor, Hermione and Harry love triangle, that is exactly what is going on. Viktor wants Hermione, but her interests lie with Harry. That is what Viktor was upset about in the first place. As for the first article, about getting strength from his parents. Of course he never said that but when he was competing for the third task, the person he was thinking about more than any other that night was his father. Rita does write alot of crap, but beneath that crap is truth even if some don't want to admit it. Think about Harry's article that Rita Skeeter wrote for the Quibbler in OoTP. For one, Rita "the lying reporter" wrote it. For two, it was in the Quibbler. At face value, not many people would believe it at all but as we well know, it was all true.

When she say this? I am looking at Rowling's site right now and she says nothing of the sort.

I think that if JKR thought the Harry / Hermione pairing was absurd, she would not have started the rumours about it through Skeeter. Prior to GoF, there had been no hints about any romantic relationship among The Trio (that's how I read the first three books, at least). If JKR did not intend to make the readers speculate on a possible Harry / Hermione pairing, Skeeter would not have written that article.

Of course, I don't think it necessarily means that we'll get a H/Hr ending. At the very least, JKR wants her readers to speculate about it -- which kind of gives me hope.

The exact quote is found in the FAQ section. The question being "Does Hermione love Ron or Harry?" Her response is, " I can't believe that some of you haven't worked this one out yet, but I'm not going to answer because that would spoil the arguments, which I enjoy."

To my way of thinking, this signals the reader that no red-herrings have been employed and that the answer is obvious unlike some of the other "mysteries" involved in the series. I get the feeling from her response that she does not consider this issue "mysterious" in the least and wonders why the readers have made it such. Now please do not get me wrong, again I must reiterate that I am not nor have I ever been a R/Hr supporter, but I do believe that at least some of the argument for H/Hr is speculative, in-between the lines so to speak- for the most part not as obvious as the R/Hr support. My point being that the R/Hr ship is the "obvious" one - a point most H/Hr's do not deny.

bugaloo37, H/hr through and through-but with certain doubts

I have read that question but I fail to see where she says it is obvious. Work means activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a result. Obvious means that it is easily perceived or understood; clear. Extremely predictable and lacking in subtlety.

Krum is obviously jealous of Harry and likes Hermione. Cho is obviously jealous of Hermione and likes Harry. Ron is obviously jealous of Krum and likes Hermione. Obviously Hermione talks about Harry too much for Krum's comfort. But Hermione herself, there is nothing obvious about how she feels. It is obvious Harry likes another girl (or at least he did). But it is not obvious how Hermione feels which IMO is why R/Hr looks more obvious than H/Hr. Ron's jealousy overlapped everything. Even Harry's jealousy of Cedric was not as bad. The problem is that Rowling has not made it obvious, but is not like she hasn't left clues for us to pick up on like she has everything else. We have two of the biggest books full of clues and still she is asked about the relationship.

P.S.

He was so relieved at finally understanding what she was annoyed about that he laughed. He laughed out of relief, not the absurdity of her accusation. Even if he did, he better stop laughing because she was not joking nor was Viktor. Nor was Ron when he asked Hermione sharply "how do you know?" when Hermione said Harry was not a bad kisser and nor will the next girl who thinks he and Hermione have something going on.

Why not?

You asked why- so I will give my reasons for this observation. As I mentioned before, Hermione, is considered by most I believe to be the alter ego of the writer, JKR; therefore, I believe when Hermione speaks we are at least some of the time getting a glimpse into what JKR considers to be important issues. Notice, I said some of the time, not all of the time. On the issue of romance, I believe as I stated before, that Hermione's seeming disinterestness in the whole romance issue as it concerns Harry and herself reflects JKR's disinterestedness in it also. Relagating it to the subject of tabloid journalism and jealous speculation does not elevate it in importance. I guess what I am trying to say is that who each of the characters end up with does not seem to be of monumental importance to JKR; therefore, taking the time to put in red-herrings and misleading the reading public about the romance issue just does not seem to be her objective. In other words, she has bigger more important issues in the HP series to deal with, and that is were the majority of her energies are focused. IMO, when it comes to the romance issue, she is going to pursue the obvious route she has already set up merely because it is the easiest route to take and will not divert that much attention away from the most vital issues of the series.

Bugaloo37, who loves romance but does not believe it is the main objective of the HP series.

PS. The fact that the movies are making such a big deal of it- is that they are catering to the desires of the viewing public and JKR says sure why not? more money for her in the long run and anyway, the romance issue is of little importance to her-so let them make the most of it. In other words, it does not take away from the central theme as long as it is treated as comic relief and not taken seriously.

Actually, bugaloo, JKR's quote *does not* imply that Hermione's feelings is at all obvious.

'To work something out', IMO, is much much closer to 'To solve a mystery' rather than 'To realize something is obvious'. If she does not regard the romance department to be 'mysterious', then why do we have to work it out? What is there to work out when there is no mystery? Can one 'work out' something that is already obvious?

A closer reading reveals that Harry laughed because he felt relieved, NOT because of Cho's jealousy over Hermione.

Regardless, I fail how this particualar passage is a strike against the H/Hr ship. Even if one does assume that Harry laughs at Cho's jealousy towards Hermione, Harry's reaction is typical because in that scene as he still has a crush on Cho.

Why would Hermione feel flattered by Cho like Harry did with Krum? Krum is an famour international Quiddich Player AND champion of his school that Harry admires a lot; Hermione on the other hand has no opinion of Cho at the very least.

If that is true in one scene, then it should be true for all. Take Hermione's reactions to finding Harry acquitted, to Harry isolating himself at Christmas, and when she asked him to help knit socks, just to name a few.

First off, the articles. Is there a scene in GoF where we are shown what she truly feels about the Rita articles?

As for the jealousy incidents, one should look at the whole picture before arriving to the conclusion that it does not bode well for H/Hr shippers.

Hermione is very much aware that Harry came to their meeting early and without Cho. Also, in the Seen and Unforseen chaper, she sees that Cho has her back to Harry, as if she was purposely avoiding him. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the date had gone horribly wrong from the previous two events. So, why on earth would Hermione brightly ask what has happened to the H/C date?

And if one finds out that he/she is the cause of their best friend's breakup, wouldn't one feel really really guilty? If so, wouldn't one try their best to console their friend and be sympathetic? If anything, Hermione didn't sound like she was sympathetic at all, which she should've been. Hermione didn't even apologize, knowing full well it was her request that partly caused the breakup. The only part where she apologized/felt sorry was when she told Harry was tactless, but all she did there was shift her part of the blame back onto Harry.

That was what really boggled me about that passage; Hermione is uncharacteristically indifferent when she should've been more caring (that, and Harry should've be mad at Hermione, not Cho). I hate to admit it, but Hermione was a bit selfish in that passage. Am I saying she always is? Nope, just that Hermione, like of all the rest of mankind, is most definitely human.

I don't know about you, but the Harry/Cho fiasco was anything BUT hilarious. So either you may have misremembered it, or that may not have what she meant at all, or she might have changed her mind. Regardless, romance as it currently is in the HP books is anything but comic relief.

That might be true, but that is, after all, what shipping really is. Even R/Hr, the 'obvious' ship, has to put the hidden meaning of 'bickering eventually results to love' in every arguement Ron and Hermione have. Else, that's just what it is: an arguement between two people.

I never said Hermione was not interested in Harry's relationship with Cho. In fact, she was very interested in it. What I said was, was that she was not concerned with Cho's jealousy of her. In fact, Hermione berated Harry for his obvious lack of tact in the way he told Cho about his meeting with her-actually offering him advice for any future interactions he may have with Cho. There just does not seem to be any jealousy on Hermione's part at all. Again, if Hermione is speaking for JKR here, it could be conveying the idea that 1) Hermione is sure of her place and her importance in Harry's life and does not wish to alter it or improve it (and neither does JKR- if I am correct) or that 2) Hermione knows or suspects that this relationship is merely a trial run for Harry and is not going to last-so she helps all she can and waits it out (JKR already knew the outcome and perhaps decided not to waste Hermione's jealousy on something so trivial). Only JKR knows for sure, but I'm afraid I am becoming more and more convinced that JKR likes the H/Hr relationship just as it stands now-without injecting it with flipping stomach, stuttering, lovestruck melodrama that we have seen with Harry and Cho or the combative bickering just for the heck of it that we see between Ron and Hermione. The interaction we saw between Harry and Hermione in OotP was electrifying-especially when she was trying to talk him out of going to the MoM- at one point, he wants to shake her. Can this be called "sexual tension?" IMO, it cannot-but it is far more exciting to read than the interactions between Ron and Hermione or those between Harry and Cho. I enjoy this relationship- H/Hr- as it is- and am to the point that I no longer want to read between the lines but merely accept it as it comes. So let the movies and JKR have their "romantic" interplay between R/Hr and H/C or whoever else comes along-just as long as I continue to get to see the wonderful interplay and growth of H/Hr's friendship- I will be satisfied.

Bugaloo37-who finds the R/Hr ship tiresome to say the least

No, you didn't. You never said "she was not concerned with Cho's jealousy of her." Anyway, why should Hermione be concerned with Cho's jealousy of her? Does it matter if Hermione does not think Harry likes her?

I can see why you believe that but you are mistaken. For one, Hermione was never angry with Harry therefore, she never berated him. I'll give you the entire conversation if you want in full. For two, she never offered any advice for future actions. She offered advice for what he should of done during the date. Past tense. Hermione never even suggested that Harry talk to Cho like Ginny did. How can Hermione be jealous of a failed date?

Actually Harry was full of admiration for the way Hermione was handling the situation which was the first article. As a matter of fact, Hermione probably started hating Pansy Parkinson particularly after her comment about comparing her teeth to that of a chipmunk.

Rita Skeeter's year is up and she likes Hermione less now than she ever did before. I think Rita's going to write another article about Hermione that will be like the scarlet woman one, but ten times worse. There might be enough truth in it so that Hermione taking Veritaserum and allowing herself to be questioned about her actions wouldn't exactly exonerate her from the article's claims, so she'll clam up and make herself look really guilty. And there would be all of those poisons and curses sent from the public, along with the taunts of classmates. Hermione has always been able to ignore the negative things said about her so far, but everyone has a breaking point.

Voldemort has already used Harry's loved ones to lure him into death traps. I don't think he is paying much attention to Harry's romantic life, but his minions might. Bella is crazy, but Peter might think about exploiting Harry's friendships. Then there's Draco, who has been watching the Trio interact for years and has probably whined to his parents about them a great deal. Lucius is in prison but Narcissa is free. I hope this doesn't sound sexist, but as a woman, she might be more likely to pursue the romantic angle - asking Draco to tell her everything he can about Harry's love life ("So Potter and Chang had a huge fight on Valentine's Day about Hermione Granger? Hmmmm."), if Hermoine and Harry seem like they are "just friends", if Hermione has a boyfriend, and just where that leaves Ron ("So Granger is the smart one, Potter is the hero and Weasley is...what exactly? Doesn't he ever get jealous of Potter, especially after having all of those brothers? Does Weasley have a girlfriend? Oh, he's always defending Granger's honor, so you think he might like her? Very interesting."). It might start as a general discussion of Harry's friendships and turn into a plotting session on the best way to destroy Harry. Didn't Malfoy know about Rita Skeeter in GoF? Draco might be willing to pass information to her again.

I honestly don't think we've seen the last of Rita Skeeter. I've never gotten an impression Rita is the type to forgive and forget, much less considering what Hermione did to her (despite Hermione helping her get some work again). She's an extremely bitter, spiteful and vengeful woman. I do think her next articles about Hermione (and Harry?) will make the last ones seem like powderpuff pieces.

Maybe not so much attention on Harry's "romantic" life per se, but I do think Voldemort may be keeping an eye on Harry's relationships in general. Who are the folks closest to Harry? Who can be exploited? Voldemort is still looking for a means to discover the whole prophecy. Who better to target than the ones closest to Harry... namely Hermione and Ron?

If Rita writes this blown-up article about Harry and Hermione having some elicit taudry affair or whatnot... this puts Hermione's closeness to Harry in the limelight, regardless of how it got there or the veracity of the article. That would certainly put her in the crosshairs of Voldie and/or his minions. After the disaster of the botched prophecy retrieval mission, the remaining Death Eaters will certainly be wanting to placate their master. Especially Bellatrix since she was there and was one of the few not captured.

Peter is especially dangerous in that he lived with the Weasleys for 12 years and had specifically been Ron's pet for a lot of them. He would know more about at least one of Harry's friends than any of the other DEs. He would know all of Ron's weaknesses... where he could be exploited by Voldemort.

We have to remember one of Voldemort's greatest talents is creating discord, even among the best of friends. A similar incident is eluded in the OotP Sorting Hat song which happened a 1000 years ago between the Four Founders (the Sorting Hat called it "external, deadly foes" who caused "discord" "from within". Gryffindor and Slytherin at one point had even been friends). Voldemort did it with the Marauders. Voldemort may very well do it again amongst the Trio.

Narcissa would also be in an extremely desperate situation come book 6. Without her husband there towing the line for Voldemort and in fact, her husband (possibly her family as a whole) probably blamed for the failure of the Prophecy retrieval (Lucius seemed to be the leader of the mission and Narcissa had a role through the Black house elf Kreacher's info/aide) ... it will be up to Narcissa to keep the Malfoys afloat. At least keep her son alive (Draco's welfare does seem to be important to her, if for anything, Draco is Narcissa's and Lucius' one link to keeping their purebloodedness and legacy alive). She would have to provide a really crucial advantage for Voldemort in order to make up for the Prophecy retrieval failure. What could Narcissa possibly give to Voldemort that he couldn't acquire himself? This is where your speculation on Draco's knowledge of the Trio, specifically Harry, could come in Lanai.

The above possibly compounded by any article Rita decides to write about Hermione? Rough times are indeed ahead folks.... and the ball seems to be in Voldemort's court. Despite the few victories the good guys had at the end of OotP (barring Sirius' death).

I was thinking of a slightly different angle, that Narcissa and Rita would be working together the entire time. If the article mentioned both Harry and Hermione, as awful as that would be, it's still them against the world. But suppose Rita just makes Hermione out to be the "school broom" of Hogwarts, without mentioning anybody else by name, so all the focus is on her. Rita could probably bring Hermione's Muggle-born status into the story, or else Draco would when he taunts her about it. After all of the howlers and gossip have disrupted the school, McGonagall would demand to know if any of the talk is true-if Hermione has done any of these things, she wants to know with whom, now. If there aren't any names to name, Hermione can just take Veritaserum or undergo Legilimency or whatever it takes to clear her name. But, if something has happened between Hermione and Harry (and maybe Rita Skeeter used house-elves or Draco or hoodwinked the paintings into spying on H/Hr)... I think Hermione would go to any length to keep Harry's name out of it. She would stay away from him, not look at him, let everyone believe the stories rather than confess the truth, because that would get Harry into trouble, too.

By this point, Ron has figured out something went on with the two of them, feels betrayed and shuns them both. So with Ron avoiding H/Hr, and Hermione staying away from Harry for his own good, you've got a busted up Trio. Everybody close to the situation - Ginny, Neville, Luna, other DA members - can guess the truth, and Hermione taking the fall on this one would not exactly reflect well on Harry's character. Perhaps it's enough for them to think twice about following him into his next battle with Death Eaters or rushing to his defense when bullies come along.

So Rita could destroy Hermione - after the Quibbler article I don't think would have that much against Harry - and Narcissa can alienate many of Harry's allies. And Harry facing Voldemort or his servants without anyone rushing to his rescue? He might survive again, but the odds go down.

I like your theory, but this bit about McGonagall I can't really agree with. McGonagall is too hard-nosed with the logic and practicality to believe some trashy article from the likes of Skeeter. I don't think she'd persecute Hermione whatever Skeeter says or whatever the gossip. However, there is another way to get to Hermione being pressured into the truth which you did mention.

Another very dangerous ally that could be used by Skeeter (via the means of Narcissa or Bellatrix) is Kreacher. If Kreacher is alive in book 6 and compounded with Hermione's & Dumbledore's insistance to show house elves charity over persecution, even Kreacher (Dumbledore already accounts Kreacher's madness and Sirius' treatment to his behavior) ... Kreacher will probably escape a swift death by the hands of the Dept. of Magical Creatures and find somewhere safe (yet secure) to live. Like a sort of in-house arrest. However, house elves are slippery creatures as we see with both Dobby and Kreacher, they managed to escape the houses they were bound to via loopholes. House elves are also almost shockingly magically powerful too. If there are precautions set on 12 Grimmauld Place preventing Kreacher to return, he may be able to get around them. Especially if he had Narcissa's, Bellatrix's or even Voldemort's help.

If Kreacher snuck back into 12 Grimmauld Place in stealth, he could perhaps see some very compromising things. He reports back to Narcissa or Bellatrix. Narcissa tells Skeeter... and all hell could break loose.

First we need to define what 'some' actually means. Dictionary.com tells us that...

some
adj.
1) Being an unspecified number or quantity: Some people came into the room. Would you like some sugar?
2) Being a portion or an unspecified number or quantity of a whole or group: He likes some modern scupture but not all.
3) Being a considerable number or quantity: She has been directing films for some years now.
4) Unknown or unspecified by name: Some man called.
5) Logic. Being part and perhaps all of a class.
6) Informal. Remarkable: She is some skier.

pron.
1) An indefinite or unspecified number or portion: We took some of the books to the auction.
2) An indefinite additional quantity: did the assigned work and then some.

Clearly, the word 'some' in 'some of you' is used as a pronoun from the context of the quote. So, 'some' is a far cry from 'minority'; in fact, it's just vague. It does not indicate approximately how many people have figured it out, therefore we are unable to conclude whether the majority has or has not already found the solution.

Ah, but you forget, Hermione does not place great importance on physical beauty. Back in GoF, Hermione is disgusted with Ron when he made that immature comment that he'll take a horrible person to the ball, as long as she's pretty. On top of that, she mentions that Krum is not at all good looking before they even dated! Therefore, Cho being very pretty is not at all good enough for Hermione to be flattered.

Ah those ones. It really depends on the person, but to me, who is a firm believer of Hawk's H/Hr/K essay, I believe that at that point in time Hermione wasn't still conscious of her feelings. It's only near the end of GoF that I believe she realizes her feelings (with the help of Krum), so I really don't put much emphasis on her reactions of the articles.

As for her being a good actress, well maybe she is (IMO she is). Didn't she say afterall that not everyone has an emotional range of a teaspoon?

Ah, now I remember that quote, I just couldn't for the life of me remember where she specifically said comic relief. But well, in that case, it is not a strike against H/Hr; H/Hr can still be written very well without a lot of angst.

I can't remember that quote! Im losing my memory!! Ok. lol, Can someone Give me a link to that certain interview, por favor?

I always thought that the relationships would be a little agsty, because the book is already full of it, but ya know...It's not my book so...lol

DragoonKain3, correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe DragoonKain3 is referring to Hawk's essay What Krum Saw. Even if he isn't, it's worth reading.

Nielle, sleepy.

Oh, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think that Hermione is the best way to get to Harry, and I think the Grangers are in for a huge amount of trouble, since from Book 1 they have been categorized as Hermione's MUGGLE parents, and seeing how Voldy hates muggles, I can see two reasons why he would target Hr's family.

And replying to the post that mentioned Crookshanks was a possible H/Hr shipper and how nice Crookshanks was to Harry... let's not forget that Harry treated Crookshanks pretty badly on PoA, even going as far as kicking the cat on the Shrieking Shack scene... and one thing any person with cats can tell you is that a cat never forgets.

So why is Crookshanks always nustling his head against Harry... and in OoTP, going as far as curling up in Harry's lap while Harry scratched his head?

I think Crookshanks knows something that Harry doesn't.

I agree..In PoA Crookshanks protected Sirius when Harry wanted to kill him. So Crookshanks is obviously one freakishly smart cat..

So maybe Crookshanks sees something happening with Harry and Hermione?

-Rox

There was definitely a reason Draco threatened Harry. And I think we'll find out in book 6...All of the students are getting older now--they're all at an age where threats may not be as empty as they seem. And, judging from how Malfoy seems to notice the connection between Harry and Hermione, it looks like things could get dangerous for them.

Wow! All these people noticing H/Hr, and for different reasons...I've had an inspiration for a fanfic, actually...You know, JKR could really work these things into the plot well--I think we're on to something!

Um, hi. I registered a couple of weeks ago and have been lurking in the forums, but I'm relatively new to posting. Actually, this is my first post.

I think that both Viktor and Cho saw something, otherwise they wouldn't have been so jealous. Viktor came right out and asked Harry what was up with him and Hermione. And I don't think Cho would have reacted the same way if Harry had said he was meeting Ginny or Parvati on Valentine's Day. But Cho and Viktor weren't exactly H/Hr shippers....

I did notice in GoF that Mrs. Weasley had no trouble believing that Harry and Hermione were dating. She genuinely believed Rita's article.

But none of that really answers your question. So, as far as shipping goes, I think that McGonagall might be shipping H/Hr. I found that most apparent in CoS and OotP.

Just my two cents