Don't be sorry, I'm not disappointed. In fact, I'm rather relieved. I'm one of maybe 10 fans worldwide who would rather see Harry flying out into the sunset solo. I just happen to find H/G more tolerable than most anything else (because it doesn't require me to ignore or reinterpret canon to fit my *vision* of who *belongs* with who). I shouldn't be surprised that PhoenixSong took you sans their ship-of-choice; after all, BJH's story (the name of which escapes me - a good read) is showing no signs of being H/G and every sign of remaining (of all things) H/C.
I agree that Harry was definitely not ready for a relationship in Book 5... but I can't say I was surprised by that turn in the plot, or even that somebody with his emotionally damaged character would pursue a relationship. I believe he wanted desperately for some normal teenage functions in his life, and happened to think that he could find some measure of normalcy in the increasingly-open-to-his-advances Cho Chang (having never had any meaningful dialogue with her before, he would not for a second have considered the notion that she might be "on the rebound" and not have any real desire to know him). I doubt he ever thought of Cho in terms of marriage or even sex - just that he had a vague, unformed notion of what he wanted and what he thought he ought to be doing to be "normal." The fact that he did not receive what he was looking for in that relationship will have soured him on the idea of dating, and I think there was even evidence of that in the final chapter of OotP (or maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see).
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-16 06:32 pm (UTC)I agree that Harry was definitely not ready for a relationship in Book 5... but I can't say I was surprised by that turn in the plot, or even that somebody with his emotionally damaged character would pursue a relationship. I believe he wanted desperately for some normal teenage functions in his life, and happened to think that he could find some measure of normalcy in the increasingly-open-to-his-advances Cho Chang (having never had any meaningful dialogue with her before, he would not for a second have considered the notion that she might be "on the rebound" and not have any real desire to know him). I doubt he ever thought of Cho in terms of marriage or even sex - just that he had a vague, unformed notion of what he wanted and what he thought he ought to be doing to be "normal." The fact that he did not receive what he was looking for in that relationship will have soured him on the idea of dating, and I think there was even evidence of that in the final chapter of OotP (or maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see).