lovey-dovey
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 11-15
So it’s hormones time at Hogwarts. The sequence that spawned a thousand violent internet feuds is upon us: Ron and Hermione officially Like each other. There have been strong hints since book four, but now even Harry has noticed. Harry, too, is suffering from a crush. And it’s funny how he and Ron seem to fall into their respective feelings for Ginny and Hermione the same way: what they both interpret as the comfort of friendship and familiarity is only fully recognized as romantic when triggered by jealousy. It’s a… weird way of setting up two relationships that we’re later supposed to accept as lifelong partnerships, and one that—as ever—gives rather more space for the boys’ point of view than the girls’. I have a much clearer sense of the how and why of Ron’s feelings than of Hermione’s, but maybe that’s just because the idea of Hermione liking someone like Ron makes absolutely no sense.
It’s also weird because we have no idea what any of the four like about one another. Harry has thought back a couple of times to hanging out with Ginny over the summer, but we didn’t actually get to see that or get any feel for what they’re like when they interact beyond cheeky asides about Fleur or Quidditch. Similarly, there have been more and more moments in recent books when Harry has come across Ron and Hermione having been alone together, but we have no idea what that dynamic is like: when they’re in public (or even just with Harry), they’re pretty relentlessly awful to each other.
There’s just a general abrupt and obligatory feel about the sudden focus on romance. It just doesn’t feel organic, largely because relationships themselves are so underdeveloped in romantic terms. They feel like they’ve sprung up out of nowhere. The fact that it’s all piling on at once doesn’t help that impression. It’s like JKR suddenly realized it was weird that her main trio were sixteen and yet none of them were dating.
And speaking of obligatory… man these flashbacks are bad. Or rather, the flashbacks themselves are basically fine, if a little convenient, but Dumbledore’s handy explications of them, and his ‘guesses’ at Merope’s backstory, are just dire. They sound like book reports, pointing out character traits and important ideas, but not explaining the bigger picture for no apparent reason other than it would sap what little suspense there is behind the lessons. It’s really appallingly clunky, to the point that I found myself wondering if an editor would have let that kind of thing fly in one of the earlier books, or in a series that wasn’t such a resounding success. One of the triumphs of the early books is the elegant worldbuilding; it’s disappointing to see that skill so comprehensively fall apart.
Sadly, I’m still not seeing how to read Harry and Draco as another expression of sublimated romance. In fact, I found myself thinking not of lovers, but of Quirrell, especially when Harry noticed Draco looking tired and ill. The end of the last book saw the collapse of the usual story structure: the trio tried to save the day, but it was a trap. Harry’s obsession with Draco feels like an attempt to revive that old pattern: find the villain, follow them over the course of the book, discover the truth at the end. But this time, Ron and Hermione won’t get on board.
Next time: Chapters 16 - 20.