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Here I sit, once again glued to my monitor as I comb through a seemingly endless sea of fanfic summaries, one after another, until I find the right one, that perfect combination of summary, category, and characters. The next fic that I might wish to invest an hour or two in, then end up waiting months, perhaps even years, for it to be completed.

Say, I tell myself, this one looks promising. Nah, it’s Harry and Ginny. Not exactly my cup of tea; so often, they lack any ‘spice’. Next? Ah, this one sounds interesting – wait, it’s Ginny and Neville. Like she’d ever date that guy. And the Yule Ball in her third year doesn’t count. She just wanted to go – to be included. Any boy would have done, even Seamus.

Wait a minute; this one looks juicy. Hmm, Draco Malfoy? The crown prince of Slytherin, a conceited rich boy who loves no one, heir apparent to the Malfoy wealth – paired with Ginny Weasley, poor but happy in spite of it, the only daughter in a long line of Weasleys, Gryffindor’s spunky, bat-bogey-hexing, replacement seeker for none other than Harry Potter?

Now you’ve got my attention.

But why? Why is this ship so intriguing, so incredibly appealing, that it’s practically the only one I read?

Do you really have to ask?

Fact vs. Opinion

You may not like what I have to say next, but please, hear me out. Although I love the pairing, I must confess – however sadly – that I do not see them as a couple in the canon. Ever. I accept that.

There. I’ve said it. (And Mynuet didn’t smite me or delete all of my fics! Thank you, oh wise cabal of the site.)

But just because I don’t believe it will happen in the canon does not mean the pairing doesn’t fascinate me. It does – immensely. So do I think this ship has any basis on the actual books themselves? Yes, of course, all ships do.

Sidestepping here for a moment, let’s take a look at ships in general. For example, consider two of fanon's most fervently-argued ships, Harry/Hermione versus Ron/Hermione. Which one is right, if either? No one knows but JKR . . and she’s not saying.

There is no indication anywhere in the canon that Hermione is destined to be at either of these boy’s side until the end of time. But does that even matter to a truly devout, faithful shipper? I don't think it does.

Consider, for example, that Hermione, as a prefect, has spent far more hours with Ron than she ever has with Harry, implying that she probably knows him better than she does Harry. She may even like Ron better, but we don't know. Also, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Ron was giving his best friend the cold shoulder, Harry and Hermione barely spoke to each other, mostly because they couldn’t think of anything to say. Yet thousands of people insist that Harry and Hermione are 'soulmates'. Why? What is the logic in that?

Need there be logic to sail a particular ship?

One must look to the reader's individual interpretation, desires, and personal preferences. Given the lack of relationship insight in the canon (Harry is, after all, a rather immature teenage boy), we all add our own interpretation to make it just so, to make everything fit the ship(s) we choose to sail. Just as there are hints about Hermione’s future, one could argue that there are threads of reality that make the Draco/Ginny pairing a possibility.

Now you might say, if the Draco/Ginny ship is so implausible, why don't I just do everyone a favor and ‘walk the plank’ – you know, jump ship, as it were?

Personally, I think that a relationship between Draco and Ginny in the canon could be played out in an infinite number of exciting and interesting ways. But doing so just isn’t J.K. Rowling’s goal. Harry is the star of her books, not Draco. (I’m sorry; I thought you knew.) ;-)

Still, I do not espouse the theory that, in the canon, Draco will somehow do a drastic turn-around and become a ‘good’ character who sides with Harry and Company. I also do not see him as the next Snape, although it makes a rather interesting concept. I certainly do not believe that Ginny will swoon and fall into Draco’s arms, possibly even turning to evil, just to win over the cruel, hateful Slytherin (who according to JKR, is not especially handsome ~ Sue ducks from blazing arrows ~ ), maybe in some repressed memory of her fatal attraction to Tom Riddle.

Canon vs. Fanon

But this is not Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, nor any of those other wonderful books that this obsession is loosely based upon; this is fanfic. We invent it. Here, we party on, playing in the world that J.K. Rowling created for us, making up our own rules – within reason, of course. It’s a place where we, with only our egos at risk, can persist in promoting what many people believe to be a sinking ship. In fact, some people claim that Draco doesn’t even know who Ginny is.

But he does know who she is. I’d wager he’s never forgotten Ginny Weasley.

What We Really Know about Draco and Ginny

So what is it that makes this couple so darned interesting that we spend countless hours, pondering ways that a potential relationship between them could actually work? Ironically, and probably to Ms. Rowling’s chagrin, it stems from the canon itself, so in a sense, it’s her own fault. ;-)

One reason this ship works so well in fanfic is that we know so little about their personalities. This is especially true for Draco. (Much to my delight, Ginny came to life in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.) Fanfic authors can fill that void by fleshing out such lesser-known characters, placing them in situations and giving them dialogue. There are so many directions an author can take them.

The general lack of characterization allows fanfic authors the opportunity to take Draco and Ginny's potentially volatile ‘fire and ice’ chemistry and develop that. Most writers use this to their advantage, to varying degrees, and it can make for some very good reading. Rather like The Taming of the Shrew or any other classic love-hate relationship, things heat up quickly when tempers flare. Passions rise, snogging begins, and . . well, you know the rest.

Another point that makes this pairing work in fanon is that Draco and Ginny each have their own unique relationships to the heroes and villains within the Harry Potter series. These help set them up as the nearly perfect fanfic couple. Being on starkly opposing sides, they are often portrayed as tragic, misunderstood, or angst-filled. And whose teenage years were ‘simply wonderful’?

Is the Pairing Based on Facts in the Canon?

Yes, I believe it is. Sadly, Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley are two of the most unexplored, barely-developed, and intriguing characters in the entire Harry Potter series. Yet they have the potential to be the most dynamic, fascinating students at Hogwarts. And since J.K. Rowling does not see fit to make them so, it’s up to a very special group who will: the fanfic authors who sail the D/G ship, a responsibility many of us take quite seriously.

It was obvious from Ginny’s first important scene (Flourish and Blotts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) that she had guts, passion, and pure nerve. A fire inside her. From the moment she met the school bully Draco Malfoy at the bookstore, she gritted her teeth and fearlessly told him to piss off, thereby solidifying her loyalty to Harry and her utter contempt for Malfoy. It was a move he did not expect, and Draco mocked her with a pretty weak insult. But she didn’t back down. She probably never does – her six older brothers would run all over her.

Later that year, she once again showed her tenacity by sending Harry a Valentine, a very courageous move for a girl so young. What drew my attention to this scene was that Draco uncharacteristically showed his cards when he speaks directly to her: “I don’t think Potter liked your Valentine much!”

No, he has not forgotten her. He knows who she is; he remembers her as Harry’s ‘girlfriend’. And he sounds particularly irritated. Is he jealous? Annoyed? Absolutely livid? He’s only twelve; perhaps he’s masking feelings he doesn’t understand and may well be denying. We’ll probably never know, but it certainly plants the seeds for great fanfic.

Then in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ginny slaps Draco with her vicious Bat Bogey Hex. The results of this action are unknown. I anxiously await what he has in store for her in JKR’s next installment. But alas, we will only know if Harry witnesses it or hears about it from someone else.

What about Draco and Hermione?

Before you say, “Well, he hates Hermione too. Wouldn’t they work as a couple?”

Not in a million years. Prejudice is too ingrained in the Malfoy family. The Weasleys, although they are poor and Lucius Malfoy calls them a ‘disgrace to the name of wizard’, are still purebloods. There is some hope for Draco, however faint, to have a future with Ginny. Besides, his grudge against Hermione goes too deep and too far back. As she is obviously superior to him intellectually, I doubt he could ever love her.

From my perspective, I cannot see Hermione with Draco. I never read the ship, regardless of how well it is written or the plot behind it. (I could barely stomach it in Draco Dormiens – forgive me, Cassandra Claire fans.)

Character Development and Arrested Development

Returning to the canon, Ginny’s continuing development shows that, in JKR’s mind, she is very important to the story. One of the best parts of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the development of her character. She absolutely blossomed into the young woman I’d always hoped she would. Her defiant spirit, her fun-loving nature, her sense of humor – it all came through in the fifth book, making me love her even more.

Yet while we know more about Ginny than ever before, Draco’s personality seems to be in an arrested stage of development; he is little more than the snotty eleven-year-old who met Harry Potter and offered to be his friend. Since then, Draco has been so vaguely portrayed that we barely know who he is because Harry doesn’t know him or care to know him. All we know is that Draco appears to have elements of arrogance and superiority, all to mask his hidden weaknesses and fears.

We Love the Bad Boy (aka The Han vs. Luke Effect)

So where does his fanfic characterization and adoration come from? I have two words for you: Tom Felton. What a cute kid. (Author's Note: I can say it like that, since I'm old enough to be his mother. If I called him sexy, you would think I'm some kind of creep, and if I were a man, I could probably be arrested.) Remember him in 1999’s “Anna and the King,” innocently asking Jodie Foster, “Mother, what’s a concubine?” Even when he’s pretending to be the mean, spoiled Slytherin, I can’t help but think of that sweet little boy, and it endears him to me – one of the pitfalls of child stardom, I suppose.

In my opinion, Tom Felton, God love him, is a big part of the obsession that many fangirls have with the mysterious Draco Malfoy. Face it, girls young and old are drawn to the good-looking bad boy; we want to take care of him, show him that life's not so bad – he just got a raw deal. To my thinking, that makes our attraction to Draco practically inevitable. I mean, come on, who would you rather sleep with, Han Solo or Luke Skywalker? And be honest, now: Did any of you find Draco the least bit appealing before the first Harry Potter movie came out? I sure didn't.

But setting both Hollywood and canon aside, this is fanfic; the best part is that we choose how the story goes. If the characters fall within their known boundaries and the writing is strong, it can, and often does, work beautifully. True, the Draco/Ginny ship comes complete with its own specific set of needs. But in my opinion, it is tending to those needs, as well as the numerous ways in which we can theorize about their characterizations, that make this ship so much fun to read and write.

And hey, who knows? Hermione might end up going for Percy.

~End~

Feedback would be appreciated.