February Prompt: HP Love and Relationships

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

February means many things to many people. One of the more prevalent themes of February, in many areas of the world, centers around Valentine's Day. A theme of 'love is in the air'.

How does this apply to the stories of the boy wizard Harry Potter? What did you encounter in the books which might apply itself to Valentine's Day in the Harry Potter world? (I immediately remember the movie, where Argus Filch is dancing with Mrs. Norris. He was truly dedicated to her!) Was there something which stayed constant through all the books, or some amazing development which suddenly manifested in the later books? Or was there something in the HP books reminding you of any similar stories in other books, whether Harry Potter books or not?

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[Hannah Lovegood]

I made a collage of different kinds of love.
I picked the picture with the pug in it because it made me think that the owner loved their pug.
I picked the heart lollipops because it made me think that the people that were holding them loved each other.
I picked the picture of the french bulldog because I love french bulldogs.
I picked the cat because it looked like the cats loved each other.

[Dibyarup James Potter]

In the Harry Potter books, themes of love and romance have appeared a lot. Now, my take on love is not just romantic love, but other forms of love as well. The most important one in my opinion was Lilly Potter’s love for Harry which saved him from Voldemort’s Killing Curse, and earned him the title of “The Boy Who Lived”. This incident lays the foundations of the entire story, and hence in my opinion, it is one of the most significant depictions of love in the series.

Now coming to the aspects of the story that might apply themselves to the theme of Valentine’s Day in the world of Harry Potter, we get to see multiple love stories, be it Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny, or Snape’s love for Lilly. All of these depictions of romantic love, make the story so very meaningful. There was also Harry and Cho Chang’s love story, which is a depiction of a classic high school romance. Then there was Snape’s love for Lilly that led him to sacrifice himself for Harry. Yes, Snape was really brave, no doubt about that, but in my opinion, it was his love for Lilly that drove his actions and prevented him from becoming an evil Death Eater after Lilly’s death. I must also mention Molly Weasley and Arthur Weasley, they were a complete power couple.

Lastly, there is of course the golden trio, Harry, Hermione and Ron. They loved each other, and it was this love and friendship that helped them face so many problems together, and emerge victorious in the end.




6.20.2024 - Beans sent - Tarma

[Galena May]

I would like to take a closer look at the relationship among the Golden Trio- Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and explore the different kinds of love that tied them together, one- on-one. First, we have Harry and Ron who share a brotherly love and a partner-in-crime feeling for each other. Ever since their meeting in the train in the first book, we see them sharing Harry's adventures together and Harry standing up for Ron against bullies and Ron partnering Harry during his endeavors. This relationship remains the same throughout the series.
Next, we have Hermione, who walks in on the trio in the train, searching for Neville's toad, and acts like a know-it-all right from the beginning. She is bossy, but with good intentions, for she looks for Neville's toad, points out the dirt on Ron's nose, warns them to wear their robes as the train is nearing the Hogsmeade station, and shows them a real spell. It shows that she has a general tendency to care for strangers, although she does that in a very bossy way. On being called out by Ron, she ends up crying, which only further indicates that she meant well but just didn't know how to do it without poking her nose where she wasn't wanted and without sounding controlling. Her excessive desire to protect and help the boys makes her poke her nose in their affairs, even when she isn't wanted. Her good heart but outwardly bossy nature annoys Ron and Harry in the beginning, particularly Ron, but we soon realize that the boys actually do care for her as well, because they go running to the girls' bathroom to save her from the troll, without a second thought. That makes Hermione realize that there is more to a person than academics and books and she recognizes the importance of Harry and Ron's bravery. Thereafter, she becomes a little more lenient with the boys and willingly accompanies them on their adventures instead of nagging and trying to stop them. Harry, and Ron, however take a little longer to recognize Hermione's importance, only doing so after she proves herself several times. We could note that Ron is the most annoyed by her, but it is only because Hermione bossed him the most, even for little things like dirt on his nose, indicating that right from the beginning she had a desire to fix him, given that the only way Hermione knew how to show care was by being bossy ( may be it comes from having strict dentist parents who keep forbidding sweets). Although fixing Ron may not be what she ended up doing, what did happen as a result of them recognizing the positive of each other's flaws was that they became the yin to each other's yang, forming a romantic relationship. Harry, on the other hand, was a bit less annoyed than Ron, right from the beginning, because Harry was more used to being bossed around by the Dursleys and certainly didn't have the emotional range of a teaspoon, unlike Ron. Hermione seemed to recognize that (proving that she did have emotional and social intelligence enough to recognize pain and emotional depth, something she found in Harry but not Ron) and she is always seen being more tender with Harry except when he is led astray by his emotions into doing something harmful for himself. That is the kind of protective feeling one would have towards their younger brother, and this was indeed what she felt for Harry as she said when Ron was jealously misled into thinking that Harry and Hermione were nurturing feelings for each other in his absence in the Deathly Hallows. Ron's jealousy is an indicator that he indeed loved Hermione at that point.



9.19.2024 - Beans sent - Tarma