There are some major spoilers ahead… Normally, I’d say be careful and proceed at your own risk, but in this case, I absolutely must insist that contributors to this thread MUST have completed HBP – this will be absolutely impossible to contribute to if you haven’t, not without having the book spoiled you. If you’re just reading, that’s fine…but please understand that if you read this, there are MAJOR SPOILERS here. Please don’t complain to me or any of the other mods if you read something you didn’t want to. You have been warned.

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Well, guys…looks like it’s over. I, for one, am glad that this whole thing appears, at last to have been resolved. Congratulations to the R/Hr shippers… Looks like your ship has finally sailed… The only thing I am sorry about is that I fear the plot developments in HBP will bring an end to the brilliant posts, analyses and friendships that hopefully have been enjoyed here by everyone. It’s sort of sad in a way…I’m going to miss coming in here every day and seeing the ways people have had of looking at the whole Ships issue and I hope you all feel the same way that your enjoyment of the books has been enhanced by the discussions that have gone on here, making you look at things and consider the text a little more deeply than you might have done otherwise.

What I don’t want to see in this thread or any other in the SHIPS forum is gloating or making fun of other people because they weren’t right. Neither do I want to see ships that have been irrevocably sunk being ripped apart for the people who still wish to support them – there is a rich and varied world of fanfic out there and people can believe/support whatever they want to which is precisely the reason I made ALL the SHIPS forums – unless very clearly stated otherwise – SUPPORTERS ONLY. That shall continue to remain so. HBP may have sunk some ships, may have sailed for others, but whatever the case, there is still one more book to go – remember that.

No one in these threads is right or wrong. We all read the books in our own way and see things differently to other people, so in that regard I don’t think anyone was ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ and it would be supremely childish, disrespectful and rather nasty, not to mention doing a great disservice to the intelligence of all posters on this thread and the others, to gloat, make ‘I told you so’ posts, ‘you’re so stupid’ posts or do anything that degrades the spirit of the HBP fandom and this site. Even now, there could be arguments made that the ships formed in HBP may not last, were ambiguous, were vague or weren’t brought about in the way you’d hoped, depending on your point of view, so in that respect, I do see a future for the debate thread, if you guys choose to take it.

So, it now looks as though we have a decision to make and I ask for all contributors to this thread to give me some feedback as to how they’d like to proceed. It’s clear the way JKR intends the relationships to continue in the next book, I think even the most stubborn of H/Hr’s would have to admit that, so I don’t see much point in this debate continuing as it stands. However, if you guys would like to see this thread continue to discuss the evidence in the HBP that may lead you to believe that relationships will last/form/change in the final book or to discuss the futures as indicated by evidence based on all the books so far, then I’m more than happy to keep it open.

Let me know then, preferably here. As you can see, to avoid confusion and reduce the risk of spoilers, I’ve locked the old thread and started this one purely to get a feel for what you guys want to do. You can PM me if you want, but I’d rather this be a joint, group decision and I’d rather see everyone’s opinions here in public so we can discuss them. If you don’t want to continue, then I can lock this and we can all go back to the privacy of our own little SHIPS threads. I’m easy either way…the decision is totally yours.

Well, it was a good ship while in port. I guess it'll never sail. Congrats R/Hr shippers! You put up a good fight and... well, picked the right ship. We can't exactly say that our words completely influenced JKR, can we? Now, for a final lament, for my spirit has been broken. Were JKR to break these ships, it would have been final in HBP.

Lament of the Harmony:

On July 16th, several million shippers picked up HBP from a store. On July 16th, several million shippers closed their books in defeat, almost wishing to throw their book out the window but not being able to do so, having not finished the book. Several million others jumped for joy. On July 17th, several thousand shippers picked up their books in hope of finding it all a dream or to look for evidence of a hoax. I, for one, am not one of those people.

HMS Harmony, we salute you.

Thanks to the AWESOME h/hr shippers who were so cool about the whole thing. I was sitting there thinking "Oh no, now we're going to get flamed." I was seriously nervous comments would be pouring in about how Ron's bad for Hermione, how the ship won't work, blah, blah, blah....but obviously you guys are above that, so I gotta hand it to you.

I was pleased with what happened I guess. I don't want to gloat or anything though. R/hr has always been my main ship, and I've always been open (or tried very hard to) to h/hr. I still think h/hr would've been good too. I also LOVED h/g. They were so cute. And I adored Remus/tonks. That'll be SO adorable, doncha think? Ron irritated me a LOT through this book. Typical boy, going off and snogging Lavender. But I guess overall he came through near the end. It was so sweet (and SO un-ron) how he comforted Hermione at the end. Lets hope that this book marked his last dose of immaturity. (Did any notice how much he seemed to get older in this book??? I was like "noooooo, that's not how little Ron's supposed to be!") And who felt really bad for Harry near the end? Imagine knowing you can't be with the girl you love in fear of her getting hurt..... It was a bit Spiderman, but I was near tears anyway.

Anyway. . . .

This'll be one of my last posts here. I've decided to stop with the ship debates. It's pretty clear (I think) how the ships will work out. Sure there will always be those stubborn h/hr's who'll see otherwise, and I guess that's fine. I just don't really feel like debating anymore. Also I totally respect h/hr's who'll continue to ship h/hr. That's great, and that's probably what I would've done. And I don't see it as the H/hr ship "sunk". There'll still be a whole other world FILLED with fanfics, fanart, and plain shipping of h/hr. So, everyone, while it was fun, I think it's time to move on. Lets put these shipping wars to a rest, and come together as just crazy HP fans. I think, in a sense, a lot of us will be slightly relieved it's all over. I know I am.

*sigh* I too, am very pleased with the ships that sailed.But, you H/Hr guys are being great1 I too, was worried that when we came back people would be saying things to us like:"She only did it because everyone wanted her to!", and stuff like that. I will misss the debating badly, though, but without it I probably would get in less trouble with the moderators, too ! I just want to say thanks for the brilliant conversations, guys!

Well, I for one really WANT to hear an H/Hrer's arguement, so I think I'll hang around for a while...

~Esrb99~

For the moment now, I raise my cup to the R/Hr Ship I can only hope or be so stubborn to still believe in the future sailing of H/Hr (probably stubborn.) I once stood in the middle of a busy road to prove that it could be done without life threatening injuries… but that has nothing to do with HP. Anyways I like the idea of where this thread is heading, because I was worried that the lack of evidence in HBP would eliminate discussions and frankly I enjoyed them a lot. In this thread we will be able to pull little bits of information and over analyze them so that we can create an argument to support are ideas (or what we hope to happen in the final installment.) I hope that other people will want to join me and post their opinions. Good luck to all and happy future debating.
J~Lo

Mmm...bit of a mixed bag at the moment then. Well, I'm not sure it's worth continuing judging from the opinions here. I'll wait to hear from Muggy, Westerly, Sethas and the others before I make my final decision then, but right now, I think it's time we called it a day here.

C'MON!!! I REALLY want to her a H/Hr shipper's story as to how R/Hr was a 'herring' in HBP... wnat to know haw they came up with that conclusion!

~Esrb99~

See, now that is precisely the kind of sarcasm that makes me want to end this debate once and for all.

Do you really think that anyone is going to want to debate with you when they're going to be met with that sort of ridicule?

*sigh*

Alrighty then..let's not drag out the agony anymore.

Farewell, debate thread....it was a joy to know you. May you all have great fun back in your own threads where you'll find peace and solace among your fellow shippers.

Here's that big shiny padlock for one last time......