This essay is in response to the Why DG thread in the DG Forum on FFN. The first part is why I ship D/G, and the second part is why H/G does not work, thus making D/G very much canon.
Do tell me why you love Draco/Ginny. I'm very curious.
Well, first off, I have to mention that Ginny's character was highly underdeveloped. After the diary incident, her reaction should have been much different. But according to Hermione, she was still shy around Harry, but no one else. That is NOT an appropriate reaction to a traumatic situation. That shows us that her character wasn't fleshed out enough. What we do know for sure is that Ginny is beautiful, popular, a go-getter, and she has a witty, sometimes off color sense of humor. She is not one to back down, and she is dead loyal to her friends. She has a quick temper and believes everything is solved by a hex. Jo has told us that she is smart, though not the top of her class.
What we know for sure about Draco is that he does come from a loving family. He can be rude and hurtful, and Jo has said he easily compartmentalizes his feelings. However, Draco is not evil in any way. He cannot kill, and the most he managed during the war was to Crucio another Death Eater at Voldemort's orders. Draco is a Slytherin though, so self-preservation is a big deal to him, as well as using cunningness to do whatever needs to be done. He is never too far behind Hermione, so we do know that he is fairly smart.
Now you may be thinking, that doesn't answer why you love it! I am getting there. We have to first understand the characters and have analyzed them to understand the ship. Now, as you can see, they have some things in common. They both have loving families(Jo has verified that there has never been abuse. Lucius may be strict, but he is a loving father). They are smart. They both do not have it in their hearts to kill another human being, even when their family is threatened (or a member is killed, in Ginny's case). They have also both faced the Dark Lord and were humbled by it(Again, Jo verified this for Draco, and we see that Ginny in the fifth book reminds Harry that he cannot be possessed, and she is close to tears).
After the similarities, we have to look at the difference because every couple has to have differences. It completes them, allows them to fit together.
Ginny is more quick to anger. Since Draco can compartmentalize his feelings, he comes off rather cold and heartless a lot (unless his family is insulted or himself). So we can safely say, Ginny wears her heart on her sleeve and Draco doesn't. Due to this, Ginny acts out while Draco doesn't (note Ginny writing on the walls of Hogwarts in the 7th book, and Draco at the manor, very speechless and unwilling to implicate himself when the trio is brought in). Draco is more apt to make fun of someone in a humiliating way, while Ginny does it behind their back (originally, Gin called Luna Loony Lovegood). However, Ginny is very much loyal to those she is around, while Draco is loyal to very few people, and those he is close to, he uses instead of considering them as equals.
Now, you're probably thinking, since they are so different, they could never make it together. But they could. Ginny would help bring out Draco's anger, and Draco would help Gin to not wear her heart on her sleeve. An interaction between them would be explosive, as they are likely to argue using cutting remarks. But usually, the ones you fight with in that way are the ones you end up falling for. For both of them, it would be fun. People like to argue sometimes. Both would have a battle for dominating, which can always be fun. It does not mean they have to be overly lovey dovey, but they very much compliment each other. I hope this answers your question!
This part is in response to a question and a misunderstanding with someone on the forum. It turned into a long winded response, and it helps validate my point further. This is the part where you will see why H/G does not work at all.
Ah, we have a misunderstanding Jess. Let's fix it right away!
Who did he Crucio?
Jo said he used the Cruciatus curse on a fellow Death Eater (this was of course behind the scenes). Said Death Eater was Thorfinn Rowle. This was his first (and I do believe only) successful casting of the Cruciatus curse.
I believe Ginny's shyness around Harry had nothing to do with the diary. She had a crush on him, and the fact that he saved her probably made her feelings even stronger. She was already shy around him before the whole diary thing anyway.
That was exactly my point... a bit. My point was the diary did not seem to have an affect on her, and I used her unchanged behavior towards Harry as an example. I do believe that her behavior around him should have been even more exuberant, to fit the fact that he did save her. However, nothing changed.
To me, the fact that nothing changed visibly speaks volumes. I understand that we don't see much of Ginny until later on, but as best friends with Ron, of Ginny had any side effects, Harry would be informed of this. You don't go through someone possessing you without some kind of side effects from the ordeal. PTSD would have been a likely disorder caused from it. A fear of diaries even.
The only time we are reminded of what happened to Ginny is in the fourth (or fifth?) book when she chastises Harry for thinking he is possessed. She almost lords it over his head that he knows nothing of what it feels like. This is the only time we see that maybe there was more of an effect on her. But if this is so, we should have seen hints of it throughout the series, as this leaves me personally feeling that her character has been neglected and underdeveloped. Jo set the stage well enough for when Ginny did start talking to Harry, as Ron had said a few times before that Ginny usually never shuts up.
However, we are told later that her sudden character development around Harry is all due to Hermione telling her that maybe Harry would notice her if she wasn't so shy around her. Which again, leaves me to feel that we have been cheated out of seeing Ginny develop.
Then, my major problem is, Ginny is supposed to be popular, and she has her pick of guys, yet she still keeps her hero-worship crush on Harry. And that is what it is for a very long time. How so? Well, if she never talks to him one-on-one all she knows are the stories Ron tells her about the Boy Who Lives amazing feats. That is hero worship.
Ginny is supposed to be a strong character, with wit, and a fairly good sense of humor, as she does hang around with the twins a bit. In the sixth and seventh book we see her blossom into someone who isn't that damsel in distress we originally saw, but a woman who is there to save Harry when he most needs it. Ginny becomes a hero in her own right, and is able to stand on her own two feet very well.
So, having see this development, her ending up with the boy hero doesn't make sense. She's too strong to be with him. Harry can be very unstable, and I see Ginny as the calm before the storm. So why would she pay him any mind? I don't like the idea that she ends up with the boy who saved her, as she no longer needs saving.
You may think next, "Well, you did just point out that she saved him," and yes, I did. I'm not a Harry basher, and I feel that placing Ginny with Harry is like bashing him. Since Ginny needs no one to save her and has saved Harry, it's almost like saying Harry needs her to save him. What would he need her to save him from exactly? Evil is gone. The only reason I can see is that he still feels evil in him, perhaps out of sheer paranoia and a slight bit of PTSD, and holds onto the woman who can easily save him, and who doesn't shy away from what is hard, but instead stands up for what she believes in.
Well, some may say that Ginny being with Harry is her standing by what she believes in. But after what we have seen in the 7th book, Ginny is far too strong to be content with simply standing around what she believes in and knowing its there. After all, she fought when everyone else told her not to because it was what she believed in. She watched her friends died and even saved some because she didn't believe in sitting around and doing nothing. Ginny wouldn't be content to be with Boy Hero just because of what he stood for, as Ginny herself stands for those unwilling to give up fighting tooth and nail. She stands for the teenagers who, when left behind, don't lament, but find a way to fight, no matter how big or small. So how could she possibly be content simply standing by what she believes in?
The answer in short, she couldn't. From the personality and characterization that Jo has given us, Ginny would most likely find a way to fight off future generations falling into the same trap, and how easier to do it then marrying a Death Eater who was never wholly evil, and helping him to create the Malfoy name over, so it no longer means fear, but means someone who worked through their mistakes to make themselves better. Because that is what Ginny Molly Weasley is all about.