From a to-be-published interview of JK Rowling by Emma Watson:

“I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment,” she says. “That’s how it was conceived, really. For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron.”

 

“I know, I’m sorry,” she continued, “I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I’m absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility. Am I breaking people’s hearts by saying this? I hope not.”

 

When I read this, I started laughing. I recently watched the last two Harry Potter movies, and when we got to the part where Ron has stomped off and Harry and Hermione were living in the tent together, I turned to my husband and said, "They'd be having so much comfort sex."

I don't really like Harry and Hermione as a romantic pairing though, even if maybe Ron and Hermione isn't that great. I always dug that they were rock solid friends, and it seems lame to me to have high school seniors end up married in any pairing. They should all go to wizard college and make out with people they haven't known their whole lives. 

That said, HARRY + LUNA = SHIPPING 4EVER

Fuck it.

I've spent the last 25 days trying to figure out how to post about Luna Lovegood without posting about a Harry Potter book. I give up.  The closest I could come up with was using Fox Mulder from a licensed X-Files comic and that doesn't really work very well.  I think Fox Mulder is probably too rational and grounded for me to identify with. Besides, I want to use the character I really do relate to.

But Luna ... I don't just want to believe; I do believe. There are crumpled-horn snorcacks and nargles. There are mermaids and yetis and ghosts and fairies.  I was often accused by my teachers of being too "dreamy" and I admit the world in my head is usually more fascinating to me than the world around me.  I even share Luna' s fashion sense. My mom wasn't dead when I was a kid but she was not with us a lot.  My dad was a bit of a crustaceans both of my parents were oddballs.  Unlike Luna I do have an older sister, but everything else about her just felt, well, like reading about my witch doppelganger.

Luna first appears in Goblet of Fire but only briefly. When she showed up as a fleshed-out character in Order of the Phoenix I was so happy to meet a character I could really identify with. And I love her to little bits. :)

As an aside, I ship Neville/Luna. It's my only non-canon ship.