...no, seriously.

In books 5-6 the students at Hogwarts slowly start to come to terms with their maturing attitudes to the opposite sex. Rowling deftly negotiates the concerns and fears of adolescense as they begin to date, and finally "snog". Throught book 6 Rowling has various students (including Ron, Harry, and Ginny snogging constantly as they realize their emerging desires.

In book 7 Rowling starts with a great scene showing Harry's awkward attitude towards himself, his body, and his friends. "He felt like asking them to show a little more respect for his privacy as they all began stripping off with impunity, clearly much more at ease with his body then they would have been with their own." This one line gives much insight into the mindset of a 17 year old and allows Harry and his friends to seem believable.

When you contrast that with the 3 teens spending months living together in a forest, with no one supervising, and no one else to disturb them and yet theres no real awkwardness or tension ever described, you begin wonder why Rowling took her characters and replaced them with figurines. By the time Rowling has the plot moving she's turned each of them into an extrem example of their singular charcter traits. Never is it more aparent then when each wishes for their favorite Deathly Hallow.

Had she bothered making her characters continuously feel real, she could have actually written an interesting finale to the book...rather than a plot-driven bore upheld by at least half a dozen deux ex machina moments.

wow, i have to agree

I appreciate your argument, though I can't really get behind your assessment of the finale as "a plot-driven bore." The larger story-arc is character driven, but there IS an awful lot of plot to wrap up in book 7. Speaking just about my personal experience of the book, rather than its literary merits--which I haven't yet had the time to step back and analyze objectively--I can't say that I was disappointed in that.

As for the lack of sex...well, first off, I have to say, I think Ginny was planning on giving Harry more than a kiss for his birthday, had they not been so rudely interrupted...and considering the continuous mortal peril in which the characters find themselves, a fair amount of "snogging" DOES go on in those closing Hogwarts scenes.

However, you're right: the long months that Harry, Ron, and Hermione spend on the run are notably devoid of sexual tension. Until you mentioned it, I have to admit, it did not strike me as unrealistic. Your observation prompted me to delve a little deeper into that reaction. WHY didn't it strike me as odd?

For one thing, these characters are forced to grow up very quickly, and with the weight of the world on their shoulders. It was easy to forget that they were teenagers.

For another, there was the personality-altering influence of the Horcrux, coupled with the realities of stress, hunger, and frustration. I had no trouble accepting that these things would dominate the characters' experience and color their interactions.

I think sex also took a back burner for me because for a large percentage of the journey, Ron was absent, and he was the only one with a romantic interest in Hermione. Harry is still carrying a torch for Ginny (not to mention a Horcrux and a whole lot of stress), and has always treated Hermione more like a sister, so I would have found it unrealistic if sexual tension HAD emerged there.

When Ron was around, I couldn't help feeling a sort of affectionate amusement about his interactions with Hermione; they act like an old married couple. (As half of an old married couple, I can attest to that!) The way they alternately badger each other and comfort each other rang very true for me, so much so that I had no trouble believing that they were simply too busy staying alive (and keeping from killing each other in fits of temper) to think about sex. Plus I'd think the presence of Harry himself, living in close quarters as they were, would put a damper on any romantic interludes Ron and Hermione might otherwise have had. He's very like a brother to both of them, and a best friend to boot. I can't speak for everyone, but if I were on the run, desperately trying to save the world with no idea how to do it, and living in a small tent with my husband and our best friend, I'd feel awkward getting intimate with my husband, even if I COULD muster up the impulse. It would make the best friend feel horribly alone--who, in this case, is the one tapped to be the savior of the known world, so I'd be rather keen on keeping his morale up.

I will give you this, though: one relationship that absolutely did NOT ring true for me, and has not since its inception, is that between Harry and Ginny. That's not to say that it isn't a good match; it's a wonderful match, in theory. In practice, I feel that what few initimate scenes there have been between the two of them read as rather cool, and nothing in book 7 served to warm things up for me. It was sweet and all that Harry had a pang every time he looked at her during the battle of Hogwarts, but I didn't feel them with him. I feel like the entire romance has happened "off screen," as it were, and the only real evidence we ever see of it is Harry's occasional jealousy when a former boyfriend or other rival shows up. Harry's thoughts about Ginny herself, when he has them at all, always rang a little hollow and two-dimensional to me...and other than that little interrupted birthday tryst, which was itself a little stiff, (no pun intended), I never saw so much as a hint of actual sexual interest between them.

So I guess my conclusion is that while I enjoyed the book a lot more than you apprently did, and I don't feel it NEEDED a lot of sex per-se, I will agree with you on this point: Rowling simply isn't any good at writing realistic sexual relationships, and whatever sex the book COULD have used was notably absent.

yes, yes, yes! As Harry, Ron, and Hermione were camping in the woods and it grew colder and colder, I kept waiting for someone to realize that if they slept in one sleeping bag and wrpped the other around them, they could have kept much warmer! Body heat, children! No need to die of the cold. I think this could have been handled easily on Rowlings part with Ron asking and Hermione saying no. And Harry, of course, feeling more and more isolated, which would have worked well when he later discovered the Hallows. I'd be interested in hearing what teen and preteen readers thought.

I see your point (honestly!) but isn't Harry Potter a kid's book?

Good lord, so Rowling was supposed to discuss a tent full of throbbing knobs and aching loins? What are some of you thinking. Even if Jason's Mommy is wrong and the cold, fear, tension and misery hadn't sapped away their sexual urges, do we really need to hear about them in THIS series? It would completely ruin the tone of...well, never mind. Either ou get it or you don't ;-).

Yes--Harry Potter is at heart a kid's book. Ando no, I don't actually expect Harry's Wand to poke Hermione's heaving...etc.

However I would have expected the awkwardness of two teens living alone together to provide a meaningful insight into their characters and plight. Two friends of mine who are 27 years old and recently married were discussing how awkward it first felt to be living alone and sharing a small space with someone of the opposite sex for the first time. How can it be that two 17-year olds don't experience anything meaningful?

Again--I point to the passage I quoted earlier about the 6 Faux Harry's changing their clothes to prove that Rowling is very capable of understanding and expressing the emotional needs of these kids. I just wish she had kept that realism up throughout the entire book.

Have you never been camping (or even asleep) in the cold? People pile into one another for warmth. These kids were freezing. As a matter of survival, they should have huddled together. No, we certainly didn't need to hear about "throbbing knobs and aching loins", but given that Ron and Hermione were "snogging" at other times, it seems fitting in this book where they are 17, that Rowling might have touched on this issue a bit. She could have easily done it cleanly and without bringing in anything inappropriate for younger readers.

i mean, they were all so mad at one another and going through so much (all of them were going through some kind of depression) that maybe they just weren't feeling so keen on huddling up? i also think this explains some of the seemingly endless nature of the camping and doing nothing scenes. its inevitable that under all those pressures, with so little hope of success, that depression would set in. i think rowlings tried to grow more attuned to these kind of attitudes in recent books, as in book 5, although i think a lot of people were frustrated with book 5 for that reason, too. maybe the problem is that she just doesn't do such a great job with these emotions, doesn't really dig into them in a way that some really great authors can that hits so hard in a way that really launches you into recall of when you felt that way, or of the moment if that is where you are.

i agree that sexual tension was lacking (like really, how did ron and hermione make it so long? unless, of course, they hadnt yet reached that relationship stage) but i definitely dont think it was the book's major flaw, not by a long shot.

yanno, "it's not all about wandwork."

I agree exactly. I didn't need there to be gooey emotions or distracting constant flirting pouring out on every page, but just a few more details in the personal interactions to give some depth to the emotions-- at this point we know the characters so well we can presume how they're feeling, but I just want to read it. I guess that's not a new complaint about JKR's writing.

It's frustrating, when she gets it right, her characters are so vivid that those turn into some of the best moments in the books. Ginny and Harry holding hands and nothing else resonated as a more true moment in their relationship than any other point in the last two books.

And poor Ron and Hermione! After all that build up they got one kiss. A good one, but still. I thought Ron's book-taught girl-friendly flirting in the beginning of the book was so sweet and revealing. But what about Hermione? She never put up a fight, but it was unclear if she was oblivious to his more aggressive advances, embarassed, or undecided about how she felt. There was so much substance to her reaction to Ron's disappearance, but for me it almost felt out of nowhere. Unless they really were holding hands that one night, when else did she reciprocate his affections? Had there been closeness between Harry and Hermione that fed Ron's insecurities about her not being interested, or was she just not responding?

I did really love that when it came down to it, Hermione initiated their long overdue kiss, and I loved Ron's banter at the moment.But just a few more looks or touches-- even if they were in passing, awkward, conflicted, ect would have been great! I do trust that this is one area that the movie will be able to do better than JKR's writing. Even though movie Ron has been written more one-note than book Ron, I think Rupert has really acted his awkward teenageness towards Hermione incredibly well. I hope in those tent scenes they'll sneak in some more meaningful moments than made it into the book. I think there's plenty they can do, or Rowling could have done, that's well within the pg-ness of a kids book (with lots of death, of course-- but, gasp, we wouldn't want more touching!) but still gives the relationships more consistency and detail.

This was also my problem with the epilogue. Aside from any other complaints (what happened to other characters, between species, ect, ect), even the info that was covered was frustratingly superficial. It seemed like classic show don't tell-- I didn't need the four to be talking about their gloriously fulfilling and blissful lives (even if I would like to know what they do!), but other than Harry's moment with his son, I wanted to see some emotional depth to the adults they became, including more meat to what became of those relationships. There was one unsatisfying line between Hermione and Ron that I suppose was to show they still bickered but were comfortable. But why can't they touch in some loving way that shows even if they're still the same people, they've grown into actual loving adults? Or can't Ginny reach out and hold Harry's hand, being his rock as the same way she was years before?

I cross my fingers one of the movie's liberties will be to add to all these relationships!

I don't really agree... at all. For one, this is a series that focuses around Harry's experiences and perception. It seemed perfectly appropriate to me that he wouldn't notice Ron and Hermione's interractions much as time went on (note, he did notice Ron's attempts at flirting at the beginning, and a few other times, but mostly he was worried about dying, about stopping Voldemort, about finding the Horcruxes and the Hallows, and so on. Good friends though they are, these things are more pressing to Harry, I'm sure, then why aren't my best friends having sex right now). So the only things that Harry really notices are the kind of things he would be expected to notice- them talking alone together. He's extremely stressed and was already worried about bringing his friends along. Of course he would be focused on fears of them turning against him, and not of them hooking up.

Further, one of the things I liked most about the Ron/Hermione relationship was the denial shared by those two. It seemed pretty obvious from about book four that they liked each other. Or at least that Hermione liked Ron, and he liked her, but didn't realize it until she was with a different guy. By book seven though both obviously really wanted to date, but they also both obviously didn't want to make the first move. Until the end when she kissed him, Hermione seemed to be stubbornly holding out until Ron made the first move (this obviously didn't work out since he kept screwing up with feeble flirting, dating Lavender, ditching them, and so on). Ron, I think, was much to scared to seriously make a big move on the relationship. I hardly think he would have the nerve to suggest jumping into the sack with Hermione, when the best he could muster was some book-based flirting and a few tender gestures that barely moved beyond what a friend would do.

I was once in a relationship like this myself, with my fiance before we even started dating. I liked him. He liked me. All our friends knew we liked each other. However, I didn't know if he liked me, and he didn't know if I liked him. And *gasp* he thought I liked his best friend instead of him, even though I thought of his best bud (my best guy friend) as more of a brother. Sound familiar? Before we started dating, I never hugged him good-bye, or even tried to hold his hand. He was a good friend and I didn't want to ruin things if I was wrong about how he felt. This, I think, is exactly the kind of thing going on between Ron and Hermione. Were they thinking about moving it up to the next level? Probably. But, like I said, it's not like Harry could read there minds, nor was it something he was really worried about at the moment. And, since Ron seemed to have only recently admitted to himself the feelings he had for Hermione, he was probably to scared to move on (especially since he thought she liked Harry).

Finally, Hermione had the weight of 3 lives on her hands. She was the one taking care of everyone while they looked for Horcruxes. Even if she might have been thinking about Ron, she was smart enough to put anything off until he friends' lives were no longer mostly in her hands. Same sort of thing goes for Ron. He was obviously thinking about Hermione (since he kept flirting and it was one of the things that the Horcrux tortured his mind with), but he was also dealing with anger and depression. He was so frustrated with wanting to get back to a normal life (including continuing things with Hermione) that he couldn't act on anything in the end other than his anger and frustration. Not to mention, by the time he got back to everyone, Hermione was upset at him for leaving. No chance they're going to sleep together when she is punishing him for being so thoughtless. Plus, soon after he came back, they got captured and the trio was once again way too worried about surviving and escaping to do anything.

The fact that years worth of tension finally broke in the middle of a huge battle just shows that the tension was there, even if JKR didn't bombard us with scenes of flirtation.

Come on people.

1. They were in a wizard tent, with magical fire. I'm sure they had no problem keeping warm without snuggling up in a big pile. When reading those scenes I got the impression that it was pretty cold outside, but the tent was conveniently cozy.

2. Proximity is not necessarily that awkward for 17 year olds, particularly close friends. I got the impression that Harry, Hermione, and Ron lived in close proximity every summer at the Burrow - how many scenes have Hermione walking in on Ron and Harry in pyjamas? They probably shared a bathroom as well, and I'm sure it was hard to have much privacy in a house that crowded.

I'm glad Rowling didn't regale us with some sexy sleeping-bag scenes. The prevailing mood of these scenes was one of constant fear of discovery, boredom, and frustration with their inability to make headway - and while we can interpolate a certain level of sexual longing, I don't think any of them would care to act on it in front of friends (witness Harry's discomfort when Ron walks in on him and Ginny). I found these scenes completely believable and couldn't care less how the camp beds were arranged.

Totally agree. Plus, at the risk of getting lynched...I have to say I think JKR's at her weakest in the passion-and-love bits, all thru Books 5 and 6. I found 'em awkwardly written and I was just wishing she'd get over those parts quickly and get ON with real story. Fred and George sneaking off with veela cousins, or Victor Krum giving vouce to the 'eternal male lament' were a lot of fun --- but I really didn't want to deal with mushiness or hard-ons when there was a death-eater army on the loose........

On other hand, the Snape and Lily flashback was perfect BECAUSE it left just the right amount to reader's imagination....

It should have really ended with Harry and Ginny doing it to save the universe.

oh, wait...that was another ridiculous ending of another set of great children's books.