Harry Potter Theories

HARRY'S LOVE FOR GINNY IS A DRUG-INDUCED ILLUSION

This is a difficult theory to treat delicately, so it's best to be blunt: certain readers (perhaps still-disgruntled supporters of a Harry/Hermione romance) claim that Ginny Weasley must have in order to induce his infatuation with her. They're skeptical of the accelerated courtship between Harry and Ginny, who have been acquainted since Harry first encountered the Weasleys on Platform 9 ¾ en route to Hogwarts for the first time when Ginny was childishly starstruck and Harry youthfully indifferent. In their view, romance should have bloomed sooner between the two, given Harry's frequent presence at the Burrow and all their subsequent interactions at school, and the only explanation for its sudden onset during the events of Half-Blood Prince is an unnatural one: a love potion.

There was certainly a precedent set for the abuse of love potions within the sixth book: Merope Gaunt drugged handsome Muggle Tom Riddle to make him fall in "love" with her, thereby setting the course for Lord Voldemort's loveless birth and orphan childhood; Romilda Vane tries to get her hands on The Chosen One with a sneakily dosed box of chocolates, but accidentally ensnares Ron instead. Ginny certainly would have had access to one of the love potions the other girls are seen giggling over in her brothers' joke shop, as well as possessing the wherewithal to brew up her own if necessary.

That's means and perhaps motive, but what the theory fails to acknowledge is the implicit accusation that Ginny Weasley committed a very serious crime, the magical equivalent of giving someone roofies. While some fans may be perfectly content to accept this version of events, others argue that it undermines one of the story's core themes: the triumph of love over darkness—the mother's love that made Harry Potter into the Boy Who Lived, and the absence of it that turned Tom Marvolo Riddle towards evil. All things considered, that's a harder pill to swallow than a teenage boy suddenly developing a crush on his best friend's sister.

Rowling put the matter to rest in February 2014, when she while speaking at Exeter University that "Harry did love Ginny."