Harry Potter question

[author_by_night]

So I was on TV tropes and saw yet another reference to George/Angelina being creepy because of Fred, and I have to ask something I've been wondering for years.

Were Fred and Angelina ever even a couple? I mean, we know they go to the Yule Ball together, but they're never seen together romantically after that. None of the people who go to the Yule Ball end up/stay together. So I'm not sure where all the creepy factor comes from? Can anyone answer that?

Comments

[katzpajamas.livejournal.com]

I think JKR mentioned Fred and Angelina had dated (though whether it was just the Yule Ball or beyond I'm not sure), but I get the feeling it was over by the end of their sixth year.

[effervescent.livejournal.com]

Huh. I wouldn't think of that as creepy. Just that they were probably close all along, so it would make sense. *shrugs* It's not as though we'd been given the impression that Fred and Angelina were in love and she moved on to George after.

[bitchet.livejournal.com]

Well, JKR herself calls it "a little bit unhealthy" but considering this is fandom and all, that should be a feature and not a bug.

[sea_thoughts]

I don't think they were an official couple, they just went to the Yule Ball together. No other mention of them being together. It's a bit weird that George marries the girl who went to the ball with his brother, but it's not terribly sick.

[daintress.livejournal.com]

I think people are being oversensitive. He took her to one dance, and it's not like it was a big deal to him to ask her to it. It was sort of an off-hand thing. Not like she was the love of his life or anything...

[psychic-serpent.livejournal.com]

I thinks it was just yet another overreaction to her doing something that contradicted what people thought of as the canon in their heads, like when she revealed that Blaise Zabini was black (and male) or that Snape hadn't come from a privileged background, with no Snape Manor in the backstory. Ebony actually proposed my posting Psychic Serpent on the Paradise Yahoo group way back when, but the listowner (a different fic author) was a Fred/Angelina shipper and wouldn't hear of having a George/Angelina fic on her group! (Yeah, because that's the ship that really defines my entire series of fics...) So she was kind of ahead of the curve on overreacting to George/Angelina (which I did in part because I also saw absolutely no evidence that Fred & Angelina ever did more than go to the Yule Ball together).

[vifetoile.livejournal.com]

You remember how it was in the heyday of fandom... the constant overanalyzation of every single argument Ron and Hermione had, of the breaking down of ways that Harry related specially to Hermione and no one else, etc. etc. By the definition of fans looking to 'ship (and I count myself in this number), Fred and Angelina going to the Yule Ball together -- and being perfectly happy with it -- after having been longtime friends on the Quidditch team -- that was practically confirmation! Order up the wedding invites!

No, they were never really a couple in the book, but Angelina was never really on stage that much in book 5 and beyond. Fred being her Yule Ball date may be the last that we ever hear of her getting distinct characterization for the entire series.