Whena fictional world is packed with characters asrich and complex asHarry Potter, theshippingpotentialis endless. And whether a couple is canon or not, fans have crafted endless Harry Potter ships around their favorite connections from the series.Siteslike AO3 are home to tales for everyonefrom Harry and Ron toCrookshanksand Hedwig.
SomeHarry Potter ships aremore bizarre than others and a few less age-appropriate matches are omitted here. However, those with the most stories on the site all have one thing in common. These are the pairingsthat highlightwhich characters and dynamics resonate most with theHarry Potterfandom, and show what— if anything— they wish had been different about the source material.
Updated onJuly 20th, 2022, by Shawn S. Lealos: The Harry Potter franchise continues to roll on. With the thirdFantastic Beasts movie hitting this year and rumors that Warner Bros. wants to talk to author J.K. Rowling about more movies, it seems like it isn't slowing down anytime soon. This helps fans come up with even more Harry Potter ships that bring together characters that either never made it into a romantic situation or those who the movies and books never really went into concerning the love they did share. While the movies and books were never about the love stories, although a few did pop up here and there, the Harry Potter ships written on AO3 have given fans everything they could want in the love lives of these wizards.
Neville Longbottom & Luna Lovegood
The main story of Harry Potter was about the three primary Hogwarts students setting out to stop Lord Voldemort. However, the book hinted at times that Harry might not have been the Chosen One and that Neville Longbottom could have been the key. Instead, Neville was just a weird kid who helped in the final battle.
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That made the Harry Potter ships between Neville and another weird kid, the aptly named Luna Lovegood, too good to pass up for fans. What would have happened if these two outcasts had found more than just friendship at Hogwarts?
Harry Potter& Cho Chang
Harry Potter ended up with Ginny Weasley in the end, and that was how it was meant to be. Despite this, there were plenty of people who shipped Harry with Hermione, although she ended up with Ron in a satisfactory matchup. However, looking atAO3, there are also a large number of ship stories involving Harry and another girl.
In the story, Harry had a romantic relationship with Cho Chang at one point. This was not meant to be, as the two ended up drifting apart thanks to Harry obviously needing to focus his attention on the threat of Lord Voldemort. However, look around and there are a lot of Harry Potter ships that hint at what could have happened if this relationship had lasted.
Fleur Delacour &Cedric Diggory
When the Tri-Wizard Games began, fans of Harry Potter got to see what wizards from other countries looked like and how the way the groups lived was different. It also opened the chance for some new romances, which happened when Fleurended up with Bill Weasleyand Hermione hooked up with Viktor.
However, there are someHarry Potter ships that look at what could have happened if Fleur went with a very different wizard - Cedric Diggory. The futureTwilight vampire didn't get a lot of time to make his mark in Goblet of Fire, but fans have created their own stories with him hooking up with his rival Fleur. It almost happened too since she wanted to ask him to the Yule Ball, but Cedrick had already asked Cho Chang.
Remis Lupin &Nymphadora Tonks
When the Harry Potter franchise showed that werewolf Remis Lupin had a romantic relationship with Nymphadora Tonks, it came from out of nowhere. This wasn't touched upon before the relationship was mentioned as Order of the Phoenix members, and that sadly made their fate less tragic than it could have been.
When fans took to AO3 with theirHarry Potter ships, a lot of them tried to solve this problem by showing what this relationship could have looked like, with two warriors loving hard while trying to stay down low. Their dead bodies, with hands almost touching, would have meant so much more if their stories had been told.
Tina Goldstein &Newt Scamander
While not technically part of the main Harry Potter stories, Newt Scamander is now an integral part of the entire mythos in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. He helped Dumbledore during an important time and even wrote a textbook that Harry and his friends had to study. He also had a girlfriend - Tina Goldstein.
While the two played important roles in the first movie in the series, she disappeared from the second one. She was back in the third movie, but by this time the franchise was focusing on Dumbledore more than Newt. However, fans on AO3 have created lots of Harry Potter ships involving Newt and Tina, which is a big deal since, in lore, the two eventually married, and their grandson married Luna Lovegood.
Lucius Malfoy & Narcissa Malfoy
Despite playing critical roles in the series— especially towards the end— Luciusand Narcissararelyappear in scenestogether. However, it's the story behind the scenes that leaves fans most intrigued.
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Bothcome from wealthywizarding bloodlines andcould easily have entered intoa loveless arranged marriage like thatof Narcissa's sister, Bellatrix, but didn't. Narcissa is deeply upset when Lucius is imprisoned,and they ultimately put their familyaboveVoldemort's cause by fleeing the fight inDeathly Hallows: Part 2. This is a relationship complicated by prestige and questionable morals, which is exactly what makestheseHarry Potter ships so compelling.
Scorpius Malfoy & Albus Potter
From the moment fansdiscovered Scorpius and Albus werein the same year atHogwarts, shipping ensued. As the sons of Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, the pair serve as wish-fulfillmentof what could have happened between their fathers in a wizarding world free of pure-bloodsupremacy.
And that was all beforeanyone knew they'd even spoken to each other. With the release of the play,Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, came confirmation that Scorpius and Albus are, to the shock of their parents, best friends. While Scorpius is shown to have romantic feelingstowards Ron and Hermione's daughter, Rose, the idea of him and Albus overcoming their complex family legaciesto uniteis far more interesting.
Hermione Granger & Harry Potter
There'sno denying that Harryprobably wouldn’t have made it through a singleyear at Hogwarts without Hermione'sfriendship andtalents. Even though Harryinsiststhat he loves Hermione like a sister, some fans argue that it makes more sense for their bond to be romantic.
This is understandable. Hermione definitely knowshow to navigate Harry’s emotions better than most, and even JK Rowlingherself admits, as reported by The Times, that the scene in Deathly Hallows: Part 2where they dance in the tent(which isn't in the books) articulated her thoughts on the potentialfor more between the pair.There are diehard Harry Potter ships with just about every character, but those who prefer to write Harry and Hermione as soulmates definitely have more canon material to work with than most.
Harry Potter & Tom Riddle
Yes, Harry and Voldemort spendthe entire series trying to kill each other, but isn’t that just the basis of any quality enemies-to-lovers story?
The majority of fan fiction centered on this Harry Potter ship features a younger Tom Riddle before his Voldemort days, which makes the dynamic much more palatable. Riddle’s memory in Chamber of Secrets notes the “strange likenesses” between himself and Harry — from their looks and backgrounds to their twin wand cores and ancestry — so it’s easy to see why so many craft tales around what this connection could have been in an alternate wizarding universe.
Harry Potter & Ginny Weasley
Harry and Ginny have a slow and sweet friends-to-lovers arc in the books, but not so much in the films. Very few of their canonical romantic moments were adapted to the big screen, with the bulk ofGinny's appearances and dialoguecut in general.
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While there’s still a lot of interest in the pairing, missing out on key details like their connection over Quidditch, witty banter, and shared dark history with Voldemort and possession definitely hurt their popularity.A more book-accurate depiction could have created even more Harry Potter ships between the two.
Hermione Granger & Draco Malfoy
This is another controversial pairing. Mockingher looks,Muggleborn heritage, and know-it-all personality, the way Draco treats Hermioneis one of the worst things he does in the entire series. Considering shepunches him in the face in Prisoner of Azkaban,Hermione isn't exactly his biggest fan.
Still, the potential for a classic enemies-t0-lovers story is hard to ignore. Draco is already a complex antagonist in canon, but seeing him unlearn his inherited prejudices would have added a whole other layer to his character.Whileit seems moreunrealistic that Hermione would forgive him for bullying her for seven years, stranger Harry Potter ships have happened.
Hermione Granger & Ron Weasley
Even though Harry isthe main character of the franchise, it was the romance between his two best friends that took centerstage. Proof that opposites attract, Hermione and Ronbicker throughout most of their teenage years. Even though it's obviousfromGoblet of Fire onwards that there's something more between the two, it takes until the Battle of Hogwarts for the pair to finallyact on their feelings.
Yet sadly, fans never really got to see their relationshipin action. Afterall that tension, Hermione and Ron are only briefly seen together after Harry defeats Voldemort, and, of course, in the epilogue as a married couple. There's plenty to wonder and theorizeabout their future, with Rowling herself, as mentioned in The Guardian, wondering whether they'd actuallymake it work, which helps keepsthe pair interesting.
James Potter & Lily Evans
TheHarry Pottermovies never had much interest in showing theBoy Who Lived's parents, but book fans know their relationship wasn't always straightforward. For mostof their time at Hogwarts, Lily was angered by James' bullyingof her then-best friend, Snape. However, the pair laterfell in love, married, andhadHarry, before losing their lives to Lord Voldemort.
The Marauders era is a point of interest for a lot of Harry Potter fans, and James and Lily's tragic romance is a core part of that. Nobody really knows how they went from Lily calling him an "arrogant, bullying toerag" to welcoming a baby with enough love to defeat a Dark Lord. There's more than enough fan fictionexploringhow this happened, but fans still think a Marauders spin-off spotlightingJames and Lily's relationship is much needed.
Sirius Black & Remus Lupin
The relationship between Sirius and Remus would be complex, to say the least. One is a wrongly imprisoned fugitive, and the other is a werewolf who spends13 years believing the accusations against hisformer best friend. Nevertheless, as the only two Marauders left (Wormtail doesn't count), there's definitely a bondbetween the two that seemsmore romantic than platonic, at times.
Considering how wellSirius and Remus knoweach other,there'splenty ofscope for the imagination about what their long and checkered history could contain. Their connectionfeels like a wasted opportunitywhen compared to the actual canonrelationshipbetween Remus and Tonks, which comescompletely out of the blue inHalf-Blood Prince.
Harry Potter & Draco Malfoy
There isalmost twice the number of fan fiction about Harry and Draco than there isthe second most popular Harry Potter couple, which says it all about the Harry Potter ship's popularity. This is the ultimate enemies-to-lovers trope, taking two bitter rivals anddialing in on theirpotential for romantic tension.
But it's less unrealistic than it sounds. At their cores, Harry and Dracoare quitesimilar. Both come from prestigious backgrounds, love Quidditch, and feel a lot of pressure to prove themselves, even if it's in very different ways. A relationship would bring out the good in Draco and maybe even the dark in Harry, and it's fascinating to explore the consequences ofthem connecting inthis way.
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