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Pansmione is the femslash ship between Hermione Granger and Pansy Parkinson from the Harry Potter fandom.
Canon[]
Pansy and Hermione did not get along (much like many of the Gryffindors and Slytherins). There was an intense rivalry and dislike between the two houses. Pansy and Hermione were like opposites in many ways. Pansy was a pureblood witch from a wealthy, privileged background, while Hermione was a Muggle-born witch. The same goes for personality. Pansy was mean-spirited, shallow, and frequently bullied others, while Hermione was almost her polar opposite, being compassionate with strong morals. Pansy was no more than one of Draco Malfoy's lackeys, following him around and mocking every non-Slytherin student they could find, especially Hermione, Harry, and Ron at any given opportunity.
Fourth year[]
In their fourth year, Pansy often insulted Hermione, though Hermione was not afraid to challenge or talk back. Pansy wore a "Potter Stinks" badge, causing Hermione to sarcastically chime that it was 'really witty' and 'funny'. Pansy also found it hilarious when Draco hexed Hermione with a Densaugeo incantation, causing Hermione's teeth to grow like a beaver's.[1] After reading an article from Rita Skeeter, she was dumbfounded that Hermione had been called "stunningly pretty", believing that she was no more attractive than a chipmunk. Hermione chose to ignore it. At the Yule Ball, Pansy gaped at her, shocked that she was taken by Krum to the ball. After Skeeter's next scandalous article in Witch Weekly, suggesting Harry and Hermione were a couple, Pansy threw the newspaper at Hermione, telling her she might find it interesting.
Fifth year[]
In their fifth year, Pansy becomes Slytherin prefect, to the shock of Hermione, who calls her a 'complete cow', believing she is 'thicker than a concussed troll'. They were both prefects for their respective houses. Due to Fred and George's antics, Pansy missed all of her lessons, due to sprouting antlers, this pleased Hermione.
Quotes[]
- “Stunningly pretty? Her? What was she judging against — a chipmunk?”
- — Pansy about Hermione, after reading an article in the Daily Prophet
- “And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson, How she got to be a prefect when she’s thicker than a concussed troll ...”
- — Hermione about Pansy
Fanon[]
This is one of the more popular femslash ships within the Harry Potter fandom. In an analysis of AO3 metrics, Pansmione ranked around the 3rd/4th most popular femslash ship.[2] For the character Pansy, it is the most popular ship (even more than Draco/Pansy). For Hermione, it is the 2nd most popular femslash. It became more popular as a ship around the late 2010s-early 2020s.
History[]
In the early 2000s, on the now-defunct FictionAlley forums, the ship was referred to as the "H.M.S Pug and Chipmunk". The name comes from the fact that Pansy is often described as "pug-faced", and Hermione's appearance was compared to a chipmunk. It is also referred to by the shorthand HG/PP, or Hr/P. It was one of the more popular femslash ships on LiveJournal, with over 200 posts, though femslash was somewhat rare within HP itself.
The ship gained an increase in popularity around the early 2020s, becoming one of the most popular femslash ships in the fandom.
Appeal[]
The main appeal for the ship is similar to many of the Gryffindor-Slytherin ships. It is often a mirror to Drarry, a similar rival-enemy ship, with Pansmione acting as a more femslash alternative. The ship's main appeal is due to the enemies-to-lovers trope.
Another reason for its popularity is the potential for a redemption arc. Some fans have noted that female characters rarely get redemption arcs. In the books, Pansy is depicted as a bully and a rival to Hermione. However, some fans enjoy writing fanfiction where Pansy grows and changes, learning to overcome her prejudices, with Hermione aiding this growth.
Pansy has limited development in the series, so she can also be considered a Blank Slate character, meaning a character who has 'little canon information, and becomes adopted and fleshed out with fanon characteristics'. Pansy is frequently depicted in fanon as East Asian, adopting a tougher and sassier personality. A lot of the ship's appeal is due to this blank slate, similar to other ships like Theomione or Dorlene, which likewise include characters who have been popularized by fanfiction and fanon.
Fanwork[]
Fanart is especially popular, with dozens uploaded on Tumblr. In terms of their dynamic, it is popular to depict Pansy as more sassy, while Hermione is more bookish and pedantic. It is also popular to depict Pansy as East Asian, while Hermione as a person of color (POC), though this has attracted some controversy as Pansy is racist within the books. In terms of tropes, dark academia and rival academics are popular, with many fanfics taking place in the eighth year of Hogwarts, post-war.
Controversy[]
| WARNING! This section discusses the subject of racism. |
This ship has garnered significant controversy due to the morality of the ship. Pansy is depicted as a bully within the canon of Harry Potter. She is hateful, racist, and treats Hermione with disdain. Within the books, she also exhibited racism, describing Angelina Johnson as having "worms coming out of [her] head". Since Hermione is often depicted as black/POC (both within the stage play and the fandom), this has caused some controversy.
There has been significant discourse on Tumblr about Pansmione, with one post gaining over 800 notes.[3] Some find it uncomfortable to ship Hermione with a canonically racist character. Others choose to ignore canon altogether (even more so in light of Rowling's controversy). Since Pansy has little impact in canon, she can even be treated like an original character (OC), or blank slate character. Some even depict Pansy as East Asian, though this again has caused controversy, due to her being racist in the books.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Hermione/Pansy tag on AO3
- WIKIS
- Hermione/Pansy on Fanlore
References[]
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Chapter 18: The Weighing of the Wands
- ↑ AO3 Analysis on HP ships by broomsticks (2022)
- ↑ I want to discuss pansy by upthehilart (2021)
