Stretching the Suspension of Disbelief

A while ago -- a long while ago -- copperbadge asked me why I would ship characters who have very little (or no) connection in canon. He could see Sirius/Remus but... Snape/Percy? Or Ron/Sirius. What was the point?

I was never really satisfied with my answer which amounted to: because I can! "Oh, I've written Lucius/Percy over here, ha-ha, and, and --"

The truth is, I began in Harry Potter as a Harry/Ron fan precisely because I needed that close connection in canon for it to seem plausible. Without that, the suspension of belief required was too steep. I couldn't get past the "What-hunh?" factor. (I still feel the same about Boromir/Faramir slash and anything involving Dobby.)

It's not that I shuddered or couldn't appreciate the pairing. It's just that I didn't believe it. Three years ago I would have agreed with copperbadge and ranted about how certain pairings -- like Ron/Draco -- were impossible in canon, so why bother?

In fact, that's what I told emeraldjay when he reviewed Guy Talk, following it up with a request for Draco/Ron. No way, no how, I said.

What changed?

( The seduction of fanfic. )