Shipping

"Well, you see, I'm a relative newcomer to the world of shipping, because for a long time, I didn't go on the net and look up Harry Potter. A long time. Occasionally I had to, because there were weird news stories or something that I would have to go and check, because I was supposed to have said something I hadn’t said. I had never gone and looked at fan sites, and then one day I did and oh - my - god. Five hours later or something, I get up from the computer shaking slightly. ‘What is going on?’ And it was during that first mammoth session that I met the shippers, and it was a most extraordinary thing. I had no idea there was this huge underworld seething beneath me."

- J. K. Rowling on shipping.

Shipping is a fandom term for the romantic pairing of two or more fictional characters. Shipping can occur either between characters canonically romantically involved or whose involvement has only been speculated, or in some cases fabricated, by fans. Shipping is an important part of the Harry Potter fandom and has flourished both during and after completion of the book series.

Harry/Hermione
During the writing of the Harry Potter books, there was a major debate among fans as to whether Hermione Granger would end up with Harry Potter or Ronald Weasley and similarly whether Harry would end up with Hermione or Ginny Weasley. Though Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows would confirm their preferences (Harry for Ginny, Hermione for Ron), commentary from J. K. Rowling and other official sources on a Harry/Hermione pairing have been common.

As early as a 1999 interview with NPR Radio, Rowling answered a question asking if Harry and Hermione "have a date" in the negative, noting that they are platonic friends. In a 2005 interview with Melissa Anelli of The Leaky Cauldron and Emerson Spartz of MuggleNet, Rowling, while not going so far as to agree with Spartz calling Harry/Hermione shippers "delusional", did note that she felt Ron ending up with Hermione should have been obvious from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

However, in a 2014 interview with Emma Watson for Wonderland Magazine, Rowling noted that the Hermione/Ron relationship was a "form of wish fulfillment" and a result of clinging to the plot she had originally written. She noted that Harry/Hermione would be a better fit in some ways and pointed to their scenes alone in the tent in Deathly Hallows as being romantically charged. She did conclude, however, that Ron and Hermione would be fine after the wizarding equivalent of marriage counseling.

When writing the script for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Steve Kloves also noted how romantically charged the Harry/Hermione moments were. This may be the reason behind some of the added scenes in the film, such as Harry and Hermione sharing a dance.

Neville/Luna
According to J. K. Rowling, Neville Longbottom would go on to marry Hannah Abbott and Luna Lovegood would marry Rolf Scamander. However, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Neville is depicted as being in love with Luna, with Luna potentially reciprocating these feelings. Both Matthew Lewis and Evanna Lynch have stated that they consider this a brief relationship before they get together with their canon partners.