9 Harry Potter Couples We’ll Never Stop Shipping

Team Lovebottom forever.

Our favorite class of magical folks from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have long since moved on from those hallowed halls, and from their Hollywood franchise. But let’s be honest: we’re still obsessing over their high school hookups, including the ones they never had (and given the chance, maybe never would.)

With its enormous cast of characters, the Potterverse spawned more OTPs than three ordinary fictional fantasies combined, with fans partaking in endless discussions about the marital prospects of various Weasleys, the One True Love of the Boy Who Lived, and whether or not a house elf could legally marry a hippogryph.

Heck, even J. K. Rowling herself has admitted to wondering over the years whether she really should’ve put together Hermione and Ron at the end of the story. So, in honor of the lasting power of all those Harry Potter pairings, here are the top eight couples who we’re still writing fanfic about after all these years.

1. Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom

Thanks to some creative finagling on the part of the moviemakers, Team Lovebottom at least got to see the spark of a romance between these two onscreen. But we want more! MORE!

2. Nagini and Fawkes

The series’ best chance for a star-crossed Romeo and Juliet romance: an illicit love affair between Nagini, Voldemort’s snake companion, and Fawkes, the phoenix who was Dumbledore’s righthand man. If these two could’ve just met and taught their warring parents a thing or two about the power of love, the whole series could have ended up so very differently.

3. Peter Pettigrew and Ron Weasley

Not for nothing, but Ron did spent years of his life feeding, petting, loving, and cleaning up Peter Pettigrew’s droppings. And when two people go through something like that, a bond is formed! Could this tale of mice and men have a happily-ever-after?

4. Ginny Weasley and Dean Thomas

Despite the canonical problem of Ginny ending up married to hero Harry, the ambitious (if a bit morally-ambiguous) hottie from Slytherin always seemed like a better match for her. It just doesn’t seem right that Ginny, a gifted witch herself, is going to spend the rest of her life known as Mrs. The Guy Who Killed Voldemort.

5. Dobby and Kreacher

Crusty old Kreacher was a bit of a misanthrope, but an odd-couple love affair with a young, free elf would have been just the thing to put some spring back into his step. Just imagine the two of them retiring to Provincetown and spending the rest of their days riding a tandem bicycle wearing matching boater hats.

6. Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort

Obviously, Harry and Voldy had a complicated relationship. But c’mon, guys: It’s not for nothing that we spent ten years of our lives hearing how these two had an “inexplicable connection” between their “magic wands.” Ahem. AHEM.

7. Xenophilius Lovegood and Professor Sprout

All we ever wanted was for these two to fall in love, get married, and spend the rest of their lives growing new and exciting varieties of dirigible plums together.

8. Hermione Granger and Viktor Krum

Like J.K. Rowling, we just don’t buy that Ron Weasley is going to be enough for the frankly brilliant Hermione. Which is why, years from now, when Hermione is bored out of her mind by her husband’s well-meaning but unstimulating company, and Ron has put on 50 pounds of resentment weight over living in constant awareness of just how smart he isn’t, it will be only natural that Hermione have a life-altering, torrid, “Eat Pray Love”-style rekindling of her romance with professional Quidditch star Viktor Krum.

9. Draco Malfoy and Lord Voldemort
One is a petulant platinum Death Eater; the other is the living embodiment of all evil. But all you have to do is watch the extended cut of Draco’s “Deathly Hallows” hug with Voldy to see that there’s something special between these two. Ohhhhh, Draco.