Just Another Book About Harry Potter Ships

Bellamione (Bellatrix/Hermione)

SHIP NAMES: Bellamione, Hellatrix, Bellatrix/Hermione, Hr/B, HG/BB, HG/BL, H.M.S. Tainted Blood

THOUGHTS: The fact that this is the third-most popular femslash ship in the entire fandom has me dying a little inside... 😭😭😭

Okay, look, from a purely theoretical standpoint, if I tip my head 90 degrees to the left and squint at this pairing on a Wednesday night in the dead of winter during a blue moon at exactly midnight, I can see what might draw people to this ship. Three-quarters of it has got to be the combined hotness of Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Watson, because there's no other satisfactory explanation — I guarantee you if fans didn't find the actresses playing Bellatrix and Hermione hot, this ship wouldn't be such a big thing (although it's not Carter's or Watson's fault for being found attractive, of course!) I checked the dates on this, and I can confirm that the first two Bellamione fics on AO3 were posted in 2010, followed by more in 2011 and 2012, and the first part of the final movie, which includes the scene where Bellatrix tortures Hermione, was released in 2010 (for some reason, that scene apparently turns some people on? It's been ages since I watched it but I'm pretty sure I cried from horror the entire time...but to each their own).

The remaining quarter is likely because some people are just really interested in dark, twisted, fucked-up ships, so one between a murderous pure-blood Slytherin woman on the knife-edge of insanity who hates Muggle-borns and a smart, incredibly talented Muggle-born Gryffindor woman on the opposite side of the war is their steaming hot cup of tea. (Also, it's possible they're into MILFs lol.) There's a huge opposites-attract element going on here obviously, but there are also some interesting similarities and narrative parallels between the two women. Both women are very intelligent, talented, powerful witches with an undying loyalty to the male leader of their cause, to whom they are his right-hand woman (Bellatrix with Voldemort, and Hermione with Harry).

It's also not hard to imagine that either woman could have turned out differently, given different circumstances. I don't know enough about Bellatrix to say definitively how she could have turned out less dark, but I've read a lot about Hermione and her potential for darkness. People who are interested in exploring a darker Hermione point out that she shows ambition and cunning, as well as the full capacity to do harm to others without remorse if it furthers her goals (for example, keeping Rita Skeeter as a beetle in a jar for months! Permanently scarring Marietta Edgecombe's forehead with the word "sneak" that will be visible for the rest of her life! Those are some fucked-up things, y'all.) Basically, if you're into dark shit, this pairing might be for you.

Also, for what it's worth, there is no requirement that femslash be "moral," fluffy, healthy, or wholesome for it to be worth exploring. I've noticed a distinct lack of "messed up" femslash in ways that are not true for other genres, especially slash, which is odd. I remember reading a Fanlore wiki article a while back that analyzed how darker fiction was shamed out of femslash circles over the past decade or so, leaving only the "good, moral" stuff behind, which pushed people to find darker themes elsewhere (e.g. slash). It makes me wonder if part of the reason why people are not as drawn to femslash as they are to slash or het is because the supposed available options are too "bland" — e.g. they don't have the level of conflict and deep human complexity that many people enjoy in fiction. Perhaps people feel shamed out of exploring darker themes in femslash, which is a shame (pun intended). This is NOT to say that femslash ships need to be as dark and twisted as Bellamione to appeal to fans (that's a troubling prospect in and of itself!), but also, it's important to understand that super fluffy, wholesome friends-to-lovers ships are not everyone's cup of tea and that female characters don't have to be paragons of moral virtue to be worth exploring.

Additionally, I want to acknowledge that there's a difference between exploring something dark in fiction and understanding its real-world ramifications versus actively romanticizing abuse! Most people (most, not all, but most) understand that ships like Bellamione are fucked up. That's kind of the point. It's when people try to go "omg look at my murderous babes uwu look at how cute they are" in full seriousness that this stuff becomes a problem. If you're going to write or ship something that has abuse, torture, etc., in it, you really should understand what you're up against. That's just my two cents.

As for my personal opinion of this ship...

This ship used to be my least favorite ship in the entire Harry Potter fandom. It rankled me (and still does) that people would romanticize the torture that Hermione experienced at the hands of Bellatrix, because if we're being totally realistic, Hermione would be traumatized for the rest of her life! Again, romanticizing abuse is NOT cool. If you're here to explore dark themes, fine, do so. But the romanticizing abuse makes me soooooooo uncomfortable. (Not to mention that I personally want good things for Hermione, which coincidentally does not include a fucked-up relationship with a woman who gleefully tortured her and hates all people like her because of their blood status!)

But now that I'm older and actively working to be less judgmental of other people's ships — because it's fiction, not reality, no matter how disturbing I might personally find something — I can see what draws people to Bellamione, and I'll (only somewhat ashamedly) admit that a lot of the fanart is really hot. (What? I'm bi/pan asf and find both actresses hot, okay? No kink-shaming!!! I'll do enough of that towards myself for all of us lol.)

Basically, I'm no longer as diametrically opposed to this pairing, despite my knee-jerk discomfort over the idea that there are people out there who actually seriously ship this as a favorite pairing or a romantic OTP. I'm definitely salty that this ship is the third-most popular femslash ship in the entire fandom, because I think there are plenty of others that deserve to be higher, and as I said before, I want good things for Hermione, so seriously shipping her in a relationship that would be abusive squicks me. But I can't choose other people's fandom activities for them. I'll just do my best to advocate for people to create content for other, smaller femslash ships, instead!

RATING: 1/10: Dark themes in fiction are fine, but I just want good things for Hermione, and this is not that!!!

FANDOM RANK (AS OF MAY 2021): #39*

*#48 including Character/OC & FBAWTFT ships

What do y'all think? Let me know in the comments! And please remember to be polite!

P.S. RIP my queer wlw little heart for finding the fanart hot but I seriously can't help it 😭💔

(And yes, I'm fully aware that I "shouldn't" find this ship attractive, even if the fanart is hot, but I'm also not going to lie and say that it's the most awful thing that I've ever seen in my entire life, because...well, this is an opinion book, and my opinion is that the fanart is hot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Let me reiterate that I am well-aware just how messed up the ship is, so please be polite about people's inevitable differences of opinion or I will have to start deleting people's comments.)

P.P.S. If you're interested in adding some Harry Potter femslash ships to your repertoire but aren't interested in the top ones so far (Linny, Dorlene, Pansmione, Bellamione), there are plenty of other femslash ships out there! They include ships like Fleurmione, Ginmione, Cissamione, Ginsy, Lunamione, Parvender, Lunsy, McPop, Marily, Flonks, Parkgrass, Chinny, and so much more, so be on the lookout for those chapters! 👀

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