Ever wonder where the names of our ship come from?
Introduction
Firstly, HMS is a nautical term for ships in the British Royal Navy, and stands for “His/Her Majesty’s Ship”, just like how the same way American naval vessels are called “USS” (United States Ship). I think since Harry Potter is a British story, all the ships in the Harry Potter fandom are called HMS something, for example, R/Hr is HMS Good Ship, H/G is HMS Chocolate, R/L is HMS Red Moon, and D/Hr is HMS Leather and Libraries. H/Hr is sometimes HMS Harmony or HMS Pumpkin Pie. Some H/Hr shippers prefer the former, some the latter, and the rest have no particular preference. Harry/Hermione shippers are sometimes called Harmonians” or “Pumpkineers”.
* H: Harry, Hr: Hermione, R: Ron, G: Ginny, L: Luna, D: Draco.
I think most of us can figure out where the word “Harmony” comes from. Evident from the books, Harry and Hermione have always had a rather harmonious relationship, quite shy of quarrels, petty arguments or silly bickering. Furthermore, “Harmony” sounds like a combination of their names – “Harry” and “Hermione” — “Har-mione”. This name is closer to ‘canon’, unlike the next which comes from ‘fanon’.
HMS Pumpkin Pie
As extracted from Portkey.org forums:
The Tale of the HMS Pumpkin Pie
Once upon a time, there was a writer and H/H shipper named Cassandra Claire. She was in the middle of writing the fourth chapter of a story called Draco Veritas. And, being the good, H/H shipper she is, decided to post a snippet of an H/H snog on to this board. Her snog was angsty and steamy and made many of us blush.
It also kicked our muses into high gear. A call was heard all ’round the great ship H/H (as it was then known) for snoglets of any type involving our two heroes.
Many people posted and there was one (by Narri) in which our hero, Harry, coming from a feast, tasted like pumpkin pie. No one is sure why this particular tidbit or turn of phrase caught on, but it did, sweeping through the ship like pink-eye in an elementary school.
Many, *many,* of the snoglets that followed described Harry as tasting like pumpkin pie. There were even whole ficlets built around our two heroes and pumpkin pie.
In short, pumpkin pie became our unofficial mascot, until one day, after many snogs and ficlets, someone said, “Let us forthwith be called the HMS Pumpkin Pie.”
And, that, my friends, is the story of the great ship, HMS Pumpkin Pie.
~parker
January, 2002
This name is not totally based on fanon. There is actually a teeny weeny bit of link to ‘pumpkins’ in the book. In Prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry and Hermione went back in time to rescue Buckbeak, they had to hide outside Hagrid’s Hut where there is a huge pumpkin patch. In the movie, they had to hide behind the huge pumpkins as well.