Abuse, Hermione and the triad, triumvirate.

[Simon Branford]

No: HPFGUIDX 2514

"As naive as this may sound, maybe the thought hasn't crossed Harry's mind.
He's an abused child. The Dursley's admitted in the first book that they did
everything they could to squash the magic out of him."

I think saying he was abused is taking it a bit far. He was reasonably well
fed, had a room of his own (maybe a little small but still his), had plenty
of clothes to wear (even if they were second hand and did not fit him) and
did have some toys to play with.
Yes he could have been treated a lot better, but I cannot remember any
instance where we are told he was hit by Petunia or Vernon.

Penny wrote: "But, the notion that Hermione is a lesser member of the Trio
somehow is just . . . wrong.  BTW, I'm not directing that comment
specifically at Simon -- just making a point from some recent discussions
this week."

I think that they are all equally important, but in very different ways.
Hermione is the brains of the operation and brings a calming influence to
the other two (apart from when she hits Draco - having said that this stops
the other two getting involved in a fight).

I wrote "This chapter starts with the triad (I do not like the word
triumvirate"

And Caius asked "OK I'll bite - why don't you like this perfectly servicable
English language word?"

It is not that I do not like the word triumvirate. It is that I dislike the
use of it to describe the triad of Harry, Ron and Hermione. This discussion
came up on the PoU group (see message #1231) and a little while ago (started
by me as I wished to know why so many people used it). Triumvirate means:
Government or control by a group of three males. My dislike come from the
fact that Hermione is not male and that, IMO, they have control of nothing.
Due to these points it is an impropriate word in the circumstances.

PoU is found at: http://www.egroups.com/group/ParadigmOfUncertainty

Simon