Hermione's Death?

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 23549

First off, I want to say that Hermione's easily my favorite character of the
Trio.  If I had a daughter who was like her, I'd figure that I must have
done something right in my life to be so lucky.  _If_ JKR kills her, I'll be
very sad.

That said...if it's necessary for her to die to defeat Voldemort, or save
Harry or Ron, I think she'd accept it without a qualm.  I could see her, for
example, throwing herself in front of Voldemort's wand to save either of the
other two, knowing perfectly well that this was going to kill her.  Or
casting a spell to stop Voldemort from regaining his full power, even though
she knew that the backlash from the spell would be fatal to her.  I could
even see her telling the others that this was how it had to be, and telling
them goodbye...this _would_ be a really touching scene.

You may ask: Why do I say this?  Because, in my view, of the Trio, it's
easily Hermione that's by far the bravest of them all.  Think about it from
her point of view.  The letter from Hogwarts had to come as a complete
surprise to her and her family, since, as Muggles, they wouldn't have known
about the wizarding world, but instead of shrinking in fear, Hermione not
only embraced this new destiny, but set forth determined to not only
survive, but shine---to be _the best_ witch in her class.  She set off into
an unknown situation, one where her parents' and family's prior experience
could not have been any guidance, and at the opposite end of the country
from her family to boot.  This, in itself, took a great deal of courage, and
I have to say that this is one of the reasons I love her character.

Contrast Ron---he knew about Hogwarts from the get-go; his parents and
brothers had gone there, he'd heard about it all his life ("Really, Mom?
Were you _really_ as good as all that?  You never lost your house any
points?  That isn't what Grandma said!")  and the only worries he had were
about money and whether the Sorting Ceremony _really_ involved wrestling a
troll.  As for Harry---his life at the Dursleys' was so lousy that I think
if I'd shown up and offered  him a chance to go to the Russian Front, all
he'd have needed to hear was that German sergeants and officers weren't as
bad as the Dursleys, and he'd have been ready to march to Moscow.  (I've
been re-reading _Enemy at the Gates;_ hence, the WWII metaphor).

On the Hogwarts Express and at the Sorting Ceremony, poor Hermione was
probably all but wetting her pants with fear, but _still_ determined to see
this thing through; I think she got Gryffindor partly on the basis of
wanting Gryffindor and partly because the Hat could see how scared she
was---and that she was overriding it.  As my friend, the SF author J. Neil
Schulman, has asked: "Who is braver---the man who charges into battle
feeling no fear, or the man who's so scared he's wetting his pants---as he
charges in anyway?"

Hermione's also got the courage to stand up to her friends (such as Ron in
PoA) and to withstand the disapprobation of the entire school (in GoF, when
she's the only one who believes Harry didn't put his name in for the
Tournament).  I've known a lot of people who'd rather charge a machine-gun
nest or go into a burning oil refinery than deal with either situation.  As
Dumbledore points out at the end of PS/SS, it takes a different, special
kind of courage to stand up to your friends.

If Hermione dies, as I've said, I'd be very, very sorry, both to see the end
of a character I really like and care about, and because I could just
imagine how awful Ron and Harry (and the Weasleys, and the Grangers, and the
Hogwarts faculty) would feel about it.  That being said, though, it may be
necessary.  Think of _Romeo and Juliet_ without the two main idiots'
deaths---that was the whole point of the play, the fact that these two
likeable young people had to die because of their elders' idiotic feuding,
and that it took their loss to get their families' heads into the right
place to call the whole stupid quarrel off.

Well, that's all I can think of on _that_ subject.  Maybe we should discuss
something cheerful---what do you all think should be done with Voldemort if
they catch him alive?  The Dementor's Kiss?