Fleur kisses Ron?-Re Semicolon debate

[Kimberly]

No: HPFGUIDX 15417

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., brandgwen at h... wrote:

> Fleur's manner was haughty from the beginning, which ticked Hermione 
> off.  The first mention of her follows:
> 
> "'... I hope and trust your stay [at Hogwarts] will be both 
> comfortable and enjoyable.'
> 
> One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her
> head gave what was unmistakeably a derisive laugh.
> 
> 'No one's making you stay!' Hermione whispered, bristling at her."
>      GoF, Ch 16 The Goblet of Fire.
> 

I believe this.  She may well have had a bad first impression, but 
Hermione's usually very open-minded.  After the second task Fleur quit 
whining and became much more pleasant but Hermione continued to hate 
her.  It just seems so unlike her.  

<snip of "Blue-stocking discourse" explanation>
> Whether or not this is true in the current context is a matter for 
> more knowledgable people that myself.  However, Hermione is a young 
> girl, just reaching adolescence.  She prizes her intelligence and 
> values such masculine traits as courage and comradary.  Her attitude 
> to her looks is functional and she considers preening to be fatuous.  
> For someone to find her attractive, they're going to have to look 
> beyond the exterior and she has no intention of altering that.
> 
> Now, in walks Fleur, the anti-Hermione.  This person looks good and 
> knows it.  What's more, she maximises her looks; anyone who has ever 
> had hair down to their waist will know that it hark work.  Her 
manner 
> is feminine.  She attracts attention by walking across a room - she 
> doesn't need to think, she just has to be.
> 
> I'm not suggesting Hermione was just jealous.  She might have been, 
> but I also think her attitude could be attributed to a degree of 
> contempt for the steroetype Fleur represented.  Fleur is an 
> affirmation of what Hermione must have already started to notice.  
> Smart, practical people can be daughters, students, peers and
> friends, and can be appreciated accordingly.  It's not as easy to
> find appreciation as a girl.  Your average teenager will look at the 
> veela first.
> 

I can see that, although I think what that amounts to really in my 
mind is jealousy.  I (in my also R/H tendencies) would say it's maybe 
a cute jealousy over the boy she likes, if that's the case, and not 
the less pleasant general hatred of another girl just because she's 
pretty.  But the snottiness that Fleur demonstrated at the beginning 
probably didn't help much either way.

I guess it's not something I'll ever be able to know for sure anyway.

kimberly