That marvelous Chamber (long)

[b.jebenstreit at biologie.uni-bielefeld.de]

No: HPFGUIDX 27426

Marcus wrote:
  And I agree that Lockhart is too
> broad of a character -- the original one-joke man.  It also annoys me
> that Hermione is deceived by the git to the bitter end.


Ah, be a bit lenient on the gall ;-))
I guess one of the reasons Lockhart was introduced (besides comic
relief) was to push Hermione through the "first crush" phase. Being a
girl, she is likely to hit puberty (and leave) it a year or two before
Harry and Ron do.
That´s exactly what we see: Hermione´s first crush is Lockhart in CoS,
with Harry following a year later in PoA (when he notices Cho) and Ron
in the fourth year (when he notices Fleur). Hermione apparently moves
through the adoration phase pretty quickly. That is not amazing -
being a "bookworm" and maybe a bit *too* mature and rules-concious.
When Ron finally notices girls *as girls* in GoF (how can you top:
"Hermione - you *are* a girl!") Hermione is already courted by someone
who is older - and likely to look for a relationship (Viktor).
Looking back, Hermione will probably wish at some time her first crush
would be less embarassing for her. But, ah, she shares this adolescent
confusion of good taste with many other adolescent females of our
species :-)) And what other victim would have been available? Not the
ordinary muggle movie or pop star. Being muggle-born and more bookwise
than worldwise it is unlikely she knows a lot about wizard stars. The
other teachers where no match for Lockhart and the boys where out of
bounds yet.
Luckily, most girls overcome this phase unhurt. The boys, too. :-))
Ethanol, who prefers not to remember who she doted on as a teen