In Defense of Hermione

[Ebony]

No: HPFGUIDX 26517

Penny:
> > Okay, so what is SCHABB, you ask?  SCHABB stands for
> > Stop Calling 
> > Hermione a Bossy Braggart.  I was going to call it
> > Stop Calling Hermione 
> > an Insecure Bossy Braggart who is Incapable of
> > Running her own Love 
> > Life.

Rowena:
>     Well, sorry, but she *is* bossy *and* a little
> showoff, (does she *have* to answer *every* question?
> Can't she give somebody else a chance occasionally?)
> But it seems to me she's doing rather well in the
> love-life department. Her first date is an
> international celebrity who is seriously infatuated
> with her *and* Ron has been taught not to take her for
> granted - does it get better than this? and at
> fourteen too.

Well, it seems to me that as she gets older Hermione is getting 
better at not being so bossy.  And if she believes she knows the 
answers, why shouldn't she raise her hand?  Often in the narrative no 
one else does. 

I don't think Hermione shows off in the beginning because her ego is 
big.  I think she is a bit insecure and feels as if she needs to 
showcase her knowledge to prove her worth in this new world she's 
found herself in.  

As far as the love life issue is concerned, I have the sneaking 
suspicion that JKR is only setting her up for angst.  Sure, she gets 
to whisk into the ball on the arm of a celeb and the wrong best 
friend is mooning over her.  This doesn't mean that it's going to be 
a cakewalk for her in the romance department from now on.  Let's not 
forget that poor Neville seems to be harboring a small crush, Ron 
will not necessarily drop his mercurial tendencies even if she 
decides she likes him back, and she's still Harry's best friend... 
still a target for Dark Arts sympathizers, still a target for rogue 
journalists.  After all, the Gryffindors, the rest of the Hogwarts 
students with good sense, and Molly *Weasley* now know that the Daily 
Prophet tabloids in GoF were lies and overexaggerations.  The rest of 
the wizarding world does not.

See?  Hermione deserves our sympathy too!  :-)

--Ebony AKA AngieJ