Hermione's Imminent Crisis

[vulgarweed]

No: HPFGUIDX 35108

Rita wrote:

> I don't see Hermione being that lacking in self-esteem.  Really.  
> My one hope for Hermione is that she gets herself some 
> girlfriends, she really does need some.  Maybe if Harry gets 
> closer to Cho, she and Hermione could form a tight 
> friendship--like a girl does with her boyfriend's sister.  
> 

Does she really need girlfriends, though? Hermione thus far has 
struck me as the specific type of bluestocking who is what some 
feminists call "male-identified" in a disparaging way--most of her 
friends are male, she seems to get along with males in a companionate 
way a little better than females, shares more common interests with 
guys, etc. I may be projecting a bit cause I'm rather like this 
myself, but I don't honestly think either gender makes "better" 
friends than the other or that Hermione, canonically speaking, has 
anything in common with Cho or Ginny or any other female character 
we've seen yet. Except for some of the female *professors* that is. 
This is also a pretty common pattern in gifted children, especially 
girls, (especially only children as I'll betcha Herm is)--frequently 
enjoying the company of older people more than of people her age. 
That's why I saw no problem with her relationship with Viktor. She'd 
probably need a boy a few years older to be close to her "equal" 
(remember, girls at that age mature noticeably faster than boys, in 
general).

Honestly it seems to me that as far as friendship is concerned, she's 
doing pretty much fine. I think that the only thing that could cause 
her a real, lasting self-esteem crisis (as opposed to the inevitable 
hormone-based shortlived ones all teenagers have) is the possibility 
of academic failure or the severe disapproval of someone she really 
respects, like McGonagall or Vector.

AV
(a proud member of the Snape is Dead Sexy club who lives with a 
blond, blue-eyed, slightly younger, mild-mannered, twinkly-eyed 
kitten-petting musician boyfriend. The whole fun of fantasy is that 
it allows you to be free to want things you really wouldn't want to 
want in real life. Even better, there is no compulsory monogamy in 
fantasy, and I also think Remus and Sirius are dead sexy, as will 
Harry be if he survives to adulthood. Not Draco, though--can't stand 
that boy).