Hermione: Panic Attacks & Tears? (Was Hermione as mirror of Snape)

[Penny Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 38952

Hi --

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> wrote:
> Hermione is panic stricken in GoF when she's struck by Draco's 
> misplaced curse and her eyes fill with tears after Snape's nasty  
> crack. I know, I know, she's only 14 but she's still going to have 
> to do better than that if she wants to be an Auror.

I feel I should point out that there's no indication that Hermione *wants* to be an Auror.  As usual with Hermione, she is pleased to receive praise and compliments, especially from a respected professor.  But, the person within the Trio who very, very obviously *wants* to be an Auror is *Ron.*   He's the one who is said to be "eager to be told that he too has the makings of an Auror."  He's the one who brings it up again, more than once IIRC.  

As for needing to "do better than that" to be an Auror, as I pointed out yesterday, Hermione doesn't lose her cool when the going gets tough (with the one exception of the Devil's snare incident).  She also doesn't succumb to an emotional reaction except when personal arguments with friends are at play or in the case of the Snape incident that you mention, when she has been personally attacked by someone in a position of authority (someone who, IMHO, should know better & not abuse their position of power to prey on the sensitivities of students ..... but that's another issue).

Ron, OTOH, is the impetuous one.  He's the one who reacts almost exclusively in an emotional way.  He's the one with tendenices that need to be curbed or rechanneled for him to be effective as an Auror.  I've always had the impression that Ron just shoots off his mouth with the first thing that pops into his head, and he's also quite stubbornly resistant to changing his first impressions.

Pippin went on to say:
> 
> BTW, Ron should get credit for keeping a cool head in 
> emergencies. Even when terrifed by Aragog, he's still functional 
> enough to rescue Fang in CoS. He's also willing to take damage 
> points, which Harry thinks must be an important part of the Auror 
> job. <g>

Barb responded with:

<<<Thanks for making that point.  I'm rather weary of folks pointing 
out that Crouch, while pretending to be Moody, didn't think Ron 
would make a good Auror.  I think we have to remember that a) he 
simply didn't SAY Ron would make a good Auror; and b) he had 
ulterior motives for everything he said/did (such as being nice to 
Neville and giving him the book on water plants).>>>>>>>>

He didn't say Ron would make a good Auror, but he did say that Harry and Hermione would each make a good Auror.  The implication is pretty clear, especially when you add in the statement that "Ron was obviously hoping to be told that he too had the makings of an Auror."

As for motives, Barb is quite right to point out that Crouch-as-Moody obviously might have ulterior motives for making the statements that he did.  *However,* I think it's important to consider that the other possibility is that JKR was making this point herself and simply forgot to consider that we would later view Crouch-as-Moody's pronouncements with suspicion.  So, we're back to the "red herring vs. red flag" arguments, aren't we?  

I still say it's a red flag and that Ron is falling behind the other two.  Then again, based on what we know so far about Aurors and what they do, I'd agree with Crouch-as-Moody's assessments: Harry and Hermione do both employ a mix of logic and emotional gut reactions.  Ron employs strictly emotional gut reactions, which are almost always wrong (thus far).  Ron has his moments in the resolution of each book (except POA) .... but he's not been very key to actually *solving* the problems so far other than getting across the Chess Board in SS. It's Hermione's library work & Harry's logic that figure out the basilisk problem in CoS; it's again Hermione and Harry who figure out what needs to be done to save Buckbeak and Sirius in POA and it's mainly Harry, aided by the spells and hexes that Hermione found and Ron helped him practice with, who gets himself out of GoF.  

Barb:

<<<Not telling Ron--This may be a clue that Crouch thinks Ron is the 
most dangerous of the three.  Why would he want to encourage someone 
he thinks is good to be an Auror?>>>>>>

Again, IMO Ron doesn't have the full skill-set needed for Auror-ship (based on what we know about Aurors).  Yes, as Pippin notes, he's cool under pressure.  But, other than Devil's snare, so is Hermione.  So is Harry.  I see no other evidence that Ron would make a good auror, and in fact, his emotional off-the-cuff impetuosity is probably a liability.

Penny


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