Truth

[grey_wolf_c]

No: HPFGUIDX 43695

> Porphyria: 
> 
> See, the Polyjuice potion was cool, but it did them absolutely no 
> good. The only thing they learned was that Draco was *not* the heir 
> of Slytherin, plus Hermione learned the hard way why not to confuse 
> cat hair with people hair. It didn't advance the plot or help to 
> solve the mystery; it hit a dead end. And as to Nicholas Flamel, all 
> Hermione's searching through history books and Harry's sneaking into 
> the library netted them absolutely nothing. Harry found the answer on 
> the back of a trading card that was a gift from Ron. In my post from 
> Sunday I detailed as best I could the various ways that the type of 
> booklearning Hermione brings to the table is good, but second best, 
> in much the same way that Hermione herself remarks that being 
> in "Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad," as a sort of afterthought to her 
> comment "I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best." 
> Harry's internal, instinctual knowledge always outdoes Hermione's 
> objective, logical knowledge. So I agree with darkthirty to the 
> extent that the books seem to endorse a sort of 'not knowing,' an 
> instinct for the right choice over intelligence on its own. 
> 
> ~Porphyria

I think you're trying to obscure the situation. Hermione and her books 
save the day in any number of occasions during the four books. In fact, 
even the polyjuice is useful: an investigation rarely advances by 
actually finding the correct answer in the first try, but by 
eliminating first the incorrect probable ones. Nevertheless, let's 
concede that that movement wasn't important.

In PS, Hermione herself is saved thanks to the fact that he made Ron 
see how to cast "wingardium Leviosa", even if Ron doesn't understand it 
at first. Hermione's talent at magic is not particulrly strong (or 
particularly weak either), but all her studying allows her to know the 
spells they need. It's her studying that opens the door to Fluffy, 
starting the trio in the right direction. And of course, it's her 
knowledge of plants what allows them to survive the very fist 
challenge.

In CoS, Hermione is out cold a good part of the time, but it's her 
search in the library that prevents Harry from turning into a statue 
the first time he faces the basilisk. If Hermione hadn't found the 
information on basilisks, Harry wouldn't have had a chance.

In PoA, Hermione's desire of knowledge is used to introduce the 
time-turner, and she learns how to use it, allowing Sirius and Buckbeak 
to be rescued. 

In GoF, Hermione's knoledge proves invaluable, since she's the one that 
trains Harry to survive two of the three tasks. She trains him in 
accio, and in the last task, it is her the one that teaches him all the 
enchantments he would be needing, both the ones he didn't actually use 
(like the blocking charm) and the ones that proved very useful (like 
the one pointing north).

And to that, you have to add all the times that Hermione's knowledge 
helps in some minor ways (the unplotability and apparition ban of 
Hogwarts, finding out facts of what they're looking for -like about the 
CoS in Binn's class-, etc.). Hermione is invaluable in the books, more 
so than Ron is, really. And I don't think that knowledge is undervalued 
in the books. While it is true that many times Harry faces situations 
with only incomplete information to help him, what little information 
he has normally proves useful.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf