Hermoine's unexpected aiding of Fred/George

[ellejir]

No: HPFGUIDX 77142

> In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "princesspeaette" wrote:
> > Does anyone else find it very amusing that Hermione is the reason 
> > Fred and George perfect one of their skiving snackboxes??? 
> > 
>"ajlboston" wrote: 
> YES, I thought of it at midnight and was planning on posting it 
this 
> morning!  How odd!  It is subtle humor when they say that Lee 
tipped 
> them off to the murtlap essence, after Harry had tipped him off to 
> it, after Hermione had given it to Harry.  I wonder if she realized 
> it...
> 
Me:
One of the major themes of the interactions between Hermione and the 
twins in OoP is Hermione's initial lack of respect for the skills and 
talents of the twins, a view that seemed to soften a little by the 
end of the book. 
Hermione has a very rigid view of the world and has trouble accepting 
that others genuinely may have different priorities.  For Hermione, 
the world revolves around books, tests, grades and academic honors.  
When Fred and George scoff at Ron for becoming a prefect, she thinks 
that they are jealous (Ron knows that they are *not*.)  She makes 
disparaging remarks about the type of magical knowledge that the 
twins have when they are demonstrating the snackboxes in the common 
room (saying that they only know "flashy" stuff, not about anything 
really useful.) But she is wrong, I think.  The twins are *very* 
bright and the type of practical magic at which they excel likely 
will serve them very well in life.  Being the most successful test-
taker in school does not always translate into being the most 
successful person in post-school life.  (The latter is *not* sour 
grapes, I am a Hermione-like test-taker myself! :->  )
By the end of OoP, Hermione is less dismissive of Fred and George's 
magical abilities (and is even somewhat impressed by the vanishing 
charm that they use with their joke hats!)  She still does not 
approve of their early exit from school or their lack of concern 
about their exams.  I suspect that there may be more development of 
these issues in the last two books.      Elle