Hermione, Krum, and Durmstrang

[grannybat84112]

No: HPFGUIDX 87597

Janet wrote:
> 
>>I wonder if Hermione doesn't suspect (especially after Karkaroff's
>>disappearance) that it might be important to know *exactly* where 
>>Durmstrang  is -- and that's why she's spending so much time on 
>>correspondence with Krum?  If anyone can figure out
>>its location from clues she gets out of Krum, Hermione can.
 
Then Diana L. wrote:
>
> Do you really think Hermione would string Viktor along like that 
> just to pump him for information about the location of Hogwarts?  
> Even if she genuinely liked him only as friend, I can't see her 
> becoming his penpal with the hidden agenda of getting Durmstrang's 
> location.  And if she didn't like him at all, I don't believe she 
> would bother to write to him, let alone with a hidden agenda.  
> Granted, readers don't get to see what's in the letters that Krum 
> sends to Hermione, but I would guess he's still fond of Hermione in 
> a wants-her-for-a-girlfriend sort of way.  

I doubt she'd have to manipulate Viktor at all if she wanted 
information about Durmstrang; she could simply ask him outright. Krum 
no longer owes or enjoys any loyalty to Karkaroff. (If my headmaster 
abandoned me and my entire class in a foreign country, I certainly 
wouldn't.) At the end of GoF when the Trio questions him about 
getting home safely, Krum is openly contemptuous of Karkaroff's 
minimal role in managing the magical ship. When asked what will 
happen to his cowardly mentor now that the man has fled, Krum 
literally shrugs off the question. He doesn't care.

The forthright, earnest (I can't say happy; JKR hasn't shown us a 
smiley, eager Victor) way in which he described the environs of 
his "home" to Hermione at the Yule Ball dinner makes me think Krum 
was glad to talk to a girl who was interested in his life beyond 
sports and celebrity. I never got the impression that there was any 
real reason to keep Durmstrang's location a secret--beyond 
Karkaroff's paranoia.


Diana again:
> Hermione... is much more emotionally mature than 
> Ron or Harry, so she sees that another young man is interested in 
> her in a romantic way and he's nice to her and flatters her with 
> attention, and he's intelligent and fun to talk to (probably) as 
> well (and he just happens to be a famous Quidditch player). 

I doubt the Quidditch angle matters to her at all. In GoF she's 
irritated by the pack of fangirls that follows Krum into the library, 
and in OoP she airily dismisses the sport as a divisive influence 
among Magical people. "Hermione, you may be good on feelings and 
stuff, but you don't know Quidditch!"

No, I think she's far more attracted to Krum for his mind. He's a top 
student who appears to devote as much time to his academic life as 
Hermione does. They probably share long, in-depth conversations about 
magical theory and spell research that Hermione could never have with 
Harry and Ron. A brilliant, somewhat socially awkward young woman 
would very much enjoy being admired and sought after by a brilliant, 
somewhat socially awkward young man who treats her as his 
intellectual peer.

I'm hoping we'll see Krum take an active role in the upcoming 
battles; he's an interesting character who deserves more development. 
I'm also hoping to see Hermione do something really cool on a broom.

Grannybat