Marietta and Hermione (was JKR's Messages ) (was Re: Hermione In Trouble?)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 120770


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:

> Alla:
> 
> Yes, she probably should have discussed it with the group, 
although I  find the objections to that to be well noted.
> 
> As to whether Hermione's hex accomplished something or not 
- you  never know - I bet if anybody wants to do something similar 
in the  future, they will think twice before doing it.<

Pippin:
There was no need to keep the charm a secret to do that -- quite 
the opposite! Anyway, deterrence doesn't work against people 
who have panicked or lost their tempers because they are in no 
condition to consider the consequences. Hermione's charm 
couldn't take that into account, and that makes it (IMO) 
unacceptably ruthless to use against children.


> Pippin: 
> All Hermione accomplished with her tyrannical methods was 
to  make an enemy of Cho, a powerful and influential young witch 
 who might have been a  useful ally. I expect Hermione might be 
sorry for that one day.<
> 
> Alla:
> 
> I think hermione made herself to be Chos' enemy MUCH 
earlier than  that - simply because she was Harry's friend and 
yeah, I think that  may play out in the future.<

Pippin:
There would have been no reason for Cho and Hermione to 
continue to dislike each other once Cho was no longer 
interested in Harry, and that would have happened sooner or 
later, anyway.

> Pippin:
>  
> The lesson, IMO, is that tyranny does not pay, even if the tyrant 
 has good intentions. It's a case of choosing the easy path over 
 the right one--tyranny is a more efficient way of making rules, but 
as Umbridge demonstrated and Hermione found out, it's not a 
 more efficient way of enforcing them. <
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Isn't that a bit ... harsh? Hermione was protecting lives of MANY 
 against possible betrayal of one. She could have done it better, 
but  I cannot fault her much for that or call her a tyrant.<

Pippin:
The question is, I guess, whether you feel Hermione is so 
innately good that her incipient tyranny needn't be nipped in the 
bud-- she will never go too far. It doesn't seem to me that the 
Potterverse works like that -- people who aren't stopped from 
being bullies or tyrants go on to make a habit of it.

As far as Harry's defiance of Umbridge (combining responses 
here) martyrdom may be a noble action, but it  ought to be the 
last resort, not the first.

Pippin