Hermione and the D.A. List

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 88963

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Robert Jones"
<jones.r.h.j at w...> wrote:
> ...  It concerns the D.A. list.
> 
> First, the jinx.  If Hermione had simply told the students about the 
> jinx, no one would have told Umbridge.  Think about it.  If she was 
> relying on the students' honesty all along, why bother putting a 
> jinx on the list in the first place?  ...  Was Hermione's object to 
> keep the list secret or was she just being mean?
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> So . . . was the purpose of the jinx to protect the students and the 
> list, or was it just a nasty little trick to catch someone?
> 

bboy_mn:

Ahh... the follies of childhood. More on that later...

Rhetorical Question: why is it that I always find my car keys in the
LAST place I look.

Kids, even the very best of them, can be short sighted and impulsive,
Hermione analysed the List Curse to the point where it SEEMED to solve
her problem; unlike you, an adult, who looked beyond the solution to
it's consequenses. This is the nature of kids; they fail to see the
big picture.

The purpose of the List Curse was to reveal the identity of anyone who
betrayed the DA Club, and yes, to punish them. As far as she analysed
it, that seemed to be the perfect solution, and since people don't
like the idea of potentially being curse, or the hint that perhaps
Hermione doesn't trust them, Hermione chose not to disclose it.
However, you are absolutely right, if she had revealed the List was
cursed, no one would have risked betraying the DA Club.




> Second, Umbridge getting the D.A. list.  Hermione apparently "left 
> [the list] behind"  "pinned" to the wall of the Room of Requirement, 
> to quote the book.  Why in the world was she carrying the list to 
> the D.A. meetings at all, let alone putting on the wall?  Why bother 
> taking attendance or anything else connected to the list?  Why 
> didn't she leave it somewhere hidden in her dorm room?  
> 
> ...edited..
> 
> Bobby

bboy_mn:

Again we are faced with the folly of youth. 

Hermione brought the list to the first club meeting in which Harry was
named Head of the Club, and a Club name was chosed. She then wrote the
new Club name on the list an pinned it up on the wall. Anyone with an
any objective vision could see that that was going to be trouble. 

But Hermione and the other DA's believe that the room was secure. Who
could possibly stumble across the room when the room vanished after
they left and didn't reappear in it DA Club form until they needed it
again? What they hadn't counted on was someone coming specifically to
that location while the room was still in it's DA Club form. Summary,
they believe the room was as secure, or more likely, more secure than
any other room in the castle.

>From a story perspective, Hermione needed to pin the List up, and
Umbridge, or someone working with Umbridge, needed to find it, as seen
in the scene in Dumbledore's office when Dumbledore claims the list is
really his rather than Harry's. That got Harry off the hook and got
Dumbledore out of the castle, and JKR, as an author, had to get rid of
everyone but Snape before Harry has his final confrontation with
Umbridge. 

So Umbridge sacking Hagrid, was just a story excuse to get rid of
McGonagall and of course, Hagrid too, and the List left behind, was a
story excuse to get rid of Dumbledore. 

And the justification for the believability of the List being found
and the Club being betrayed by a member is that kids are kids, and
they don't think things through with much depth of vision.

Boys will be boys is never an acceptable excuse, but it is frequenlty
an acceptable explanation.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn