Hermione, compassion and logic (was Hermione's growth)

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 105691

Heynorty:"So yes, while I would say she seems to be a more rounded
person. I don't see her really ever changing herself or growing in any
meaningful way."

Don't sell Hermione short.  Your examples – S.P.E.W., the centaurs –
tell us that her growth is not complete.  Given that she's fifteen, I
can forgive her these imperfections. But I agree, although in my
opinion she's grown a lot, she is and will remain Hermione.

Caesian: "And while I agree that Hermione is a compassionate person
(and always has been, even when she was on the path to prig-dom), the
ways in which she is able to express her compassion will always be
determined by who she is. Her treatment of Neville is an excellent
example of Hermione's brand of compassion – smart, rationale and based
on the complexity of her understanding of the situation."
Well, the seeds of compassion were there, anyway.  They only needed
some of the space her intellect was hogging, that's all.

We all do, and should, use the tools we have when we're building
something new.  Hermione's got a lot of intellect, and she uses it to
help Harry and then Neville. In the same vein of playing to her
strengths, Luna uses her intuition and spirituality for Harry's sake.
A symphony with only one kind of instrument would be rather dull.  All
have their place.

I don't believe that Hermione "can't stand" Luna Lovegood.  Hermione
doesn't understand Luna, but she tolerates her, and will tolerate her
more.  Eventually, I think and hope, they will accept each other,
eccentricities and all.

Your words about Luna are brilliant, IMO. She does have a quality that
helps Harry – a natural spirituality – a natural acceptance – a
serenity – that was just what Harry needed. It is a wise person that
can just be there for someone in grief, instead of trying to fix
things.  That comes naturally to Luna.

Caesian: "Her [Hermione's] role is changing as much because of
circumstance as through her own growth. I sense too that a change is
coming in our ability to rely on Hermione's point of view as the
situation becomes more and more complicated. Early in the series,
Hermione's interpretation is almost always correct. Now, things are
getting harder to reason out, more knowledge is required than she
possibly can have, but she's still reasoning based on the partial
information she has."

Ah, the fog of war. I wish I always had full information when I had to
make a decision, but few of us get that luxury.

You're right. Hermione's role is changing.  Now she is taking smart,
independent action instead of figuring things out all the time.  The
Quibbler article is one example; the DA is another. She's still right
much of the time, don't forget.  She was right about Harry's Rickie
Rescue complex, and rightly smelled a rat.  Thinking on her feet got
them all out of a serious jam with Dolores. (That's another relatively
new accomplishment. She thinks on her feet better than she used to.)

Another thing to remember when we consider Hermione's hits and misses:
Babe Ruth's lifetime batting average was .342. That means his
"mistake" average was .658.  I say she hits enough of the time that
she could be on my team any day.  Who will we get any better?

Jim Ferer