Hermione & parents

[fanofminerva]

No: HPFGUIDX 102478

<Major Snippage> 
Now I don't want to start opening these paranoid channels of 
> discussion... but it *almost* seems to me Hermione is purposefully 
> distancing herself from her parents.  Is it because she *knows* 
the 
> danger she's put herself in and she doesn't want her parents 
getting 
> some backlash from her role in the war, the Order or Harry's 
life?  
> It certainly doesn't seem like Hermione is inclined to leave the 
> Wizarding World, even if her parents demanded it of her.  Would 
they 
> if they found out how much danger she could potentially be in?  
> Again, I wouldn't blame them.  Hence this could be a reason why 
> Hermione might not be keeping her parents informed of the 
Voldemort 
> situation, she knows how they would react.  She may also be 
> attempting to disconnect herself from her muggle heritage to keep 
> them safe.  
> 
> I'll be very interested to learn in book 6 if Hermione has finally 
> told her parents about the Wizarding War and Voldemort.  
> 
> > On the contrary - their daughter enters a world they only have a 
> > very poor understanding of - and even though they don't 
understand 
> > it, they *let* her do that. 
> 
> I do wonder if Hermione's parents are the sort that cut the apron 
> strings early on in life.  Basically made Hermione raise herself.  
> They trust her because she's such a *smart* and/or *self-reliant* 
> girl.  However, making your child responsible to pay for her own 
> personal luxuries (in a RL family situation, making a child pay 
for 
> his/her own CD player, for example) versus just sending your 
daughter 
> to a strange world, practically never seeing her, and it's a world 
> you don't understand?  These seem to me very different things.  
I'm 
> not entirely certain if that's so much trust and love in their 
> daughter, but bordering on negligence.  This could also certainly 
be 
> Hermione's powers of persuasion / exploiting their ignorance that 
> everything is peaches & cream at Hogwarts and the Wizarding World.
> 
> It's frustrating knowing so surprisingly little about Hermione and 
> her life outside of Hogwarts.  We've spent time at both #4 Privet 
> Drive and the Burrow... maybe it's time to take a peak inside casa 
> Granger for once?
> 
> annunathradien

This thread has been quite interesting.  I, too, have wondered about 
Hermione and her parents but have dismissed these thoughts for 
several reasons:

1.  JKR can't possibly cover everything about all the characters in 
7 books.  We hear about the other families (Weasleys, Potters, 
Longbottoms, even Dursleys) because they in some way are tied to the 
plot of HP vs LV, but the Grangers are not (at least not yet; we 
don't know what's coming in 6 & 7).
  
2.  Other Muggle-born children are at Hogwarts, and JKR addressed 
this by simply saying that a representative from the WW would come 
to their homes, etc.  Again, not a major plot point so not addressed 
in detail.

3.  I think the main reason the Grangers have not visited the 
Dursleys is because JKR hasn't wanted them to.  Again, what would be 
the plot value?  It would, in fact, change the story if Vernon were 
to respond, "Oh, a dentist's child goes there?  Ok, it's fine."  
That would take away the tension in the Dursely's and Harry's 
wanting to leave so badly.

4.  Hermione's actions can be explained by the developmental stage 
she is in...separation and individuation.  Friends are most 
important to teens.  When she is home, she is surrounded by people 
who do not have the same experience (WW) as she.  I think she may 
get bored, so she wants to stay where the action is.  IMHO, this is 
not necessarily a commentary on her relationship with her parents.

My main point...the Grangers just do not seem to carry enough plot 
value to be written about.  I do think they would be pretty cool, 
though.

Julie