Hermione flinching at LV's name

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 94305

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ellendvlmaas" 
<ellendvlmaas at y...> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> Being rather new, I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, 
and 
> I didn't come up with anything in the Archive search. If someone 
> knows of a previous thread, I'd love to be pointed to it.
> 
> I recently reread SS and am currently rereading OotP (this group 
has 
> inspired me to pull them out again!). I have been wondering, if 
> Hermione was muggle born and raised, then why does she flinch at 
> Voldemort's name like those raised in the WW? 
> 
> At first I thought it might just be an oversight on JKR's part -- 
she 
> does confess to making mistakes, after all -- but she specifically 
> pointed out in SS that Dean Thomas, also muggle-born, does NOT 
flinch 
> at Voldemort's name, having had no exposure to the WW before he 
got 
> his letter.
> 
> So what's up with Hermione? Either:
> 
> 1) It's still a mistake on JKR's part, or
> 
> 2) Hermione has had exposure to the WW before she got her letter.

minor snip

> I wouldn't put it past her to have taught herself. She's a fast 
> learner, and I can see her burying her nose in the books the 
instant 
> she brought them home. I can see her experimenting with her wand 
and 
> trying out the magic in "Standard Book of Spells, Grade One". 
That's 
> very believable to me. 
> 
> But, that still doesn't explain her knee-jerk reaction to 
> hearing "Voldemort".

I think that you've hit the nail on the head just above. Hermione 
tends to memorize her school books, and is the kind of person who 
would spend hours reading up on any particular subject just to make 
sure she understands it. I imagine that when she got her Hogwarts 
letter and picked up her books at Flourish and Blotts that she also 
purchased a few for some "light" background reading. (I believe she 
mentioned several history books that Harry's name is in on the first 
Hogwarts Express jouney.) The flinching is probably just a learned 
behavior, adopted from her dorm mates and from countless readings 
about the horrors inflicted by LV. Although, that said, her exposure 
to the WW is by no means as complete as the flinching implies: she 
has no idea what Mudblood means in CoS when Malfoy refers to her 
using that term. But I always figured that she memorized so many 
books that she just picked up the habit to blend in a bit more at 
school. And Hermione's parents I think are very firmly rooted in the 
mundane, being dentists and all. Barely a sickles worth of thought, 
but there we are.  
Meri - who wonders what on earth Hermione tells her mother and 
father about what happens while she's away at school (and a little 
bit about what a wedding party consisting of the Muggle Grangers and 
the wizarding Weasleys would look like ;-) )