Clues for SHIPS and for the plot - Let's not forget Viktor ! (long)

[serenadust]

No: HPFGUIDX 98843

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

<snip> 

  > And finally, I'd like to remind everyone that the girl *already 
has a
> boyfriend* ! Viktor Krum is in love with her, and we don't know 
that
> she doesn't reciprocate that feeling. We do know, however, that 
they
> write to each other, which is the closest to going out together 
that
> they can do under the current circumstances. And the final touch is
> that she doesn't seem to talk about Viktor to *anyone* : not the 
boys,
> but not Ginny either it would seem. Ginny knew Hermione was going 
to
> the Yule Ball with Viktor, but she never lets out any piece of
> information about Viktor or Hermione's relationship with him. 
Hermione
> is keeping that part of her life completely private. The best 
reason
> she would do that is that it means A LOT to her.


Oh boy!  Finally a chance to trot out my favorite OOP theory <g>.  
Of course keeping her correspondance with Victor private means A LOT 
to her, but not because of their personal relationship or anything 
shippy.  She has a far more important reason.

Victor Krum is a member of the Order and Hermione is the one 
entrusted with being his contact.

Way back in July I wrote a post (#66827) where I laid the theory out 
in some detail but unfortunately the replies fell back into the 
(apparently) far more entertaining shipping discussion :(.  I've 
been waiting to re-introduce it ever since.  Here's what I said at 
the time:

 <snip>

If you recall Dumbledore's speech at the end of GoF, he emphasised
the need for cooperation among those who oppose Voldemort and
that, "Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our
aims are identical and our hearts are open." Previous to this
statement, Krum is said to look "wary, almost frightened, as though
her expected Dumbledore to say something harsh."

The next time we seem him is when HRH are outside waiting for the
carriages to take them to the Hogwarts express. He approaches them,
speaks disdainfully of Karkaroff, and then asks Hermione with a
private "vord." Of course, Ron is seized with jealous curiosity,
and as readers we are led to believe that the private conversation
has to do with the romantic feelings Krum has for Hermione. We're
left wondering about what was said when Hermione comes back looking
impassive.

Now in OoP, we know that Hermione is writing a very long letter to
Krum when she and Ron are sitting in the common room and Harry
returns from kissing Cho. When Ron finds out that she is writing
Krum, he reacts jealously again, but Hermione seems more absorbed in
writing her letter than she is in either Harry's interlude with Cho,
or Ron's feelings on the matter. On the first read, I assumed that
either Hermione is still somewhat romantically involved with Victor,
or that she was writing him platonically, but letting Ron conclude
that they were still involved for her own reasons ;-).

However, now that I've started reading my UK version the following
statement from George really jumped out at me.: "'Charlie's in the
Order, too,' said George, 'but he's still in Romaina. Dumbledore
wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charile's
trying to make contacts on his days off.'" OoP p67 UK

I really think that Krum is now part of the Order, and that Hermione
has been asked by Dumbledore to keep him up to date. After all,
based on their interaction in GoF and Rita Skeeter's articles, no
one would suspect that Hermione has been writing to him for any
reason beyond the obvious personal one, and Krum is no longer a
student at Durmstrang where, according to Draco, they
actually "teach" the dark arts. He's old eonough to be a full
member,since he's of age. *That's* what I think they
were really talking about at the end of GoF, and that's why her face
was impassive. Hermione is excellent at keeping secrets, Harry has
very little interest in her interaction with Krum anyway, and Ron's
reaction is a great way to cover up her true purpose in maintaining
the correspondence (and I don't really think she minds tweaking Ron
a little in the bargain<vbg>).

<end of earlier post>
 
Now the reasonable question to ask is "how can Hermione be writing 
and receiving letters from Krum concerning the Order without having 
them intercepted by Umbridge?"  My answer is *I*Don't*Know <VBG>.  
However, I *do* know that she does have a way of getting around 
Umbridge which she doesn't seem to be sharing with Harry.  If you 
recall, in "The Beetle at Bay" Chapter 25, OOP, just after HRH read 
about the DEs breakout of Azkaban, Hermione does something rather 
odd.  

"...then Hermione pulled the newspaper back toward her, closed it, 
glared for a moment at the pictures of the ten escaped Death Eaters 
on the front, then leapt to her feet.

"Where are you going?" said Ron, startled.
"To send a letter," said Hermione, swinging her bag onto her 
shoulder. "It... well, I don't know whether...but it's worth 
trying...and I'm the only one who can ..."

We find out later that she's writing to Rita Skeeter to set up the 
Valentines Day interview with Harry.  Obviously, Umbridge would 
never have allowed *that* to happen if she had found out about it in 
advance, so when Hermione says, "... and I'm the only one who
can..."  she's refering to the fact that she's the only one who can 
communicate with people outside Hogwarts without Umbridge 
intercepting the letter.

<snip>
>Del, who would have thought Viktor was just a plot device in GoF if
> only Hermione wasn't still writing to him in OoP.

Oh, he's a plot device all right.  Just not so much a *shipping* 
plot device ;-).

And as far as Harry and Hermione being soulmates, it's sufficient to 
say that I think JKR has written them to be the most romantically 
incompatible pair since Trelawney and Lupin.  I can't imagine why 
anyone thinks that they are "soulmates".

But that's a topic for another post ;-).

Jo S., who is determined to go on record with this theory again so 
she can gloat when it turns out that's she was right :D!