"Constant as the Northern Star"

[Barry Arrowsmith]

No: HPFGUIDX 114679

To  be frank, I've never (unlike many) been particularly fascinated by 
the younger members of the cast of HP. Oh, I've posted about Harry of 
course, and a few about Neville, but that's because it looks as if they 
have interesting pasts -  and in this tale the past seems destined to 
determine the future. Except for a few details I reckon that if we had 
a clear picture of the past then the future plot arc would be 
self-evident.

For that reason (mostly) Hermione has consistently been near the bottom 
of the priorities list  when I sit down at my keyboard to cobble 
together the next Kneasy trifle. Hermione just *is*. An adjunct to the 
story, a useful device whereby the author can impart background 
information to  the reader.

One of the first bits of supplementary info an HP addict comes across 
is Hermione as alter ego for JKR. She's (Hermione that is) roughly 
based on Jo as youngster and when Hermione makes a definitive statement 
(as in "You can't apparate...." or "I read it in...") this is Jo 
speaking ex cathedra. It's a useful means of warning fans not to go 
haring off on wild goose chases and thankfully it's used fairly 
sparingly. It also leaves open the possibility of human fallibility 
when Hermione starts a sentence with "I think that..."

Some will  disagree and claim that  she is much more to the story than 
the authors mouthpiece. But consider, this site is awash with habitual 
and incorrigible theorisers; how many of the theories inflicted on the 
long-suffering members envisage Hermione as having a key role in the 
final showdown or even as a pivotal figure in her own right as opposed 
to being an adjunct to Harry? She'll be in there somewhere doing 
something, without doubt - but she's not automatically on the list of 
suspects for employment in one of JKR's twisty plot devices. Ginny, or 
even Luna rate higher. Apart from SHIPping (plus my transmogrification 
of her into WHIPLASH), consciously or unconsciously the members seem to 
have no great expectations of her rising above or sinking below her 
current role. In the HP equation Hermione is a constant, not a 
potential variable.

Could you envisage, for example, Hermione being killed off in the next 
two books? Readers can and have postulated Harry, Ron, Neville, DD, old 
Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all, but never Hermione, biting the dust. Why 
not? Is it so unthinkable? What's so special about Hermione that her 
survival is guaranteed? (Though I did once wistfully imagine her being 
torn limb from limb by a rampaging mob of pissed off House Elves 
finally goaded beyond  endurance by her patronising presumption that 
the how and why of their place in society should be arranged so as to 
comply with the dictates of her personal social prejudices.)

One thing to remember when considering Hermione is that the  character 
in the  books (particularly the first one) is nowhere near as pleasant 
as the one depicted in the medium-that-must-not-be-named. She's a 
bossy, bumptious, shrewish know-it-all who if it weren't for the 
episode with the troll that brought the  Trio together could well have 
attended Hogwarts for seven years without making a single friend. She 
is not likeable; shades of Myrtle - or Bertha.

But to judge  from  her actions Hermione is not overly anxious about 
being liked or being popular. She has other priorities - being right - 
and then telling everyone so. She knows exactly where she stands on 
everything and her belief in her own correctness is impregnable; the 
opinions of others need not apply for consideration. In almost every 
book this is forcibly expressed: the Midnight Duel, the Firebolt, 
Divination,  SPEW, the DA 'contract' enforcement, Rita Skeeter. 
Moreover, if you posit any situation where 'right'  or 'wrong' in the 
wider moral sense has any bearing you could more or less guarantee what 
stance Hermione would take - and she'll not worry about technically 
breaching her own standards if in her opinion it serves the greater 
good.

Of course sometimes what she does, what she says seems just a little 
off, a little contrived.
Two examples:
The  first is in her initial meeting with Harry -

"I  know all about you, of course [...] and you're in Modern Magical  
History and the Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding 
Events  of the Twentieth Century."
"Am I?" said Harry feeling dazed.
"Goodness, didn't you  know, I'd have found out everything I could if 
it was me."

Yes, and so would anyone else. But not Harry, not even just  a few days 
  after he  finds out that the Dursleys have been lying to  him for 
years. He never asks Hermione; not then, not ever; he never sneaks into 
the library to find the books, he never browses F&B's shelves, despite 
spending a week or more in Diagon Alley after Stan Shunpike links 
Sirius Black, Harry Potter and Voldemort for him on the Knight Bus.
If JKR doesn't  want him to know, why mention the damn books?
Grrr. T'ain't natural, I tell 'ee.

This scene sets up Hermione as a  fount of knowledge. Strange then that 
she never refers to these books again, even after it becomes apparent  
that the events surrounding Harry's early childhood might answer a lot 
of questions.

Secondly there's that petrification episode in CoS.
Many have commented that it's entirely out  of character for Hermione 
to tear pages out of a book; I'd suggest that it's also out of 
character for her to scribble on the pages of a book
("pipes") and carry  off  the page to  show to Harry  and Ron. 
Invariably at other times she's just *told* them or dragged them up to 
the library. And where did that hand-mirror come from? It's all 
designed so as to set up a delayed realisation on Harry's part, we know 
that - but it doesn't seem to have been plotted or presented with JKR's 
usual facility, and a lot of fans noticed.

Among all the major characters Hermione is the one I've theorised about 
least; she just doesn't have a handle, a foible, a weakness that can be 
built on. Oh, except once, and her weakness was her caring nature. What 
would she do, what price would she pay if an apparently sincere 
somebody wandered up to her and promised that if she co-operated in 
this very minor bit of business, then it would eventually result in 
House Elves being freed? Mmm. Interesting.

Otherwise I've nothing to offer. Like most I'm near-as-dammit certain 
that she'll  be a survivor and although not a SHIPper I think she'll 
cast her beady eye on Ron and nail the poor unsuspecting bugger to the 
floor. And after that he won't have a life he can call his own.

Run, Ron! Run!

Kneasy