"Constant as the Northern Star"

[hester_griffith]

No: HPFGUIDX 114728



> Kneasy <arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
<snip>
> 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.
<snip>


Hester:
Maybe I see too much of myself in Hermione.  I have often been
critised as being overly logical without enough heart.  I read that
episode as if Hermione had gotten an idea and rushed off to the
Library to check it out (or maybe she was already their studying
before the match).  When her suspicion was confirmed she realized she
better have some precaution.  I certainly would.  She found someone
who (conveniently) was vain enough to carry around a pocket mirror (I
knew plenty of girls in High School who did).  She also grabbed the
page out of the book and scribbled "pipes" on it just in case she
didn't make it back.  This seems reasonable considering she is a
"Mudblood" and in greater risk than other purebloods.  If I had any
fear of being petrified or dying I would do the same for my friends. 
To a logical mind, the sequence doesn't really seem all that
contrived.  The convenience of someone with a mirror being in the
library just then is about as contrived as it gets.  And even that is
not *that* unbelievable.

Hester