"Slytherin" Hermione? (was Re: The Beetle At Bay)

[Cathy Drolet]

No: HPFGUIDX 112192

theotokos
"Hermione is not saving solely her own neck; there are other 
necks being saved as well.  In CoS with the PP potion, is there canon for 
her *not* telling Mdm P?  I had the impression she was in the hospital for 
so long because that was how long it took.  I think someone made a comment 
in one of the early books about Mdm P being great and not asking too many questions.  I know she wouldn't want to compromise RW or HP.  But, since being a cat wasn't life threatening, why would she tell on her self?  Is 
there any reason for it?"

DuffyPoo:
No, being a cat wasn't life threatening but it did add to the tension in the school and kept HG out of classes.  This would not have compromised RW or HP if Hermione had simply said she'd made Polyjuice Potion and tried it but it apparently was a cat hair not a human hair that she used in the potion.  She didn't have to say why she tried it or that Ron and Harry did as well.  I'm sure lots of kids experiement with lots of potions (didn't Eloise Midgen curse off her own nose?).  The problem was, this potion was 'illegal' (according to HP "he thought he might have got full marks on the question about Polyjuice Potion; he could describe its effects accurately, having taken it *illegally* in his second year." - OotP).  Of course there's no canon for Hermione 'not' telling Madam Pomfrey, but the fact that she was in the hospital wing for so long speaks volumes to me.  I think if HG had told Madam P what she had done, she would have been fixed up pronto as most people were.   I haven't read the books in a couple of months but I only recall a few people being in the hospital wing for more than just a few days - apart from the petrified in CoS: Polyjuiced!Hermione, Vanished!Montague, Jinxed!Marietta and Centaured!Umbridge.  In those cases Madam P didn't 'know' exactly what happened so she didn't 'know' how to fix it.  

Madam Pomfrey "never asks too many questions" comes from HP in CoS as they are taking Hermione to the hospital wing.  At that point, HP had been in the hospital at the end of PS (four days - 3 of which unconscious) and after Lockhart 'fixed' his arm in CoS (overnight).  Ron had been in for about five days for a dragon bite - whether she knew it was or not is questionable as we have no record of her saying anything.  There was no need for Madam P to ask questions or she asked them of the people that knew the answers, not necessarily the injured.  


theotokos
"As for Marietta, we are now in a period of pre-war.  Her snitch was not some 
password to a game card club or something.  *It matters,*  and not just for 
 O.W.Ls.  If Hermione would have gone forward to save someone whom did not 
have the same concern for her, she would be putting in danger every other 
member of the D.A.  Is that right, is that the just thing?  They would most 
certainly be expelled, the rest of their lives compromised, and in possible 
danger on the outside from LV and the DE."

DuffyPoo:
As the DA was already outed by Marietta - Umbridge had Hermione's list of names after all - the only person this could have harmed was Hermione, IMO, so she wasn't putting anyone in danger. As she had a clean record to that point it may have been nothing or nothing more than a detention/suspension, but HG may not have realized or wanted even that on her record.   Marietta would have been cleared up in a trice by Madam Pomfrey if she'd known what jinx had been used.  IIRC there were no more DA meetings after the kids were caught. They could hardly risk another meeting now that Umbridge knew the group existed even if DD took the responsibility for its organization.  Umbridge would still have her eye on the group, or at least those she thought were the ringleaders of the group.  Umbridge may well have had some vindictive something planned for the kids on the list but after DD gave himself up and she "lost a knut and found a galleon" she let it go.


Theotokos:
>  
> Hermione is courageous.  Courage isn't necessarily nicey-nice.  To 
be clever 
> and strategic is not necessarily to be cunning.
> 

Potioncat:
"Does that imply that to be cunning is bad?  My dictionery says 
cunning: skillful in cheating or tricking.  Ok, so Slytherins cheat 
and Gryffindors trick?  

If we agree that Hermione's treatment of Rita was justified, does 
that make it any less cunning?  My point in saying Hermione has 
Slytherin traits is to say that Slytherin traits aren't always bad."

DuffyPoo:
And mine says cunning: 1. adj. crafty, full of deceit || skillful, ingenius || sweet, charming  
2. n. guile, deceit || artfulness || skill, dexterity 
[O.E. cunnan, to know, be able]
Lots of those apply to Hermione: crafty, skillful, ingenius, sweet, charming......

BTW, I didn't say Hermione would go into Slytherin just that she does have some of the traits (I think lots of kids have lots of traits of all the different houses).  I think it would be an interesting twist to the story if she did go into Slytherin.  Think of it, Slytherins think purity of blood is most important and here is a Muggle-born in their midst proving that she is just as good at magic as they are. Potioncat, was it you that said something about a Hermione/Theodore Nott SHIP? That could be interesting as well and probably not so long and difficult a storyline to add as the story winds down.

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