The Sneak Mark (was "Slytherin" Hermione?)

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 112870

Theotokos (interesting claim, that name) wrote:

> This is where you got me, Pippin.  I find it hard, if I am being 
honest with myself, to disagree here.  (HELP somebody come up with a 
good argument so I don't have to feel like I am equating Hermione 
with Umbridge!) 

Certainly not.  I think it is part of JKR's art that we see echoes 
of the bad characters in the good ones, and vice versa.  On the 
other hand, just because some of Hermione's behaviour is reminiscent 
of some of Umbridge's, doesn't mean we have to equate them.

That's why Riddle is presented sympathetically in COS (remember 
Harry's feelings about the threat of closing Hogwarts), and why 
Harry engages in some very Dudley-like behaviour towards Dudley 
himself at the beginning of OOP and, of course, why we get the 
portrayal of James and Sirius in the Pensieve.

On some of the wider arguments presented in this thread, I feel that 
whether, as a technical legal matter Hermione had the right 
to 'punish' Marietta is somewhat beside the point.  To me, the issue 
is her character.  If I had been a minor member of the DA I think I 
would have felt intimidated by the ruthlessness of Hermione's 
action, especially as I would now know that I, too, would be 
carrying a latent hex that I had not agreed to receive or even known 
about (as a practical point the hex would have been a more effective 
deterrent if people had known it existed - keeping it quiet makes 
one wonder if Hermione was *banking* on someone talking, for the 
shock value).  I doubt that in its wider implications the 'sneak' 
hex was good for DA morale.

It seems plain that Marietta was conflicted - she wasn't 
choosing 'what was easy instead of what was right' (and I don't 
believe difficulty is seriously JKR's criterion for rightness) but 
choosing between conflicting loyalties as to what was right.  Sure, 
she, too, may have had better ways of resolving that conflict than 
the one she took, but Hermione's one-size-fits-all sanction probably 
isn't helping the next person with conflicting loyalties to make 
better choices.

Yes, it was important to try to maintain the covertness of the DA, 
but the methods and approach adopted by Hermione IMO do tell us 
something about her character, which is corroborated, as Pippin has 
already pointed out, by other events in OOP.

David