Is Luna Lovegood the anti-Hermione?

[ohneill_2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 113593

Serenadust wrote:

> She does seem to frequently misread Harry's nedds. A fairly 
trivial, 
> yet telling example in GoF, was her dismissal of the idea that 
Harry 
> would want a game of Quidditch to take his mind off his worries.  
> Another from OOP would be her assumption that Harry wants to ask 
Cho 
> out (Ron shrewdly suggests that he doesn't *want* to ask her), and 
> her presuming to vanish his remaining Invigoration Draught after 
> Snape has destroyed his first sample, causing him to get another 
> zero.  I think these episodes illustrate that Hermione, while 
> meaning well, often misreads Harry's wants and needs.

Now Cory:

I might somewhat buy into your first two examples, but I think you're 
reaching a bit with the third one.  Is the fact that she vanished his 
draught in potions class really a good example of her "misreading his 
wants and needs"??  Or perhaps, was she just cleaning up after 
class?  

If she hadn't cleaned up what was left of his draught and Snape 
hadn't destroyed his sample, those who insist on over-analyzing 
everything would inevitably say "See, Hermione doesn't understand 
Harry at all; she never does anything for him -- she wouldn't even 
help him clean up his draught after class!"  I wouldn't read too much 
into this; as so many others have said before me, sometimes a cigar 
is just a cigar.

For me, the bottom line is that, althought Hermione might not 
*perfectly* understand Harry in all respects, she does understand 
certain aspects of his psyche better than anyone else.  She doesn't 
understand him in the same way that most girls her age don't 
understand boys their age in general (i.e. Quiddich and Cho), but in 
some ways, she does understand him better than Ron does (i.e. in GOF, 
understanding how he feels about his fame, and about the unfairness 
of Ron being jealous of him for getting into the tournament).  The 
reality is, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Luna each undetstand Harry in 
different ways, and each has something to offer him.

--Cory

--Cory