Hermione's O.W.L. grades

[redandgoldlion]

No: HPFGUIDX 133223

Okay, so Hermione got one Exceeds Expectations. No one's perfect,
right? But has anyone stopped to think that it was *Defense Against
the Dark Arts*.

So here Hermione is at the end of book 6, prepared to march off with
Harry and Ron to fight the most evil wizard of all time, and the
only test she didn't get Outstanding on was DADA.

Granted, on her exam in 3rd year, she messed up on fighting a
Boggart. But quite frankly, this is years later, she's an excellent
student who no doubt made Boggart-fighting a priority after Lupin's
exam, *and* she's had tons of practice combating the Dark Arts, both
in reality and in the Defense Association.

And she did seem *quite* disappointed, didn't she? I know she cares
a lot about her grades and everything, but maybe, just maybe, she's
upset for other reasons. She knows that the war is on and that her
friends are targets. Maybe the spell she messed up on made her feel
like she was letting Harry and Ron down. What if she was
thinking, "I might need this spell to save them, and I can't do it!"
What if her downed look is a guilty disappointement instead of an
embarrassed one.

Or maybe it was still the Boggart she had problems with. However, I
find it hard to believe that her greatest fear is not passing exams,
not. What if she saw herself failing to help Harry and Ron or
something of the sort?

So there it is. Quite strange that she, Hermione the Brilliant, only
got an EE in DADA, isn't it? I mean really, this is Hermione we're
talking about. What happened? She is too studious, and too
intelligent to mess up on exams like this. So what *did* she mess up
on? Any thoughts?

~redandgoldlion~ (Who's dying to know who RAB is)