"Little Miss Perfect" (Was Re: The OOTP Gripe List, v. 5,432)

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 126163


Richard Jones wrote:
> I think the posters are incorrect about Hermione always being 
right 
> in OOTP.
<snip>

Hannah:  I agree, Richard, and I wanted to respond to some of the 
evidence you give.

Richard Jones wrote: 
> (1) Hermione's Guerrilla Hat Campaign.  
<big snip>

Hannah:  Yes, Hermione hasn't really thought it through at all.  
She's so carried away by her sense of righteous indignation that she 
refuses to use her customary logic.  I think here Hermione is 
showing why she's a Gryffindor and not a Ravenclaw - rushing into 
things without thinking them through, showing a 'saving elves' 
complex... 

Richard Jones: 
> (2) The D.A. List jinx.  If Hermione had simply told the students 
> about the jinx, no one would have told Umbridge.  Think about it.  
If 
> she was relying on the students' honesty all along, why bother 
> putting a jinx on the list in the first place? 
<snip>
> So the question is: was the purpose of the jinx to protect the 
> students and the list, or was it just a nasty little trick to 
catch  someone?

Hannah:  I think it was intended to serve both purposes - protecting 
those on the list and revealing the identity of a traitor so they 
knew not to trust them again.  The other members - or Hermione at 
least - would be able to see at a glance that they had been 
betrayed, and start warning the others and preparing excuses and 
alibis.  The jinx wasn't meant as a deterent - they were relying on 
the members' honesty - rather as a warning system for the others.

But Hermione didn't think it through very well, as you say.  Once 
the spots appeared on Marietta's face, she was kept away from the 
other students, and so they didn't see.  However, it did make 
Marietta reluctant to go on giving details once the spots appeared, 
so it did work to some extent.

Richard Jones:
> (3) Umbridge getting the D.A. list.  Hermione apparently "left 
[the 
> list] behind" "pinned" to the wall of the Room of Requirement, to 
> quote the book.  Why in the world did she leave it pinned to the 
> wall?  Why bother taking attendance at the meetings or anything 
else 
> connected to the list?  Why didn't she take it and leave it 
somewhere 
> hidden in her dorm room?  
<snip>

Hannah:  I don't know if this counts as Hermione messing things up, 
though it's a good reminder that she isn't omniscient.  The 
consequences of the list being there were not, IMO, forseeable for 
Hermione, so I don't think she can be blamed for it.

I don't even know if Hermione was wrong to leave it in the Room of 
Requirement.  How safe would the dormitories be - I'm sure Umbridge 
could search them.  There are also the two unnamed Gryffindor girls 
who sleep there but aren't in the DA.  Leaving it in the RoR 
actually makes sense, because even if someone else got in there at 
another time, the Room wouldn't provide the same things.  It was 
probably the safest place she could leave it.

The reason for having it prominently displayed at meetings was 
probably to remind them that they'd signed up to it, and of their 
oath not to tell anyone.  

Richard Jones:
> (4) The St. Valentine's Day Massacre.  
<snip>

Hannah:  I don't think we can blame this on Hermione.  What went 
wrong between Harry and Cho was down to Harry and Cho, and it 
wouldn't have worked out anyway.  Things were already going badly 
before Harry mentioned his meeting in the pub.  It wasn't Hermione's 
place to tell Harry exactly what to say to his girlfriend 
beforehand, and if she had, he'd probably have bitten her head off.  
It was up to Harry to square things with Cho, and it's not 
Hermione's fault that he's not clued up enough to manage that.

Richard Jones: 
> (5) Umbridge in the forest.  At the end of the book, was Hermione 
> trying to get Umbridge killed?  Granted, she was thinking on her 
> feet, but she knew the centaurs and spiders would kill an adult, 
and 
> there she goes leading Umbridge into the forest.  Not many people 
> would object if Umbridge was killed, but did Hermione really want 
to 
> kill a human being?

Hannah:  No, I don't think she was trying to get Umbridge killed at 
all.  I think Hermione's mistake here was her arrogance, and her 
lack of understanding and empathy for other magical creatures.  
Exactly the same problems that underly her SPEW campaign.  Hermione 
thought that the centaurs would help them out (and she had some 
grounds, given Firenze's intervention in PS).  She reckoned that 
they would capture Umbridge, allowing her and Harry to get away.

This whole incident, IMO, is the ultimate example of Hermione 
getting it very wrong.  Not because she wanted to kill Umbridge, 
because I don't think she did, but because she completely misjudged 
the situation and forgot all that she knew about the centaurs and 
their beliefs.  Hermione assumed the centaurs would rush to their 
aid, even though they were already virtually at war with the 
Hogwarts humans, and despite their belief that they shouldn't 
intervene in human matters.  She then went and antagonised them by 
saying the wrong thing.

I feel sorry for Hermione here because she was thinking on her feet 
and doing the best that she could.  But, as Richard Jones says, it 
is evidence that Hermione does not 'get everything right' in OotP.  

Hannah