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

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 126179


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "hickengruendler"
<hickengruendler at y...> wrote:
> 
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Hannah" <hannahmarder at y...> 
> wrote:
>  
> > 
> > Richard Jones:
> > > (3) Umbridge getting the D.A. list.  Hermione apparently "left
> > > [the list] behind" "pinned" to the wall of the Room of 
> > > Requirement, ...
> > <snip>

 
> > Hannah:  
> <snip>
> > 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.


> Hickengruendler:
> 
> I will go further and say that she didn't leave the list in the 
> room, or at least there isn't any evidence for it. Umbridge said, 
> that the room delivered the evidence. It's the Room of Requirement. 
> The list probably appeared in the room, because it was what Umbridge
> needed.  It is nowhere said that the list was left behind.
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> Hickengruendler

bboyminn:

Hickengruendler has a point. We only /know/ that Hermione pinned the
List on the wall at the first meeting, from there on, we can only
assume. That said, I think the book is intended to /imply/ that it was
left up on the wall. That's just the way I read it.

But Hickengruendler has made another important point, one I have also
made in the past. The Room of Requirements gives you what you need in
that moment, Umbridge needed evidence, the room provided.

What gets me, independant of whether Hermione actually left the List
pinned to the wall, is why didn't Harry and/or Dumbledore use 'the
Room of Requirements provides what you want' as an excuse to explain
the List.

Either of them could have explained to Umbridge, with a sarcastic air
of explaining to a child, that that's how the Room works. She wanted
some evidence and the Room gave her some evidents, but that the Room
most likely manufactured what she wanted. Noting that the List said
'Dumbledore's Army' which is exactly what the Ministry believed and in
a sense, desired; so her own internal beliefs and desires cause the
list to be titles that way. In addition, Umbridge already knew
everyone who was at the Hog's Head meeting, and so she expected those
people to be involved, consequently, the Room gave her a List titled
the way she wanted it to be titled with a list of students she
expected to be there. All clear evidence that the Room gave her
exactly that which met with her expectation. 

In addition, they could have pointed out to Umbridge, that it is far
more likely that she would name them 'Dumbledore's Army' than that
they would name themselves with such an unlikely and incriminating
title. Certianly, something like the 'Defensive Arts Study Group'
would have been much more likely if the students had named themselves,
or so Dumbledore and Harry would explain.

Of course, it's a load of crap, but Umbridge might have bought it, and
it would have been very difficult to dispute even in a court of law.
The simple fact is, the Room gives the seeker the things that they
need; that pretty much explains everything.

Also, when Harry was asked by Fudge if he knew why he had been brought
to Dumbledore's office, I was just aching for Harry to reply in his
snarkiest attitude, 'Yeh, apparently the latest Educational Decree has
made it against the law to use the boy's bathroom'. (Remember, Harry
was on his way to the boy's bathroom when Draco hit him with a Trip Jinx.)

Ultimately though, that's not how the story needed to go, and so JKR
took it in a different direction. 

I think we also need to temper our criticism with the knowledge that
/real life/ never quite follows the most logical path; things go
wrong, people make the wrong choices, people are misguided, emotions
cloud our judgement, etc....

I will close by saying that IF Hermione left the List pinned to the
wall the whole time, that doesn't seem that illogical. The Room was a
secret place that was difficult to find, so to them, the DA Club, it
probably seemed like a vault, very secure. Given that, I think I can
forgive Hermione this mistake.

Just a thought.

Steve/bboyminn