Why did Hermione Lie

[Karen Barker]

No: HPFGUIDX 126816



"moondance241" <leslie.s.bennett at l...> wrote:
> Reading SS/PS again, I was again struck by the question of why  
>Hermione decided to lie about the troll in the bathroom.  Prior to 
>this incident, Ron had hurt her feelings so much, she was hiding 
>out in the bathroom crying.  She'd been at odds with Harry and Ron 
>about losing points for Griffyndor.  Basically, there was not a 
>sign there would be a friendship there.  Knowing 11 year olds (I 
>have one), I would think she'd be more likely to tell on the boys   
>(even with the risk of losing more points) then to lie for for 
>them.  I haven't figured out her motivation.  Is it just author 
>license to bring the three together?  

Well I think that the fact that they had just gone out of their way 
to find her in order to rescue her from the troll, then having found 
her being attacked by it they proceeded to risk their skins to save 
hers, is plenty of motivation for her!   

The only part of it that I wondered about, was Hermione's wisdom in 
saying that she'd deliberately gone after the troll when the boys 
hadn't actually been doing anything wrong.  They were being taken 
back to their dorms after the 'Troll Alert' had been given when they 
suddenly remembered being told that Hermiome was crying in the loo 
and would not know about the Troll and felt guilty that she was 
there because they had upset her, so rushed to her aid 
instinctively.  I suspect that if anyone would have got into trouble 
it would be Hermione 'deliberately' seeking out the troll rather 
than them rushing off on a whim.

Karen