Wider thoughts on Hermione 's lying

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 126876


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "moondance241" 
<leslie.s.bennett at l...> wrote:
 
Moondance:
> 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.  


Geoff:
I'd like to take a slightly wider perspective on this question of the 
troll incident, arising out of one contributor's comment that Harry 
and Ron felt guilty.

What led up to this whole business?

After the broomstick incident, which revealed Harry's skill, Malfoy 
confronted Harry and because Harry wasn't afraid of him, challenged 
him to a wizard's duel. While Ron and Harry are discussing this
.

`"Excuse me."
They both looked up. It was Hermione Granger.
"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron.
Hermione ignored him and spoke to Harry.
"I couldn't help overhearing  what you and Malfoy were saying –"
"Bet you could," Ron muttered.
"- and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of 
the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught and you're bound 
to be. It's really very selfish of you."
"And it's really none of your business," said Harry.
"Goodbye," said Ron".'

(PS "The Midnight Duel" p.115 UK edition)

OK, so Harry's in the wrong but she is poking her nose into the 
matter and they don't really know each other well yet.

Comes the evening.

`They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from 
the chair nearest them: "I can't believe  you're going to do this, 
Harry."
A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink dressing 
gown and a frown.
"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"
"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped. "Percy – he's a 
Prefect, he'd put a stop to this."
Harry couldn't believe that anyone could be so interfering.'

(ibid. p.115)

I'm inclined to agree with Harry on this one.

They leave the portrait hole, with Hermione following and continuing 
to hector them until


`"Go away."
"All right but I warned you, you just remember what I said when 
you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so –"
But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the 
portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing 
an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a night-time visit and 
Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor Tower.
"Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.
"That's your problem," said Ron, "We've got to go, we're going to be 
late."
They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught 
up with them.
"I'm coming with you," she said.
"You are not."
"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch 
me? If he finds all three of us, I'll tell him the truth, that I was 
trying to stop you and you can back me up."
"You've got some nerve –" said Ron loudly.'

(ibid. p.116)

Hermione obviously hasn't read "How to win friends and influence 
people". She barges in on the boys – maybe with right on her side – 
and then threatens to shop them and expects them to meekly agree with 
her



..there follows their attempts to get away from Filch and their entry 
into the forbidden corridor and the meeting with Fluffy. They return 
safely but shocked to the Common Room.

`It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, 
looked as if he'd never speak again.
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked 
up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that 
one does."
Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again.
"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't 
you see what it was standing on?"
"The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was 
too busy with its heads."
"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously 
guarding something."
She stood up, glaring at them.
"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been 
killed –or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."
Ron stared after her, his mouth open.
"No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, 
wouldn't you?"'

(ibid. p.120)

As I said, earlier, Harry is wrong; He and Ron are breaking school 
rules but they should have no guilty feelings towards Hermione. She 
chose to interfere, to threaten to drop them in it if the situation 
demanded that and came along, against the wishes of the boys.

>From my experience of teaching, I often found that, if you had a 
disagreement with a boy, the matter had usually blown over by the 
following lesson and things were back to normal. If you crossed 
swords with a girl pupil, she would often sulk for days. This has 
happened with Hermione.

`Hermione was now refusing to speak to Harry and Ron but she was such 
a bossy know-it-all that they saw this as an added bonus.'

(PS "Hallowe'en" p.121 UK edition)

This continued for weeks after the incident up to the incident which 
triggered Hermione's withdrawals to the girls' loos. The Charms 
lesson on Hallowe'en


`Ron, however, was to be working with Hermione Granger. It was hard 
to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this.'

(ibid. p.126)

After Hermione's demonstration of feather flying
.

`Ron was in a very bad temper by the end of the class.
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they 
pushed their way into the crowded corridor. "She's a nightmare, 
honestly."
Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. 
Harry caught a glimpse of her face – and was startled to see that she 
was in tears.
"I think she heard you."
"So?" said Ron but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've 
noticed she's got no friends."'

(Ibid. p.127)

An old English adage says that eavesdroppers hear no good of 
themselves. Ron is perhaps uncomfortable because she is crying but 
feels that she has brought it on herself. When the troll crisis 
starts, they are not going to stop because they consider Hermione to 
be a pain - that fact probably doesn't cross their mind in the 
emergency. They suddenly realise that another person is in trouble if 
they are not warned so they decide to ride over the hill to the 
rescue.

It has been said that Hermione could have told the truth – she was in 
the toilets and the boys set out to warn her. I am sure that this 
would have been perfectly acceptable to Professor McGonagall, so why 
not tell? I believe that she didn't want to have to enlarge on /why/ 
she was in there; it might have proved embarrassing and humiliating 
for her.