JKR and the boys (and girls)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 162352

Shelley:
> It seems to me that we have another piece of Canon to say that 
Hermione 
> networks well- and that is the whole DA organization. Harry was 
shocked at 
> the number of people Hermione had talked to and that showed up at 
the Leaky 
> Cauldron. You can't do that if you aren't talking to people. Seems 
to me 
> that she is quite socially well-adjusted, and just because she 
isn't a 
> goppipy-busy-body who flounts makeup and the latest styles, you 
can't assume 
> that she doesn't have other girls as friends, or that she's a 
frump when it 
> comes to taking care of herself, so that it would be unbelievable 
when she 
> suddenly turns up looking nice at a ball.

Magpie:
I don't think we should at all assume Hermione has other girls as 
friends.  We see her having Ginny as a friend (though she's not part 
of the Trio group), and we know Hermione listens in the girls 
bathrooms and elsewhere, but I'm not seeing this big girl support 
network you're suggesting.  Harry may be clueless but I'm not going 
to believe there's all that much going on with Hermione that we 
don't see.  Hermione pays attention to what's going on.  She listens 
in the girl's bathroom.  She thinks about other peoples' motivations 
and certainly can network.   That's different from Hermione having 
lots of girlfriends.  I think the book makes that distinction.  
We've gotten a basic idea of what she does with herself when she's 
not with Harry, and hanging with girls isn't part of it. I could 
never assume that Hermione's got other girls as friends besides 
Ginny based on what I see of her in canon--just her being a girl 
doesn't automatically guarantee her girlfriends.  She's friends with 
Harry and Ron, and also with Ginny.  She sometimes exchanges words 
with Lavender and Parvati, but they're not close.

As to her being a frump, I don't think that's what Betsy implied.  
Her point was that Hermione shows up at the ball far surpassing the 
other young girls' abilities in these areas and that that strikes 
her as a Mary Sue moment.  I tend to agree with her.  Hermione 
sounds like a chaperone to me at the Yule Ball.  I've no doubt she'd 
look nice in a dress but yes, I think there's a little author magic 
turning her allegedly ordinary looking heroine into somebody who 
seems to show all the other girls up--other girls who actually are 
interested in fashion.  It's the classic double-win where Hermione's 
better than tiresome girls who care about looks but is also a master 
at dolling herself up.  (While Ginny, who also doesn't care about 
looks, is blessed with natural beauty.)

-m