Discrepancy of skills

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 148023

Carol earlier:
> > Carol, who doesn't understand why Hermione has to be perfect. She
> > still got eleven OWLs, a lot more than Harry or Ron. The only one 
> she didn't get was Divination, and that's because she dropped the 
> subject.
> 
> Exodusts:
> With the character that JKR has created, and given the events in the 
> world she has created, it is BOTH suddenly inconsistent AND suddenly 
> convenient for Hermione to be scoring an E instead of all Os. If it 
> was one or the other (e.g. Hermione had an E in a non-Owl, non-Newt 
> year and/or in a subject Harry was not outstanding in), we might 
> not even have noticed.

Carol again:
But aren't O, E, A, P, D, and T(!!) specifically OWL grades (marks),
perhaps also used for NEWTs? They seem to be unfamiliar to HRH when
George explains them in OoP. Do we have any indication of grades other
than Pass, Fail, and perhaps High Pass in other years? And note that
Hermione herself points out to Harry that he received a higher mark
than she did in the only year when they were both tested by a
competent DADA teacher (third year, with Lupin). So Hermione, who
regards Harry as her superior in DADA skills (it was she who asked him
to teach them DADA in their fifth year when Umbridge was their DADA
"teacher"), is not surprised that he scored higher than she did on the
DADA OWL. Why, then, should we doubt that he deserved to do so? If he
had scored higher on the *Potions* OWL, I'd be surprised and
displeased. But DADA is Harry's forte, as Transfiguration was his
father's. (Hermione's I'm guessing, is Ancient Runes, and we haven't
seen the results of her expertise yet.)

AFAIK, there are *no* non-OWL subjects. There are twelve subjects
total, not counting Flying in the first year, or Apparation lessons in
the sixth. Evidently all the fifth-year students take OWLs in each
subject they're taking, and everyone takes them in the core subjects
(Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions, and DADA), which are
required up till their fifth year, as well as in their own chosen
electives (which for Harry and Ron are Divination, CoMC, and
Astronomy). Hermione, who has to study for eleven OWLs, as opposed to
Ron's and Harry's eight, is at a great disadvantage despite her
intelligence and book knowledge. She has more exams to study for and
less time to devote to each subject, not to mention less time for sleep.

And as I keep pointing out, *she never had an opportunity to learn how
to deal with a Boggart* (Lupin skips her in the Boggart lesson, just
as he skips Harry) and consequently fails that part of her third-year
DADA exam. Since the Boggart is also a component of the DADA OWL
practical (Harry vanishes his perfectly), it stands to reason that she
will yet again fail to vanish hers. She's had no practice--no special
lessons from Lupin, no Boggart-banishing lessons from Harry in the DA.
How is she supposed to learn to do a spell she has never had the
opportunity to practice?

If Hermione can't vanish a Boggart and a Boggart is a component of the
practical DADA OWL, it stands to reason that she can't receive an
Outstanding, which is reserved for students who perform every spell
perfectly. That's what Outstanding means.

Carol, wondering how Harry managed to make his Dementor Boggart
ridiculous (or whether a really good student can skip that step and
just vanish it without laughter, as Lupin seems to do on several
occasions)