Hermione must be stopped, or at least slapped

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 149237

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "katssirius" <katbofaye at ...> 
wrote:
  
> 
> Hermione has used magical beings that she dismissed as horses to 
> attack Umbridge.  

Hickengruendler:

And she learned her lesson. Because she underestimated them, the 
centaurs attacked her and Harry. This is IMO exactly the wake-up call 
she eneded in this case. Granted, they got away because of Grawp, but 
still. JKR did not let Hermione simply away in this case. Also, IMO 
Hermione needs to be given some slack in this situation. It was a 
life or deathd ecision and Harry's sanity was in danger. Nobody else 
thought about anything in this case. What else should she have done? 
She didn't have her wand, and the centaurs were still among the 
leastd angerous beasts in the forest. Would it have been better if 
she led Umbridge to Grawp or Aragog? (In other words, while her 
dismissing the centaurs was certainly bad and arrogant, her using any 
means to get rid of Umbridge was IMO completely justified. It was 
Umbridge or Harry).

She was judge, jury, and warden for Rita Skeeter 
> at the age of 14.  Hermione knows what is right for house elves in 
> spite of the up close example of Winky.  

Hickengruendler:

I cannot blame her for blackmailing Rita. Sorry, maybe I'm an old 
cynical, but Rita was deliberatly destroyng othe rpeople's lives with 
half trues and outright lies. What I do think went to far is 
capturing rita and purring her in a jar. That was harsh by Hermione, 
but completely in line with the punishment other characters get. See 
for example the treatment of the Dursleys by Fred and George or 
Hagrid. I do think this is less Hermione's deed, but I think here is 
rather JKR's sense of humour at work. But who knows, maybe there will 
be some consequences, after all, the twins got theirs in HBP.
 
> She permanently disfigured 
> a girl for reporting students who were breaking school rules.  Let 
> me repeat "the children were breaking school rules and she reported 
> it".  This could have been Hermione in any other year.  

I'm curious. When did Hermione ever report somebody who was breaking 
rules? She may have threatened to do it, but I can't remember her 
ever having done this. She did tell McGonagall about Harry's new 
broom. But that was because she feared for his safety, not because he 
broke any school rules. About Marietta. My sympathy for her is 
limited. She knew very well, that everybody could have been expelled, 
including Cho, and she still told Umbridge. I can understand her not 
wanting to be a part of the group, but then she simply needn't have 
to come. Besides, she told Umbridge half a year after the group was 
founded, when she knew that they weren't doing anything dangerous.

Also, the way you are reasoning is pretty similar to how many people 
argue in dictatorships, for example the Third Reich. "It is 
forbidden, to hide a Jew into your cellar, therefore I had the right 
to tell the Gestapo what my neighbour was doing." Obviously it 
doesn't go as far in Marietta's case, because the situation was far 
less directly dangerous. But still, Umbridge's rules are clearly 
senseless, and there's no need to follow them like a sheep, just 
because they are rules. I am still not happy about what Hermione did, 
because I think it would have been both more effective and less 
vindictive, if she, instead of bewitching the list to mark a possible 
betaryer, had done something to warn the group instead. And while I 
was gleeful, when Marietta was marked in the beginning, I did not 
like at all, that she was still wearing a balaclava at the end of 
OotP, therefore that there's a possibility that she is marked for 
life, because of her mistake. But in HBP, the spots seem to go away 
and Marietta was able to hide them under make-up. Therefore while it 
did take unnecessarily long, I guess they vanishe din the end.

Hermione 
> consistently dismisses Luna until she can use her.  

Hickengruendler:

Yes, she did. And she changed her behaviour. See the last chapter of 
OotP, where she is friendly and more respectful to Luna. Admittingly, 
it took it's time, but it's not that Hermione still reacts the same 
way towards Luna as in the beginning. In fact, in HBP they seem on 
pretty friendly terms, and I can't remember Hermione saying anything 
disrespectful towards Luna or dismissing her. Therefore her 
constantly doing it, is IMO an exegeration. She did it first and 
later changed.

Anyway, I think at least in this case it is clear, that JKR is as 
much on Luna's side as she is on Hermione's.

She makes 
> harassing Harry a part time job in Book 6. 
 
And boy, did he deserve it. 

I was shocked by the 
> level of ends justifying the means that Hermione was willing to 
> engage including confunding McLaggen and attacking Ron with birds 
> when he kissed Lavender.  

I agree. But quite frankly, she was not the only one I disliked 
during the middle of HBP. I hate all those chapters involving 
Quidditch or shipping in HBP, because I found all the protagonists 
awfully unsympathetic. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny seemed to have 
become their own close knitted group, who did not seem to care much 
about the feelings of anyone outside. Which is annoying, because I 
cannot remember them being that way (at least to that extreme, in the 
earlier books). It still was Ginny, who I disliked the most, because 
I have the impression that it is not Hermione, but *her*, who gets 
applauded by the author no matter what she does.

Hickengruendler