Hermione the Vigilante?

[ericoppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 149313

Before starting, I would like to point out that "vigilantism" in 
places like the Old West popped up in places where the authorities 
were either unable to protect citizens, or in cahoots with the Bad 
Guys themselves.

That said---I thought that Hermione's schemes were, mostly, pretty 
brilliant.  Luring Umbridge into the Forest so she could meet the 
centaurs?  You could take that as a test---a test of Umbridge's 
ability to keep her big, flapping pie-hole shut.  If she'd just told 
the centaurs the truth, as in:  "Well, Miss Granger, here, says that 
Albus Dumbledore has a weapon hidden in this forest, and she's 
showing me where," she might well have waltzed out of the forest 
without a scratch.  Instead, her own arrogance and certainty of 
superiority did her in, and after we found out that she had sicced 
Dementors on Harry and his cousin, I can't say that what she got, 
she didn't have coming.

As for Edgecombe, until I see some proof that she _was_ under 
pressure, and I mean as in "Ve haff _vays_ of makink you talk, 
Englische Schweine!" I'd say that Hermione's response was rather 
mild.  "Sneaking" is a BIG no-no in any teenage society, and 
Edgecombe, as one of my learned HPfGU colleagues pointed out, could 
easily have had all 28 of the DA tossed out of Hogwarts on their 
collective ears.  Or, for all we know, sent to juvie Azkaban.  Had 
_I_ been Hermione...well, Miss Edgecombe would've had a nasty fatal 
accident, and _who_ more surprised about it than Little Miss 
Studious?

I'd have also been a lot harsher on Rita Skeeter.  That b*tch 
basically used her position as a reporter to write a bunch of 
falsehoods (betraying the trust of her editors and readers) and then 
decided to manipulate her readers into tormenting a fifteen-year-old 
girl.  Had I been Hermione...once Rita was in the jar, a quick 
_Obliviate_ spell would make her forget she was ever anything but a 
bug.  Too bad...

But I'm Not Nice, and Hermione is.