JKR and the boys (and girls)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 162169

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Huh.  See, I didn't think Ginny and Hermione spent all that much 
> > time together during the QWC (not even a full night, right?).  

> >>Pippin:
> Canon says Hermione was at the Weasleys for a week after the QWC, 
> and doesn't say how long she was there beforehand. You may be
> thinking of the celluloid thingy, which has the timeline you       
> suggest.

Betsy Hp:
No, I was going with the book.  I was thinking of the actual QWC, 
which was quite short. 

[As total aside, I have a love/hate thing with the films (which do 
play up a Hermione/Ginny friendship beyond the books, IMO).  I love 
what they're doing with Ginny, but hate what they've done with 
Hermione.]

I flipped through GoF just to get a feel for Ginny and Hermione's 
relationship during that time.  And they do hang for a bit (Hermione 
shows up with Ginny when Harry arrives at the Burrow, for example).  
But the sticking point, for me, is the ease with which Ginny is 
excluded from the "Trio" talk.  I cannot accept a true, deep 
friendship between Hermione and Ginny when Hermione excludes Ginny 
from such a large part of her life.  It just doesn't follow for me.  
YMMV, of course.

> >>Pippin:
> ROTFL! Hermione's date may have been a matter of no importance
> to anyone but Ron, but Viktor Krum's date would have been news on
> the international level.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
So?  I'm talking about how greatly *Hermione* values the 
information.  I just never got the sense that this was a deep, only 
my best friend shall know, sort of secret. 

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > I blame JKR.  Realistically, you're correct.  A girl with no      
> > interest in hair, make-up, and fashion does not suddenly, with no 
> > help whatsoever, turn out as poised and pressed as JKR has       
> > Hermione.
> > <snip>

> >>Saundra coming out of lurkerdom replies:
> You are certainly making a lot of assumptions. Just because Hermione
> didn't overtly engaged in WW fashions doesn't mean she knew nothing 
> of them. Nowhere in cannon does it say that Hermione disliked all   
> thing girlish all the time.

Betsy Hp:
I feel like I'm going with canon rather than assuming.  I mean, sure 
it's based on a lot of negatives, but I'm just going with what JKR 
gave me (or didn't give me, as the case may be). <g>

> >>Pippin:
> <snip>
> But I see no reason that Hermione, and all the other students
> at the school, could not have had the benefit of professional
> or magical fashion advice, not to mention that Hermione
> is perfectly capable of seeking that out for herself.  (One
> might guess that Ron would be too embarrassed to complain
> about his dress robes, and that Ginny secured hers by
> threatening to take advantage of whatever funds are available
> for indigent students if Mum and Dad didn't cough up.) 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Now see, this is what I'd call an assumption.  I mean, it makes 
perfect sense, but there's nothing in canon to suggest such a thing.  
(We'd have to assume McGonagall was talking about embarrassing 
fashion faux-pas as well as spiking the punch and getting caught half-
naked with that cute guy from DADA in the bushes.)

And everyone *knows* Ron's ugly dress robes were an expression of his 
mother's frustration and rage with Arthur projected on one of her 
least liked sons. Joke! Joke! I only kid! Or do I? <beg>

> >>Pippin:
> Anyway, just because a girl doesn't  routinely spend an hour 
> and a half every day primping doesn't mean she can't doll up 
> when the occasion requires. You wouldn't recognize *me* 
> from my prom pictures, I can tell you that <g>.
> <snip>

> >>Saundra:
> I was the sort of girl who eshewed traditional feminine convention 
> on a daily basis and yet who could on a dime turn it around and    
> become a bombshell.
> <snip>

> >>Lynda:
> <snip>
> When I go out though, either to a party or with friends, or even to 
> volunteer at my local library, or to do some public speaking, I    
> doll up a little, accessorize, pull out my nicer clothes, touch up 
> my makeup. Its not that difficult.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Hee!  Oh, I'm quite sure you were all stunning fourteen year olds who 
found the perfect color and cut of dress, applied just the right 
amount of make-up, and did your up-do just so, for your very first 
formal event as a young lady without a bit of help.

I do realize it can happen [not having witnessed it myself - my very 
first dress up event at boarding school (read, with only peers to 
advise) involved an unfortunate encounter with some rather assertive 
blue eye-shadow, an over-heated curling iron, and (I'll admit it) 
Pansy's pink dress <g>] so I didn't throw the book across the room at 
Hermione's entrance.  But I didn't relate.  And, IMO, it's when 
Hermione started to leave the world of "multi-faceted character" and 
enter the plastic universe of "too perfect to be believed."

Of course, this is just my opinion.  And it has been shaped by the 
Hermione of HBP.  Honestly, if that Hermione were a bit less of a 
cow, I'd probably just cheer on her GoF triumph.  Now it's just a 
marker for when things started to go down hill.

Just my opinion.

Betsy Hp