Views of Hermione

[Charles Walker Jr]

No: HPFGUIDX 160532

> Carol :
> It is not Hermione's right or responsibility to "disfigure a horrid
> sneak," who, AFWK, thought she was doing the right thing. Hermione
> didn't warn anyone of the jinx (surely they should have known that
> the parchment was a binding magical contract), nor did the jinx
> serve as a deterrent to snitching. It activated *after* the
> snitching had taken place. I think that Hermione, as usual,
> thought she knew best, and I really think she ought to have made
> some attempt to undo the excessive damage to Marietta (who appears
> to be horribly disfigured for life for a mistake she made as a
> teenager). Note that Marietta has been Obliviated and doesn't even
> know what she's being punished for. What is the use in that and
>how is it Hermione's right to act as judge, jury, and punisher all
> in one? If Marietta dis wrong, let Dumbledore or her Head of House
> (Flitwick) punish her, not a fellow student. A deterrent is one
> thing; an after-the-fact punishment is another.

Charles:

It comes down to what you'd like to see happen. Would you prefer that the only person who can defeat Voldemort, and 26 other students be expelled and get their wands snapped, leaving them defenseless- or the person who would condemn them to that fate suffer disfigurement that would warn the DA and give them a chance to escape? As to DD or Flitwick punishing Marietta for her treason- well, what she did was not an offense against any Hogwarts rules, nor a crime against wizarding law. It does not make Marietta's action right, as I would hope you would agree, nor should it excuse her from facing a consequence for her actions. As Amiable Dorsai, et al, have already said, and I agree the only thing that Hermione really did wrong here was not informing everyone fully that it was a magical contract. She did, however, state that anyone who put their name on the parchment was agreeing to maintain their silence-insufficient,yes, but she did imply a contract was being signed.

Carol:
> And Hermione does have a ruthlesss, vindictive, revenge-seeking
> streak. "I'll get that Skeeter woman if it's the last thing I do!"
> (badly quoted from memory, but you get the idea). And she attacks
> Ron with her birds because she's hurt and jealous, even though she
> knows that he'd never physically or magically harm her (however
> dense and provoking he may be sometimes).
<Snip>
> Carol, who doesn't dislike Hermione but does want to see her learn
> a lesson or two in humility and to realize the futility of revenge

Charles:

Yes, Hermione is vindictive. So is Dumbledore, who told Tommy boy
that "I admit that merely taking your life would not satisfy me," and so is Harry, who says, "I'd want him finished, and I'd want to do it." What seems to keep getting lost in the shuffle here is that
justice and revenge go hand in hand. When any society imprisons a
lawbreaker, when a student is punished for an infraction, etc. what
is happening is socially sanctioned revenge.

Charles, who is still sticking up for a character he doesn't even
really like.