Hermione's Hex vs Snape on the Tower LONG (was:Re: Views of Hermione)

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 160632

Alla:
> 
> Of course if you not consider DADA creation to be the part of war 
of 
> course I understand your POV.
> 
> The thing is as I said above - I cannot grasp how it can be viewed 
> anything else but that, but I of course respect your right to view 
> it that way, I am just regretting that I cannot place myself in 
your 
> shoes :( ( that is when debate has a cool conclusion to me, when I 
> get were opposing POV comes from) 
> 
> Right now canon screams to me - those kids are in war against 
> Umbridge and prepare themselves to fight against Voldemort, so I am 
> unable to reduce it to just study group, that is just not there to 
> me.
> 
> But in any event, say you would agree that this was an act of war 
> and defensive measure, would you then view Hermione's actions 
> differently, just as you view Snape's?

Ceridwen:
I'll play.  I won't, of course, be answering for anyone else, only 
myself.

At the time the DA is begun, yes, Harry, Ron and Hermione see 
themselves in a war situation.  Not against Umbridge so much as 
against Voldemort.  They know that Harry is telling the truth about 
LV's return.  Yes, of course they are trying to circumvent the non-
teaching of dear Dolores.  But she is not the primary reason for 
urgency in learning defense.  It is absolutely necessary, to the 
trio, that they and other students learn how to defend themselves 
against LV.

But the other students do not necessarily believe - no, I will say 
that they do not believe - that LV is back.  The Ministry, and the 
Daily Prophet, have begun a campaign calling Harry and Dumbledore 
into question.  Harry is now Boy Who Went EMO, Dumbledore is silly 
old fool who is losing his greatness (what a pity, *sigh*).  As we 
saw in GoF, most people in the WW seem to believe what they read in 
the Prophet without critical thought.  If even Molly Weasley is 
influenced against Hermione, and she knows Hermione and is an adult 
with what we hope are good critical skills, then what can we expect 
from the children, who are not yet adept at critical thought?

Hermione, being Hermione, is also genuinely worried about her 
O.W.L.s.  Umbridge's teaching method, which is no teaching at all 
beyond some namby-pamby mollycoddling and Cowering 101, will not give 
the students the practical work necessary to get good marks on their 
exams.  She, at least, really has two reasons for wanting the DA 
club.  And, didn't Harry have the same concern?

So, to downplay the actual war aspects of the club is natural, since 
many if not all of the other students do not believe that LV is back, 
based on their trust in the Prophet.  I think Cho believed, since she 
lost Cedric.  That is maybe why she was so insistent that her friend 
Marietta join - she did understand that war was coming.  But for the 
purpose of the first meeting, there is no talk of war.  They only 
talk about their studies and the need for the practical work they 
will get in the club.

Some do want to know what happened with Cedric, but Harry is 
understandably not able to discuss it.  He is unable to give them the 
evidence they seem to want that will put a lie to the Prophet's 
stories.  So, they have no independent source, only the Prophet.  And 
look at the portrait the Prophet is painting!

The club is officially begun as a study group.  Some understand, 
perhaps, and some guess.  But officially, it is just a study group 
and the convener, Hermione, doesn't say otherwise.  Not even when she 
asks them all to sign the parchment.

No matter what Hermione privately thinks, and no matter how Harry and 
Ron see the club, nothing is said to the others that would make them 
think this is more than what it is advertised to be.  Ginny makes a 
joke about calling it Dumbledore's Army, and it is written on the top 
of the membership list that is later confiscated by Umbridge and her 
IS.  But the official reading of the initials means something 
different.

So far, also, Umbridge has been a slimey character, but has not done 
anything (to anyone's knowledge, she doesn't confess to the Dementor 
connection until much later in the book) to merit a war being 
declared against her.  The only problem as far as the DADA class is 
concerned is her ineffectual teaching of the subject.

And throughout OotP, LV is keeping a low profile.  The Ministry's 
efforts to discredit Harry and Dumbledore serve his purpose.  He is 
left alone by the Ministry, and has time to consolodate his 
position.  Instead of saying this is like WWII, I would say that this 
is more like the period of time before the war began, when Hitler was 
lining all his ducks up in a row.  War has not officially been 
declared, though certain aggressive actions have been mounted.

And this is why I can't accept that Hermione's jinx was an 
understandable action in time of war.  Move the situation ahead a 
year into HBP, after LV has publicly 'returned' in a way that the MoM 
cannot ignore, and yes, it would very much be.  But this hadn't 
happened yet.  The French Underground scenario is still in the 
future.  If the DA club had been begun after the battle at the MoM, 
then yes, everyone signing that paper would have reason to understand 
that the story about a study club for the purpose of bettering their 
marks in the DADA class was just a front.  But that was not the case 
before the MoM battle.

If the Ministry had accepted Harry's and Dumbledore's word that LV 
was back at the end of GoF, then this entire conversation wouldn't be 
happening.  But, they chose not to believe, instead mounting a 
campaign to discredit Harry and Dumbledore.  Unfortunately, the 
entire WW seems to have been conditioned to believe everything they 
read in the Daily Prophet.  Marietta, being the daughter of a 
Ministry employee, is uncomfortable from the beginning.  IMO, she 
should not have been included in the club.  But as I said, I think 
Cho realized what was really happening and wanted safety and 
competency for her friend.  Friends want friends to be safe or 
prepared, after all.

Anyway, that is why I don't think the DA Jinx is a wartime 
necessity.  I can only answer for myself.

Ceridwen.