Another angle on Hermione's parents

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 175379

Arrgh. I tried to answer all of these in one post.

> Pippin:
> If I understand your argument, you're thinking the worst case 
scenario 
> for the Grangers is that Hermione will die and they'll never mourn 
their 
> daughter or return to their previous life, and you can't believe 
they'd 
> agree to it. They'd prefer the risk of dying under torture.

Magpie:
Or that I think they'd want a further back-up plan once Voldemort 
was gone even if Hermione was dead. They might have agreed to memory 
modification to protect her, it just seems that the way it's 
presented, *none of this stuff is an issue.* All this stuff about 
what the Grangers might think seems totally stuff that we are 
considering in the thread because it was brought up, without it 
being answered or even asked in canon. Hermione doesn't indicate 
that this was discussed at all, and neither Ron or Harry is inclined 
to ask about the Granger's pov. There's only one focus in canon--
what Hermione has done to protect them and herself and clear her 
life so that she can follow Harry. *She* did a memory charm so that 
they think they're other people and will go to Australia. If *she* 
dies *she* is pretty sure the charm will just continue to hold and 
they'll be happy. I don't think the Grangers know much at all.

The story just seems written--and this is consistent with the way 
this sort of thing is usually handled--as Hermione taking care of 
this stuff with as little thought given to the Grangers as possible 
*because if we think about them we have to get into this stuff.* And 
I can accept it as that. I'm just not buying that all this thought 
went into it at all in canon when the attitude there has always 
consistently been to deal with Muggles however a Wizard sees fit.

Pippin:
> Lily was willing to die for her child, but you don't think the 
Grangers
> would risk their careers and their memories to save theirs?  

Magpie:
I think they certainly might. I don't think the book was written 
with any thought to that at all, and I see no reason to write it in 
because it seems far more in keeping wtih canon and with Hermione 
that she just took care of it while keeping her parents blissfully 
ignorant and not understanding.

Pippin:> 
>  I can see where you might think Hermione should have turned to
> the Order instead of doing something on her own. But then she'd 
have to 
> explain *why* her parents are going to need special protection, 
and oops! 
> nobody is supposed to know that. 

Magpie:
Well, she wouldn't have to tell them why--the Weasleys don't know. 
They just have a fake Ron. They could probably have been told about 
it after the fact, actually. But again, I just don't think this is 
an issue brought up in the book that I'm supposed to be solving. It 
brings up more questions than it solves. All the information for how 
this works seems far more straightforward in canon: Hermione thought 
this was best, it's all about Hermione, this is why we won't hear 
about the Grangers anymore, let's move on to camping around Britain. 
It's a lot simpler than way.

Pippin: 
> It's not like she's pulling a young Dumbledore, (or a Lupin) 
yearning to 
> have adventures and save the world when she should be thinking of 
her 
> weaker family members. There really was a danger, and there really 
> wasn't anyone else who could have stepped into her shoes if she'd 
> refused to go with Harry in order to keep her parents safe. 

Magpie:
No, I think she's presented as a right hero who sacrificed her own 
comfort of her parents for the cause. 

Pippin:
> 
> Maybe you're thinking  the Grangers would be just as resistant 
under 
> torture as their daughter. 

Magpie:
Nope, the issue always pretty much seemed more about how to keep 
them away from anybody, not them standing up to torture. This is yet 
another thing that just raises more questions than it answers. We 
know that Voldemort can break through memory charms. If he were 
really after the Grangers, Hermione's sending them to Australia 
under a different name really shouldn't be much good at all given 
the powers at Voldemort's disposal. Perhaps Hermione ought to have 
charmed herself to forget them as well. So it's really best not to 
think about it. 

-m