Laughing All the Way to the Bank

[bzbbaba]

No: HPFGUIDX 176061

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, 
>
> On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:23:02 -0000, "Jen Reese" said:

> > "But that's - I'm sorry, but that's completely ridiculous!  How 
can I 
> > *possibly* prove it doesn't exist?...I mean, you could claim that 
> > *anything's* real if the only basis for believing in it is that 
> > nobody's *proved* it doesn't exist!" (chap. 21, p. 411, Am. ed.)

> random832 at ... wrote:
> Eh... Hermione's incredulity about the various things Luna [and now
> Xenophilius] talks about has always struck me as a bit odd. I mean,
> we're talking about someone who on her eleventh birthday discovered
> magic is real. I'd expect at least a certain level of - to quote 
a 'Men
> in Black' tagline, a "What will you know tomorrow?" kind of effect. 
But
> despite her concept of the world presumably having been shattered 
once
> already, she doesn't seem to be able to accept even the possibility 
that
> there are more things in heaven and earth, so to speak, than are 
dreamt
> of in her philosophy.
> -- 
> Random832
>
bzbbaba now:

But since we know that wizarding children do magic inadvertantly as 
they are growing up, maybe Hermione did magic for years and couldn't 
figure out why.  When she got her letter it may have been very 
startling that magic indeed exists, but it also may have answered a 
larger question, "Why can I do interesting things when no one else 
can?"

So I don't see her world as being *shattered* by the incredulous news 
that magic exists, it seems more that she is *enlightened* as to why 
she has these abilities.  After all, in SS page 105 (Am. ed.) she 
says "it was ever such a surprise" when she got her letter but she 
was "ever so pleased."  So it was a positive thing, not a negative 
when she found out about magic.

The moment of how Hermione needs proof of things Luna talks about is 
juxtaposed very nicely for me in OoTP with the chapter "In The Hog's 
Head."  They have just started the DA and there are some, mostly 
Zacharias Smith, who don't believe Lord Voldemort is back because 
there is no proof other than Harry's word.  Hermione defends Harry 
hotly and Zacharias has to back down because Fred and George have 
a "lethal looking instrument."  We go through this whole routine and 
then Luna talks about the army of heliopaths that Fudge has:

Pg. 345 (Am. ed.)  "Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," said Luna 
solemnly.
"No, he hasn't," snapped Hermione.
"Yes, he has," said Luna.
(Neville asks about heliopaths and Luna explains.)
"They don't exist, Neville," said Hermione tartly.
"Oh yes they do!" said Luna angrily.
"I'm sorry, but where's the *proof* of that?" snapped Hermione.
"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so 
narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose 
before you---"

This exchange always made me wonder if there were really heliopaths 
because there really was a Lord Voldemort.

Beverly