[HPforGrownups] Re: Responses to Marietta

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 169254

From: Tandra <tkjones9 at yahoo.com>
Bart:
><snip>I'm disturbed too. But I have a hard time believing that
>Hermione COULD find and cast a spell that strong, that nobody 
>could break it.  

TKJ:
>
>I don't doubt that Hermione would come up with a spell that no 
>one could break besides her. This is Hermione we are talking 
>about. If Snape could do it why not her? 

Bart:
Because Snape is an original and creative thinker, and Hermione, although a great researcher and a quick study, is not; note that she even puts down Fred & George's works (like the stuff in the skiving snackboxes) until she sees how successful their store is in HPB, and then, only reluctantly. And, in HPB, even though she sees Sluggy praising originality, she still doggedly insists in doing things "by the book." At most, I believe she got the spell from a very obscure source. 

TKJ:
>I feel nothing for her. She got what she deserved as far as I'm
>concerned. This group was something bigger than her. She didn't 
>take the time to notice that. She ran to tattle and got EXACTLY 
>what she deserved. She should have kept her mouth shut if not 
>for the group then for Cho who was supposedly her friend. IDK 
>about you, but I wouldn't go and give out information that 
>would get my friends in trouble. 
>
>Maybe I'm heartless, but I definitely don't feel bad for her 
>at all...

Bart: 
Like many here, the problem I see is not that it happened in the first place, or even that she still had the marks on her face for the trip home. It's that the next semester, after the war (between Hogwarts and the Ministry) is over, she is still being punished for her part. And if Hermione can help get rid of it, well, I can BARELY see Dumbledore too preoccupied to take note of it, but I find it impossible to believe that Minnie the Cat hasn't told Hermione that enough is enough. 

I think I've mentioned before, there is something in literature I, for lack of a better term, call "the bad writing clue". That means that if you see what looks like bad writing from an otherwise good writer, chances are that it's really a major clue to at least one mystery within the book. JKR is a strange combination; she is incredibly good at hiding clues in plain sight, but this means that she encourages people like us to go through the books with a fine-toothed comb, and assume that any inconsistency is a "bad writing clue", rather than just plain bad writing.

Bart


Bart