CHAPTER DISCUSSION PS/SS 10, THE HALLOWEEN

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 188366



 
> > Alla:
> > 
> > I disagree. I thought the lie part was about Hermione being the one who went looking for troll and Harry and Ron having nothing to do with it, that they did not unknowingly drove Hermione to meet him.
> > 
> > I do not remember the part where Ron and Harry think that Hermione was not in immediate danger. Could you remind me please?
> 
> Magpie:
> Hermione's lie is one of the strangest things in the series to me, since it doesn't protect anybody. As I remember it, the boys think Hermione's in danger because they know she's in the bathroom and hasn't gotten the warning about the troll. They have no way of knowing she's in danger that moment, but rather than just tell a teacher that Hermione Granger's in the bathroom, they rush off to save her.


Pippin:
Harry and Ron are being led back to Gryffindor Tower by Percy when Harry remembers about Hermione. Ron doesn't want to do anything but follows Harry, saying "But Percy better not see us." Percy is right there and neither of them think to tell him what's going on. We don't know why at this point, but McGonagall's question, "Why aren't you in your dormitory?" provokes a guilty reaction from Harry, who looks at the floor. 

Clearly the boys think it's their fault that Hermione was in the bathroom in the first place. I think Harry was expecting her to say something like, "I didn't know about the troll, Professor. I've been in here all day crying because -- because *they* said I didn't have any friends!"

Hermione seems to pick up on all this, deduces that the other students were warned about the troll and sent to the dorms, and improvises a  story about going after the troll herself, with Ron and Harry coming to find her. But then she has to explain why they didn't go for help instead of attacking the troll, so she says it was about to finish her off when they arrived.

The difference between the two scenarios is not only that Hermione makes herself appear reckless. She also makes it seem that the boys suspected she was doing something reckless but weren't sure until they found her. It gives them a wholly disinterested and altruistic motive for their bravery which they really didn't have. In that, it foreshadows the prank.


Pippin