Hermione and her parents Redux WAS: Re: Wizarding Top Ten

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 188223

Carol earlier:
> > But there's no indication whatever that Hermione will die because her parents didn't have their memories wiped. She wipes their memories so that they'll forget about her and won't grieve if she dies--*not* a reason for wiping a parent's memory that *any* parent would agree to.
> 
> Zara:
> No, that is not what the book/Hermione says. Her reasons for hiding her parents are given by her in DH.
><snip canon>

> Zara:
> She goes on to note that in the event she dies, her parents will remain oblivious, and remain Wendell and Monica forever. But this is not *why* she does it, this is a side-effect of her having done it, and of having done it in secret, without sharing it with other witches or wizards of equal or greater magical cpompetence. 
> 
> And personally, I don't think it is a stretch to suggest that Voldemort knowing everything Hermione ever told (or inadvertently gave away to) her parents about herself and Harry would increase the likelihood of her death. Though her own death is not, as I see it, her only concern, she is also worried about Harry (likely both as her friend, and as the guy who is carrying out Dumbledore's plan to defeat Voldemort). 

Carol:
I disagree, for reasons I've already posted elsewhere.

I concede that she *says* that she's doing it because she thinks that they'll be tortured so that the DEs can find out information about Harry, but I think that she's mistaken (or deluding herself). She knows or ought to know LV has better sources of information (such as Wormtail, and, she would think, Snape) to tell him much more about Harry than her parents could. 

But even if she's right or truly believes what she's saying, all she needs to do is to get them safely out of reach of the DEs, with their consent and their identities intact. And there are no DEs in Australia, and it's difficult to arrive there magically from Britain. it simply would not be worth the effort to go after them, especially given the limited information that the Grangers could provide.

The important points are: 1) Was the memory modification necessary? Did it in any way provide extra protection to Harry, Hermione, or the Grangers themselves? I say that it didn't.

 2) Did she ask their consent? The likelihood, as Montavilla47 has indicated, is no.

3) Could the DEs have reached the Grangers in Australia? Would they have done so? Again, I say no. We see no interest expressed by any DEs or LV regarding the Grangers at all, only Hermione herself once she's known to be traveling with Harry. And it's much easier for the Grangers, with their memories intact and with or without cleverly forged papers, to fly their on an airplane than for the DEs to get their by their range-limited magical means, especially when it's unnecessary to do so. Australia is a huge country. How on earth would the DEs find them, especially if they changed their names, even if they could get there? And if they were found, exactly how would the altered memories protect them or HRH?

4) *If* Hermione's reason for altering their memories is to prevent them from revealing information about Harry (as if such information couldn't be forced out of them or they wouldn't be tortured for *not* producing it if they were tortured at all), how does she justify taking away their identities and their knowledge of their daughter, neither of which has anything to do with protecting Harry? *That's* where sparing them grief fits in. And that's where the invasion of their human rights fits in. 

Carol, who thinks that the memory of a beloved child, living or dead, is a precious gift that should never be taken away