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

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 188234


> 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. 

Pippin:

Wormtail hasn't lived with Harry for four years (he spent most of Harry's third year in hiding.) None of Harry's friends would confide his  "deepest fears" or "darkest secrets" to Snape, and Snape  carefully didn't use the occlumency lessons to find them out. 

 Of course everyone thinks they know personal stuff about Harry; he's a celebrity. But what they know is  contaminated by rumour, the Quick Quotes Quill and disinformation spread by both sides. The WW has heard that Harry is  dangerously unstable, had an unnatural relationship with Dumbledore, is lovesick for Hermione, etc, etc. 

Voldemort can  discount the rumors his own side is spreading: he knows that Harry didn't kill either Cedric Diggory or Albus Dumbledore, and he knows who the Heir of Slytherin really is.  But it would be useful to have someone with intimate knowledge of Harry to sort through the rest of it. The Grangers not only have information that comes from Harry's dearest friend, they haven't been exposed to all the hype from other sources. 

No, I don't think Hermione's fears are unrealistic at all. She confided in her parents information which makes them a danger to her and to Harry, and thus, since the Grangers' survival may well depend on the success of Harry's quest, to themselves. 
 

I agree that the method of hiding her parents is plot-driven as well as character-driven. JKR doesn't want Hermione to have Ron's option  of giving up and going back home. But I don't think we have to invent hypothetical motives which even you admit aren't consistent with the development of this plotline in the text in order to account for Hermione's actions. 

Carol:
 How on earth would the DEs find them, especially if they changed their names, even if they could get there? 

Pippin:
The DE's will find them when the Australians, who take a dim view of people entering their country illegally, deport them back to England.
Voldemort doesn't have an army of agents looking for people who are  in Australia illegally. But the Australians do. Credentials are easy to fake, magically or otherwise. The trouble is, the police know that, so they look for other things. Nervousness, inconsistencies, all stuff that gives inexperienced liars away. Magical credentials won't solve that problem. 

Pippin