OotP Chapter 18 - Dumbledore's Army

[quartertofive]

After a Charms lesson rife with paranoia and some animal abuse, theres finally some good news - the Quidditch team is to be reformed. Hermione however isn't paying attention, but trying to be the voice of caution, worried by Sirius' abundant approval

Comments

[cheeringcharm]

When I was reading the first section of this chapter I was wondering what the point of Hermione's attitude towards Sirius was. Is this little exchange to illustrate a) Sirius's propensity to take risks, thus setting up him going to the DoM or b) to show, once again when all is said and done, that Hermione's instincts were right. I have a problem with both, to be quite honest. First, I would have thought less of Sirius if he hadn't gone to Harry's rescue at the end. If he is supposed to be Harry's surrogate parent, that is the least he would do to ensure Harry's safety.

As far as option b, I have to say that I believe JKR is laying it on a bit thick with Hermione. I love Hermione. After Harry, she is my favorite character. But, I'm heartily sick of her being right about just about everything. Unless JKR is setting her up for a big fall in a future book, which I believe she is, she's a borderline Mary Sue. When you add that to the fact that JKR has repeatedly said that Hermione is a lot like her, it weakens her character, IMO.

Harry needs to perfect the Silencio spell so he can shut his two bickering friends up when they start to grate on his nerves.

I loved Harry's first DA meeting and Cho getting nervous around him. JKR captures the feelings of a first crush so well.

Question: how in the world did Umbridge know to tip Filch off about Harry going to the owlery? Is this revealed later on in the book?

[house_elf_44]

Question: how in the world did Umbridge know to tip Filch off about Harry going to the owlery? Is this revealed later on in the book?

I think Umbridge told Filch Harry was going to order Dungbombs, which he'd have to clean up after, and Filch had Mrs. Norris watching Harry's path to the owlery. Harry ran into Mrs. Norris and told her he wasn't doing anything wrong, and she trotted off to tell Filch. Still want to know how that part works.

I have to say that I believe JKR is laying it on a bit thick with Hermione. I love Hermione. After Harry, she is my favorite character. But, I'm heartily sick of her being right about just about everything.

Well, Hermione's made a few blunders, but she always meant well and was so close. Examples would be hiding clothes to free elves and insulting them instead; choosing the Hogs Head thinking they'd be safer there, and only worrying about students overhearing, and both sides of adults finding out instead; and letting the name Dumbledore's Army be chosen, after she said it would be good to pick a name that wouldn't let on what they were doing. She's also say the wrong thing to the Centaur putting them in danger. I like Hermione a lot, so hope that helps. :)

[cheeringcharm]

Hermione does make a few blunders. Her biggest miscalculation is in regards to the house elves, IMO. However, on the 'big things' such as the Firebolt in PoA, Sirius in OotP, Umbridge intercepting Harry's mail...she's usually right.

[cadesama]

Are those really big things, though? Umbridge and Sirius are both matters that are easily surmised without any of the evidence Hermione uses. Umbridge is an authoritarian, abusive, psycho. She's already abused Harry for telling the truth, and is enforcing her "teaching style" on all the other professors with the assessments. It's not much of a stretch to think that she would try to curtail complaints by looking at mail.

And Sirius, well, his recklessness has been self evident since his first appearance. It ultimately isn't very relevant to Sirius's death. Dumbledore's god-forsaken "plan" has more to do with it, and Hermione is one of Dumbledore's number one cheerleaders. So if we're going to be counting "big things" I'd say that Hermione's mantra of "as long as we trust Dumbledore" is definitely a big miscalculation.

As for the Firebolt, it depends on your perspective. You can say that even when she's wrong, she right. Or, you can say that even when she's dead wrong, she clings to the meaningless details she was right about. Hermione's theory was that the Firebolt was part of an plot by a psychopath outside the castle who was trying to kill Harry with it (a very dumb plan, really). That's not why it was sent at all, so the fact that she got the name of the person right is meaningless outside of the context of why. Frankly, I think it says more about Hermione that she clings to her tiny victory there, than that she was right in a small way.

[jmljasmine]

I do have to admit that Sirius telling Hermione that she had a lot to learn after she chose the Hogs Head was classic. Maybe that is why she was against Sirius afterward. I mean he can be reckless but if she is embarised by what he said...

[cadesama]

With Hermione I assumed it was to show off more of her armchair psychology routine -- which is pretty hit and miss, in my opinion. Sirius's recklessness didn't turn out to be his downfall, it was his overconfidence.

I think Hermione is wrong far more in this book than she is right, or (when she is right) she has a tendency to go about things in the wrong way. The DA is great, but what's the point on taking revenge on snitches instead of preventing them from snitching, or writing an incriminating name across the roster of your secret society?

[jmljasmine]

Good point. Did she tell the members that the paper was spelled to do something if they snitched? I don't remember her telling anyone more then Harry and Ron. That would at least help.

[cadesama]

Nope, she doesn't tell anyone else. There's a scene later on with Cho trying to get Harry to talk to Hermione to remove it for Marietta, wherein she says something about it being a dirty trick. People also love to bring it up in discussions of Hermione's questionable ethics.

I agree that at least telling them that the parchment was hexed would have been a decent deterrent, or possibly kept people like Mariette from attending meetings that they clearly detested anyway. They might not have taken it seriously, but after Hermione's Protean Charm, I think the DA members would realize what kind of hexing they'd be up against.

[_pennyfeather]

I've always believed that Hermione will ultimately fall in some way by the end of the series. It's true that she's been wrong in small cases but, like you said, it's gotten to the point where she's becoming like a Mary-Sue (which I was positive was going to happen after she cleaned up very nicely in Goblet of Fire). Something needs to happen to bring her back down to normal human level.

Hemione

[potter_phile]

I'm leaning toward the idea that Hermione was just the best way for us to questions Sirius' feelings and motives.

Granted, she's not perfect, but generally speaking, thoughout the series, when Jo wants us to believe something she gives it to us from a reliable source, usually Hermione or DD; it's one of the purposes they serve in the books - even Jo admits this (CoS DVD interview).

Of course, that isn't to say the Hermione isn't in for a big fall, and soon. Her gratest fear is failure, and it would be interesting to see how she (and Harry and Ron) deal with her mistake(s).