Madam Puddifoot’s: Harry/Hermione in OotP

by Later Player

As this essay begins, keep in mind a solitary fact of its contents. This is not an essay intended to make any persons jump ship, nor an essay intended to prove my own ship, The Pumpkin Pie, Harmony, or whatever other name their may be for a H/Hr pairing. This is simply an essay that shows what scenes in the fifth book of JKR’s Harry Potter series make me a H/Hr shipper. This is what we, as Pumpkineers, see. I am frequently asked ‘what evidence is there for H/Hr?’ and this is my answer. I’m not trying to convince anybody here; I’m just letting you all know what I see between H/Hr in Book Five.

Oh, and a quick warning…this essay is 38 pages long on word, which would translate to about 45-50 pages in actual book print. You’ve been warned! And so it begins…


** All quotes are from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, unless otherwise notated.

p. 62

“He [Harry] caught a brief glimpse of a gloomy high-ceilinged, twin-bedded room, then there was a loud twittering noise, followed by an even louder shriek, and his vision was obscured by a large quantity of very bushy hair — Hermione had thrown herself onto him in a hug that nearly knocked him flat, while Ron’s tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, zoomed excitedly round and round their heads”

Our very first H/Hr interaction of the fifth book, and a very telling one, setting the stage. First we have Hermione, so excited that she nearly knocked the poor boy flat on his back with the force that she had thrown herself onto him. Cute, but not necessarily romantic – my grandma does the same thing to me every time I see her.

The interesting part here, however, is the owl flying ’round and round’ there heads. It is a common symbol of romance to have birds flying circles over two lovers’ heads, symbolizing unity and completion. But what is further interesting, whether intentional or not, is that of the two owls in the room, even though Harry’s Hedwig is the more prominent, is that it is Pig who flies circles round them.

Now everyone reading this I’m sure is familiar with the phrase ‘ will happen when pigs fly’. Now this can be looked upon in two ways; one, H/Hr is ludicrous, and will not happen, thus ‘a pig flying;’ ORtwo, you can look further into it and say, ‘but the pig ISflying’.

I, being a H/Hr shipper, tend to believe the latter to be true. JKR is all but pointing out that in her books, pigs can fly, therefore nothing is impossible. And this particular pig is flying circles around H/Hr as they embrace, symbolizing somewhat of an impossible love. Interesting, to say the least.

p. 156

“I knew it!” yelled Ron, punching the air. “You always get away with stuff!”“They were bound to clear you,” said Hermione, who had looked positively faint with anxiety when Harry had entered the kitchen and was now holding a shaking hand over her eyes. “There was no case against you, none at all…”

Short but sweet, as they say. His two best friends in the entire world had two very different reactions.

Ron’s, very telling. His reaction goes along with the hero-worship that most people have for Harry; he was excited and said he knew he’d get off because he always got away with stuff — that’s as good as saying that Harry was guilty, and he only got off because of who he was! I’m sure that’s not how Ron meant it, and he was truly excited, but that’s just showing his jealousy creeping through in even the most unrelated of matters.

Hermione, on the other hand, is a horse of a different color. She had read it all up, and she knew, she knew, that there was no case against Harry, and yet she still had by far, the most emotional reaction. Her hand was shaking, and she looked about ready to faint at the news. It seems that Harry getting off was very, very, important to her.

Why? Because she’s his best friend, right? Well, so is Ron, and yet he doesn’t look ready to faint, does he? This scene seems to show that Hermione cares very deeply for Harry, even more so than Ron does, his best friend.

How deep of feelings does this girl have for Harry if they are beyond his best friend’s? Only time will tell.

p. 162-63

The door banged open. Hermione came tearing into the room, her cheeks flushed and her hair flying. There was an envelope in her hand.“Did you — did you get — ?”

She spotted the badge in Harry’s hand and let out a shriek.

“I knew it!” she said excitedly, brandishing her letter. “Me too, Harry, me too!”

“No,” said Harry quickly, pushing the badge back into Ron’s hand. “It’s Ron, not me.”

“It — what?”

“Ron’s prefect, not me,” Harry said.

Ron?” said Hermione, her jaw dropping. “But…are you sure? I mean –”

She turned red as Ron looked around at her with a defiant expression on his face.

“It’s my name on the letter,” he said.

“I…” said Hermione, looking thoroughly bewildered. “I…well…wow! Well done, Ron! That’s really –”

“Unexpected,” said George, nodding.

“No,” said Hermione, blushing harder than ever, “no, it’s not…Ron’s done loads of…he’s really…”

The door behind her opened a little wider and and Mrs. Weasley backed into the room carrying a pile of freshly laundered robes.”

Very interesting, to say the least. We see in this scene, that Hermione, without a doubt, believed that Harry would be the one to get the badge. She shrieked when she found out, and she had a very difficult time stringing two words together when she found out it was Ron instead.

As The Blood Hound Gang would say, ‘more tongue in cheek than a…’, well, this is a family-friendly site so BHG references are out of the question, but you get what I mean.

They say that you ‘think highly of the person that you love’. Now I could easily turn this into an anti-R/Hr moment, but I won’t – that’s not what this essay is all about. What it is about is that Hermione believed that Harry would get the badge without question, and was stunned speechless when she was wrong.

Hermione could not come up with a good reason for Ron to be prefect, and was luckily (by JKR’s design, obviously) saved from further embarrassment by Mrs. Weasley entering the room.

As Harry deduces later though, what has he done, academically, that Ron has not? Have they both not showed true leadership? We know they get the same grades – why? Because they get their answers from the same place – Hermione. Through all the debacle, few realized that Ron deserved that badge just as much as Harry did; it’s just the fact that he (Harry) is the one with all the adventures that gets in the way.

Only three people really knew though (in that room) that Harry and Ron were on equal footing for that badge. The trio themselves, and yet, Hermione was still dumbfounded that Harry didn’t get it.

The mouth speaketh what the heart thinketh indeed.

p. 165

“For some reason, Harry found that he did not want to look at Hermione. He turned to his bed, picked up the pile of clean robes Mrs. Weasley had laid upon it, and crossed the room to his trunk.“Harry?” said Hermione tentatively.

“Well done,” said Harry, so heartily that it did not sound like his voice at all, and still not looking at her. “Brilliant. Prefect. Great.”

Another small scene. Harry doesn’t want to look at Hermione, and he doesn’t know why. What is it? Jealousy? No, else he would have said something about it somewhere in the page-long internal battle that followed this scene. It must have been something else – he was jealous of Ron, but not of Hermione.

Personally, I feel that the reason he does not know is that he feels bad to let Hermione down. This cannot be concluded from this one scene alone, but it is a logical conclusion after looking at the book as a whole; there are other moments much like this one.

p. 194

“Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter” he asked.“Shut up, Malfoy,” said Hermione sharply.

“I seem to have touched a nerve,” said Malfoy, smirking. “Well, just watch yourself Potter, because I’ll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line.”

“Get out!” said Hermione, standing up.

Sniggering, Malfoy gave Harry one last malicious look and departed, Crabbe and Goyle lumbering in his wake. Hermione slammed the compartment door behind them and turned to look at Harry, who knew at once that she, like him, had registered what Malfoy had just said and was unnerved by it.

“Chuck us another Frog,” said Ron, who had clearly noticed nothing.

Harry could not talk freely in front of Neville and Luna. He exchanged another nervous look with Hermione and then stared out of the window.

Wonderful little exchange, isn’t it? Nobody ever said Malfoy was stupid. What is the nerve that he has touched?

Look at it logically: Draco insulted Harry. Hermione instantaneously snapped back at Draco. Malfoy realizes he has touched a nerve.

Logically, it seems that Draco realizes that putting Harry down in any way is going to upset Hermione and get her to jump in Harry’s defense. That is the nerve, the tension. The fact that it was Ron who had outshined Harry only catalyzes a more snappish reaction.

The scene continues, and the ‘dogging’ comment occurs. Here it is very well displayed that Harry and Hermione are on the same page, while Ron is not.

What purpose does this serve? Why exclude Ron? JKR wants us to know that H/Hr have a special connection on a different – not necessarily higher – level than they do with Ron. This is one of many instances where they are on the same page (pardon the pun) while Ron is not. What purpose does this serve other than to emphasize that H/Hr have a bond that Ron cannot breach? I don’t know, but if there is one, it is well hidden.

p. 200

“Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?” asked Ginny. “What’s she doing back here? Hagrid can’t of left, can he?”“I’ll be quite glad if he has.” said Luna. “He isn’t a very good teacher, is he?”

“Yes, he is!” said Harry, Ron, and Ginny angrily.

Harry glared at Hermione; she cleared her throat and quickly said, “Erm…yes…he’s very good.”

Small scene with no romantic connotations, except that Harry and Hermione care what the other thinks of them. It’s not Ron glaring at Hermione (as could have easily been written) but Harry. At his glare, Hermione immediately amends and gives the answer Harry wants.

p. 222

“Seamus reckons that Harry’s lying about You-Know-Who,” said Ron succinctly, when Harry did not respond.Hermione, whom Harry had expected to act angrily on his behalf, sighed.

“Yes, Lavender thinks so too,” she said gloomily.

“Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I’m a lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?” said Harry loudly.

“No,” said Hermione calmly. “I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down Ron’s and my throats, Harry, because if you haven’t noticed, we’re on your side.”

There was a short pause.

“Sorry,” said Harry in a low voice.

“That’s quite all right,” said Hermione with dignity.

Ouch! SMACK! Harry ‘got told’ there, didn’t he? But he apologized, and they moved on. Hermione is the only one willing to deal with an angry Harry, and she is also the only one that can properly put him in his place.

This scene shows that Hermione protected Harry to her dorm mates fiercely, and was then able to put Harry in his place and get him to apologize. This is yet another aspect of their relationship that no one else seems able to touch.

p. 262

“D’you mind not offending the only people who believe me?” Harry asked Hermione as they made their way to into class.“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Harry, you can do better than her,” said Hermione. “Ginny’s told me all about her, apparently she’ll only believe in things as there’s no proof at all. Well, I wouldn’t expect anything less from someone whose father runs The Quibbler.”

Here Hermione jumps in and barks at Luna, marking her territory, so to speak. (I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist.) Hermione tells him that he can do better than her and goes into a rant about the girl.

Why does she need to be so harsh towards the girl? Surely, some of her animosity stems from her belief in logic compared to Luna’s belief in absurdity, but that wouldn’t warrant quite that harsh of a lashing, would it?

This scene was one of the first eye-openers to me at the possibility of H/Hr ship. Everyone likes to talk about how much Hermione disliked Fleur in GoF… well, here it is again in OotP, just as harsh – if not moreso – telling the poor girl off in her face.

If GoF was jealousy, I dunno what word could possibly encompass what Hermione was thinking here.

p. 278

“Oh no,” said Hermione, looking relieved, “if you’re going that means I can go without being rude too, I’m absolutely exhausted and I want to make some more hats tomorrow. Listen, you can help me if you like, it’s quite fun, I’m getting better, I can do patterns and bobbles and all sorts of things now.”Harry looked into her face, which was shining with glee, and tried to look as though he was vaguely tempted by this offer.

“Er…no, I don’t think I will, thanks,” he said. “Er — not tomorrow. I’ve got loads of homework to do…”

And he traipsed off to the boys’ stairs, leaving her looking slightly disappointed behind him.

This is one of the big ones for most Pumkineers – it can be perceived as Hr/H…unfortunately, it looks bad for H/Hr. Hermione shows interest in spending time with Harry, alone, as her face ‘[shines] with glee’. Obviously, she is very excited about the prospect of spending time alone with Harry, also emphasized by her ‘slightly disappointed’ look after Harry’s answer.

It has been said that since this is written from Harry’s POV, the ‘face… shining with glee’ is a pro for H/Hr; and it may be, describing Hermione’s face as shining is somewhat of a flattering description; but his actions don’t coincide with his words.

p. 309

Harry realized that Hermione was looking sideways to see what grade he had received; he slid his moonstone essay back into his bag as quickly as possible, feeling that he would rather keep that information private.

Yet another small scene that shows Harry subconsciously does not want to disappoint Hermione.

p. 311

Harry laughed again, though he was not sure whether or not George was joking. He imagined trying to conceal from Hermione that he had received T’s in all his O.W.L.s and immediately resolved to work harder from now on.

Here is where us and Good Shippers have our major differences. Any person from the R/Hr ship would say this is Harry being afraid of Hermione’s nagging. Of cours,e Ron hated her nagging just as much if not more…but that’s not for this essay.

I, as well as most others of my ship, see this as Hermione making Harry a better person. He doesn’t want to disappoint Hermione, so he therefore decides to work harder. This goes with the idea of Harry and Hermione completing one another, derived originally from the first books chess game symbolism.

p. 328

“Harry,” she [Hermione] said timidly, “don’t you see? This…this is exactly why we need you…we need to know what it’s r-really like…facing him…facing V-Voldemort.”It was the first time she had ever said Voldemort’s name, and it was this, more than anything else, that calmed Harry. Still breathing hard, he sank back into his chair, becoming aware as he did so that his hand was throbbing horribly again. He wished he had not smashed the bowl of murtlap essence.

“Well…think about it,” said Hermione quietly. “Please?”

Harry could not think of anything to say. He was feeling ashamed of his outburst already. He nodded, hardly aware of what he was agreeing to.

Hermione stood up.

“Well, I’m off to bed,” she said in a voice that was clearly as natural as she could make it. “Erm…’night.”

A scene that shows how much Hermione truly affects Harry. I’ve heard it said many times that Hermione cannot calm Harry down…well, here’s proof that she can, right here. It also shows Harry and Hermione on equal footing again, both saying Voldemort’s name; the only two students in the school, as far as we’ve been told, that do so.

Hermione is very emotional in this scene, but tries to hide it. It seems that this idea is very important to her, and Harry not liking it hurts her. She speaks in a voice that is not her own, and quietly; both displaying that this must have been important to her.

Not necessarily romantic in nature, but shows a certain connection.

p. 387

For a moment Harry was tempted to go now; he was halfway out of his seat, intending to hurry upstairs for his Invisibility Cloak when, not for the first time, a voice very much like Hermione’s whispered in his ear: reckless. It was, after all, very late, he was exhausted and had Snape’s essay to finish.

Here is the first time that Harry hears Hermione’s voice in his head. Some people like to point this out as nagging — no, it is not! It is not nagging if it makes Harry a better person, if it helps him out. He may not like it, bit it is not naggin – it’s advice. Good advice that Harry does not want to hear.

Hermione may nag him from time to time, and he can become upset with it, just as much as any other guy. But usually, Harry sees through the nagging for the message underneath and – whether he realizes it or not – he appreciates it by doing what she tells him…as I said, most of the time. Arthur doesn’t always do what Molly asks, and they still love one another deeply, so the same could be true for Harry/Hermione; just because he doesn’t listen sometimes doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate it.

p. 457-460

“Is it Cho?” she [Hermione] asked in a businesslike way. “Did she corner you after the meeting?”Numbly surprised, Harry nodded. Ron sniggered, breaking off when Hermione caught his eye.

“So — er — what did she want?” he asked in a mock casual voice.

“She –” Harry began, rather hoarsely; he cleared his throat and tried again. “She — er –”

“Did you kiss?” asked Hermione briskly.

Ron sat up so fast he sent his ink bottle flying all over the rug. Disregarding this completely he stared avidly at Harry.

“Well?” he demanded.

Harry looked from Ron’s expression of mingled curiosity and hilarity to Hermione’s slight frown, and nodded.

“HA!”

Ron made a triumphant gesture with his fist and went into a raucous peal of laughter that made several timid-looking second years over beside the window jump. A reluctant grin spread over Harry’s face as he watched Ron rolling on the hearthrug. Hermione gave Ron a look of deep disgust and returned to her letter.

“Well?” Ron said finally, looking up at Harry. “How was it?”

Harry considered for a moment.

“Wet,” he said truthfully.

Ron made a noise that may have indicated jubilation or disgust, it was hard to tell.

“Because she was crying,” Harry continued heavily.

“Oh,” said Ron, his smile fading slightly. “Are you that bad at kissing?”

“Dunno,” said Harry, who hadn’t considered this, and immediately felt rather worried. “Maybe I am.”

“Of course you’re not,” said Hermione absently, still scribbling away at her letter.

“How do you know?” said Ron in a sharp voice.

“Because Cho spends half her time crying these days,” said Hermione vaguely. “She does it at mealtimes, in the loos, all over the place.”

“You’d think a bit of kissing would cheer her up,” said Ron, grinning.

“Ron,” said Hermione in a dignified voice, dipping the point of her quill into her inkpot, “you are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” said Ron indignantly. “What sort of person cries while someone’s kissing them?”

“Yeah,” said Harry, slightly desperately, “who does?”

Hermione looked at the pair of them with an almost pitying expression on her face.

“Don’t you understand how Cho’s feeling at the moment?” she asked.

“No,” said Harry and Ron together.

Hermione sighed and laid down her quill.

“Well, obviously, she’s feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she’s feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can’t work out who she likes best. Then she’ll be feeling guilty, thinking it’s an insult to Cedric’s memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she’ll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can’t work out what her feelings towards Harry are anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that’s all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she’s afraid she’s going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she’s been flying so badly.”

A slightly stunned silence greeted the end of this speech, then Ron said, “One person can’t feel all that at once, they’d explode.”

“Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have,” said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again.

“She was the one who started it,” said Harry. “I wouldn’t’ve — she just sort of came at me — and next thing she was crying all over me — I didn’t know what to do –”

“Don’t blame you, mate,” said Ron, looking alarmed at the very thought.

“You just had to be nice to her,” said Hermione, looking up anxiously. “You were, weren’t you?”

Well,” said Harry, an unpleasant heat creeping up his face, “I sort of — patted her on the back a bit.

Hermione looked as though she was refraining from rolling her eyes with extreme difficulty.

“Well, I suppose it could have been worse,” she said. “Are you going to see her again?”

“I’ll have to, won’t I?” said Harry. “We’ve got D.A. meetings, haven’t we?”

“You know what I mean,” said Hermione impatiently.

Harry said nothing. Hermione’s words opened up a whole new vista of frightening possibilities. He tried to imagine going somewhere with Cho — Hogsmeade, perhaps — and being alone with her for hours at a time. Of course, she would have been expecting him to ask her out after what just happened….The thought made his stomach clench painfully.

“Oh well,” said Hermione distantly, buried in her letter once more. “you’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask her….”

“What if he doesn’t want to ask her?” said Ron, who had been watching Harry with an unusually shrewd expression on his face.

“Don’t be silly,” said Hermione vaguely, “Harry’s liked her for ages, haven’t you Harry?”

He did not answer. Yes, he had liked Cho for ages, but whenever he had imagined a scene involving the two of them it had always featured a Cho who was enjoying herself, as opposed to a Cho who was sobbing uncontrollably into his shoulder.

Wow, is that a big one!

Now, because this is a very heated debate topic and, in my opinion, the quintessential moment of the Harry/Hermione ship, I am going to be diving far deeper into it than any other quote, so bear with me here:

1) “Is it Cho?” she [Hermione] asked in a businesslike way. “Did she corner you after the meeting?”2) “Did you kiss?” asked Hermione briskly.

3) Hermione gave Ron a look of deep disgust and returned to her letter.

4) “Of course you’re not,” said Hermione absently, still scribbling away at her letter.

5) Hermione sighed and laid down her quill.

“Well, obviously, she’s feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she’s feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can’t work out who she likes best. Then she’ll be feeling guilty, thinking it’s an insult to Cedric’s memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she’ll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can’t work out what her feelings towards Harry are anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that’s all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she’s afraid she’s going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she’s been flying so badly.”

6) “Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have,” said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again.

7) “You just had to be nice to her,” said Hermione, looking up anxiously. “You were, weren’t you?”

8) Hermione looked as though she was refraining from rolling her eyes with extreme difficulty.

9) “You know what I mean,” said Hermione impatiently.

10) “Oh well,” said Hermione distantly, buried in her letter once more. “you’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask her….”

11) “Don’t be silly,” said Hermione vaguely, “Harry’s liked her for ages, haven’t you Harry?”

Above are all eleven times Hermione’s words or actions are mentioned in the three-page stint. And there was exactly one positive occurrence, but a myriad of negative ones. Here’s we go…(all definitions come from Merriam-Webster Online)

1) “Is it Cho?” she (Hermione) asked in a businesslike way. “Did she corner you after the meeting?”

Businesslike – exhibiting qualities believed to be advantageous in business

Synonyms – Serious, purposeful

Right away we are shown that this matter it important to Hermione, evidenced by her tone. She also doesn’t skirt around the subject; she goes right into it.

Her wording is suspect as well, choosing to say ‘did she corner you’. That doesn’t sound positive in the least, does it? I’m not sure why she would say it in a manner like this, but it is definitely not a sign of joy.

2) “Did you kiss?” asked Hermione briskly.

Briskly –

1) keenly alert2) a pleasingly tangy (as in weather or tea)

3) a sharp tone or manner

4) energetic, quick

Synonyms – Energetic, quick, lively (for only definitions 1 & 4)

 

Okay, so we have four choices here. Number 2 can go immediately – they aren’t talking about tea or weather. Number 4 doesn’t seem likely either, because Hermione’s first reaction wasn’t that which would lead us to believe she wanted a quick, energetic response and be done with it.

That leaves us with definitions 1 and 3. Hermione was either keenly alert or speaking in a sharp tone or manner. Both of these are possible, but seeing as how Hermione is writing a letter at the same she is talking with Harry, we have to eliminate the ‘keenly aware’ choice, as her attention is not solidly on him.

So now after two responses we see Hermione is speaking in a sharp and serious tone, finding this no laughing matter, unlike Ron, who is rolling on the hearthrug in mirth.

3) Hermione gave Ron a look of deep disgust and returned to her letter.

This doesn’t really go with the flow at all, but it was a Hermione reaction, so I had to include it. This shows nothing really except that Hermione does not approve of Ron’s reaction to Harry’s proclamation. Nothing too shippy here.

4) “Of course you’re not,” said Hermione absently, still scribbling away at her letter.

Absently –

1) not present or attending2) not existing

3) inattentive, preoccupied

Synonyms – missing, lacking, inattentive, preoccupied

 

This one is fairly easy to judge as far as what definition; she was Number 3: inattentive and preoccupied, she was writing a letter to Krum. Now this is an interesting turn of events, isn’t it? Hermione, as we discussed above, was sharp and serious about finding out what was going on, but the moment her question was answered, Harry and ChoDID kiss, she becomes withdrawn and preoccupied.

5) Hermione sighed and laid down her quill. “Well, obviously, she’s feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she’s feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can’t work out who she likes best. Then she’ll be feeling guilty, thinking it’s an insult to Cedric’s memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she’ll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can’t work out what her feelings towards Harry are anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that’s all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she’s afraid she’s going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she’s been flying so badly.”

Now this was a very interesting passage, in my opinion. Look at how LONG this dialogue is! It begins with Hermione sighing and laying down her quill – seemingly, she does not want to say this, but does so for the boys’ sake. The passage is written so that, being so long, there are no breaks in the middle to gauge what Hermione’s facial expressions were when she was saying this. Not necessarily important, but somewhat interesting.

And what’s with the last line? The entire paragraph is basically ‘Inside a Girl’s Head 101,’ but that last line doesn’t really explain anything other than that Hermione – whodislikes the sport has been paying enough attention to know that Cho has been flying poorly and may get kicked off the team.

Why would Hermione know that? To a Pumpkineer the answer seems simple, but to a Good Shipper she’s just looking out for her friend, right? Hmm…I wonder why Ron wasn’t doing the same?

6) “Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have,” said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again.

Another one that does not affect the Harry-Cho kiss dynamic, but shows what Hermione’s overall attitude in the scene is. Did Ron really say something that bad to elicit a reaction as nasty as Hermione’s? Now I am a guy — so I may not know whether this was as insulting to girls as a girl would, but I seriously doubt it. And, once again, we have Hermione withdrawing herself from the conversation…

7) “You just had to be nice to her,” said Hermione, looking up anxiously. “You were, weren’t you?”

Ooh…all you Pumpkineers are gonna LOVE this one…

Anxiously –

1) characterized by extreme uneasiness of mind or brooding fear about some contingency2) characterized by, resulting from, or causing anxiety

3) ardently or earnestly wishing

Synonyms – worried, eager

Ooh boy, I said you’d love it, didn’t I? The three choices that Hermione’s tone could be with this sentence are:

  1. She was extremely uneasy with the entire situation
  2. Pretty much the same as the first one.
  3. Hermione looked on with hope that Harry had only kissed her (Cho) to be nice.

Now there are certain tendencies that writers use. The fact that Hermione is described as ‘looking up’ leads me to believe that the third option is true. More often than not, looking up goes hand in hand with hope.

By that analysis, we can see that Hermione is hoping that Harry only kissed Cho because he was being nice! That looks very good for Pumpkin Pie, doesn’t it? If Hermione hopes that Harry is only kissing Cho to be nice, that means she is hoping that he doesn’t really like her at all. Why would this give her hope? Hmm…I could think of a reason…

8) Hermione looked as though she was refraining from rolling her eyes with extreme difficulty.

Not very telling, just Hermione realizing just how dense Harry is with girls. 9) “You know what I mean,” said Hermione impatiently.

Impatient –

1) not patient: restless or short of temper especially under irritation, delay, or opposition2) prompted or marked by impatience

3) eagerly desirous

Synonyms – intolerant, anxious

It doesn’t really matter what definition is the correct one here, does it? It is painfully obvious that Hermione wants out of this conversation. Ever since Harry confirmed the kiss, Hermione has been extremely edgy. If this isn’t jealousy…then Merlin help me.

10) “Oh well,” said Hermione distantly, buried in her letter once more. “you’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask her….”

Distantly –

1)

a) separated in spaceb) situated at great distance

c) far apart

d) far behind

2) separated in a relationship, other than spatial

3) different in kind

4) reserved or aloof in a personal relationship

5)

a) going a long distanceb) concerned with remote things

 

Hmm…basically, I think JKR wants us to see that Hermione is just throwing this out there, now that she is more focused on her letter.

11) “Don’t be silly,” said Hermione vaguely, “Harry’s liked her for ages, haven’t you Harry?”

Vaguely –

1)

a) not clearly expressedb) not having a precise meaning

2)

a) not clearly defined, grasped, or understoodb) not clearly felt or sensed : somewhat subconscious

3) not thinking or expressing one’s thoughts clearly or precisely

4) lacking expression

5) not sharply outlined

Synonyms – indistinct, slight, vacant, hazy, obscure

 

There are a few possibilities here. The ones that look best for me, obviously, are a & b of number 2, which would mean that Hermione doesn’t understand what Harry sees in Cho. But I won’t delude myself into believing that is the case.

More likely would be definition number 3, seeing as how Hermione is clearly not focused on the subject matter. JKR again is showing us her withdrawing herself from the conversation, as she’s been trying to do for quite some time.

As has been pointed out many times before, Hermione is constantly referred to as scribbling away at a letter, which we later find out is addressed to Krum. Now for some reason beyond my grasp, some people believe this to be a major plus for the R/Hr ship. Apparently Hermione is ‘trying to make Ron jealous’ by writing this letter.

I don’t see this. Hermione constantly buries herself into this letter. When? Let’s take a look.

Harry looked from Ron’s expression of mingled curiosity and hilarity to Hermione’s slight frown, and nodded.

“HA!”

Ron made a triumphant gesture with his fist and went into a raucous peal of laughter that made several timid-looking second years over beside the window jump. A reluctant grin spread over Harry’s face as he watched Ron rolling on the hearthrug. Hermione gave Ron a look of deep disgust and returned to her letter.

Okay, case Number One. Hermione had been writing the letter until she was pulled into the conversation. She only goes back to the letter after Harry confirms, yes, he and Cho had indeed shared a kiss.

“Of course you’re not,” said Hermione absently, still scribbling away at her letter.

“How do you know?” said Ron in a sharp voice.

“Because Cho spends half her time crying these days,” said Hermione vaguely. “She does it at mealtimes, in the loos, all over the place.”

“You’d think a bit of kissing would cheer her up,” said Ron, grinning.

“Ron,” said Hermione in a dignified voice, dipping the point of her quill into her inkpot, “you are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet.”

Hermione is writing away during this entire exchange, keeping her facial expressions away from us. Only her tone of voice is what we have to go off of. Hermione seems to bury herself into this letter each time a possibly sensitive subject comes up — if she did in fact like Harry.

Hermione sighed and laid down her quill.

“Well, obviously, she’s feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she’s feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can’t work out who she likes best. Then she’ll be feeling guilty, thinking it’s an insult to Cedric’s memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she’ll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can’t work out what her feelings towards Harry are anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that’s all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she’s afraid she’s going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she’s been flying so badly.”

A slightly stunned silence greeted the end of this speech, then Ron said, “One person can’t feel all that at once, they’d explode.”

“Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have,” said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again.

Here we have Hermione reluctantly telling the boys what is going on with Cho. This is a long dialogue that is once again devoid of any Hermione facial expressions, or even tones, although the working could have been easily broken apart to allow it. Hermione goes back to her letter when she is done, noting Ron’s lack of emotional prowess.

“Well, I suppose it could have been worse,” she said. “Are you going to see her again?”

“I’ll have to, won’t I?” said Harry. “We’ve got D.A. meetings, haven’t we?”

“You know what I mean,” said Hermione impatiently.

Harry said nothing. Hermione’s words opened up a whole new vista of frightening possibilities. He tried to imagine going somewhere with Cho — Hogsmeade, perhaps — and being alone with her for hours at a time. Of course, she would have been expecting him to ask her out after what just happened….The thought made his stomach clench painfully.

“Oh well,” said Hermione distantly, buried in her letter once more. “you’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask her….”

This is probably the most telling of all. Hermione becomes anxious and hopeful, getting into the subject that she really wants to know — does Harry really like Cho? When she strikes the chord of Harry having liked her for ages, and she is answered only with silence, she then knows that yes, Harry does still fancy her, and, guess what? She goes back to the letter.

In case you haven’t caught my drift, Hermione is hiding behind her letter, in my opinion. Everything is coming in, but she’s using the letter as a scapegoat to mask whatever her face might give away; you can’t lie with body language, I’ve taken three years of psychology and believe me that’s one thing I did pick up.

So, you may be asking, how can you be sure? Hermione’s never hidden behind something else before, has she? Oh yes, she has…here’s one:

p. 176-177 (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

‘Happy Valentine’s Day!’ Lockhart shouted. ‘And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards!’

‘Please, Hermione, tell me you weren’t one of the forty-six,’ said Ron, as they left the Great Hall for their first lesson. Hermione suddenly became very interested in searching her bag for her timetable and didn’t answer.

Okay, yes, there are a lot more, but this essay is taking up far too much of my time for me to look all over the first few books of the series, so I’ll leave it at that.

Anyways, even one instance of this is better than none. I’ve heard it said that Hermione uses the letter to spark jealousy from Ron, and yet it’s something she has never done before – she has no reaction to Ron’s prodding after it is revealed that she is writing to Viktor, and she continues writing for twenty minutes after Ron’s outburst, denying the possibility that she only wanted to find Ron’s reaction and move on.

Speaking of moving on, we are now past the almighty exalted Post-Kiss scene, and onto another about two paragraphs later.

p. 461

“What does she see in Krum?” Ron demanded as he and Harry climbed the boys’ stairs.“Well,” said Harry, considering the matter, “I s’pose he’s older, isn’t he…and he’s an international Quidditch player….”

“Yeah, but apart from that,” said Ron, sounding aggravated. “I mean, he’s a grouchy git, isn’t he?” “Bit grouchy, yeah,” said Harry, whose thoughts were still on Cho.

I ABSOLUTELY love this exchange. Everyone in the shipping world of Harry Potter knows the term ‘Cho-goggles’. Well here they are, live and in concert. Harry, for the first time, is forced to think about what Hermione might see in a guy. He answers vaguely at best, not seeming too interested; I wondered why at first, but then there’s that last line: ‘said Harry, whose thoughts were still on Cho.’

This is a perfect example of Harry not thinking about Hermione in any non-platonic way because he had Cho on his mind.

Just a little scene that I’ve always really liked, but haven’t seen discussed often.

p. 462

Harry dreamed he was back in the D.A. room. Cho was accusing him of luring her there under false pretenses; she said that he promised her a hundred and fifty Chocolate Frog cards if she showed up. Harry protested….Cho shouted, “Cedric gave me loads of Chocolate Frog cards, look!” And she pulled out fistfuls of cards from inside her robes and threw them into the air, and then turned into Hermione, who said, “You did promise her, you know, Harry….I think you’d better give her something else instead….How about your Firebolt?” And Harry was protesting that he could not give Cho his Firebolt because Umbridge had it, and anyway the whole thing was ridiculous, he’d only come up to the D.A. room to put up some Christmas baubles shaped like Dobby’s head…

If there is an ultimate H/Hr shipping chapter in the Harry Potter series, Chapter 21 – ‘The Eye of the Snake’ – is it. In this chapter are both the Post-kiss scene AND the dream sequence. The dream sequence is well hidden before another dream sequence that is very important to the story line, so this scene is often overlooked or forgotten. Not to mention, the name of the chapter could have a double meaning…’The Eye of the Snake’…Harry’s a parselmouth, this could reference not only to his vision but also to his ‘eye’ on relationships in the book. Stretching, I know, but still…

There are tones of different analysis’ of this scene. Well, you’re about to get mine.

Everything seems to symbolize something else. The Cards could be commitment, love, etc. The Firebolt would be Harry’s heart (his most valued possession), etc.

Cho and Harry are arguing. Cho is crying and saying that Harry is not committed to her (this is why they break up later, incidentally – because she is not first in his life), and she throws this in his face, until she transforms into Hermione (showing a relationship of immaturity evolving into a mature one) and she tells Harry that he should give Cho his heart. Giving her his heart is ridiculous though – right now he cannot give it away (his Firebolt is locked away somewhere – he can’t give his heart away until he gets it back…which would be in HBP) and the Dobby part is just reference to the Harry baubles the aforementioned elf had put up earlier.

Make sense? I hope so. Basically, my interpretation is that Harry/Cho is an immature relationship, but then Hermione comes and she represents reason, a mature relationship, and Harry cannot give his heart away because he doesn’t have it at the moment, but can when he gets it back (in HBP).

The last bit is somewhat sketchy, but that’s my analysis.

p. 498-499

It was around six o’clock in the evening that the doorbell rang and Mrs. Black started screaming again. Assuming that Mundungus or some other Order member had come to call, Harry merely settled himself more comfortably against the wall of Buckbeak the hippogriff’s room where he was hiding, trying to ignore how hungry he felt as he fed Buckbeak dead rats. It came as a slight shock when somebody hammered hard on the door a few minutes later.“I know you’re in there,” said Hermione’s voice. “Will you please come out? I want to talk to you.”

“What are you doing here?” Harry asked her, pulling open the door, as Buckbeak resumed his scratching at the straw-strewen floor for any fragments of rat he might have dropped. “I thought you were skiing with your mom and dad.”

“Well to tell you the truth, skiing’s not really my thing,” said Hermione. “So I’ve come for Christmas.” There was snow in her hair and her face was pink with cold. “But don’t tell Ron that, I told him it’s really good because he kept laughing so much. Anyway, Mum and Dad are a bit disappointed, but I’ve told them that everyone who’s serious about the exams is staying at Hogwarts to study. They want me to do well, they’ll understand. Anyway,” she said briskly, “let’s go to your bedroom, Ron’s mum lit a fire in there and she’s sent up some sandwiches.”

Harry followed her back to the second floor. When he entered the bedroom he was rather surprised to see both Ron and Ginny waiting for them, sitting on Ron’s bed.

“I came on the Knight Bus,” said Hermione airily, pulling off her jacket before Harry had time to speak. “Dumbledore told me what happened first thing this morning, but I had to wait for term to end officially before setting off. Umbridge is already livid that you lot disappeared right under her nose, even though Dumbledore told her Mr. Weasley was in St. Mungo’s, and he’d given you all permission to visit. So…”

She sat down next to Ginny, and the two girls and Ron looked up at Harry.

“How’re you feeling?” asked Hermione.

“Fine,” said Harry stiffly.

“Oh, don’t lie, Harry,” she said impatiently. “Ron and Ginny say you’ve been hiding from everyone since you got back from St. Mungo’s.”

“They do, do they?” said Harry, glaring at Ron and Ginny. Ron looked down at his feet but Ginny seemed quite unabashed.

“Well, you have!” she said. “And you won’t look at any of us!”

“It’s you lot who won’t look at me!” said Harry angrily.

“Maybe you’re taking it in turns to look and keep missing each other,” suggested Hermione, the corners of her mouth twitching.

“Very funny,” snapped Harry, turning away.

“Oh, stop feeling all misunderstood,” said Hermione sharply. “Look, the others have told me what you overheard last night on the Extendable Ears –“

This is a very well-worded excerpt on the part of JKR. Most people don’t pick up the slight things. Here they are…

“Dumbledore told me what happened first thing this morning, but I had to wait for term to end officially before setting off.”

“Oh, stop feeling all misunderstood,” said Hermione sharply. “Look, the others have told me what you overheard last night on the Extendable Ears –“

From this we can gather that Hermione was told — not from Dumbledore — but fromRon and Ginny about the E.E. incident. That was not what Dumbledore told her. And this was the second morning after Harry and co. had left. What would be the point in Dumbledore waiting a full day to tell Hermione the news about Arthur? There wouldn’t be.

So just what did Dumbledore tell Hermione that morning? Harry’s plan to run off, of course. That is why she cancelled her skiing trip, because of Harry.

Now for the scene in question. Hermione’s first priority was obviously Harry. She was only there a few short moments, but in that time she had Ron and Ginny assemble in Harry and Ron’s room, AND had Molly send up sandwiches, AND heard the story from Ron and Ginny.

There is a romantic image of Hermione when she is first shown. Harry pulled the door open and there she was, her cheeks slightly flushed and snow still clinging to her hair. That seemed rather…cute…to me, to say the least.

Secondly, Harry was expecting a conference with Hermione alone. Harry followed her with the purpose of talking to her and only her.

This scene displayed another level of Hermione’s commitment to Harry – just how much she cares for him – and we got a romantic description of her from Harry’s point of view on the side.

p. 503

They [Ron and Harry] got up and dressed; they could hear various inhabitants of the house calling “Merry Christmas” to each other. On their way downstairs they met Hermione. “Thanks for the book, Harry!” she said happily. “I’ve been wanting that New Theory of Numerology for ages! And that perfume is really unusual Ron.”

Short but sweet. Hermione likes Harry’s present, evidenced by the exclamation mark and description of her voice being happy. It also shows that he really knows what Hermione wants, and got her a personal gift, whereas Ron got her a generic ‘girl gift’. I won’t go into the anti-R/Hr bit of this section, maybe some other time.

Hermione is also seen reading the book once later on in the story, so we know that she does enjoy it; no mention of her wearing perfume though…

p. 562

“Well — I have talked about it,” Harry said in a whisper, “to Ron and Hermione, but –” “Oh, you’ll talk to Hermione Granger!” she said shrilly, her face now shining with tears, and several more kissing couples broke apart to stare. “But you won’t talk to me! P-perhaps it would be best if we just…just p-paid and you went and met up with Hermione G-Granger, like you obviously want to!”

There’s more to this scene, but this is just the important parts. Hear we see that Cho is very much jealous of the bond that Harry has with the one and only Hermione Granger. Now, we were told in GoF that Krum was very much jealous of Harry and believed that something may be brewing between them – not by the articles Skeeter wrote, but rather by Hermione’s actions. Here we see the same thing — Cho is not jealous because of some petty article or the like, but rather because she sees the Interaction and comes to the same conclusion as those before her — there’s something more there.

If this was a one-time occurrence, it may not mean anything. But what is the point of JKR TWICE showing us possible love interests of Harry and Hermione becoming jealous and infuriated over their bond? The answer seems simple to me – Harry and Hermione are meant to be.

p. 571-573

“Oh, I forgot to ask you,” said Hermione brightly, glancing over at the Ravenclaw table., “what happened on your date with Cho? How come you were back so early?”“Er…well, it was…” said Harry, pulling a dish of rhubarb crumble toward him and helping himself to seconds, “a complete fiasco, now you mention it.”

And he told her what had happened in Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop.

“…so then,” he finished several minutes later, as the final bit of crumble disappeared, “she jumps up, right, and says ‘I’ll see you around, Harry,’ and runs out of the place!” He put down his spoon and looked at Hermione. “I mean, what was all that about? What was going on?”

Hermione glanced over at the back of Cho’s head and sighed. “Oh, Harry,” she said sadly. “Well, I’m sorry, but you were a bit tactless.”

Me, tactless?” said Harry, outraged. “One minute we were getting on fine, next minute she was telling me that Roger Davies asked her out, and how she used to go and snog Cedric in that stupid tea shop — how was I supposed to feel about that?”

“Well, you see,” said Hermione, with the patient air of one explaining that one plus one equals two to an overemotional toddler, “you shouldn’t have told her that you wanted to meet me halfway through your date.”

“But, but,” spluttered Harry, “but — you told me to meet you at twelve and bring her along, how was I supposed to do that without telling her — ?”

“You should have told her differently,” said Hermione, still with that maddeningly patient air. “You should have said it was really annoying, but I’d made you promise to come along to the Three Broomsticks, and you really didn’t want to go, you’d much rather spend the whole day with her, but unfortunately you thought you really ought to meet me and would she please, please come along with you, and hopefully you’d be able to get away more quickly? And it might have been a good idea to mention how ugly you think I am too,” Hermione added as an afterthought.

“But I don’t think you’re ugly,” said Harry, bemused.

Hermione laughed.

“Harry, you’re worse than Ron….Well, no, you’re not,” she sighed, as Ron himself came stumping into the Hall, splattered with mud and looking grumpy. “Look — you upset Cho when you said you were going to meet me, so she tried to make you jealous. It was her way of trying to find out how much you liked her.”

“Is that what she was doing?” said Harry as Ron dropped onto the bench opposite them and pulled every dish within reach toward himself. “Well, wouldn’t it have been easier if she’d just asked me whether I liked her better than you?”

“Girls don’t often ask questions like that,” said Hermione.

“Well, they should!” said Harry forcefully. “Then I could’ve just told her I fancy her, and she wouldn’t have had to get herself all worked up again about Cedric dying!”

“I’m not saying what she did was sensible,” said Hermione, as Ginny joined them, just as muddy as Ron and looking equally disgruntled. “I’m just trying to make you see how she was feeling at the time.”

And here we are with the most contradictory Harry Potter excerpt ever conceived. Let’s take it piece by piece, as we did with the Post-Kiss scene, I guess this can be referred to as the Post-date scene…

“Oh, I forgot to ask you,” said Hermione brightly, glancing over at the Ravenclaw table., “what happened on your date with Cho? How come you were back so early?”

Starts off well for my ship. Hermione asks ‘brightly’ how his date went with Cho, knowing full well that it was cut short early; this would seem to suggest that she was happy about the bad date.

“Er…well, it was…” said Harry, pulling a dish of rhubarb crumble toward him and helping himself to seconds, “a complete fiasco, now you mention it.”

And he told her what had happened in Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop.

“…so then,” he finished several minutes later, as the final bit of crumble disappeared, “she jumps up, right, and says ‘I’ll see you around, Harry’ and runs out of the place!” He put down his spoon and looked at Hermione. “I mean, what was all that about? What was going on?”

Hermione glanced over at the back of Cho’s head and sighed. “Oh Harry,” she said sadly. “Well, I’m sorry, but you were a bit tactless.”

Me, tactless?” said Harry, outraged. “One minute we were getting on fine, next minute she was telling me that Roger Davies asked her out, and how she used to go and snog Cedric in that stupid tea shop — how was I supposed to feel about that?”

And here it becomes a bit muddled as to her intentions, as Hermione seems to be sincerely sorry for Harry’s date to have turned out so badly.

“Well, you see,” said Hermione, with the patient air of one explaining that one plus one equals two to an overemotional toddler, “you shouldn’t have told her that you wanted to meet me halfway through your date.”

“But, but,” spluttered Harry, “but — you told me to meet you at twelve and bring her along, how was I supposed to do that without telling her — ?”

Now here’s an interesting point. Hermione is telling him what he should have done. Yet, she could have told him this in the same moment that she told Harry to meet her, she even mentioned Cho! So why tell him after the fact? Doesn’t really help, does it?

“You should have told her differently,” said Hermione, still with that maddeningly patient air. “You should have said it was really annoying, but I’d made you promise to come along to the Three Broomsticks, and you really didn’t want to go, you’d much rather spend the whole day with her, but unfortunately you thought you really ought to meet me and would she please, please come along with you, and hopefully you’d be able to get away more quickly? And it might have been a good idea to mention how ugly you think I am too,” Hermione added as an afterthought.

“But I don’t think you’re ugly,” said Harry, bemused.

Hermione laughed.

Another long dialogue from Hermione, said in a very patient air. She’s not anxious, or vague, or any of those things anymore because the doubt is gone, in my opinion. With as good as she is at determining girls’ feelings (especially Cho’s), she would certainly know by now that Harry and Cho were not going to work out, hence, she is no longer anxious, but calm and collected.

Then at the end we have the lines that Pumpkineers squeal upon and Good Shippers roll their eyes at.

Look at the dialogue. There is no reason for that last sentence to belong in Hermione’s quote. It is completely unrelated to the subject; JKR even says it was an afterthought. If you notice, there are only two sentences in the paragraph, the one describing what he should have done with Cho and the ugly one.

Now anti-H/Hr shippers are quick to point out that ‘not ugly’ does not equal pretty. No, I agree; it does not. But what else was Harry going to say? ‘But I think you’re pretty’? No, that wouldn’t fit grammatically; it would sound wrong. It would not have been an answer to the question, it would have been a slight change in the dialogue; it wouldn’t have made sense. You can’t answer a negative statement with a positive; it just doesn’t work in literature.

The question though, is why did Hermione say this? It adds nothing to the first sentence; it is an afterthought…could it be Hermione fishing for compliments? …Perhaps. Her response is somewhat cryptic; that’s what we look at next.

“Harry, you’re worse than Ron….Well, no, you’re not,” she sighed, as Ron himself came stumping into the Hall, splattered with mud and looking grumpy. “Look — you upset Cho when you said you were going to meet me, so she tried to make you jealous. It was her way of trying to find out how much you liked her.”

“Is that what she was doing?” said Harry as Ron dropped onto the bench opposite them and pulled every dish within reach toward himself. “Well, wouldn’t it have been easier if she’d just asked me whether I liked her better than you?”

“Girls don’t often ask questions like that,” said Hermione.

“Well, they should!” said Harry forcefully. “Then I could’ve just told her I fancy her, and she wouldn’t have had to get herself all worked up again about Cedric dying!” “I’m not saying what she did was sensible,” said Hermione, as Ginny joined them, just as muddy as Ron and looking equally disgruntled. “I’m just trying to make you see how she was feeling at the time.”

A lot of people out there see this as a pro-R/Hr moment, and I find it hard to disagree; unless you look at the big picture.

What are Harry and Hermione discussing? Harry and Cho? Yes…but also more. Girls in general? Certainly… but is that all?

Mostly, this is about understanding simple human emotions – something Ron isn’t too brilliant at (Hermione seems to enjoy pointing this flaw of his out), and Harry’s barely any better.

The ever-famous sigh was not necessarily one of longing. Why should it be? Ron isn’t even part of this conversation. The sigh, when looking at the entire theme and picture around it, seems to be more of an exasperation to me.

Here’s Hermione – the world’s genius in woman emotions – and there’s her two best friends in the world… completely clueless. Irony? You bet.

This entire scene, Hermione gives Harry exactly zero help with Cho. She explains what a girl feels like when she is seemingly shafted by the guy she likes so that he can hang with another girl.

Sound familiar? Isn’t Harry doing this exact same thing to Hermione? If Hermione does like Harry romantically — and I think she does — then isn’t she telling him exactly howshe feels? Wouldn’t it make sense that she is so spot-on in her analysis?

This entire scene, in my opinion, is a back-handed way of JKR very cleverly showing us how Hermione feels.

p. 637

“That was a really horrible trick of Hermione Granger’s,” said Cho fiercely. “She should have told us she’d jinxed that list –““I think it was a brilliant idea,” said Harry coldly. Cho flushed and her eyes grew brighter.

“Oh yes, I forgot — of course, if it was darling Hermione’s idea –”

“Don’t start crying again,” said Harry warningly.

“I wasn’t going to!” she shouted.

“Yeah…well…good,” he said. “I’ve got enough to cope with at the moment.”

“Go and cope with it then!” she said furiously, turning on her heel and stalking off.

AGAIN! Second time in this book Harry and Cho have an argument because Cho is jealous of Hermione. How many arguments do they have in the entire book, you ask? Two!

I ask again, what is the point? Why would JKR not once, not twice, but THREE times over the course of two books show us that Harry and Hermione’s respective boyfriend/girlfriend are insanely jealous of their bond? There is only one logical conclusion that I can draw from this, and it is that Harry and Hermione will get together in the end.

p. 696

Grawp’s hand shot out of nowhere toward Hermione — Harry seized her and pulled her backward behind the tree, so that Grawp’s fist scraped the trunk but closed on thin air.“BAD BOY, GRAWPY!” Harry heard Hagrid yelling, as Hermione clung to Harry behind the tree, shaking and whimpering.

Yeah, I know, he would have done it for anybody…but JKR wrote that he grabbed and saved Hermione, who in turn clung to the boy, shaking and whimpering. One instance of many where Hermione finds physical comfort with Harry, and no awkwardness or shyness afterwards — they are completely comfortable with one another; and yes, I believe that is a very good thing. What people that are in love would ever be afraid or unsure of touching one another?

p. 701

“Oh come off it, Harry!” said Hermione angrily, stopping dead in her tracks so that the people behind her had to swerve to avoid her. “Of course he’s going to be chucked out and to be perfectly honest, after what we’ve just seen, who can blame Umbridge?”There was a pause in which Harry glared at her, and her eyes filled slowly with tears.

“You didn’t mean that,” said Harry quietly.

“No…well…all right…I didn’t,” she said, wiping her eyes angrily. “But why does he have to make life so difficult for himself — for us?”

Another telling scene between the two. Harry sent Hermione to tears with just a simple look of disapproval — this shows just how important it is to her for Harry to like her. She meant what she said — that’s obvious — but she withdrew her comment and nearly cried just because Harry was angry with her.

Another interesting tidbit is the last word. Us. It’s even been italicized, Hermione emphasized the word. The ‘us’ has to refer to only her and Harry; he’s the only one she’s talking to and Ron is never mentioned in the conversation.

I just thought it was a sweet little innocent slip from Hermione — but that’s obviously my shipping bias speaking; I doubt if JKR intended it that way, it just happened.

p. 733-737 (snippets)

“Okay,” she (Hermione) said, looking frightened and yet determined, “I’ve just got to say this….”“What?”

“You…This isn’t a criticism, Harry! But you do…sort of…I mean don’t you think you’ve got a bit of a — a — saving-people-thing?” she said.

He glared at her. “And what’s that supposed to mean, a ‘saving-people-thing’?”

 

Harry let out a roar of frustration. Hermione actually stepped back from him, looking alarmed.

“Wait,” said Hermione suddenly. “Wait…Harry, they (Luna and Ginny) can help.”

 

“Harry, I’m begging you, please!” said Hermione desperately. “Please, let’s just check that Sirius isn’t at home before we go charging off to London — if we find out he’s not there then I swear I won’t try and stop you. I’ll come, I’ll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him –“

 

“Okay,” Harry said aggressively to Hermione. “Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I’m with you, otherwise I’m going to the Department of Mysteries right now –“

 

Even through his anger and impatience Harry recognized Hermione’s offer to accompany him into Umbridge’s office as a sign of solidarity and loyalty.“I…okay, thanks,” he muttered.

 

I know there’s a lot more to this scene, but I wasn’t about to write it all out again. So let’s just analyze these highlights, the parts I considered the most crucial.

“Okay,” she [Hermione] said, looking frightened and yet determined, “I’ve just got to say this….”

“What?”

“You…This isn’t a criticism, Harry! But you do…sort of…I mean don’t you think you’ve got a bit of a — a — saving-people-thing?” she said.

He glared at her. “And what’s that supposed to mean, a ‘saving-people-thing’?”

Hermione; even though petrified at the thought; has the courage to tell Harry what is on her mind. This starts the heated conversation, that if you’ll notice, while others are present, is almost entirely between Harry and Hermione.

Harry let out a roar of frustration. Hermione actually stepped back from him, looking alarmed.

This shows just how determined Hermione is. Harry is so angry, and she is so frightened, that she actually takes a step away from him. Yet, she still forces her point, she never backs down, she speaks her mind; keeps herself on equal footing with Harry.

“Wait,” said Hermione suddenly. “Wait…Harry, they [Luna and Ginny] canhelp.”

This is the turning tide. It shows that Hermione is willing to compromise; she only wants what is best for Harry, so on the spot, she comes up with a plan – she herself puts out the idea of breaking into the Headmistress’ office.

“Harry, I’m begging you, please!” said Hermione desperately. “Please, let’s just check that Sirius isn’t at home before we go charging off to London — if we find out he’s not there then I swear I won’t try and stop you. I’ll come, I’ll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him –“

When, ever in the series, has Hermione ever begged for someone to do something? Never. That is how important this is to her, how important Harry is to her. This is the shining moment in her life: it shows exactly what kind of person she is. This paragraph here is why we know – it’s not even a debatable opinion – we know that Hermione will always be there for Harry. While all the others cower around CAPSLOCK!Harry, Hermione gets right in his face and compromises with him, forcing reason on him. As she did in Book One literally; Hermione shows that she would walk through fire for Harry, as long as he is seeing reason.

“Okay,” Harry said aggressively to Hermione. “Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I’m with you, otherwise I’m going to the Department of Mysteries right now –“

Harry has been convinced; Hermione has gotten through to him. Nobody else can – or ever has – gotten through to CAPSLOCK!Harry before now, and only one person does afterward (Dumbledore, and that is only because of the information he holds) – Hermione got through to him on her own wit and willingness.

Even through his anger and impatience Harry recognized Hermione’s offer to accompany him into Umbridge’s office as a sign of solidarity and loyalty.

“I…okay, thanks,” he muttered.

This, undeniably, is the single greatest compliment that Harry has ever given to any person ever in the series thus far. Harry is angry and irrational, but he still recognizes Hermione’s loyalty and solidarity. Not Ron’s, not Luna’s, not Ginny’s; they were all there, they all agreed to help, they all put themselves at risk by doing so; but it was only Hermione whom he truly recognized as being loyal to a fault. No other two characters mentioned in this book have ever been displayed as having such absolute trust in one another as Harry and Hermione do.

All in all, I believe that the major fight between Harry and Hermione was a very strong indicator of just how deep their friendship goes, deeper than anyone else’s, even their relationships with Ron. He was there for the entire fight, but had no bearing on its conclusion. If I was ever in doubt before, this scene made me pro H/Hr to the grave.

p. 746

“The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue,” said Umbridge quietly.“No!” shrieked Hermione. “Professor Umbridge — it’s illegal” — but Umbridge took no notice. There was a nasty, eager, excited look on her face that Harry had never seen before. She raised her wand.

“The Minister wouldn’t want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!” cried Hermione.

Another instance of Hermione’s fierce loyalty to Harry. Notice that there are five others on her side in the room – including Harry himself — but she is the only one that speaks up. They are all Harry’s friends, but Hermione is the only one to speak up. Same way she was the only one to speak up in the fight, the only one that tried to get him out of the room at Grimmauld Place, the only one who helped him with much of anything — if they are only friends, then why is Hermione the only friend that ever stands up for or to Harry when it matters most?

p. 755

Harry grabbed Hermione and pulled her to the ground. Facedown on the forest floor he knew a moment of terror as hooves thundered around him, but the centaurs leapt over and around them, bellowing and screaming with rage.

Just a small scene that shows Harry once again protecting Hermione without thought. Yes, he would have done that for anybody, but JKR chose to write the scene as being Harry/Hermione, don’t forget that.

p. 757-759

But they did not hear what else centaurs were, for at that moment there came a crashing noise on the edge of the clearing so loud that all of them — Harry, Hermione, and the fifty or so centaurs filling the clearing — looked around. Harry’s centaur let him fall to the ground again as his hands flew to his bow and quiver of arrows; Hermione had been dropped too, and Harry hurried over to her as two thick tree trunks parted ominously and the monstrous form of Grawp the giant appeared in the gap.The centaurs nearest him backed into those behind. The clearing was now a forest of bows and arrows waiting to be fired, all pointing upward at the enormous grayish face now looming over them from just beneath the thick canopy of branches. Grawp’s lopsided mouth was gaping stupidly. They could see his bricklike yellow teeth glimmering in the half-light, his dull sludge-colored eyes narrowed as he squinted down at the creatures at his feet. Broken ropes trailed from both ankles.

His mouth opened even wider.

“Hagger.”

Harry did not know what “hagger” meant, or what language it was from, nor much did he care — he was watching Grawp’s feet, which were almost as long as Harry’s whole body. Hermione gripped his arm tightly; the centaurs were quite silent, staring up at the giant, whose huge, round head moved from side to side as he continued to peer amongst them as though looking for something he had dropped.

Hagger!” he said again, more insistently.

“Get away from here, giant!” called Magorian. “You are not welcome among us!”

These words seemed to make no impression whatsoever on Grawp. He stooped a little (the centaurs’ arms tensed on their bows) and then bellowed, “HAGGER!”

A few of the centaurs looked worried now. Hermione, however, gave a gasp.

“Harry!” she whispered. “I think he’s trying to say ‘Hagrid’!”

At this precise moment Grawp caught sight of them, the only two humans in a sea of centaurs. He lowered his head another foot or so, staring intently at them. Harry could feel Hermione shaking as Grawp opened his mouth wide again and said, in a deep, rumbling voice, “Hermy.”

“Goodness,” said Hermione, gripping Harry’s arm so tightly it was growing numb and looking as though she was about to faint, “he — he remembered!”

“HERMY!” roared Grawp. “WHERE HAGGER?”

“I don’t know!” squealed Hermione, terrified. “I’m sorry, Grawp, I don’t know!”

“GRAWP WANT HAGGER!”

One of the giant’s massive hands swooped down upon them — Hermione let out a real scream, ran a few steps backward and fell over. Devoid of a wand, Harry braced himself to punch, kick, bite, or whatever else it took as the hand flew toward him and knocked a snow-white centaur off his legs.

It’s what the centaurs had been waiting for — Grawp’s outstretched fingers were a foot from Harry when fifty arrows went soaring through the air at the giant, peppering his enormous face, causing him to howl with pain and rage and straighten up again, rubbing his face with his enormous hands, breaking off the arrow shafts but forcing the heads in still deeper.

He yelled and stamped his enormous feet and the centaurs scattered out of the way. Pebble-sized droplets of Grawp’s blood showered Harry as he pulled Hermione to her feet and the pair of them ran as fast as they could for the shelter of the trees. Once there they looked back – Grawp was snatching blindly at the centaurs as blood ran all down his face; they were retreating in disorder, galloping away through the trees on the other side of the clearing. As Harry and Hermione watched, Grawp gave another roar of fury and plunged after them, smashing more trees aside as he went.

The famous Grawp scene: a long excerpt but not much to say about it. Hermione obviously looks to Harry as a source of comfort. She could have hidden behind a tree and hugged that for dear life, but she went for Harry instead, not to mention that Harry constantly went to her to protect her. I know it’s just in his character, but JKR wrote it so that it was Hermione he was protecting, and so that it was only the two of them that went. JKR had a choice of any of the six – she easily could have had Umbridge brought Ron as well, knowing how great of friends the three of them were, and yet, she chose only Harry and Hermione to go along. Writer’s intuition, indeed.

p. 760

Harry and Hermione moved instinctively together, peering through the trees, as Ron came into sight, closely followed by Ginny, Neville, and Luna. All of them looked a little worse for the wear — there were several long scratches running the length of Ginny’s cheek, a large purple lump was welling above Neville’s right eye, Ron’s lip was bleeding worse than ever — but all were looking rather pleased with themselves.

Another small scene where Harry and Hermione — without thought — move into one another for protection. Once again, a subconscious thing — you protect the one that you love.

p. 770

Hermione grabbed Harry’s arm as though frightened the floor might move too, but it did not. For a few seconds the blue flames around them were blurred to resemble neon lines as the wall sped around and then, quite as suddenly as it started, the rumbling stopped and everything became stationary once again.

Another short but sweet scene. Four other people in the room, but Hermione instinctively grabs Harry for support. That’s how it was written.

p. 774

“What do you [Luna] mean, ‘in there’?” demanded Hermione, jumping down from the bottom step and sounding much angrier than the occasion warranted. “There isn’t any ‘in there,’ it’s just an archway, there’s no room for anybody to be there — Harry, stop it, come away –” She grabbed his arm and pulled, but he resisted.

jealousy – a jealous disposition, attitude, or feeling

JKR even tells us that Hermione is much angrier than the situation warranted. This is the second time this book that this has happened – Hermione getting very angry over something stupid because Harry and Luna have connected on a level that she hasn’t. She is far more forward with Luna than she ever was with Fleur, and I believe this to be very telling. With Fleur, there was a lot of snappish comments behind her back; with Luna, she goes off on to her face.

That seems like female jealousy to me…(sighs)…why can’t this stuff happen to me?

p. 787

“RUN!” Harry yelled, and as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to pour from above, he seized a handful of Hermione’s robes and dragged her forward, one arm over his head as chunks of shelf and shards of glass thundered down upon them. A Death Eater lunged forward through the cloud of dust and Harry elbowed him hard in the masked face. They were all yelling, there were cries of pain, thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves, weirdly echoing fragments of the Seers unleashed from their spheres —

Here we have all six kids, and Harry pulls Hermione forward out of the five others — and Ginny was standing directly behind him, not to mention she was the one that the Death Eaters has said they were going to attack first! This goes along with the subconscious theory; that Harry protects Hermione above all else without thought — because he loves her, and he just doesn’t know it on a conscious level yet.

p. 793

Such a powerful wave of relief swept through Harry that for a moment he felt light-headed.

This is Harry’s reaction to realizing that Hermione was going to be okay. Many essays have been written about this one, solitary sentence, and for good reason.

This is, by far, the most telling reaction he’s had to anyone’s possible death aside from Sirius.

The relief is described as powerful, sweeping through his entire body, so much so that he actually felt light-headed. Light-headedness is often coupled together with unconsciousness or something similar. It comes from a massive blood rush to the brain; this happens because the brain suddenly needs a ton of extra blood in order to be able to operate – it only happens in case of trauma or extreme emotions.

The light-headed part of the sentence is what makes it so different. He had such an incredible emotional reaction to the realization that Hermione would be okay that he, more or less, nearly fainted.

That is very telling, in my opinion.

p. 868

He [Mad-Eye Moody] and Mr. Weasley took the lead across the station toward the place where the Dursleys stood, apparently rooted to the floor. Hermione disengaged herself gently from her mother to join the group.

Another one of those cute scenes that probably means nothing. Hermione leaves her parents to stand by Harry’s side – just as a bride would do to be with her husband.

Reaching…reaching…I know, but still, it’s one of those cool little things.

WOW! Finally! Four days and about 13,500 words and we are finally done. It’s funny that I read the entire book in fifteen hours but it took me five times that to write this essay on only a few parts of it.

In conclusion, I know that I went a bit off topic, I did throw in a few anti-R/Hr things against my better judgment, but all in all, I hope I got my point across.

One final thought: JKR may very well not be writing a Harry/Hermione romance – the interviews she gives certainly wouldn’t lead one to believe so, but I think the books speak for themselves in that, even if Harry and Hermione don’t get together, it’s the little things in the books that show that they would be perfect for one another, whether JKR realizes she’s writing it that way or not.

‘Peace Out’ everyone, and have a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, enjoy your day off school for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and remember not to forget to buy that special somebody something good for Valentine’s Day.