still more HBP thoughts
12- I don't agree that Hermione was OOC in HBP. Hermione has displayed jealousy before. Hermione has let her emotions get the best of her before (on several occasions). Hermione has always been insanely competitive when it comes to academics. Hermione had good reasons to put SPEW on the backburner. Hermione has bent and even broken rules before, when she felt it was justified. As for not believing Harry...she's never put much store in Harry's "Snape is evil and he's up to something" rants. And after the fiasco at the ministry...she had a good reason not to act on blind faith that Harry's assumption about Draco and Snape was right. Harry was wrong last time. And he's never been right where Snape was concerned. I don't feel like writing an essay at the moment but will be glad to respond to comments.
Edited to add:
I posted a bit more about this over at a thread on Phoenixsong: Hermione: OOC or True Colors?. I may actually turn it into an essay and post it at Phoenixsong if they decide to start accepting essays.
13- Trystym and I were talking about lifedebts, and he brought up the fact that Ron now owes Harry a
lifedebt because Harry saved his life with the bezoar when he was poisoned. On Phoenixsong, someone (Astarte, I think) also pointed out that Hermione owes Harry a life-debt (and Ron as well) because they saved her from the troll first year. Ginny owes Harry a life-debt because he saved her from Tom and the basilisk. Harry inherited the life-debt Snape owed to James...and he may still owe Harry as we found out that Snape was instrumental in the deaths of the Potters. And Peter owes Harry a lifedebt for saving him from Remus and Sirius in POA. Interesting...two of Harry's bitter enemies and now the three friends closest to him owe him life-debts. Do we thinks this will come into play in book 7? Yes, Precious, we do.
I may at some point write an essay on Jo's execution of the H/G relationship. In just skimming OotP today I ran across a comment about Ginny answering an unasked question of Harry's, "as though reading his mind" which reminded me of their unspoken understanding at the end of HBP. The subtle hints was there, certain people just choose not to see it, the same people who have always commented on how subtle the clues were for H/Hr.
I've posted on Portkey a bit but I don't think I'll go back. As I've always said, ship debates are essentially the same as beating your head against a brick wall.
Things I think are just silly:
-Ginny being referred to as the school bicycle (ok, this one actually pisses me off)
-Ginny being described as not emotionally strong enough for Harry
-Ginny being described as disloyal
-Harry needing Hermione to tell him "No" and "You're wrong" or to push him
-the notion that Ginny is "replacing" Hermione as the important woman in his life
-the notion that Hermione is the only one who can offer Harry love
-the notion of Saint Hermione (which thankfully seems to be quashed in this book)
-the notion that friendship isn't good enough for Harry and Hermione. Why isn't it? Their relationship is lovely as it is...why mess with it?
-the notion that letting Harry go at the end proved Ginny didn't care much about Harry
-the notion that there can only be one strong female character in a book and that making Ginny stronger steals the spotlight from Hermione
-the notion that Harry developing a romantic relationship with Ginny will disrupt the bond between the trio, but that Harry and Hermione developing a romantic relationship won't affect it at all
I could go on, and on, and on, but I've said enough and had my semi-rant. I don't have a problem with the H/Hr relationship. I have a problem with people stomping on the H/G relationship in order to support the H/Hr relationship.