OOTP Chapter Sixteen: "In the Hog's Head"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

 

* So what exactly does Vanishing an animal do? Send
it to another dimension? Send it into oblivion? Because isn’t the latter
effectively killing it (more so, in fact, because it wouldn’t get to go to
whatever passes for an Afterlife in the Potterverse)? I wonder how many
students would be happy with their Vanishing lessons if they knew that they
were actually killing kittens?

* Ron totally refusing to back Hermione up over unofficial
DADA lessons. What a perfect match those two make.

* Oh no wait, Ron was just waiting to be sure Harry
would blow up. Odd, I’d have thought that the image of an angry young man whose
friends are feared of contradicting him would have seemed more likely to apply
to Tom Riddle that to anybody else.

* It’s actually rather easy to do stuff grown
wizards can’t in the HP universe. You just have to be on good terms with the
author, and you can do anything.

* The whole Viktor/Hermione thing is a bit squicky,
really. So an eighteen-year-old wants to go out with a fourteen-year-old, and
nobody seems to think that there’s anything wrong with that (except for Ron,
who is (a) jealous and (b) doesn’t object to it on grounds of age)?

* Also, what is it that first attracted Viktor to
Hermione? He didn’t know her well enough before asking her to the Yule Ball for
it to be her personality, and Hermione wasn’t yet pretty enough for it to be
her good looks.

* Once again, Hermione seems terrified of Harry.
Perhaps she’s just worried that Harry’s overwhelming love might prove too much
for an ordinary person such as her to handle.

* I’d have thought that after Azkaban, living in a
large, stately house would be quite nice. Apparently though Sirius is feeling
cooped-up and reckless. Because a reckless person could totally carry out the
first-ever escape from Azkaban. Totally.

* Hermione stutters when she says “Voldemort” again,
even though she has no reason to. About the only reason I can think of is that
JKR kept forgetting she was supposed to be Muggle-born, and so had her acting
like a Pureblood instead.

* Also, remember when we thought that there was some
proper reason for not saying Voldemort’s name, and Dumbledore seemed really
cool and badass for saying it anyway? *sigh* How I miss those days… :(

* Hermione says that Sirius won’t be free until “the
fools” “accept that Dumbledore’s been telling the truth all along”, as if
Dumbledore’s word ought to be enough for anybody. This doesn’t seem like a
particularly open-minded and enquiring position to take, although I suppose
that Hermione’s open-mindedness has always been something of an informed
attribute.

* Harry’s barely keeping up with his homework,
because he always has to have some problem to angst about. Ron’s doing even
worse, because no matter how bad Harry is, JKR can’t have Ron doing better than
the hero. Hermione’s doing fine, because she’s a total Mary Sue who does fine
at everything.

* Hermione dismisses Harry’s concerns about Umbridge
spying on them on the grounds that “Umbridge is shorter than that woman”.
Because it’s not like Umbridge could have any informants. Or like she could
have taken some sort of potion to make herself look like somebody else. Nope.
No chance of that at all.

* Hermione’s faith that they’ll all be safe because
they won’t be breaking any rules is rather touchingly naïve. Given what they
know of the wizarding attitude to justice, however, it’s also pretty stupid.

* So is the barman who “looked vaguely familiar to
Harry” supposed to be Aberforth, then? If so, this would be one of the few
examples of continuity between DH and the previous Harry Potter books. I suppose the smell of goats is also meant to
be a clue.

* Hermione “snarls” at Ron when he suggests ordering
a Firewhiskey. Not that her constant sneering, snarling and assorted put-downs
will stop Ron from fancying her. Treat ’em mean, keep ’em keen, I suppose.

* Harry doesn’t recognise half the people coming in,
even the ones he plays against in Quidditch matches. I suppose this is part of
JKR’s desire to make the reader learn everything as Harry does, even though by
this stage she could introduce everybody as if Harry already knew them (“Following
Ginny came John Smith, a nondescript Hufflepuff in fourth year”) without
anybody batting an eyelid.

* I think the red-haired girl is Marietta, yes? In
which case, her reluctance to come is clearly meant to be foreshadowing of her
betrayal. Because it’s not like anybody could change their minds about the idea,
and become less enthusiastic as time went on; any traitor would have to have to
be against it from the start.

* What has Lord Voldemort done to warrant such a
reaction to the mere mention of his name? Going around murdering people is bad,
but not enough to make people shriek every time somebody mentions you.
Especially since mainstream wizarding society seems fine with the idea of
sending people to rot in a castle full of depression-causing monsters without
even a trial, which is arguably worse.

* “‘Well, Dumbledore believes it—’ Hermione began.”
Again, Hermione, that isn’t a good enough reason. A supposedly
independent-minded girl should know that.

* Also: yay Zach Smith! Nice to see somebody
questioning DD’s version of events. A pity his author doesn’t appreciate him
for it.

* Didn’t Harry produce a Patronus at a Quidditch
match in his third year? So why is the fact that he can such a big surprise to
everybody?

* And Harry, just because two people you’re met use
the phrase “Corporeal Patronus”, that doesn’t mean they’re related.

* Harry shows a rare moment of humility and self-knowledge
when he says that he only succeeded because he was helped out by others.

* Hermione dismisses the possibility of Heliopaths
existing, even though at age eleven she found out that magic, goblins, giants
and all manner of other “impossible” things existed. A pity nobody ever points
this out to her, really.

* “But I also think… that we all ought to agree not
to shout about what we’re doing. So if you sign, you agree not to tell Umbridge
or anybody what we’re up to.” And to have your face disfigured for the rest of
your life if you do, but we won’t bother telling you that.

* Seriously, that “protection” is the worst ever. It
doesn’t warn you when you’ve been betrayed, it doesn’t stop anybody betraying
you in the first place, and none of the DA members know about it, so it’s not
going to have any sort of deterrent effect.

* Ginny and Michael first met at the Yule Ball. I
hope when Neville asked her to go with him he meant in a “just friends” sense,
rather than as a date, because otherwise that can’t have been a fun night for
him.

* Ron seems very worked-up about Ginny’s new
boyfriend. Ron/Ginny OTP?

* Of course, this Michael/Ginny/Ron love-triangle
won’t go anywhere, so Hermione quickly moves to more plot-relevant stuff, like
Harry/Cho.

Comments

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Odd, I’d have thought that the image of an angry young man whose
friends are feared of contradicting him would have seemed more likely to apply to Tom Riddle that to anybody else./

*mock-gasp* How can you say that? Harry is in Gryffindor, so there's no way that he could be anything like that slimy Slytherin, except for the dead parents, black hair, and Parseltongue!

/Because a reckless person could totally carry out the first-ever escape from Azkaban./

There are some people out there who say that Sirius' death was actually a mercy-killing, given the amount of destruction that his character underwent in this book.

/Hermione “snarls” at Ron when he suggests ordering a Firewhiskey. Not that her constant sneering, snarling and assorted put-downs will stop Ron from fancying her./

So, Lavender is a ridiculous girlfriend whom Ron is ashamed of because she's nice to him, wishes him luck in Quidditch, and stands up to Snape for his sake. Yet Hermione is his True Love because she does nothing but berate and belittle him (and later abuse him with vicious birds)? Tell me that this pairing wouldn't get more of a incredulous reaction if the genders were switched.

/Going around murdering people is bad, but not enough to make people shriek every time somebody mentions you. Especially since mainstream wizarding society seems fine with the idea of sending people to rot in a castle full of depression-causing monsters without even a trial, which is arguably worse./

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a fanfic out there where somebody (Harry, Hermione, etc.) confronted Voldemort about the murders that he committed and he'd fire back by saying that at least he killed his victims quickly and painlessly with the Avada Kedavra Curse, whereas wizarding society has no problem with slowly torturing and killing people with imprisonment in Azkaban.

Perhaps people are so uncomfortable with Voldemort because, like Mr. Hyde, he embodies everything that is wrong with their society? It doesn't explain why nobody is afraid to say Grindelwald's name, though. Or is it because they've just forgotten about him?

/* Hermione dismisses the possibility of Heliopaths existing, even though at age eleven she found out that magic, goblins, giants and all manner of other “impossible” things existed. A pity nobody ever points this out to her, really./

Nobody refutes Hermione about anything. She's proven to be right in the end about Ron's rat in PoA, so nobody has to take her to task for showing no sympathy for Ron and stupidly insisting that Crookshanks couldn't have done it even though there was ample evidence that he could have. Lavender never takes her to task for loudly pointing out that Trelawney couldn't have been right about Lavender's rabbit when Lavender was mourning him. The most that anybody does about SPEW is to just ignore her or refuse to join. When she lectures everybody about needing to study, nobody tells her to just shut up and leave them alone. And, of course, nobody turns on her for hexing Marietta.

She's just so self-righteous and overbearing by this point that the only reason that I can think of for why she hasn't been targeted by Fred and George or by other students is because she's a powerful witch and they don't want to risk incurring her wrath.

/* Seriously, that “protection” is the worst ever. It doesn’t warn you when you’ve been betrayed, it doesn’t stop anybody betraying you in the first place, and none of the DA members know about it, so it’s not going to have any sort of deterrent effect./

Earlier you said that Harry resembled Tom Riddle. Now, doesn't Hermione resemble Tom a bit? I don't think that he told Peter that the silver hand that he gave him would strangle him if he even *thought* about helping Harry. Well, okay, Hermione's hex didn't *kill* Marietta, but it was designed with the same intention: punish the traitor.

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"So, Lavender is a ridiculous girlfriend whom Ron is ashamed of because she's nice to him, wishes him luck in Quidditch, and stands up to Snape for his sake. Yet Hermione is his True Love because she does nothing but berate and belittle him (and later abuse him with vicious birds)? Tell me that this pairing wouldn't get more of a incredulous reaction if the genders were switched."

If Ron had acted towards Hermione like Hermione does towards Ron, people would be saying that he's a jealous, possessive, abusive, violent thug whom Hermione should avoid at all costs. They'd be right, too. I suppose this comes back to the old stereotype that there's no such thing as woman-on-man violence, or if there is, that's just because the man's too pussy-whipped to stand up for himself. It's also similar to the love potion thing: if, say, Draco had slipped some into Hermione's pumpkin juice, people would (rightly) be criticising it sooner than you can say "date rape", but because it's a girl using it, it's apparently a source of humour.

"It doesn't explain why nobody is afraid to say Grindelwald's name, though. Or is it because they've just forgotten about him?"

Who cares about Grindlewald? He was foreign, after all. Nothing to do with us. The only thing people remember about him is that he was beaten by Dumbledore.

"Earlier you said that Harry resembled Tom Riddle. Now, doesn't Hermione resemble Tom a bit?"

Oh, I think the whole Trio resembles Riddle in at least some respects. Even Ron is fine with the idea of betraying people once they're no longer needed.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Even Ron is fine with the idea of betraying people once they're no longer needed.

Not people, goblins! They don't have our blood, you see, so it's okay!

Gods, this gets more and more right the more you look at it.

[xerox78.livejournal.com]

If Ron had acted towards Hermione like Hermione does towards Ron, people would be saying that he's a jealous, possessive, abusive, violent thug whom Hermione should avoid at all costs.

The majority of anti-Ron/Hermione/anti-Ron people seem to believe that anyway.

I suppose this comes back to the old stereotype that there's no such thing as woman-on-man violence,

Yeah, and even most of the most ardent Ron/Hermione shippers love that she attacked him with a flock of birds and think it makes her a strong woman and that Ron had it coming. On the other hand, HBP was what turned me against Ron/Hermione and it had been my OTP. I still ship it fanon-wise but HBP destroyed the canon pairing for me.

or if there is, that's just because the man's too pussy-whipped to stand up for himself.

And the few times Ron did stand up for himself, Hermione cried hysterically, other characters piled on him for been so mean to her, and Ron haters used it as proof that Ron = Charlie Sheen.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/The majority of anti-Ron/Hermione/anti-Ron people seem to believe that anyway./

Unfortunately. :(

/Yeah, and even most of the most ardent Ron/Hermione shippers love that she attacked him with a flock of birds and think it makes her a strong woman and that Ron had it coming./

Oh, yes, because if Ron had done the same thing to Hermione during the Yule Ball or when she invited Cormac to Slughorn's party just to make Ron jealous, we'd all be calling him a "strong man" and saying that Hermione "had it coming." -_-

I ranted about that scene in my LJ: http://aikaterini.livejournal.com/48293.html. I *hated* that scene and I hated Hermione in HBP. Ron was an unlikable idiot in that book to be sure, but Hermione was downright unbearable.

/And the few times Ron did stand up for himself, Hermione cried hysterically, other characters piled on him for been so mean to her, and Ron haters used it as proof that Ron = Charlie Sheen./

Oh, yeah, like that time in PoA, when Hagrid called out Ron for caring more about his pet than his friend. Never mind that Hermione apparently cared more about *her* pet (Crookshanks) and being right than *her* friend's feelings. It was only near the end of the book that she apologized about Scabbers, but in the end, it didn't mean anything because we all learned who Scabbers really was.

[xerox78.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, because if Ron had done the same thing to Hermione during the Yule Ball or when she invited Cormac to Slughorn's party just to make Ron jealous, we'd all be calling him a "strong man" and saying that Hermione "had it coming." -_-

Or if Dean Thomas had done that to Ginny.

Oh, yeah, like that time in PoA, when Hagrid called out Ron for caring more about his pet than his friend. Never mind that Hermione apparently cared more about *her* pet (Crookshanks) and being right than *her* friend's feelings.

And never mind that in the previous two books Ron was bitten by one of Hagrid's pets and ended up in the hospital wing and that he and Harry almost became dinner for another one. And not only did he not get any apology, Hagrid chewed him out for "making" his dragon bite him.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/It's also similar to the love potion thing: if, say, Draco had slipped some into Hermione's pumpkin juice, people would (rightly) be criticising it sooner than you can say "date rape", but because it's a girl using it, it's apparently a source of humour./

Or it's a case of a victimized woman searching for love, as in the case of Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Sr. You don't know how people have said that Tom Riddle Sr. was such a horrible man for leaving her after she stopped giving him the Love Potion (and originally, I used to think so, too).

Uh, guys? She gave him a mind-controlling drug and slept with him while he was under that drug. She effectively *raped* him. It doesn't matter how much of a snob he was, *anybody* would be running for their lives once they'd realized what had happened to them. He didn't leave her because she was ugly and poor (or at least not *just* because she was ugly and poor). He left her because she had married him and slept with him *against his will.* Just because Merope was a victim didn't give her the right to victimize someone else.

[xerox78.livejournal.com]

She gave him a mind-controlling drug and slept with him while he was under that drug. She effectively *raped* him.

Veering OT: Yep. On the other hand, some have pointed out that the only proof we have of Merope raping Tom Sr. is an assumption by Dumbledore. Wasn't Merope a squib or close to it? And she didn't attend Hogwarts. How and where would she have learned to make a viable love potion? And she was dirt poor so it's unlikely she bought one from someone else. He also believes that Merope died because she was too (morally) weak to live for her child. So while I think sleeping with someone under a love potion is rape, I do think there reasonable doubt as to whether Merope raped Tom Sr. And it could go the other way too. What if, in HBP, Ron had tracked down Romilda Vane and tried to jump her bones? =:-O

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing this out. While I completely agree with aikaterini that using a love potion in that way is essentially rape, I get tired of people confusing Dumbledore's assumption that Merope used a love potion with it being actual, established canonical fact that she did. Dumbledore's reasoning alone in that scene makes me a bit homicidal: *obviously* Merope is too poor and ugly for anyone to actually want to have sex with her, so she *must* have used a love potion. Because ugly people with a connection to Slytherin are all morally bankrupt from the get-go, right? It couldn't possibly be that rich, entitled Tom Riddle saw a woman with no defenses and no credibility and decided she'd make a nice fucktoy on the side for a bit, because who's going to believe her word over his if she should ever be less than properly grateful that he deigns to look at her?

(Sorry, RL rage-making things are getting to me atm, but seriously: Dumbledore's assumptions and reasons for making them about Merope make me so sick.)

Violence, date rape.

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

If Ron had acted towards Hermione like Hermione does towards Ron, people would be saying that he's a jealous, possessive, abusive, violent thug whom Hermione should avoid at all costs. They'd be right, too. I suppose this comes back to the old stereotype that there's no such thing as woman-on-man violence, or if there is, that's just because the man's too pussy-whipped to stand up for himself. It's also similar to the love potion thing: if, say, Draco had slipped some into Hermione's pumpkin juice, people would (rightly) be criticising it sooner than you can say "date rape", but because it's a girl using it, it's apparently a source of humour.

Never mind that, if the perpetrator in ANY such instance were a man, or even a teenaged boy then it would get the same condemnation, whichever the gender of the victim.

Re: Violence, date rape.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

Eh, possibly. A lot of people seem to have this really bizarre notion that homosexual sex is more innocent and harmless than heterosexual sex because it isn't "real" sex....

Re: Violence, date rape.

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Which demographic? Many people, JKR included pretend that homosexual sex doesn't exist because they hold so much antipathy towards it. And odd as it sounds there are plenty of men who try to delude themselves into believing that they could not be raped by other men. I suppose it shows very strong wishful thinking.

Re: Violence, date rape.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

The attitudes people have toward serious issues is just ridic. I mean- a love potion is used to take away people's will and let the perp take advantage of them. They don't have a choice in the matter, they're not in the right state of mind to make decisions for themselves. It's abominable.

But for some reason, if it's a girl, it's not a big deal? People only get squicked if guys abuse someone in this way, but it's a-okay with males? *headdesk*

The love potion thing came up on another comm and I got this reply:
I know that if I had access to a love potion and the biggest celebrity in the universe...Well, I could see using on too. (Rupert Grint, anyone? <3).

*headdesk* I know- at least, I hope- this person isn't serious and that it's just a throwaway comment like a fangirl without actually meaning they would use it if the chance came up. But it makes me despair that people actually make comments like that. I'm CERTAIN that if Draco had been the one employing the potion on Hermione, everyone would be calling for blood.

tl;dr, but this issue makes me really upset.

Double standard

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Are you in the UK?

Ever see that strange hoax story that crops up in the tabloids every couple of years? It reads like someones twisted fantasy about an inept stick up merchant who tries to rob a beauty salon, but is overpowered and then tortured and raped by the owner who was an attractive young woman. Awful as it seems, the real responses to the hoax often include people laughing about it or drooling over it. No one would cheer such a story (obvious hoax or not) if it were about a man treating any robber in that way. And no one would even want to read a realistic story about the would be robber getting gang raped by other men in prison.

There is some very strange fault in the perceptions of many people who just have ordinary mental faculties. JKR was cynically exploiting it by depicting the love potion, so called, as only being used by witches. Really, using one would be as bad as using the Imperius Curse to take sexual advantage of another person. It could actually have been interesting subject matter if handled by a less morally challenged author than JKR, but then, so could many of the themes in the series.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

. It's also similar to the love potion thing: if, say, Draco had slipped some into Hermione's pumpkin juice, people would (rightly) be criticising it sooner than you can say "date rape", but because it's a girl using it, it's apparently a source of humour

I was creeped out by Molly, Ginny and Hermione giggling over the use of love potions. I think Molly was 'telling a funny story' or something about it? Yeah...really funny how someone's free will is taken away. (maybe this is why Hermione thinks it's okay to do that to her parents?)

Oh, I found the reference:
Mrs. Weasley was telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she'd made as a young girl. All three of them were rather giggly

O.o Judging them and the author so hard right now.

[oryx_leucoryx]

We were never told who was the recipient of said potion. Would be interesting to ask Rowling one day. I wonder what she would come up with. (Maybe one should first ask her about her opinion of love potions. Just to be sure.)

[annoni-no.livejournal.com]

"Mrs. Weasley was telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she'd made as a young girl. All three of them were rather giggly"

Maybe they were really, REALLY tipsy and the story was one of those 'I know this is so *wrong* but its just too *funny* and I-can't-stop-laughing-but-I-really-really-should' type things? Ya know, like a good Joker plot in Batman? So we can still salvage the characters?

...

No?

*sigh...*

[xerox78.livejournal.com]

/Hermione “snarls” at Ron when he suggests ordering a Firewhiskey. Not that her constant sneering, snarling and assorted put-downs will stop Ron from fancying her./

So, Lavender is a ridiculous girlfriend whom Ron is ashamed of because she's nice to him, wishes him luck in Quidditch, and stands up to Snape for his sake. Yet Hermione is his True Love because she does nothing but berate and belittle him (and later abuse him with vicious birds)?

Her behavior is justified by shippers that she was violent toward him because she just LUVS him so much. And her snapping and snarling at him was because she was just so frustrated with his cluelessness and throwing hints to make him get together with her. I've never seen an explanation as to why a literal know-it-all like Hermione thought that being a nasty snot to someone as "clueless" and "stupid" as Ron would make him think, "Hermione is being rude to me again. She must be frustrated because I haven't caught on that she fancies me. Let me declare my undying love to her" rather than "Hermione is being rude to me again. She can't stand me. She fancies Krum/Harry/whoever, not me. But Lavender seems to really like me."

Nobody refutes Hermione about anything. She's proven to be right in the end about Ron's rat in PoA, so nobody has to take her to task for showing no sympathy for Ron and stupidly insisting that Crookshanks couldn't have done it even though there was ample evidence that he could have. Lavender never takes her to task for loudly pointing out that Trelawney couldn't have been right about Lavender's rabbit when Lavender was mourning him. The most that anybody does about SPEW is to just ignore her or refuse to join. When she lectures everybody about needing to study, nobody tells her to just shut up and leave them alone. And, of course, nobody turns on her for hexing Marietta.

And she's never called out for leaving the DA member list lying around for the Inquisitorial Squad to find and for Umbridge to know every DA member. If Harry or Ron had done that, she would have let them have it, then given them the silent treatment and the other DA members would have been angry, too. Oh, and taking the OotP text literally, there's no indication that Hermione ever actually signed the parchment she made everyone else sign.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Her behavior is justified by shippers that she was violent toward him because she just LUVS him so much./

*cynically* Uh-huh. And Marvolo Gaunt almost strangled Merope because he "loved her so much."

/And her snapping and snarling at him was because she was just so frustrated with his cluelessness and throwing hints to make him get together with her./

If Hermione is so brilliant, she should have realized that throwing passive-aggressive "hints" toward Ron wasn't working. Lavender was open and direct with Ron; she knew what she wanted and she was nice to him. That's why she got him first. Hermione never bothers to actually tell Ron how she feels about him, just like Nice Guys never bother telling their crushes how they feel about them and then act all outraged when the women date other people. Ron can't read minds, Hermione. Just open your mouth and tell him how you feel. I know that it's not easy, but acting like a nasty, demanding brat will not make him think that you're madly in love with him; it'll make him think that you don't care about him.

/I've never seen an explanation as to why a literal know-it-all like Hermione thought that being a nasty snot to someone as "clueless" and "stupid" as Ron would make him think, "Hermione is being rude to me again. She must be frustrated because I haven't caught on that she fancies me. Let me declare my undying love to her" rather than "Hermione is being rude to me again. She can't stand me. She fancies Krum/Harry/whoever, not me. But Lavender seems to really like me."/

Because she's smart in academics, but is utterly stupid when it comes to romantic matters.

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Because she's smart in academics, but is utterly stupid when it comes to romantic matters.

It's Proof that Hogwarts Library's self help section doesn't exist. There is no Wizards are from Mars, Witches are from Venus book out there for Hermione to read.

[xerox78.livejournal.com]

Hermione never bothers to actually tell Ron how she feels about him, just like Nice Guys never bother telling their crushes how they feel about them and then act all outraged when the women date other people. Ron can't read minds, Hermione. Just open your mouth and tell him how you feel.

But...but...she's old-fashioned! She can't make the first move with a guy! Only skanks (like Lavender and Cho) do that!

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

she's never called out for leaving the DA member list lying around for the Inquisitorial Squad to find

Everyone crucifies Marietta, but it's Hermione's list that gives everyone away. Withou it, they might've been able to do a 'her word against ours', but the list was damn incriminating.

What makes it worse? That she was warned of the possibility of the list getting into the wrong hands and she acts like it's the stupidest suggestion ever.

ʹErnie, do you really think Iʹd leave that list lying around?ʹ said Hermione testily.

ʹNo. No, of course not,ʹ said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. ʹI ‐ yes, of course Iʹll sign.ʹ

NICE GOING. How hard is it to obscure the paper so nobody else can read it? That's a fanon invention, I think? A spell that hides the writing on a page.

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

"How hard is it to obscure the paper so nobody else can read it? That's a fanon invention, I think?"

In COS, Hermione tries all sorts of spells on Riddle's diary to see if it might have writing in it which has been magically concealed, so there are clearly some ways of making your words invisible.

[fishinginthemud.livejournal.com]

Yet Hermione is his True Love because she does nothing but berate and belittle him (and later abuse him with vicious birds)? Tell me that this pairing wouldn't get more of a incredulous reaction if the genders were switched.

She's his true love because she does his homework and his laundry for him. When he gets older he'll be the genial, patronizing, eye-rolling, "Women, whaddaya gonna do?" type when she nags him to pick up the dry-cleaning. It's exactly the kind of relationship an old-fashioned sexist like Ron expects to have with a woman. Sure, he'll be resentful when she nags him too much, but it's just how women are, you know, and you have to put up with their squawking if you want your floors cleaned and your dick sucked.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

"So, Lavender is a ridiculous girlfriend whom Ron is ashamed of because she's nice to him, wishes him luck in Quidditch, and stands up to Snape for his sake. Yet Hermione is his True Love because she does nothing but berate and belittle him (and later abuse him with vicious birds)? Tell me that this pairing wouldn't get more of a incredulous reaction if the genders were switched."

The genders were switched. It was called the Twilight Saga.