draco_malfoys_luver

he did touch a different nerve there and he's enjoying that bit a lot....

I browse many places Millie...

As for Draco... yes, I do believe he sees something, he has seen something since CoS.

Nielle, still browsing.

Umbridge maybe thought that since Hermione was really stubborn, she could bring Harry to bend her to her will, in case if she got out of control...Either way, Umbridge noticed something between Harry and Hermione... What do you think?

you probably have some reason here you know!?
I've read that passage a few times but cant really see why should umbridge take harry with her and hermione.
well, hermione says that they ALL have been helping DD with that weapon so, umbridge could have took an other person with her and hermione coz everyone of them in that room "knew" about it.
and umbridge is the one who says to draco that she can handle with two kids and dont need any help. but umbridge could have choose for once one of the "draco's team" to go with her and hermione but she thought that she could make it right only between hermione and herself...so why take harry? just to convice hermione that she (umbridge) was talking, like you've pointed out, motherly, with no bad intentions!? was only to somehow push hermione to go!? was that to make sure that she was really going to show it only coz harry, only harry, was with her!?
(I think I got too confuse in this )

what you lot think about it?

I don't think Hermione is defending Ron, because the insult is directed to Harry. Malfoy is speaking to "Potter" not Weasley; true, Malfoy is speaking about Ron, but he isn't insulting Ron. After all, Ron is Prefect, what can he really say about Ron? In this scene, Malfoy is trying to lower Harry's self-image and confidence; he is saying that Harry is worse than Ron; Malfoy didn't say that Ron is pathetic, but Harry is.

Furthermore, this scene mirrors the scene in Umbridge's office. Like Turambar stated, Hermione is the only person who spoke out against Umbrige when she is about to Crucio Harry. True, while Ron, Ginny, and the others are bound and gagged, they would still be able to make muffled threats and struggle; however they didn't do so.

First Hermione tried to use logic to dissuade Umbridge.

Then Hermione tried to reason with logic (which is really pointless since the woman is a maniac anyway, but good effort...)

Hermione abandoned all her attempts to reason with Umbridge, and the last "no" is most poignant and emotional. It shows that Hermione has progressed beyond her logic and common sense and functioned through her feelings. All this while, Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville haven't spoken a single word or muttered, or tried to resist the Slytherins, Hermione is pleading Umbridge as Millicent Bulstrode is crushing her along the wall.

And a nice little H/Hr portion follows...

So emotional and angsty...

Polaris

And, IMO, it mirrors so many other scenes throughout OOTP. Throughout this book, I felt like there were many scenes, in addition to the two already mentioned, which were focused on Harry and Hermione's interaction even though other people were present. For example:

* Harry and Hermione running the meeting in the Hogshead
* Hemione talking Harry into forming the DA
* Hermione getting Harry out of Buckbeak's room
* Harry and Hermione arguing over going to the DOM
* Hermione being the only person to realize that Harry's scar hurt at 12GP
* The two trips into the forbidden forest
* Harry and Hermione working out how to get away from the death eaters by knocking over the shelves.

Taken individually, these scenes may not seem particularly shippy. They're not "romantic" scenes. Other shippers often attribute Hermione's behavior in these individual scenes as being that of a best friend or the logical character choice. But when taken together, these scenes give the book an underlying feeling that its Harry and Hermione and then the rest. At least that's the feeling I got when reading the book the first time. Or maybe I'm just letting my perference for H/HR get a little out of control.

Notice Hermione is quiet the whole time Draco is annoying Ron but doesn't speak until Draco turns his attention to Harry. And for Draco, this is certainly not one of the worst things he has said to Harry. This scene is not as extreme as the one in OotP, but it's the start.

Nielle

Huh? Is Ginny a H/Hr shipper. Did I miss something?

I agree Nielle , Hermione doesn't say a word until Draco starts talking about Harry. And as for Mr. Malfoy being a H/hr shipper, I couldn't have wanted a better person on our side. I mean if Draco could see something...

i agree. Which brings me to another point. The best rumours are ones that are extremely believable. And since the rumours about Harry and Hermione spread like wildfire, it meant that a lot of people found it easy to believe. It even fooled Mrs Weasley Anyway, I'm getting extremely off topic here...

I don't know if this is much of a reference, but the incident that happens in GoF where hermione's teeth are enlarged...

Draco insulting Hermione is just the last straw for Harry. Normally he doesn't take active defence of Hermione, ie. like Ron, but let all that anger build up and bam! you better watch out (as we've seen in OotP). Notice that this is just one of Draco's usual insults that he throws at Hermione, but at a time when it's Harry that is having a hard time of it from everyone else, that he defends Hermione. And all this takes place before the first Rita Skeeter article has been published as well.

Jo

True, however it is Pansy Parkinson that gets on Hermione's nerves. Pansy in the past two years has actually been insulting both Hermione and Cho, interesting that she believed them both to have an interest in Harry before she started insulting them.

True...

Which is why book six will be significant; perhaps Draco will use his knowledge to aid Voldemort into kidnapping or torturing Hermione or her family to avenge Lucius Malfoy's imprisonment in Azkaban.

Exactly my thoughts! If this article has no importance, then it's useless, right? WHY Viktor and HARRY? It could have been someone else. I always thought it was very interesting and was actually hiding us something. And the way Viktor suspects there's something there... I just love it!

Aragog, (at the risk of going ) I have noticed some of my posts have disappeared on several threads as well. I can only think that this is because the site went down yesterday.

I think your theory has some merit.

Sienna

Mod Note: So that I don't create another post, yes, due to some problems during the downtime, unfortunately a day of posts were lost. For more details, see this post. ~Anazecria/Nielle

That's a very good point Argog.

Rita could be looking on what she see's and writes it primarily to discredit Harry and Hermione, as Ren said, but it could also have a very strong basis in fact.
Where would she come up with the idea of H/Hr if there wasn't anything to suggest that they might be more than friends?

I think that Rita wrote what she saw, and what she saw suggested that H/Hr were together...even if they wern't.

Plus having a H/Hr/V love triangle is SUCH a scandle! Hehe.

~Bec

we all know that Rita's quill can go into too much exaggeration but we also know that it can also be adjusted...... Perhaps there was exaggeration in her article but come to think of it Harry and Hermione are bestfriends if she were to exaggerate she could have said they liked each other but she used the idea that they were together.... maybe she meant to write that she sees a deep liking for each other between Harry and Hermione and the quill did the exagerrating.... so we got the Harry and Hermione are dating article.... oh.. darn it i'm not making any sense...

~Karen

Will Hermione come to regret these words?

I also find Hermione's statement a little odd. We know how closely Hermione was paying attention to Cho's feelings in OotP. Even before Harry told Hermione about how he told Cho he was going to meet Herms in the Three Broomsticks ... I'd think Cho would have been a person who would have cared very much had she read some torrid article linking Harry romantically to Hermione. Maybe Hermione said it without thinking or said it thinking Rita wouldn't dare write anything about her or Harry considering what Herms had on her.... but even still. I would have thought someone who was seemingly as considerate as Hermione seems to be of the feelings of others (particularly Cho's feelings and Hermione seemingly trying to help Harry hook up with her), she wouldn't have tempted Rita that way. We all saw how Viktor got jealous of Harry (maybe with the help of Rita's articles or maybe not, but I doubt they helped). You'd think Hermione would have been a little more conscientious of the damage Rita can do (of course, if she's allowed to do it). In addendum, I also think that comment she made about Cho ("Bring her if you must") might go along with this. Was Hermione really ok with Harry's relationship with Cho as she readily seemed to be?

I also wonder, if Rita does manage to get her revenge on Hermione... what might the outcome of this revenge be? Particularly in regards to H/Hr's relationship? The nasty articles Rita was writing before had to do with H/Hr.... which Hermione (JKR) conveniently reminded us of in the "The Beetle at Bay" chapter (quoted above). However, those articles were rather grotesque exaggerations of the truth... as were all Rita's articles prior OotP. The last article we saw Rita write (of which was very successful) was nothing but the cold hard facts (the interview with Harry about Voldy's return and naming Death Eaters). Perhaps with this new success Rita finds with nothing but the facts, the next article(s) we see Rita write about H/Hr... it (they) will be nothing but the truth? What's that old adage... Sometimes the truth hurts more than fiction?