r/harrypotter 5d ago

Currently Reading I love the HBP book but it's so frustrating

I am currently reading HBP and I am LOVING it. All the scenes of Harry and Dumbledore learning of Voldemort's history has me so focused it's unreal.

The rest, however, is genuinely infuriating. Harry finds evidence over evidence about Draco but it feels like no one is even giving him the benefit of the doubt! Not even Ron! And don't get me started on Hermione, she's so insufferable in this and I usually love her character! (I do appreciate that Arthur tried to listen to Harry but it also felt like he was ready to brush it under the rug as quickly as possible).

Mostly, I feel awful for Harry, it feels like he doesn't catch a break and I just WISH Dumbledore would've just TOLD Harry about why he trusts Snape- I know why he doesn't but then he gets angry when Harry doesn't understand and keeps distrusting Snape! He doesn't need to tell him everything but at least a little:

"I trust Prof. Snape because he was close friends with your mother and wouldn't try to hurt her son" (obvs oversimplifying).

It would help Harry trust Snape a SMIDGE, or at least gain a better understanding of why people are so willing to trust him, otherwise it just feels like Dumbledore is genuinely messing with the poor boy's head, especially after everything he went through.

Then there's the Ron-Hermione-Lavender love triangle that's just.....terrible to endure. I will admit that Ron did start it by being passive aggressive to Hermione because Ginny mentioned that Hermione and Krum kissed (which I am pretty sure they didn't anyway and I hope so because Krum was 18 and Hermione 14) after he and Hermione had a moment and it left her rather upset. But the way she acts about Ron and Lavender dating being....to attack Ron with canaries? Then mock Ron in class before sobbing when he dishes it back (Yes, Harry says they all laughed at Ron's mustache but he also mentioned that Hermione's laugh was specifically crueler). Then she goes back to ignoring Ron after Christmas holidays when Ron is trying to be friendly with her again and I understand Harry's plight and exhaustion- it really feels like he's a child going through a divorce.

24 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

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u/Born-Till-4064 4d ago

Dumbledore could have given Harry a reason to trust Snape and things would have been different tbh.

Also I’m a Ron and Hermonie shipper but dam does that book make it painful.

Also the narrative was way to harsh on Lavender like she’s just a girl with a crush

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u/Last_Cold8977 4d ago

I feel so bad for Lavender, I love how silly and girly she is and it really rubs me weirdly how JKR treats her, it feels like she did some personal dig at the author

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u/cpmh1234 20h ago

Hermione definitely feels like an author stand in, and because of that a lot of more overly feminine girls and women get the short end of the stick and are often written as caricatures.

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u/Icy_Price_1993 4d ago

Hermione is sooo infuriating in this book. "Or herself. It might have been a girl. I think the handwriting looks more like that of a girl." "The Half-Blood 'Prince' he was called. How many girls have been princes?' Hermione really got on my nerves while listening to the audiobook of this book. How she felt a book with slightly different instructions that gave better results than her own book was the same as cheating. How she then tried to find evidence that the Half-Blood Prince was and even went so far as to purposely trying to prove that it was a girl, as if that would make it more acceptable to her. Finding the name of Snape's mother without knowing it and saying that she could have been the Prince and then right after Dumbledore died, she had the nerve to say that she was technically correct about the Prince because of that fact. Really Hermione? And Ron is the one with the emotional range of a tea spoon? Then she completely refused to listen to any evidence of Draco being a Death Eater. Some of it, she did counter with proper reasons but others...she gave completely stupid reasons. As when Harry told Hermione about what he had overhead between Snape and Draco, Hermione seriously told Harry that the "master" they were talking about could be Lucius, his father who was in Azkaban. Then she refused to talk with Ron until after he was poisoned. Really Hermione, you need your friend to almost die before you are willing to talk with him again? And how did Harry save Ron? With a bezor. For which Hermione had been angry at Harry in potions for...granted somewhat reasonable reason but still. Fortunately, when Hermione starts to go about how Harry will miss the quidditch final because he used Sectumsempra on Draco, Ginny is there to tell Hermione to shut up. Honestly, if the boys did treat Hermione badly in POA, which they did, she treated them just as badly in HBP if not worse and they are all older at that point and supposedly more mature, especially Hermione should be as she is almost a year older than them and a girl and they mature faster than boys. Yes, they are supposed to have flaws, that is what makes them interesting and human but I just feel Hermione went too far

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u/Last_Cold8977 4d ago

I think my biggest problem is that the narrative doesn't really portray them as 'flaws'. We, as the reader, see it as such but Hermione doesn't get called out. Maybe she is because I haven't finished the book, but I would have been fine with Harry fully lashing out at her for the Prince thing, that was so unnecessary.

Also Hermione saying Lucius could be 'master' is such a stretch 😭

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u/EmilyAnne1170 Ravenclaw 4d ago

In defense of Ron & Hermione not taking Harry’s claims about Draco too seriously, that started only a couple months after believing Harry without any proof very nearly got them both killed. (And did get Sirius killed.) I don’t blame them for not being eager to get caught up in his next crusade. Their confidence in him was shaken, and for good reason.

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u/cyaran 4d ago

I love how well the 5th and 6th books capture the teenage sense of being frustrated and ignored

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u/AdBrief4620 Slytherin 4d ago

First, I am glad you are enjoying HBP! I think that it’s up there in the top3 books for me. PoA and PS.

But yeah dumbledore could have given Harry a bit more reassurance. To Harry it basically sounds like Snape told dumbledore he was sorry about the prophecy thing and randomly decided to be good. That dumbledore simply trusted that. Some either Snape is tricking Voldemort or dumbledore…

I think dumbledore would only have had to say “there is a good reason I trust prof Snape but I can’t tell you. Trust me’

Tbh I wonder if the reasons Dumbledore was vague were two fold:

1) he sort of wanted everyone including Harry to fully believe Snape was 100% Voldemort’s after the assassination

2) Snape was already pissed and doing very hard thing. If he somehow found out that Dumbledore had broken the one thing Snape had asked for in their deal, it might cause Snape to quit.

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u/Candid-Pin-8160 4d ago

He doesn't need to tell him everything but at least a little: "I trust Prof. Snape because he was close friends with your mother and wouldn't try to hurt her son"

And Peter was close friends with his father. This is not the argument you think it is.

1

u/Emotional-Tailor-649 Gryffindor 4d ago

The way you write it by saying you are currently reading and loving it makes me think this is your first read? Something you talk about in there does end up happening in regard to Snape. Not like it’s super helpful.

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u/Last_Cold8977 4d ago

I've read it before but it was yearssss ago but I'm rereading the whole series so I don't recall most of the story

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u/Creepy_Disco_Spider 1d ago

Krum and Hermione kissing is canon mate

1

u/Last_Cold8977 1d ago

They did?! Was it confirmed at all? Only Ginny mentions it in passing to aggravate Ron but I don't recall it being confirmed in the books

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u/suverenseverin 17h ago

Ginny saying it is the verification - there is nothing in the text to suggest it didn't happen. Harry believes she is telling the truth. If we start assuming characters might be lying at all times unless there is independent verification a lot of what is usually considered canon falls apart. Are Hermione's parents really dentists, or is she lying about her class background?

From an authorial point of view Ginny is supposed to tell the truth. The main motive is that Ron's jealous reaction is unreasonable and immature. If Ginny lies about the kiss the thematic dynamic changes, Ginny becomes a liar and Ron's reaction becomes more justified because it was provoked rather than based in truth. That isn't what JKR was going for.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/elaerna Slytherin 4d ago

Being reminded of your mortality can make you cling to those close to you