Harry Potter Ordinary

[nuclear death frog]

Different line of thought. I could envision this Hermione as a background character easily; if she struggles to learn spells then it's much less likely that she'll want to be noticed. It's also entirely possible she won't be volunteering to help others. I could see her choosing not to help Ron with the Hover Charm first year, meaning he wouldn't make the comments which caused her to spend most of that day in the bathroom. On the "not being noticed" front it's also feasible that she might have declined to help Neville on the train.

It's even possible that this Hermione wouldn't be in Gryffindor at all. The canon one clearly wanted to emulate Dumbledore and Dumbledore is always talked about as being a brilliant with spells and other magic. This Hermione should not have that goal in mind and so would be much more likely to accept Ravenclaw, or even Hufflepuff. I can easily envision the last one, actually.

If she faded into the background I could see her future career being something like Potions research at St Mungo's. That wouldn't require her to cast many spells, but it would require expertise in Potions and the attendant disciplines of Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures.

$0.02

 

[Yorae Rasante]

But she wouldn't know she is struggling until after classes start, I think... Since she only tried a few without instructions (her words, which is generating an argument in the other thread) and, if she failed there, is she that stuck-up to think she would already be a failure for not getting it right from the start?
I can see her going as canon until the point she starts doing magic in class and is seen struggling.

From there, there are three possibilities with three endings: she tries her hardest focusing on herself and becomes a background character, or she either still tries to correct people on the things she knows she is right, which means Ron still insults her but it hits harder because she can't even do it properly herself, or many people insult her, which hits her even harder. Either of the two choices could still lead her to a- the stall with the troll or b- leaving Hogwarts in shame.

 

[zerohour]

Think she still would have helped Neville.  Doesn't appear to use magic at all, falls in the same category as not knowing that she has issues yet.

Possible she just fades into the background, but that doesn't make for a very compelling story.

Could end up going the route of canon, the question is, how will Hermione contribute after that?  I think the ideal scenario would be a point where Hermione is justified in telling them they need to study harder.  Something like Harry trying to learn the summoning charm in fourth year.  There's bound to be a scenario where that could happen, and it would be nice to see Harry and Ron actually put effort into studying, because they understand that it could actually save their lives.  Could be an interesting direction to take it, and it could lead to Hermione getting used to tutoring/teaching.  SHe knows a bunch of different approaches because she's always trying to find a way to improve herself, which translates into being very capable of helping others master magic.

I don't see many people insulting her.  For the most part, everyone seemed to be willing to expect that people would have difficulty.  The only person I can see insulting her would be Malfoy, and given how Ron much Ron hates Malfoy, he might end up playing knight in shining armor to Hermione.

Another possibility: She has a break down, but rather than hole up in the nearest bathroom, she hides in her room.  Doesn't expose her to the troll, but some of the girls she rooms with talk and console her.

 

[nuclear death frog]

Doesn't appear to use magic at all, falls in the same category as not knowing that she has issues yet.

She supposedly had tried a fair number of spells and found they all worked for her in canon, assuming that whole exchange wasn't a lie. I wouldn't rule that out by the way; canon Hermione lies to get out of situations where she's not comfortable. Here. if she has been trying the spells like she said she did in canon, she would already be somewhat aware that spell-casting isn't her strength.

Possible she just fades into the background, but that doesn't make for a very compelling story.

To be perfectly blunt, I don't find the Hermione of the books to be a very compelling character. But apparently you do, which is why you started this topic due to this idea you had. And the story not being interesting is your challenge, should you choose to write it.

Could end up going the route of canon, the question is, how will Hermione contribute after that?

After Voldemort croaks, I presume? Who knows? You, as the presumed writer, will have to figure that out. It's not even said in the books what she does after Voldemort croaks, because of Time Skip ("Nineteen Years Later"). You can either choose to accept Rowling's non-book comments, or ignore them.

I don't see many people insulting her

I didn't say many people would be insulting her, I specifically said that if she wasn't trying to help Ron that day in Charms, *Ron* specifically might not have made the comments which caused her to spend most of that day in the bathroom.

As for Malfoy ... if the girl isn't in his face by existing as one of Harry's best friends, and being the top student of the year, it's actually *somewhat* plausible he'd ignore her existence. I make that call because she would be less of a provocation if she isn't as visible.

 

[zerohour]

The many people insulting hermione was directed at Yorae's idea that that could be a possibility.


My snippet in the first post was meant to address why she doesn't think she can't cast.  She thinks there's a safety system to keep her from causing trouble.  Not that she would, but other children are less practical and considerate than she is.  It's not like it's a failure on her part.  After all, she's so great at everything school related, why would this be any different?  Hermione strikes me as the type to blame circumstances rather than herself at first, much like how she blamed Trelawney and Divination itself for her inability to do well in it.  SHe probably had a point in that regard, but she still couldn't scry to save her life.


Hermione as a character... is alright.  Fandom tends to gloss over her less positive qualities (being a bossy know it all, snarky comments to Harry when he broke the rules, possible racism, etc.)  The idea behind this is she's used to being the big fish in the small pond, being the best there is, but now... she's not.  She's swimming in the ocean now, and there are peopel who are demonstrably better at it than she is.   Canon Hermione remains fairly static in that regard, always maintaining a healthy margin of excellence over everyone else.  When she doesn't have that... I'm curious to see how she adapts.


Route of canon was basically just following up to the Troll Encounter.  After that, they can't rely on Hermione having the right spell for the right situation, so how are they going to adjust to that?  Current idea is that she keeps trying to get them to study more, and they refuse, until something goes wrong because they didn't learn what they needed.  After that, Ron and Harry start listening to her more, and Hermione starts to take up the role of Zordon to the Power Rangers... mentor?  No... Advisor?  Maybe.  The term will come to me eventually.  Could also open up some character development in Ron or Harry, but that would be secondary to Hermione's evolution.


Malfoy might ignore her, simply because he has Potter to worry about, but I could still see him picking on her once in a while for being a filthy mudblood who doesn't have the talent to be a real spellcaster like a proper pureblood.  Just Malfoy being Malfoy around her.

 

[Yorae Rasante]

My idea of her being insulted by others is because she is smart and bossy - that is a personality trait that may not be removed just for lack of being able to do the magic, at least not so soon, but if she lacks the ability to use it people would ignore her at best and be insulting to her at worst - and with good reason, I think, it would be like you are a sportsman and someone you don't know starts pitching coaching tips while not being able to play anything, they may know the stuff but if they can't show it themselves then to you they are just annoying hot air as far as you know.

 

[zerohour]

That I can buy, especially if she's performing it perfectly without getting results, while others are doing a shoddy job of following instructions, and still managing the spell.  If that were the case, I don't see her keeping her cool until Halloween. 


It's late.  Got an idea for a snippet of Hermione and McGonagall discussing her lack of results.  Don't really see Hermione taking it well when McGonagall spells it out for her.  Try writing it tomorrow after I get some sleep.