Disclaimer: This fic is an analysis of the canon Harry Potter series. I own nothing that is mentioned here except my own opinions. This fic is not making any money. nor do I want it to.
Characters Actions in Books 5-7
I got a review for my story Harry Potter and the Unfortunate Son from Shinigami where I was asked my thoughts on why some of the characters acted like they did in books 5-7, particularly in relation to Fleur Delacour and Luna Lovegood. This got me thinking so I decided to write my response here. Having just been through that period myself I can tell you from experience why these occurred.
Hermione Granger
Shinigami pointed out that Hermione was particularly bad to Luna and Fleur. I'll start with Luna. Hermione is a character who likes, if not lives by, facts. When Hermione sees Luna Lovegood she immediately sees that she does not live by facts, at least not Hermione's. As I said before, I've been through this period just recently so believe me when I say that this is a shockingly common reaction to other people. Rowling actually portrayed this 'relationship' extremely well in my opinion. This is precisely how Hermione should react. The thing is, Rowling didn't expect that anyone would believe Hermione's view of Luna. Just look at how popular Luna is from both the books and films. I think Hermione viewed Luna of a sort of intellectual threat in some ways, even though she thought Luna just made up animals.
Now to Fleur. Let me first point out that Fleur did not make a good first impression in Goblet of Fire. First impressions are very important in society despite the fact that they are often wrong. Hermione may have had some memory of Fleur from then. My next point is that Fleur is a Veela and, therefore, has beauty. Hermione is described in the series as 'plain', albeit that was by Rita Skeeter but it still remains true. If you look at what girls are like at those ages, they are extremely self-conscious and can be jealous and bitchy. Despite Hermione's status as a 'bookworm' she would still be subject to this type of thing and I believe this is the root of her problems with Fleur. I've seen this far more than once and I've lost friends to this very problem. Again, Rowling has portrayed this part of adolescence very well.
Ginny Weasley
If memory serves me correctly, Ginny was good to Luna in the books, so I'll leave that one. I will talk about Fleur, however. I think that the same thing happened to Ginny as it did to Hermione. She was jealous of Fleur. The difference is that Ginny is portrayed as a good-looking girl while Hermione is 'plain'. In that regard, I believe that Hermione has more right to dislike Fleur for her beauty. I do agree with Shinigami's statement that Ginny should have accepted Fleur and Bill being together and be civil about it, and she eventually did but it took too long. But, again, this is another real world situation. Not every member of someone's family likes their partner. It just happens.
Ron Weasley
This wasn't brought up by Shinigami in reference to what I'm talking about, but I do want to bring him up here. Ron was appointed a prefect in Order of the Phoenix. So what does he do? Makes Hermione do the majority of the work and steals a Fanged-Frisbee for himself. I mean, come on. He doesn't have to be Percy, but surely he should be better than that.
Now, I don't blame Ron for having a relationship with Lavender Brown in Half-Blood Prince. The point I'm going to make is the way he treated Hermione throughout this relationship. Despite the fact that they had been friends since first year, he shunned her when he got a girlfriend. Sure, this isn't exactly new for Ron to do but still. Sadly, this also happens a lot at that time.
Conclusion
I guess my response to Shinigami who asked why I thought certain characters acted so badly in the 5-7 books is that they're teenagers. They're hormonal. They're angry. They're jealous. They're judgmental. They're bitchy. They're stupid. And, in all honesty, Rowling wrote it spot on! From Cho's jealousy of Hermione, to Hermione's jealousy of Fleur. I have seen these things happen and turn out far worse.
Also, look at how the adults act. They're not this way, for the most part at least. It's only the teenagers.
Ultimately, the Harry Potter series is about teenagers going through school and fighting a war they shouldn't have to. Those are the two aspects of the series. The teenager aspect is the bigger of the two, in my opinion, so it makes sense for Rowling to include all of these things in her story.
Author's Note
Short one, but I had to write it. Hope you enjoyed and thanks to stonegnome1 and Hannah for reviewing with your opinions.
Hannah - I can't reply to you personally so I will here. The Hat uses legilimency to sort them, so wouldn't see the Horcrux. This is canon by the way. I think these are all fairly valid questions when analysing Dumbledore's mindset. You do have to remember that this is only in terms of the decisions he made regarding Harry. I have read the novels in great detail. Multiple times, in fact. The point of this fic is to analyse the canon series. Occasionally I may make something up to suit my argument, but it will only be something I see as logical in terms of the series, the character and situation. I will try to avoid doing so, but sometimes there is not enough information. The fact that you're complaining that I got my analysis from the books and an understanding of the characters is strange to me as that is the point of this fic.
Don't know what will be next. I'll just go with the flow.
Beletrium