I can see what you mean by this, and I too thought that Hermione was cast in the shadows a little bit when Ginny came. She sort of got pushed out of the way, well her character did anyways. I think that this changed shocked me a little bit as well, because it was Hermione who was always there.. And then in HBP, it shifted a little bit...

But I don't think it's true that Harry only cares for Ginny.. Even though this is getting a little shippy.. I think he displayed that he cared about Hermione when Ron was being awful to her and she was in a classroom alone.. He comforted her.. And Ginny in the book.. she just sort of popped in randomly, and Harry stared at her hair..

Hmm.. Interesting.. Yeah, I wonder if they would have nothing in common would they still be friends? They are really different, I agree, but would they be so different as to being friends? Maybe it would cut down on their friendship together.. But I mean, I don't think they are that close to begin with.. They're just friends because they have common friends like you guys said. We know that Hermione is best friends with Harry and Ron, but who are Ginny's best friends? I don't really know.. It wasn't actually described very much in the book and backed up.. Maybe Luna or Hermione? I dunno..

-Dominique

Hermione was ready to confront people who oppose her idea of SPEW. She even dared to confront Mrs. Weasley for that. Fortunately Mrs. Weasley didn't go into it further. Hermione started the confrontation about Firebolts and Half-Blood Prince's potion book. She could have done it in a more friendly way. Thus, I don't think Hermione went out of her way to avoid confrontations.
Ginny actually prevented one potential confrontation caused by Hermione during the first DA meeting, using her imitation of Umbridge's voice. She prevented the confrontation between Harry and Hermione + Ron during the winter in OOP. To me, the real confrontation Ginny caused is when she accepted to be Harry's girlfriend, although at Hogwarts, she seemed to be in good term with her love rivals.
Again, the rest of the posting is great!

Let's compare Hermione and Ginny in hexing and jinxing throughout the series:

Book 1: Hermione hexed Neville, casted fire on Snape's robe (who was helping Harry at that time)
Ginny hexed: 0
Book 2: Both hexed: 0
Book 3: Hermione almost hexed Draco (and hit him instead)
Ginny hexed: 0
Book 4: Hermione hexed unprepared Draco on the train
Ginny hexed: 0
Book 5: Hermione jinxed Marietta, hexed DeathEaters in DOM
Ginny hexed Draco during the fight at Umbridge's office, hexed DeathEaters in DOM
Book 6: Hermione confunded McLaggen, sent birds to Ron.
Ginny hexed Zacharias Smith.

Hermione hexed/jinxed: 7
Ginny hexed: 3
Unless you have strong canon backup, the statement: "Ginny is hexing and jinxing people left and right" is a cruel false accusation.

Ginny only hexed one guy in HBP. However, the rumours which started with it "seems" become bigger like snowball rolling from the hill, and suddenly "Ginny hexing people left and right" without it "seems" anymore. You see, this is the danger. We are deviated from canon, into a virtual truth of gossips.
One, two, three people are not "Everyone". As Solorund tried very hard to recall:

It's true that Bat Bogey Hex has been mentioned in two consecutive books, OOP and HBP. It was first mentioned by the Twins to Harry. Then, Ron reported Ginny casted it on Draco in their escape fight from Umbridge's office. At the end of OOP, the people saw the hex were the Inquisitorial Squad members, Ron, Neville and Luna. Harry never saw the hex performed and neither did Hermione nor Umbridge.
In HBP, the hex was performed to Smith, most likely in the presence of Dean and at most 3 other students in Ginny's compartment (usually for 6 people), and Professor Slughorn saw it when he passed by. Until the end of HBP, Harry never saw the hex and neither did Hermione. Harry heard the reputation and worried that Ginny may cast it to Ron at the Quidditch field. This was at the time Harry was not Ginny's boyfriend yet. Harry respects Ginny's power so much that he conveniently forgot Ginny restrained herself from hexing Ron, despite the near-miss after kissing Dean incident (Harry had to restrain Ron for hexing Ginny once more, whereas Ginny didn't attack at all). Although Ginny has a forceful personality, she doesn't hex people without reason. In the huge tension with Ron, where Ginny lost her cool and said too much unnecessarily, she could restrain herself not to use hex to attack nor to to defense herself. In fact, the reputation of Bat Bogey Hex reduces the need of using it and prevents those who dislike Ginny (the Slytherins, I mean) to even think of doing something to her.
I cannot find reference stating Lupin saying something about Bat Bogey Hex. Please help.
So now hopefully we can see the facts and the whole facts and nothing but the facts, and refrain ourselves from spreading malicious false rumours which will ruin our fun in discussions.

Hermione is one of my favourite characters, so I cannot effectively say bad things about her, even when she made mistakes. In this, I very much agree with Dominique that "They both hexed people. Period." Since we don't see Ginny doing it more, we shouldn't just assume she did it more. If she did and this is significant, we will read it in the canon. Otherwise, it's baseless rumours.

Back to the comparison, Hermione being the only child has driven her closer to the Weasleys, similar to Harry. The big warm family always attracts lonely people (like in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"). However, the major contribution to Hermione's character is the fact that she is born to Muggle parents, but has magical power. We can imagine how confused her parents are, and evenmore because both are dentists, thus tend to think scientifically. This fact already isolates Hermione from her common friends. She is different from "them". Her parents may try to isolate her, not to scare the other children and parents. We could see how happy she was when she saw someone was about to perform magic in the train (Ron!). Then, she found her world, where she can be what she is, a witch, without having to hide it from others.
The years of isolation has taken its toll to the little Hermione. Her social skill is pathetic. Until HBP, her bff is Ginny, her closest friends are two male classmates.
On the other hand, Ginny grew up with magic, the good and the bad. Even if her brothers love her, she still got some hexes casted on her, and the books indicated she took parts in the Twins' experiments.
However, without realizing it, Ginny was isolated as well. She lived in a protected "paradise". She was home-schooled until she went to Hogwarts, so she didn't have real friends until then. I don't think she knows Luna well beforehand, although the Lovegoods live not too far from the Weasleys. They may have seen each other during some events, but from afar. However, the warmth of her family that flows through her enables Ginny to make friends. Her wit that she carried from home can make her acceptable for many, although her poverty apparently prevents her to be in elite class (as she lamented in her diary in COS). Nevertheless, Ginny can be good friends to the pariahs of the society (Neville and Luna), and the commoners (not so popular people, like Michael Corner and Dean Thomas).

I totally completely 110% agree with this statement. Why you do something is everything! Ginny seems to be hexing people for revenge. In other words, she wants to cause them physical pain for the physical and/or emotional pain they caused her. Hermione on the other hand has completely different motives. She doesn't use hexing as a way to hurt, but to actually help the person, or to help the "good" people as a whole anyway. One example that immedietely comes to mind is Neville in the first book. Yes, she hexes him, but as Ron brilliantly puts it, it was "for his own good". The fact that Hermione hexes her victims will, in the end, bennifit them more then harm them. In other words, the ends justify the means. This is not so in Ginny's case. She isn't trying to hex them to help them shes hexing them to say "don't mess with me".

Hermione hexs to help her "victims"

Ginny hexs to hurt her victims.

Granted, Ginny has also hexed to help. i.e. deatheaters.

Which is what I like about Hermione and what makes me incredibly wary about Ginny as a character.

To me, motivation is everything and I disagree that motivation 'doesn't matter'.

With Ginny, she often acts from a place of personalised motivation - it's not just the hexes - everything seems to take on a personal dimension for Ginny, while Hermione seems to be (usually) pretty utilitarian in her approach. For Ginny, she passionately defends people because she likes them and is equally vocal and aggressive towards those she dislikes. Her world (like Ron, the twins and Molly) seems to break down along black and white divisions where you have enemies and friends and those you like or loathe. That's how they think - in terms of like and dislike. In place of a more generalised sense of fairness, there is this clannish, insular morality that characterises them.

Hermione on the other hand seems to operate (or at least tries to operate) on more broad-based principles or moral guidelines, rather than simply acting out of the more narrow basis of like or dislike. I'm not saying that Hermione doesn't feel dislike, (or is never unfair, because she is) but that 9 times out of ten, she doesn't use personal dislike as her main guideline for acting. When Hermione hexed Snape to 'rescue' Harry from him for example, there wasn't a sense that she was doing it just for the heck of it, or because she was driven by personal dislike for Snape and was looking for some kind of revenge. There was no malice or a sense that it was lightly undertaken.

What I find even more interesting is the blackmailing of Rita Skeeter which showed off Hermione's more reckless and vengeful side. Make no mistake - she loathed Rita Skeeter and was clearly out to get her and took real satisfaction in outwitting her. What I love however is that despite her deep dislike of the woman, Hermione was able to act with restraint, and scheme towards fulfilling a much larger cause than just satiating her own, personal anger. This ability to think on a larger scale (imv) has allowed her to be a far more significant, influential and effective character than Ginny has ever been throughout the series.

Hermione wreaks personal vengeance on Rita - and it runs the risk of being purely personal, yet, it also goes beyond personal (and instant) gratification. She's not the only person who benefits from her actions. To me, Ginny's actions always seem to be more localised with less far-reaching effect. (When Ginny knocks back Zacharias Smith, she's the beneficiary there.) Her recent proximity to Harry has given her a degree of influence, but it remains to be seen what type of influence this is.

I don't think Hermione is always consistent with her standards (Fleur, McClaggen, Lavender), or always succeeds in being judicious but I can at least think of examples where she genuinely tries to be fair even with people that she doesn't necessarily like or who dislike her (Snape, Malfoy, Kreacher). Fewer (if any) examples spring to mind when it comes to Ginny trying to be fair in a similar circumstance. That to me is a hallmark of character - it's easy to treat people well when you like them and when they like you - but how about when you don't like them or they dislike you?