Hermione Granger
Hermione Jane Granger (born 19 September 1979)Template:Fn Template:Fn is a fictional character in the Harry Potter series of books. The character is portrayed by Emma Watson in the films.
Hermione is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and, along with Ron Weasley, is one of Harry Potter's best friends and at times the mother hen of the trio. She is slightly bossy and very studious. Her thirst for knowledge proves useful in many of their adventures, but an innate fear of failure also causes her to lose her nerve whenever a major test is called for.
She is often teased about her bushy hair and "know-it-all" tendencies, but is admired by many students for her intelligence. She received top grades in all of her Ordinary Wizarding Level exams except for Defence Against The Dark Arts, where she received the second-highest grade. Neville, Harry, and Ron depend on her for academic help. By her sixth year at Hogwarts, she is generally acknowledged to be the best in her class. She also seems to have a growing romantic interest in Ron Weasley.
Hermione is Muggle-born, that is, the child of two non-magical parents, both dentists. Hermione's parents seem to be accepting of her magical abilities, but they have never been given much "page time." J. K. Rowling noted she initially considered giving Hermione a younger sister, but now believes it's "too late." Therefore, it's usually considered canon that Hermione is an only child.
Hermione's name is pronounced "Her-my-oh-nee" (IPA: /hə.maɪ.ə.niː/), as readers find out in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This was the most frequently asked question J. K. Rowling received, so in this book she cunningly had Hermione teach Viktor Krum how to pronounce her name properly (without much success). Rowling said she obtained it from William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, claiming that she wanted it to be unusual, since if fewer girls shared her name, fewer girls would get teased for it. "Hermione", appropriately, is derived from "Hermes", the Greek god of invention, inspiration, eloquence and quick thinking.
Hermione in the books
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Hermione first appeared in the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States edition). For the first part of the book, she is portrayed as being an over-the-top "know-it-all" and "goody two-shoes." Needless to say, Harry and Ron do not like her initially, as they consider her to be extremely annoying. This attitude seems to be shared by most of the other students.
However, when Ron makes a passing remark about Hermione not having any friends, Hermione's feelings are hurt deeply and she retreats to a bathroom to cry. Unbeknownst to her, Professor Quirrell had let a mountain troll into the school, which finds its way into the bathroom. Fortunately, Hermione is rescued by Harry and Ron, who realise she is in danger. When they were discovered by Professors McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell, Hermione lies about the reason she was in the bathroom, claiming she had gone looking for the troll herself.
Harry, Ron and Hermione become good friends soon after and, though her attitude about rules and schoolwork remain largely intact, she softens up a little bit. With Harry and Ron, she helps solve the mystery surrounding the Philosopher's Stone. Although she is initially skeptical of Harry and Ron's belief that someone was trying to steal it, she eventually comes around.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
In her second yearTemplate:HP2, Hermione has a crush on the handsome new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Gilderoy Lockhart. Ron constantly teases her about this, but Hermione consistently defends Lockhart, despite the fact he is an obvious fraud. Hermione does not notice that Ron may have a developing crush on her.
Hermione's role is somewhat smaller than in the first book, with Harry appearing only with Ron during most of their adventure. However, she does her part in brewing a Polyjuice Potion to discover if Draco Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin. She also correctly identifies the creature hidden inside the Chamber of Secrets, though she is Petrified before being able to divulge the information to Harry and Ron. This, of course, causes her to be absent for much of the latter part of the novel.
Hermione's loosening-up continues as well, with her actually convincing Harry and Ron to break the rules rather than vice versa. Considering they are close confidants later on, Hermione probably meets, and becomes friends with, Ginny Weasley some time during the course of the novel.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
In the next yearTemplate:HP3, Hermione takes so many classes she requires the use of a Time-Turner, a device which enables her to go back in time to fit in all her subjects; this fact is not revealed until near the end of the book. Hermione suffers a mental breakdown due to her full schedule, though she constantly insists she doesn't need to cut down on the number of classes she is taking.
Hermione is again estranged from her friends in this book: First, when she is suspicious about Harry's Christmas gift, a Firebolt broom, and reports it to Professor McGonagall, who confiscates it; and again when Ron accuses her cat, Crookshanks, of killing his rat, Scabbers. During this time, she helps Hagrid prepare for the court case against his hippogriff, Buckbeak, though these efforts are unsuccessful. During the preparing of the trial, she breaks down on Ron, and he pledges to take over the trial.
Hermione takes an instant dislike towards Professor Trelawney and her subject, Divination. Towards the end of the year, Hermione leaves the class after Trelawney predicts Harry's death one time too many, and describes Hermione's mind as "hopelessly mundane". Despite the fact she is no longer taking every subject available, Hermione still requires a Time-Turner to go to all her classes.
However, the Time-Turner comes in useful at the end of the book when she and Harry travel back in time to rescue Sirius Black and Buckbeak. At the end of the book, she drops the class of Muggle Studies, enabling her to have a normal schedule again.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In her fourth yearTemplate:HP4, Hermione's attention is drawn to what she believes is the poor quality of life for house-elves. She therefore starts the organisation she calls the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, but which becomes known by its unfortunate acronym, S.P.E.W. Though Hermione zealously works for her cause, few others display any interest. Harry and Ron officially join her organisation, though they do so only with the hope she will stop badgering them, and predictably, they contribute very little.
Hermione attends the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, the Triwizard champion from Durmstrang. By attending the ball with Krum, she elicits some jealousy from Ron Weasley. This is not the first time in the books romantic tension between Ron and Hermione is implied. Before when Ron saw that Hermione's front teeth had been reduced to more normal size, he noted that she was a girl, which she mocked him for only just noticing. When he suggest she come with either him or Harry, she rejects him by telling him that she's already been asked by someone else, to which he thinks she's joking, and she continues to refuse telling him who her date is. When he sees her at the Yule Ball, having made herself up beautifully, alongside Viktor Krum, Ron loses control of himself and viciously accuses Hermione of "fraternizing with the enemy!" Shocked and appalled, a violent row breaks out between the two of them, and at the end of the night, an enraged Hermione, with her hair once done up in a nice bun coming down in shambles, hotly tells Ron that if he doesn't like her going with Viktor then the next time a ball is thrown he should ask her first and not as a last resort, leaving him stunned and speechless.
Hermione is the "hostage" that Krum has to save in the Tournament's second task. She is given quite a bit of grief about this afterward and becomes rather irritated. After the task, Krum asks Hermione if she wants to go on a vacation with him.
Rita Skeeter, an infamous reporter, invents a love triangle between Harry, Hermione, and Krum. Hermione is enraged with her behaviour and vows vengeance against her. After much work, she determines Rita is an illegal Animagus who can change into a black beetle. She blackmails Rita with this information to make Rita stop writing gossipy articles.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hermione continues S.P.E.W. the next yearTemplate:HP5, knitting items of clothing for the elves in the hope of freeing them. The house elves refuse to clean Gryffindor Tower because of this, and the task is left to Dobby. She is seen writing to Krum. Her capture and subsequent blackmail of Rita Skeeter proves useful when Harry gives an interview stating the return of Lord Voldemort. Hermione also comes up with the idea for Dumbledore's Army, and is involved in the battle in the Department of Mysteries, in which she is wounded rather heavily.
Hermione and Ron become prefects for Gryffindor in their fifth yearTemplate:HP5, cementing Hermione's rule-abiding tendencies. However, necessity (and Dolores Umbridge) bring out a few moments of rebelliousness. These include the formation of Dumbledore's Army (the DA) and arranging for Rita Skeeter to publish an interview with Harry contradicting the propaganda being spread by Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic.
When Hermione is convincing Harry to start the DA, she finally says the name, "Voldemort," becoming the first of Harry's friends to do so.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
As has become customary, Hermione stays at the Burrow for much of the summer holiday. During her stay with the Weasleys, Hermione once again encounters Fleur Delacour, who is now engaged to Bill Weasley. Her dislike for Fleur, which initially manifested in the fourth book, deepens with more frequent exposure to Fleur (presumably also where Ron's reaction to her presence is concerned). Along with Ginny, she gives Fleur the nickname "Phlegm".
Hermione continues her passion for her schoolwork in the sixth year, and is even invited by Professor Slughorn to join his Slug Club due to her extraordinary talents at potion-making. Ironically, she is outperformed by Harry in Potions due to the fact that he has access to the Half Blood Prince's old textbook. Throughout the book, she becomes increasingly bitter at Harry's overnight success at Potions, especially since she believes that the Half-Blood Prince is a shady character and that she considers Harry academically dishonest for using the book.
Sixth year was marked by a major falling-out Hermione has with Ron (who still doesn't seem to realize just how strongly attracted he is to her), which starts when Hermione reveals her intention to attend the Slug Club's Christmas Party. However, Ron's attitude towards Hermione is marred by envy because she (as well as Harry and, to a lesser extent, Ginny) gets Slughorn's attention whereas he doesn't; he rudely accuses her of socializing with accomplished people only just as she reveals an invitation to him to accompany her. . Ron tries to tone down his attitude, but after hearing from Ginny that Hermione snogged Viktor Krum, his jealousy gets in the way and eventually he rejects Hermione and begins dating Lavender Brown instead. Hermione is hurt and disappointed after this incident, practically heartbroken, and in retaliation invites Cormac McLaggen to the Slug Club Christmas party instead of Ron, but it doesn't go well; the egomaniacal McLaggen quickly proves to be more than Hermione can handle and, after being roughed up by him when he tries to kiss her under the mistletoe, Hermione spends the rest of the night hiding from him.
After the holidays, Hermione continues to bicker with Ron, but when he is poisoned, she becomes genuinely concerned and quietly reconciles with him. Ron breaks up with Lavender a few weeks later, and although it is never mentioned explicitly, it seems that Hermione and Ron have, at last, acknowledged their romantic interest in each other.
Near the end of the book, at Harry's request (or orders), Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, along with Neville and Luna (the only two members of Dumbledore's Army who respond) are sent to patrol Hogwarts – specifically, to monitor Snape and Draco. Their efforts half pay off in that they are able to alert the members of the Order who are also on patrol but they still fail to prevent Dumbledore's fall. They themselves just barely survive, thanks to the Felix Felicis that Harry had given them.
Hermione and Ron tell Harry that they will stick with him wherever he goes, even if it means leaving Hogwarts with Harry.
Trivia
- Perhaps coincidentally, the actress Hermione Gingold played a very Hogwarts-like witch in the 1958 film Bell, Book and Candle and another witch in the 1969 film Winter of the Witch.
- Hermione is actually the eldest of the trio; for years it was widely assumed that she was born in September 1980, the same year as Ron and Harry. However, J.K. Rowling pointed out that to attend Hogwarts, one must be eleven years old, so Hermione was nearly twelve when she began school in September 1991, and her birthday was in 1979. Many fans found this detail a source of debate, with many arguing that it shouldn't have mattered that a brilliant witch as herself would have been slightly younger than her classmates for the first three weeks of the school year, had she been born the same year as them.
- Hermione's middle name, Jane, has never been mentioned in the books, only on JK Rowling's official site. At one point, JK Rowling considered just naming her Jane Granger.
- JK Rowling has admitted that Hermione is "a bit like" Rowling herself [1].
See also
References
- Template:Fnb "JKRowling.com Archives: Birthdays" from MuggleNet
- Template:Fnb "When Hermione arrived at Hogwarts, was she nearly eleven or nearly twelve?" from the J.K.Rowling Official Site
- Template:Fnb "Rumours: Crookshanks is an Animagus" from the J.K.Rowling Official Site
- Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747532699.
- Rowling, J. K. (1998). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747538492.
- Rowling, J. K. (1999). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747542155.
- Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Bloomsbury. ISBN 074754624X.
- Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747551006.
- Rowling, J. K. (2005). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747581088.
- Rowling, J. K. (2001). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0613325419.
External links
- Extra information about Hermione from J.K. Rowling's official website
- Harry Potter Lexicon entry on Hermione