Hermione Granger

Hermione Jean Granger is a fictional character in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potterseries. She first appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as a new student on her way to Hogwarts. After Harry and Ron save her from a mountain troll in the girls' toilets, she becomes close friends with them and often uses her quick wit, deft recall, and encyclopaedic knowledge to help them. Rowling has stated that Hermione resembles herself at a younger age, with her insecurity and fear of failure.

Character development

Hermione Jean Granger is a Muggle-born Gryffindor student whose parents are both dentists. She becomes best friends with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. J.K. Rowling states that she was born on 19 September 1979 and she was nearly twelve when she first attended Hogwarts. She is an overachiever who excels academically, and is described by Rowling as a "very logical, upright and good" character. Rowling adds that Hermione's parents, two Muggle dentists, are a bit bemused by their odd daughter but very proud of her all the same."They are well aware of the wizarding world and have visited Diagon Alley with her. Hermione was originally intended to have a sister, but the planned sibling did not make an appearance in the first Harry Potter novel and, as Rowling noted, it "seemed too late" to introduce the character after that. Rowling confirmed in a 2004 interview that Hermione is an only child.

Rowling has described the character of Luna Lovegood as the "anti-Hermione" as they are so different.Hermione's foil at Hogwarts is Pansy Parkinson, a bully based on real-life girls who teased the author during her school days.

Rowling stated that the character of Hermione carries several autobiographical influences. "I did not set out to make Hermione like me but she is...she is an exaggeration of how I was when I was younger." She recalled being called a "little know-it-all" in her youth.Moreover, she states that not unlike herself, "there is a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure" beneath Hermione's swottiness. Finally, according to Rowling, next to Albus Dumbledore, Hermione is the perfect expository character; because of her encyclopaedic knowledge, she can always be used as a plot dump to explain the Harry Potter universe.Rowling also states that her feminist conscience is saved by Hermione, "who's the brightest character" and is a "very strong female character".

Hermione's name is taken from William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale; Rowling said that she wanted it to be unusual since if fewer girls shared her name, fewer girls would get teased for it and it seemed that "a pair of professional dentists, who liked to prove how clever they are...gave [her] an unusual name that no-one could pronounce." Her original last name was "Puckle", but Rowling felt the name "did not suit her at all", and so the less frivolous Granger made it into the books.

Appearances

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Hermione first appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone when she meets Harry and Ron on the Hogwarts Express. She constantly annoys her peers with her knowledge, so Harry and Ron initially consider her arrogant; especially after she criticises Ron's incantation of the Levitation Charm. They heartily dislike her until they rescue her from a troll, for which she is so thankful that she lies to protect them from punishment, thus winning their friendship. Hermione's knack for logic later enables the trio to solve a puzzle that is essential to retrieving the Philosopher's Stone, and she defeats the constrictive Devil's Snare plant by summoning a jet of "bluebell flame".

Hermione is the brains behind the plan to enter the place where the Stone is hidden. She responds to Harry's wariness of Professor Severus Snape and is also suspicious of him. She reveals to Harry and Ron that she does a lot of research in the library, which helped her defeat the Devil's Snare and work out the logic of the potions.

Rowling said on her website that she resisted her editor's requests to remove the troll scene, stating "Hermione is so very arrogant and annoying in the early part of Philosopher's Stone that I really felt it needed something (literally) huge to bring her together with Harry and Ron."

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Hermione (along with Mrs. Weasley and a few female students of Hogwarts) develops a liking for Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Gilderoy Lockhart as he had written all the books required for the subject of Defence Against The Dark Arts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. During a morning confrontation between the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams, a brawl nearly ensues after Draco Malfoy calls her a "Mudblood", an insulting epithet for Muggle-born wizards. She assembles the Polyjuice Potion needed for the trio to disguise themselves as Malfoy's housemates to collect information about the Heir of Slytherin who has reopened the Chamber of Secrets. However, she is unable to join Harry and Ron in the investigation after the hair plucked from the robes of Slytherin student Millicent Bulstrode (with whom Hermione was previously matched up during Lockhart's ill-fated Duelling Club) was that of her cat, whose appearance she takes on in her human form; it takes several weeks for the effects to completely wear off. Hermione is Petrified by the basilisk after successfully identifying the creature through library research. Though she lies incapacitated in the hospital wing, her information is crucial to Harry and Ron in their successful mission to solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione is revived after Harry kills the basilisk, but she is disappointed to learn that all end-of-year exams have been cancelled as a school treat.

Characterisation

Outward appearance

In the books, Hermione is described as having bushy brown hair and brown eyes. Her front teeth, already very large, grow uncontrollably in Goblet of Fire after she is hit by a spell cast by Draco Malfoy. Madam Pomfrey attends to her in the hospital wing and, at her request, shrinks the teeth down to a normal size for her mouth.

Personality

Hermione's most prominent features include her prodigious intellect and cleverness. She is levelheaded, book-smart, and is very good with logic. Throughout the series Hermione uses the skills of a librarian to gather the information necessary to defeat Voldemort. When in doubt it is to the library that Hermione turns. She is often bossy yet unfailingly dutiful and loyal to her friends—a person who can be counted on. Rowling stated that Hermione is a person that "never strays off the path; she always keeps her attention focused on the job that must be done." Despite Hermione's intelligence and bossy attitude, Rowling says that Hermione has "quite a lot of vulnerability in her personality," as well as a "sense of insecurity underneath," feels "utterly inadequate... and to compensate, she tries to be the best at everything at school, projecting a false confidence that can irritate people."During her Defence against the Dark Arts exam at the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione reveals that her biggest fear is failure, after a Boggart takes the form of Professor McGonagall and tells her that she has failed all her exams.

Hermione has an extremely compassionate side to her personality and is quick to help others, especially those who are defenceless, such as Neville Longbottom, first-years, House-Elves, fellow Muggle-borns, half-giants like Hagrid, and werewolves like Lupin. It was revealed by Rowling after the publication of the final book that Hermione's career in the Ministry was to fight for the rights of the oppressed (such as House-elves or Muggle-borns). Hermione is also very protective of her friends and values them so much that Rowling has suggested that, if Hermione had looked in the Mirror of Erised, she would have seen Harry, Ron, and herself "alive and unscathed, and Voldemort finished." Hermione has also learned to ignore what bullies such as Malfoy say to her, often preventing Harry and Ron from retaliating and thinking of some way to outsmart him. She accepts her status as a Muggle-born witch, and states in Deathly Hallows that she is "a Mudblood and proud of it".