Hermione Jean Granger
"But you're Muggles! We must have a drink! What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle money. Molly, look!"
-- Arthur Weasley upon meeting the Grangers in Gringotts (CS4)
"An' they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can' do."
-- Rubeus Hagrid (CS7)
On this page:
- Name meanings
- The Granger Family
- Appearance
- Hermione at Hogwarts
- Skills, etc.
- Profile of Hermione
- Hermione in the films
Other Floo Network pages on Hermione:
NAME ASSOCIATIONS
Birth name: Hermione Jean Granger.
First name: JKR chose the name Hermione from
a character in Shakespeare's play "A Winter's Tale;" although
she says that the characters are not at all similar. She thought it made
sense for a couple of professional dentists to name their only daughter
something like that to show how clever they were. But she chose a very
unusual name because she worried that, if there were a real child somewhere
who was bright and had larger-than-usual front teeth that had the same
name, she might get teased (NPC). Hermione was also the name of two British
character actresses who played witches. Hermione Baddely played Elspeth
in the "Bewitched" TV
series and was in Mary Poppins, and Hermione Gingold was in the movie "Bell
Book and Candle." (
IMDb) JKR has fun throughout the series
with people mangling the pronunciation of Hermione’s name.
Middle name: In 2004, Jo told us her middle
name was 'Jane' (WBD);
however Rowling changed it to 'Jean" in Book 7, possibly so that Hermione
and Umbridge wouldn't share the same middle name. 'Jean' is also one of
the middle names of Rowling's daughter Mackenzie.
Last name: Grange=A grange is a barn or a farm with buildings to store
grain, so ‘Granger’ is an occupational name for a farm bailiff.
FAMILY
Birthdate: 19 Sept 1979 (AOL 2000, WBD
2004). Note: Although the DVD timelines were approved
by Rowling, they do not match her other statements exactly. According
to her website, Hermione was born before Harry and Ron, so her birthday
would have to be in 1979, not 1980 as stated on the DVD.
Ancestry: Muggle-born.
Mother: Unnamed Muggle (dentist). Hermione thoughtfully protected
her parents from Death Eater reprisals by modifying their memories, giving
them new names (Wendell and Monica Wilkins), no memory that they once had
a daughter, and then relocated them to Australia (DH6). When Voldemort and
his forces were vanquished, she found them again and reversed her memory
charm (BLC).
Father: Unnamed Muggle (dentist).
Siblings: At one time in the writing process, Hermione had
a younger sister (WBD 2004);
however, Rowling decided not to include that character, so Hermione is an only
child (EBF 2004) (WBD
2004).
Childhood: The Grangers, while accepting the Wizarding world
and their daughter's place in it, do not approve of using magic for quick fixes.
They insisted, for example, that Hermione's somewhat oversized front teeth
be dealt with in the usual way: with braces. They send healthy snacks by owl
to Hermione at Hogwarts and come with her to Diagon Alley in August to help
her buy her things for school. What they tell their family and friends about
their daughter and her school is anyone's guess, but they are certainly proud
of her.
Spouse: Ron Weasley (DH/e).
Children: Rose (born c. 2006) and Hugo (DH/e), and godmother to Harry's son James Sirius Potter (YL).
Pet: Crookshanks (cat/kneazle
hybrid).
APPEARANCE
Eye color: Brown.
Hair color: Brown and bushy.
From the books: "She had a bossy sort of voice,
lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth"
(PS6).
HERMIONE
at HOGWARTS
First year: 1991.
House: Gryffindor, although the Sorting Hat considered
putting her in Ravenclaw at first (OP19).
Earned 11 O.W.L.s:
She received 10 "Outstandings"
(Care of Magical
Creatures, Transfiguration, Potions,
Charms, Herbology,
Astronomy, History of Magic, Arithmancy,
Ancient Runes and one unknown class), and an "Exceeds expectations"
in Defence Against the Dark Arts (HBP5).
N.E.W.T.s: Hermione missed her seventh
year at Hogwarts (DH), but she went back to school the whole following year and took her N.E.W.T.s so she could graduate properly (PC/JKR1).
Awards, etc.: Prefect for Gryffindor her 5th & 6th years.
Organizations & affiliations: Dumbledore’s Army;
S.P.E.W.
Amortentia (love potion) smells: freshly mown grass, new
parchment and Ron's hair (HBP9,
BLC).
SKILLS, ETC.
Wand: Vine wood (JKR) with a dragon heartstring core (JKR) until it was taken by Greyback and
his snatchers. After they escaped from the Malfoy mansion Hermione used
Bellatrix's wand: walnut and dragon heartstring, 12.5 inches, unyielding
(DH24).
Other devices: Revealer (CS13).
Used a Time-Turner during
the 1993-1994 school
year to take extra classes (PA21),
beaded purse (DH8).
Socks: Knits them for the house-elves.
Career: After Voldemort was killed, she worked for the Department
for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures where she improved
the quality of life for house-elves and other disenfranchised creatures. Later,
she worked for Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement where she put an
end to pro-pureblood laws (BLC).
Skills: Packing for long trips, Logic (PS16); Arithmancy;
portable waterproof fires (CS);
Apparition (HBP22). JKR says
Hermione speaks for her sometimes (COS 2003). Has actually read Hogwarts:
A History. Can produce a full Patronus and mastered the Protean Charm
to create the enchanted coins used by Dumbledore's Army.
Patronus: Otter (OP27).
Boggart: McGonagall telling her she failed everything (PA16).
Handwriting: "neat"
(CS2).
Profile of Hermione Jean
Granger
Resourceful, principled and brilliant, Hermione is easily the brightest
witch of her generation. She, along with Ron Weasley,
is one of Harry
Potter’s closest friends. She is also Muggle-born (her parents
were dentists - PS12), and
so is a living, breathing example of the fallacy of pureblood wizard supremacy.
Hermione reads voraciously and prefers concrete, knowable subjects like runes and history to the more inexact subjects like divination. When she was new to Hogwarts she was very insecure so she took comfort in things like rules and book-learning; as she became more confident in magic and more comfortable in the Wizarding world, she relaxed – somewhat.
Hermione has a brilliant mind. She has memorized many, many spells and can reason her way through difficult situations that stump everyone else. By her fifth year, she could cast a Protean Charm -- N.E.W.T standard magic (OP19). Portable, waterproof fires are a specialty of hers. She even spent one school year taking double classes using a Time-Turner to be in two places at once, but she found this too exhausting to keep up. Hermione excelled at most subjects and often helped Neville Longbottom through difficult Potions classes. Most teachers considered her a star pupil, although Professor Snape called her a show-off.
In her fourth year at Hogwarts, she found herself the object of the affection of Viktor Krum, a famous Quidditch player from Bulgaria who was a visiting student at Hogwarts from Durmstrang Institute. She returned his affection to some extent, but had harbored a one-sided fondness for Ron Weasley since they met. Ron was oblivious for years but finally wised up.
Hermione developed a social conscience very early and would work tirelessly for those she saw as oppressed or an underdog. In her third year at Hogwarts, she bought Crookshanks from a magical creatures store because no one wanted him, and spent hours preparing a defense for Buckbeak, a falsely-accused hippogriff. During her fourth year, she became so horrified by the slavery of wizarding House-elves that she formed S.P.E.W. (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) and began enthusiastically knitting hats and socks to help free them from their servitude.
Harry and Ron owe the success of the Horcrux hunt in large part to Hermione’s planning and research. Without Hermione, there would have been no clothes, no reference books, no tent or sleeping bags, no supply of Polyjuice potion, no medicines, no extendable ears, no Cloak of Invisibility, and no background information on how to destroy a Horcrux once they found one. Harry and Ron weren't the only ones she planned for; she was so worried for her parents’ safety that she modified their memories so that they would not remember they had a daughter, and relocated them to Australia.
Ron finally earned Hermione’s first kiss during the final battle with Voldemort when he initiated a plan to evacuate the school's house-elves.
After the battle and Voldemort’s death, Hermione found her parents and reversed her memory charm. Unlike Harry, Neville and Ron, she did not join Shacklebolt's Ministry right away. Hermione went back to Hogwarts so she could finish her schooling properly, and take her N.E.W.T.s (PC/JKR1).
At some point in the intervening years, Ron and Hermione married and had two children they named Rose (born c. 2006) and Hugo. Hermione was hired by the Ministry’s Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures where she played an important role in improving the quality of life for house-elves and other disenfranchised creatures. Later, she worked for Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement where she worked to put an end to pro-pureblood laws that had been so entrenched in Wizarding society.
HERMIONE in the FILMS
Hermione is played by Emma
Watson.
When asked who she thinks Hermione as a character has inspired, Emma generalized
and reminded us of some of Hermione's more significant qualities. 'She
bosses the guys around' and makes having a 'brain not beauty cool.' Although
'slightly socially inept' Hermione is 'not ashamed of herself.' Emma says
that the saddest thing for a girl to do is to dumb herself down for a guy.
Hermione wouldn't do it, so neither should anyone else.
-- from speech at Oxford
Union, Oxford University, November 12, 2006.
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