Hermione Granger

About Hermione Granger

Hermione Jean Granger (first name pronounced /hɚˈmaɪəni/) is a fictional character in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She initially appears in the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as a new student on her way to magic school. As the series progresses, she becomes close friends with Harry Potter and often uses her quick wit and encyclopaedic knowledge to help him. Rowling has stated that Hermione resembles her at a younger age, with her insecurity and fear of failure.

Hermione is a Muggle-born Gryffindor student and the best friend of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. The daughter of two dentists, she is an overachiever who shows considerable academic prowess when compared to her close friends and classmates, and she is described by Rowling as a "very logical, upright and good" character. Her parents are "a bit bemused by their odd daughter, but quite proud of her all the same." Rowling says that Hermione feels "utterly inadequate...and to compensate, she tries to be the best at everything at school, projecting a false confidence that can irritate people." Hermione's Boggart is Professor McGonagall informing her that she failed her exams. Her Patronus is an otter, Rowling's favourite animal. Her wand is made of vine wood and dragon heartstring core; vine is the wood ascribed to Hermione's fictional birth month (September) on the Celtic calendar. Though Rowling has described the character of Luna Lovegood as the "anti-Hermione" because they both share the exact opposite ideologies, Hermione's foil at Hogwarts is Pansy Parkinson, a female bully based on real-life girls who teased the author during her school days.

Hermione's most prominent feature is her cleverness. She is book-smart and is very good with logic, as seen when she deciphers Severus Snape's potion challenge at the end of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Hermione does not do well at the beginning of the series in stressful situations, as seen when she does not think to use her wand when needing to create fire to get rid of the Devil's Snare. However, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, she can quickly think of a place to apparate to. She also thinks to reveal Harry briefly to the Death Eaters to save Xenophilius Lovegood and to use a Stinging Hex on Harry's face to hide his identity when attacked by Snatchers. Eliza T. Dresang, in her article titled Hermione Granger and the Heritage of Gender, commented that Hermione's "hysteria and crying happen far too often to be considered a believable part of the development of Hermione's character and are quite out of line with her core role in the book."