Hermione Granger

## Hermione Jean Granger

**Hermione Jean** **Granger** (born 19 September, 1979) was a muggle-born English witch, the daughter of two muggles, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. She was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, and grew up there. She was the Grangers' only child and, although they were "a bit bemused" by the oddities displayed by their daughter, they were proud of her. She was accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1991, and she was sorted into Gryffindor that year. Her closest friends became Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, and they had many adventures together.

## Biography

### Early life (1979-1991)

Hermione was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England. Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Banbury and 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Oxford.

Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, worked as dentists and owned their own practice together. Hermione attended the local grammar school and was a very bookish and clever child. As a result, she was bullied slightly and had little friends there.

Upon turning eleven, Hermione was happily surprised to learn that she was a witch and was therefore invited to attend Hogwarts. She eagerly accepted and took to studying magic even before she began her first year at Hogwarts in the September of 1991, learning all the set spell books by heart and even managing to perform "a few spells" successfully. In addition to the texts set by the school, Hermione brought with her several other books for reference and to further her understanding of the Wizarding World, to the point that she had looked at books and had more knowledge of the Wizarding World than some of her pure-blood and half-blood classmates.

### Hogwarts years (1991-1997)

#### First year (1991-1992)

Hermione received her Hogwarts letter in the summer of 1991. That summer, she purchased a wand made of vine and dragon heartstring that was ten and three quarter inches in length from Ollivander's Wand Shop in Diagon Alley, London. She boarded the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross Station, London, on 1 September 1991, and that night she was Sorted into Gryffindor House.

Hermione soon proved to be the best in all her classes, eager to please the professors and to help others learn, albeit in a bossy way that made it difficult for her to make friends. Although she was a know-it-all, Hermione did often help Neville Longbottom, who struggled in most classes other than Herbology.

Before she started her second year, Hermione wrote several letters to Harry at Privet Drive, all of which were intercepted by Dobby, as the house-elf wanted Harry to believe that his friends had forgotten him in order to prevent his return to Hogwarts. She and her parents also accompanied Harry and the Weasley family to Diagon Alley to shop for school supplies.

#### Second year (1992-1993)

It was during her second school year that Hermione first encountered the prejudice and hatred surrounding her blood status, when Draco Malfoy called her a "filthy little Mudblood" after she told him off for insulting the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Hermione had never heard the highly offensive term but looking around at everyone around her, it was an obvious fact. Fred and George Weasley lunged at him, and Ron even tried to hex him, but it backfired, as his wand had been damaged. To help Hermione feel better about the incident, Hagrid urged her not to think about it, pointing out that she was a talented witch, regardless of what bigoted people said about her Muggle-born status.

That year, Hermione was petrified by Slytherin's monster after she tried to warn a fellow muggle-born student, Penelope Clearwater, to use a mirror while walking around corners. Though she was petrified for the rest of the school year, Hermione was still able to assist her friends Harry and Ron, for she had torn out the page on Basilisks and scribbled on it "*pipes*", referencing the manner in which the creature had moved around the school undetected. Harry and Ron found it clenched in her hand when they were finally allowed to visit her in the Hospital Wing.

Using this note and other information they had gathered, Harry and Ron went to the staffroom where they overheard that Ron's sister, Ginny, had been kidnapped and taken down into the Chamber of Secrets by the monster itself. This was a few months after Hermione's petrification. There, they ran into Aquila Black, a fellow first-year Gryffindor student, who was Ginny's best friend. Hermione's friends Harry and Ron, as well as Aquila Black, went to Professor Lockhart, a notoriously vain professor (a teacher who Hermione once had a crush on) to tell him where the entrance to the Chamber was, for Aquila had found out on her own means, only for Lockhart to attack all three of them. Thankfully, Ron was able to overpower him and the four of them went down into the Chamber together. Lockhart tried to attack them again inside the Chamber, but he tried using Ron's broken wand and ended up erasing his own memory. Then, a cave-in made it impossible for Ron or Lockhart to get through to Harry and Aquila, who went on into the main chamber. There, they met Tom Riddle, the identity of the boy that Ginny had been writing to all year.

He revealed himself to be Lord Voldemort, a fact which only Hermione out of all Harry and Aquila's friends (and Hogwarts students) were told. Aquila wasn't supposed to tell anybody, and she kept the secret. However, Hermione had nearly faced Voldemort the year before last, and she was allowed to know.

Harry and Aquila were able to successfully put an end to Lord Voldemort's plans to resurrect his body through his memory stored in an old school diary, killing the Basilisk.

Hermione was later cured with a Mandrake Restorative Draught created by Professor Sprout. Upon arriving at the Great Hall, she was immediately greeted by Nearly Headless Nick. After hugging Harry she exchanged an awkward greeting with Ron. Hermione was disappointed to learn that, as a special treat for the school, Professor Dumbledore cancelled the students' end of year exams, but she was intensely proud that her friends had solved the mystery. That summer, Hermione went on holiday to France with her parents.

#### Third year (1993-1994)

Just before she began the 1993-1994 school year, while visiting Diagon Alley with Harry and the Weasley family, Hermione met and adopted a ginger part-Kneazle cat named Crookshanks from the Magical Menagerie. However, her new bond with her cat caused friction with Ron and his pet rat Scabbers, as Crookshanks was always trying to catch the rat. Also at the beginning of this school year, Hermione obtained a Time-Turner from Professor McGonagall so she could double up on classes, though this was kept secret from everyone, even Harry and Ron.

When Harry received a Firebolt for Christmas with no note, Hermione reported it to Professor McGonagall, thinking it was sent by Sirius Black, whom everyone believed to be a dangerous murderer who was after Harry. His broom was taken away to be inspected, which caused a temporary rift between the two friends. There was further social strain for Hermione when Ron accused Crookshanks of eating Scabbers, who had disappeared.

Hermione poured herself into defending Buckbeak, the hippogriff on trial before the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures for attacking Draco Malfoy during a Care of Magical Creatures class. Once the trio reconciled, after Hagrid told Harry and Ron how disappointed he was when they selfishly put the Firebolt and Scabbers over their friendship with Hermione, they apologised. Their attempt to save Buckbeak failed, as Lucius Malfoy frightened the Committee into deciding that the creature would be executed. Hermione was extremely upset by this news and grew furious to the point of slapping Draco Malfoy when he dared to mock Hagrid for his tears and being upset over Buckbeak's fate.

That year, Hermione was among the students who found Remus Lupin to be the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher they have ever had. She cleverly deduced that Professor Lupin was a werewolf, based on his Boggart taking the form of a full moon, the timing of his unexplained absences from class, and Professor Snape changing a lesson he took over to the subject of werewolves even though it wasn't due on the syllabus for weeks. However, she didn't expose Lupin, presumably because she believed he was a good teacher and didn't agree with the prejudice many hold against werewolves.

Divination, on the other hand, turned out to be a subject Hermione had no respect for or interest in, and soon dropped the subject after Professor Sybill Trelawney told her that she didn't posses the Second Sight and because she believed that Divination was an imprecise term of magic.

On the day of Buckbeak's execution, the trio ventured down to console Hagrid. While in his cabin, Hermione discovered Scabbers, Ron's lost rat. Hagrid urged them to leave and they witnessed from a distance what they believed to be Buckbeak's execution. Before they could return to their dormitory, Scabbers bit Ron and fled. While chasing after the rat, they were attacked by a black dog, which pulled Ron by the leg into a tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow, which then attacked them.

Afterward, Hermione and Harry hurried after them eventually arriving in the Shrieking Shack, where Sirius Black, whose Animagus form was the black dog, confronted them. They were soon joined by Professor Lupin who was acting strangely, and Hermione told Harry and Ron of her belief that he was a werewolf, which he then confirmed. It was revealed that Sirius had been framed for the betrayal of James and Lily Potter, and that the true traitor was Peter Pettigrew, who had been hiding from the world as Ron's pet rat. Hermione also cast Expelliarmus on Snape when he discovered them, knocking him out, at which she was horrified.

The motley group (including Hermione, Harry, Sirius, Ron, Remus, Snape, and Pettigrew) left the Shrieking Shack, when Remus suddenly paled and began to transform into a werewolf. It was the night of the Full Moon, and he had not taken the potion in which he needed to keep his mind, and so he attacked.

Sirius was forced to transform into a black dog to protect Harry, Ron, and Hermione from the werewolf, and the group went scattering. Hermione, Harry, and Ron had to run, leaving Snape behind unconscious and, in the chaos, Pettigrew attacked Ron and escaped.

Lupin was eventually distracted by a howl from the Forbidden Forest. Hundreds of Dementors descended on a clearing, come to recapture Sirius, when Hermione and Harry rushed to his aid. Harry told Hermione to think of something happy and attempt to cast a Patronus as he was trying to himself, but they were both unable to cast one.

As Harry conjured an incorporeal Patronus, Hermione passed out, leaving Harry by himself fight the Dementors alone. Harry held them off for a while but was eventually overwhelmed. The Dementors were about to perform the Kiss on Harry, Hermione, and Sirius when mysterious figures in the distance cast very powerful Patronus Charms to repel the Dementors. Unable to see properly in the resulting blinding light, Harry thought he glimpsed his father just before he, too, lost consciousness.

Hermione and Harry awoke in the Hospital Wing after being rescued by Severus Snape, who conjured stretchers for Hermione, Harry, and Sirius. After realising that Sirius' soul was to be destroyed by the Dementor's Kiss and receiving vague, though instructive and useful, instructions from Dumbledore, Hermione used her Time-Turner to return herself and Harry to a time earlier in the evening. It was a very difficult task and Harry to be constantly reminded by Hermione to stay concealed as being seen could cause irreparable damage to their timelines. Hermione agreed with Harry that it was difficult to watch their problems again, but she strictly said that they could do nothing about it, as bad things happened to wizards who tried to meddle with their past and future lives.

However, they ran into another pair of individuals in the Forbidden Forest that they had not interacted with previously that night: Aquila Black and Ginny Weasley, who Hermione and Harry discovered hiding in the forest the same time that they accidentally stumbled upon a transformed-Maisie Cattermole. After they escaped from Maisie in her werewolf form, Harry realised that Ginny was clutching Scabbers inside a conjured cage: the transformed Pettigrew, Ginny must have caught him as Harry and Hermione's previous selves had become distracted by Professor Lupin. More agreeably than Ron had been, Ginny handed him over: and she and Aquila listened to a hastened explanation of why Sirius was innocent.

They were interrupted by the arrival of the Dementors once more, across the lake: Harry then cast a corporal Stag Patronus, when he realised that it was not his father that he saw but himself having travelled back in time, thereby saving not only his and Hermione's past selves, but Aquila and Ginny in the moment as well.

The party decided to split up: Hermione and Ginny stayed on the ground to guard Pettigrew, while Harry and Aquila, being the unspoken better fliers, rode Buckbeak up to the North Tower to rescue Sirius.

All four of them then reunited inside one of the interior courtyards, but, unfortunately, they ended up stumbling into the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and his party of Aurors, who had just arrived by carriage to oversee Sirius's supposed execution. Fudge, upon seeing Black with the four children, immediately ordered the Aurors (Dawlish and Shacklebolt) to re-capture Black, but **Hermione** managed to perform a tricky bit of magic which forced Pettigrew back into his human form, just as Sirius was disarmed. She had managed to copy Remus and Sirius's spell which they had performed earlier, which ended up saving Sirius's life.

Sirius and Pettigrew were both dragged off for questioning in London. Buckbeak was caught and taken back Hagrid's Hut to await another executioner, much to Hermione's distress. Whilst waiting for any possible news as to Sirius's fate, Hermione discussed the Dementors with the other three, and when Harry realised that it was not his father he saw but himself having travelled back in time, she claimed that none but an incredibly powerful witch or wizard could have conjured a Patronus to drive away that many Dementors.

As evidenced by her assertion that time-travelling was extremely dangerous, Hermione took great personal risk to save Sirius and Buckbeak. At the end of the year Hermione returned her Time-Turner, claiming it caused too much trouble and that she would drop a few subjects instead, which was a very big surprise to everyone.

## Appearance

Hermione had light skin, bright brown eyes, lots of bushy brown hair (once described as a "long mane of brown hair"), and — as a child — rather large front teeth. She possesed a sort of bossy voice that would become slightly shrill when she was angry.

Hermione generally wore her school uniform under her robes. Otherwise, she dressed casually. She usually kept her hair long and sometimes tied it back in a plait. Hermione never gave much attention to her appearance, usually hiding her potential to be considered extremely pretty under her bushy hairstyle and a large pile of books, which she kept slung on her back.

## Personality and Traits

Hermione was noted for being both extremely intellectual curious and very hard-working, coming out on top in most of her classes and continuously aiding Harry and Ron in their adventures. She was so studious that the Ministry allowed her a Time-Turner in her third year, a device that rewinds time so that she could take extra courses. Because of her efficiency and compassion, Hermione often had time to do hobby work on the side, such as preparing a defence for Buckbeak to save him from execution and creating S.P.E.W., an organisation promoting the freedom of house-elves. Such acts demonstrate her social conscience and tenacity.

## Etymology

‘Hermione’ is the female derivative of ‘Hermes’, a messenger god known for his sharp wit and ability to transition between worlds. Quite fittingly, Hermione transitioned between the Muggle and wizarding worlds, delivered information, and was pretty sharp-witted herself.

Granger is another word for farmer; specifically, it was the title of a farm bailiff, who oversaw the collection of rent and taxes from the barns of a feudal lord. It is a surname of English and French origin, derived from the Anglo-Norman grainger and the French grangier, both of which come from Latin granica, meaning "granary."