From Wikipedia, it's got the best info on her.Hermione Jean Granger is a fictional character and one of the three main protagonists (the other two being Harry Potter and Ron Weasley) of 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 Hogwarts. After Harry and Ron save her from a mountain troll in the girls' bathroom, 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 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. Rowling states that she was born on 19 September[1] and she was nearly twelve when she first attended Hogwarts.[2] She is an overachiever who excels academically, and is described by Rowling as a "very logical, upright and good" character.[3] 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."[4] They are well aware of the wizarding world and have visited Diagon Alley with her. Though Rowling has described the character of Luna Lovegood as the "anti-Hermione" because they are so different,[5] Hermione's foil at Hogwarts is Pansy Parkinson, a female bully based on real-life girls who teased the author during her school days.[6]
Rowling claims 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."[3] She recalled being called a "little know-it-all" in her youth.[1] 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.[7] Rowling also claims that her feminist conscience is saved by Hermione, "who's the brightest character" and is a "very strong female character".[8]
Hermione's name is derived from William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale;[9] Rowling claimed that she wanted it to be unusual since if fewer girls shared her name, fewer girls would get teased for it[9] 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."[10] 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.[1] Rowling confirmed in a 2004 interview that Hermione is an only child.[11]
[edit] Appearances
[edit] First three books
Hermione first appears in Philosopher's Stone when she meets future companions 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.[12] 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, and their friendship begins.[13] Hermione's knack for logic later enables the trio to solve a puzzle essential to retrieving the Philosopher's Stone, and she defeats the constrictive Devil's Snare plant by summoning a "jet of bluebell flame" – the same spell she had used earlier in the story on Professor Snape.[14]Rowling said on her website that she resisted her editor's requests to remove the troll scene, stating "Hermione is so very 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."[1]
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 Defense Against The Dark Arts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.[15] 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 of which she does not understand yet and later ignores. 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. After the first Quidditch match, she destroys a rogue Bludger bewitched by Dobby the house-elf to save Harry's life (film version). 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 devastated to learn that all end-of-year exams have been cancelled as a school treat.[16]
Hermione buys a cat named Crookshanks, who takes to chasing Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.[17] Before the start of term, Professor McGonagall secretly gives her a Time-Turner, a device which enables her to go back in time and handle her heavy class schedule, though this is not revealed until the penultimate chapter. Much tension comes into play between Hermione and her two best friends; Harry is furious with her because she told McGonagall that he had received a Firebolt, which was confiscated to be inspected for traces of dark magic. Ron is angry because he feels Crookshanks is responsible for Scabbers' disappearance, while Hermione fiercely maintains that Crookshanks is innocent.
While filling in for Remus Lupin in one Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Severus Snape labels Hermione "an insufferable know-it-all" and penalises Gryffindor after she speaks out of turn in her attempt to describe a werewolf when no one else does. She correctly deduces Lupin's secret after completing Snape's homework assignment from the class, while Crookshanks proves vital in exposing Scabbers as Peter Pettigrew, a friend of James and Lily Potter who revealed their whereabouts to Lord Voldemort the night of their murders, and was able to wrongly implicate Sirius Black (revealed to be Harry's godfather) in the Potters' deaths.[18] The Time-Turner enables Hermione and Harry to rescue Sirius and the hippogriff Buckbeak.[18]
[edit] Book four
Hermione is horrified by the cruelty she witnesses to house-elves and founds S.P.E.W., the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, as an effort to gain basic rights for the elves. She is Bulgarian Quidditch prodigy Viktor Krum's date at the Yule Ball of the Triwizard Tournament.[19] The proper pronunciation of her name (Her-my-oh-nee) is interjected into the plot when she teaches it to Krum; the best he can do is "Herm-own-ninny," but she has no problem with it.[1] She later gets into a heated argument with Ron after he accuses her of "fraternising with the enemy" in reference to her friendship with Krum. In the book, Hermione's feelings toward Ron are hinted at when she says that Ron can't see her "like a girl," but Krum could. She supports Harry through the Triwizard Tournament, helping him prepare for each task. At the end of the second task, she was asked by Krum to come to Bulgaria with him, but she politely refused. It is unknown if Krum and Hermione kissed, as mentioned in the sixth book. Near the end of the term she stops fraudulent tabloid reporter and unregistered Animagus Rita Skeeter, who had published defamatory material about Hermione, Harry, and Hagrid during the Triwizard Tournament, by holding her Animagus form (a beetle) captive in a jar.[19][edit] Books five and six
Hermione becomes a Gryffindor prefect along with Ron, and befriends Luna Lovegood, but their friendship gets off to a rocky start after Hermione chastises the publication of Luna's father: "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that." She also lambasts housemate Lavender Brown for believing the Daily Prophet's allegations of Harry fabricating stories of Voldemort's return. Ron and Hermione spend much of their time bickering, likely due to their growing romantic feelings toward one another, but they show continued loyalty to Harry. Later, with Luna's assistance, Hermione blackmails Rita Skeeter into interviewing Harry for an upcoming issue of The Quibbler. Attempts to ban the magazine from Hogwarts are futile as the story spreads quickly through the school. One turning point in the series is when Hermione conceives the idea of Harry secretly teaching defensive magic to a small band of students in defiance of the Ministry of Magic's dictum to teach only the subject's basic principles from a textbook, with no hands-on practice. Hermione gets an unexpectedly huge response, and the group becomes the nascent Dumbledore's Army. She is involved in the battle in the Department of Mysteries and seriously injured by a spell from Death Eater Antonin Dolohov, but makes a full recovery.[20]New Advanced Potions professor Horace Slughorn invites Hermione to join his "Slug Club,"[21] and she helps Ron retain his spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team when she secretly jinxes Cormac McLaggen, causing him to miss his last save attempt during Keeper tryouts. Hermione's feelings for Ron continue to grow and she decides to make a move by inviting him to Slughorn's Christmas Party, but he romances Lavender instead in retaliation for his belief that Hermione had kissed Krum years earlier. She attempts to get even by dating McLaggen at the Christmas party, but her plan goes bust and she abandons him midway through the party.[21] Ron and Hermione continually feud, (Ron is upset with her because she set birds to attack him after seeing him and Lavender Brown kissing; Hermione is mostly mad because of her growing jealousy) with each other until he suffers a near-fatal poisoning from tainted mead, which frightens her enough to reconcile with him. Following Dumbledore's death, Ron and Hermione both vow to stay by Harry's side regardless of what happens.[21] A minor subplot in the book is that Hermione and Harry form a rivalry in Potions, as Hermione is used to coming first in her subjects and is angered that Harry outperforms her undeservedly by following tips and different instructions written in the margins of Harry's potions book by the previous owner. Hermione is also the only one of the trio to successfully pass her Apparition test (Ron barely failed and Harry was too young).
[edit] Final book
In the seventh and final book, Hermione accompanies Harry on his quest to destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. Before leaving on the quest, she helps ensure the safety of her parents by placing a false memory charm on them, making them think they are Wendell and Monica Wilkins, whose lifetime ambition is to move to Australia. She inherits Dumbledore's personal copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which allows her to decipher some of the secrets of the Deathly Hallows. She prepared for their departure and journey by placing an Undetectable Extension Charm on a small beaded purse so she is able to fill the infinite depths of the bag with materials they will need. Hermione's spell saves her and Harry from Lord Voldemort and his snake Nagini in Godric's Hollow, although the ricochet snaps Harry's wand. When she, Ron, and Harry are captured by Snatchers, who are on the hunt for Muggle-borns under the Ministry's orders, Hermione disguises Harry by temporarily disfiguring his face with a Stinging Jinx. She also attempts to pass herself off as former Hogwarts student Penelope Clearwater and a half-blood to avoid persecution, but is later recognised and taken to Malfoy Manor where Bellatrix Lestrange tortures her with the Cruciatus Curse in an attempt to extract information on how Hermione, Harry, and Ron came to possess Godric Gryffindor's sword (which was supposed to be safe in the Lestrange vault at Gringotts). Even under torture, Hermione is able to use her quick thinking to lie to Bellatrix that the sword is a fake. When the others are able to escape their cell, Bellatrix threatens to slit Hermione's throat. Hermione, Harry, Ron and the other prisoners being held in Malfoy Manor are eventually rescued by Dobby.Hermione later uses Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Bellatrix when the trio attempt to steal Hufflepuff's cup from Gringotts. She, Harry, and Ron join Dumbledore's Army in the Battle of Hogwarts, during which Hermione destroys Hufflepuff's cup in the Chamber of Secrets with a basilisk fang, eliminating another Horcrux. Hermione and Ron also share their first kiss in the midst of the battle.[22] In the final battle in the Great Hall, Hermione fights Bellatrix with the help of Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood. However, the three of them are unable to defeat Bellatrix and stop fighting her once Molly Weasley orders them to disengage.[22]
