- “Heh. Me? Books and cleverness. There are more important things: friendship and bravery.”
- ―Hermione to Harry
Hermione Jean Granger (b. September 19, 1979) is a fictional character and the tritagonist of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She first appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as a new student on her way to Hogwarts alongside Harry and Ron. She often uses her quick wit, deft recall, and comprehensive knowledge to help them. Rowling has stated that Hermione resembles herself at a younger age, with her insecurity and fear of failure.
Background
History
Hermione was born in September of 1979. Her parents gave her the name "Hermione" (as it was a nice and unusual first name) to establish how educated and intelligent they were, and because they knew she would be unique and special in her own way.
When she was eleven, Hermione got a letter telling her that she was accepted at Hogwarts; she was so excited and happy that she immediately began reading up on and studying magic, even practicing some spells at home (even though anyone under 17 was prohibited to use magic outside school).
Personality and traits
Hermione is considered to be the "brightest witch of her age". She is very logical, allowing her to go past lengthy details and go right for the point. While she might seem pompous, arrogant, and bossy now and then, she is actually good-hearted.
She is also extremely loyal, sticking by her friends no matter what happens or what may happen. In some cases, she is considered to be the second-in-command of the trio.
Physical appearance
Hermione Granger is a slender young woman with fair skin, long shoulder-length curly brown hair, and brown eyes.
During her years at Hogwarts, she is always seen in her grey sweatshirt with red and gold trimming, a white shirt underneath, a black robe with the Gryffindor symbol, a black skirt, grey knee-length socks, and black Mary Jane shoes. In addition, she sometimes wears a headband in her hair.
In her first year, while going with Harry and Ron to go after the Philosopher's Stone, she wears a purple, blue and pink sweater with a flamingo pink skirt, white stockings, and black Mary Jane shoes. In the first two video games, she wears that outfit with her robes.
As of her third year, she favours blue jeans and sweaters.
Magical abilities and skills
Hermione is very talented and skilled with magic, owing to her intelligence; in fact, her skills are superior to Harry and Ron’s. She can better control and utilize magic at will. However, in some cases, Hermione acts like an arrogant show-off with her abilities. On the other hand, her intelligence is very beneficial in the most dire situations. An example is when she discovered a Basilisk was the monster dwelling in the Chamber of Secrets and held onto the library book page on it while Petrified for Harry and Ron to find.
Possessions
Wand
Hermione's wand is 10 and 3/4 inches long, made of vine and has a dragon heartstring core (similar to Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Dolores Umbridge, Horace Slughorn, Minerva McGonagall, Peter Pettigrew, and Viktor Krum's wands).
Handbag
Hermione also carries a beaded handbag that she placed an undetectable extension charm on, allowing the bag to carry huge amounts of cargo, which she used when she, Harry, and Ron went on the Horcrux hunt.
Time-Turner
During her third year, Professor McGonagall gave Hermione a Time-Turner so she could attend extra classes. She and Harry later use this Time-Turner to save both Buckbeak and Sirius Black.
Appearances
Films
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
In her first year at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione first meet on the Hogwarts Express. All three of them are sorted into Gryffindor (the Sorting Hat initially considered putting Hermione in Ravenclaw). At first, Harry and Ron don't really like Hermione and view her as a bossy nerd and a pompous, arrogant, and insufferable know-it-all.
When they defend her from a mountain troll in the girls' bathroom (where she spent the afternoon after Ron hurt her feelings), she takes the blame for them. From then on, they become friends. During a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Harry's new Nimbus 2000 suddenly goes out of control. Hermione quickly and mistakenly assumes that Severus Snape is jinxing the broom, not realizing Snape is trying to help Harry, and it's really Quirinus Quirrell trying to cause Harry to fall off his broom and goes to set his robes on fire, causing Snape to knock Quirrell over.
After Hagrid accidentally mentions Nicholas Flamel, Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to research him over the holidays. Before Hermione goes home for the Christmas holidays, she suggests that maybe the Restricted Section might have information on Flamel. After returning to Hogwarts, she remembers that she checked out a book for a little light reading, and the book has the information that they have been looking for. They go and tell Hagrid that they know about the Philosopher’s Stone. He again brushes off their suspicions about Snape planning on taking the stone for himself. They then witness a dragon hatching from an egg. Unfortunately, Draco Malfoy catches them and reports them to Professor McGonagall, who gives the four of them detention. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy are escorted to Hagrid’s house by Argus Filch, where they are assigned to help Hagrid look for an injured unicorn in the Forbidden Forest, where Harry has a close encounter with Voldemort.
Later on, in the Common Room, Harry discusses his conclusion that Snape is actually planning to use the stone to revitalize Voldemort. The next day, they consult Hagrid about Fluffy, and he inadvertently tells them that Fluffy falls asleep when he hears music. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to beat Snape to the stone. As they are leaving the common room that evening, Neville Longbottom attempts to stop them, though Hermione cripples him with a full-body bind spell. They then head for the 3rd floor section where Fluffy is kept, and barely get past him, ending up in a deadly plant called Devil's Snare; Harry and Hermione manage to get through safely, though Ron is unable to relax. Fortunately, Hermione remembers that Devil's Snare dislikes sunlight and saves Ron with a sunlight spell. The three then brave a swarm of flying keys, and then a life-size wizard's chess game, where Ron is forced to give himself up so Harry can continue. Before going on, Harry instructs Hermione to look after Ron, then go to the Owlery and alert Dumbledore.
After defeating Professor Quirrell and a weakened Voldemort, Harry reunites with Ron and Hermione. The three are rewarded with house points for their heroism, tying them with Slytherin House, and Neville is given 10 points for standing up to them, giving Gryffindor enough points to win the House Cup. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the other students then go home for the summer, even though Hogwarts is Harry's real home now.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
After accidentally ending up in the foreboding Knockturn Alley and being escorted to Diagon Alley by Hagrid, Harry meets up with Hermione outside Flourish and Blotts.
Later on, when the Slytherin Quidditch team shows that Draco Malfoy has been added to the team, Hermione retorts that the members of the Gryffindor team got their spots because of pure talent; Draco responds by calling her a “filthy little mudblood”, offending her. Infuriated, Ron attempts to curse Malfoy with a slug-vomiting charm in retaliation, only to have the spell backfire on him. Harry and Hermione take Ron to Hagrid’s house, telling him what happened, and Hagrid consoles Hermione.
After finding Mrs. Norris petrified, and bloody writing on the wall, Hermione asks Professor McGonagall about the Chamber of Secrets during a Transfiguration lesson; she tells the class that Salazar Slytherin’s belief that students who have muggles for parents shouldn’t be allowed to learn about magic led to him building the Chamber and hiding a monster that only his Heir can control in it.
Harry and Ron get the impression that Malfoy is the Heir of Slytherin because his whole family has been in Slytherin House for centuries. Ron suggests tricking Draco’s comrades Crabbe and Goyle into telling them what they know, though Hermione comes up with an alternative: using Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Crabbe and Goyle and interrogating Draco directly. During a Quidditch match against Slytherin, Harry is suddenly attacked by a rogue Bludger that Dobby bewitched to go after him. Harry manages to get the Golden Snitch, despite his arm being broken by the rogue Bludger; Hermione then blows up the Bludger before it can cause Harry any more serious injuries. When they use the Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Malfoy’s friends, Hermione unknowingly plucked a cat hair from Millicent Bullstrode’s robes, giving her a cat-like face and putting her in the Hospital Wing for a few weeks.
A little later, as Gryffindor prepares for a Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, Professor McGonnagall informs them that the match has been cancelled, and takes Harry and Ron to show them that Hermione has been found petrified near the library with a mirror. Fortunately, she was actually able to find a piece of information for them prior to being petrified: a library book page on basilisks, also figuring out that the Basilisk has been traversing the school via the pipes. After Harry defeats the Basilisk and rescues Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets, Hermione and the Basilisk's other victims are revived.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
During the summer of 1993, Hermione purchases a cat, whom she names Crookshanks. Unfortunately, this leads to tension between her and Ron, as Crookshanks makes a habit of chasing after Ron's rat, Scabbers.
Throughout the school year, Hermione is somehow taking more classes than Harry or Ron. In addition, in the book, she spends her time trying to help Hagrid in preparing for a hearing with the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures due to his prized hippogriff, Buckbeak, attacking Draco Malfoy after he deliberately ignored Hagrid's warning about provoking hippogriffs, to no avail, as Lucius Malfoy orders the committee to sentence Buckbeak to death. During a visit to Hogsmeade, Ron and Hermione observe the Shrieking Shack when Draco and his goons turn up. Harry (under the Invisibility Cloak) attacks them, scaring them off.
During a Divination class in the spring, Professor Trelawney annoys Hermione, causing her to storm out and stop going to Divination altogether. Later, as the trio are going to visit Hagrid, they walk past Macnair as he is sharpening his axe in preparation for Buckbeak's execution scheduled for that evening. Hermione can hardly bear the fact that Buckbeak is going to be beheaded. They then spot Malfoy and his friends at the hilltop eagerly awaiting the execution; an enraged Hermione attempts to curse Draco, though Ron stops her, and she instead punches him in the face, and he vows to get revenge on Hermione as he and his cronies retreat.
While visiting Hagrid, Hermione says that they're willing to give him additional emotional support, but Hagrid firmly tells them that he doesn't want them to see something as gruesome as the upcoming execution; he also reveals that he found Scabbers, much to Ron's relief, as he believed that Crookshanks killed him when he suddenly went missing. Thus, Hermione demands an apology. After witnessing the execution, Hermione cries on Ron's shoulder when Scabbers suddenly bites him and runs away, causing Ron to chase after him, which prompts Harry and Hermione to chase after him. A big black dog suddenly appears and drags Ron into the Whomping Willow. Harry and Hermione follow after a confrontation with the tree.
The black dog turns out to be Sirius Black himself. Hermione defends Harry, saying that if he wants to kill him, he has to kill her and Ron as well. Lupin intervenes and reveals that Sirius was actually framed by Peter Pettigrew, and that he took the form of a rat to avoid getting caught, and expose Scabbers to be Pettigrew. As Lupin takes on his werewolf form, Pettigrew escapes, and Sirius and Harry are attacked by Dementors.
In the hospital wing, Hermione informs Harry that Sirius has been captured and sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss. She and Harry convince Dumbledore of Sirius's innocence, after which, they use her Time-Turner (which she had used to get to her lessons throughout the year) to go back in time, rescuing Buckbeak and repeating the events of the evening. Hermione manages to save Harry from being attacked by Lupin's werewolf form, only for the two of them to be cornered; fortunately, Buckbeak defends them and chases him off. After Harry saves Sirius and himself from the Dementors by conjuring a Patronus like he did earlier, he and Hermione ride Buckbeak to the top of the Dark Tower where Sirius is being held and break him out. He then escapes on Buckbeak, after which, Harry and Hermione quickly race back to the Hospital Wing. When Harry gets a brand new Firebolt, Hermione shows him that one of Buckbeak's feathers came with it, indicating Sirius sent it to him.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Prior to starting her fourth year at Hogwarts, Hermione goes to the Quidditch World Cup with Harry and the Weasleys, which ends with Death Eaters terrorizing the place. During the school year, Hermione is one of the only students not to suspect Harry of cheating when the Goblet of Fire produces his name. In addition, Durmstrang's Triwizard Tournament representative Viktor Krum develops a crush on Hermione, leading him to ask her to the Yule Ball, which makes Ron jealous.
During the Second Task of the tournament, Hermione is held hostage in the Black Lake, along with Ron, Cho Chang, and Fleur Delacour's younger sister, Gabrielle, and is saved by Viktor, while Cedric rescues Cho, and Harry finds himself rescuing both Ron and Gabrielle due to Fleur having to sit the task out. At the end of the school year, following Cedric's death at the hands of a resurrected Voldemort, Viktor gives Hermione some parchment so she can write to him.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Reuniting with Harry at Grimmauld place, Hermione and Ron divulge some information to Harry about the Order of the Phoenix, adding that Dumbledore asked them to promise not to tell Harry anything. Following Harry's hearing at the Ministry, Ron and Hermione are appointed the new Gryffindor House Prefects (in the book).
When it becomes clear that their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge isn't about to teach them any practical defensive magic, Hermione proposes that Harry should teach them, leading to the creation of Dumbledore's Army.
Following Dumbledore's escape after the group is exposed, Hagrid takes Harry, Ron, and Hermione to meet his half-brother Grawp, asking them to look after him should he be sacked. After Harry has a vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius, Hermione suspects that Voldemort is just trying to lure him into a trap. She, Harry, and Ron go to Umbridge's office to try and contact Sirius, only to be caught by her. Umbridge prepares to use the Cruciatus Curse to get information out of Harry when Hermione tells her about Dumbledore's secret weapon; Harry and Hermione lure Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest, where they are attacked by centaurs, who carry Umbridge off.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna Lovegood fly to the Ministry, where Hermione's suspicions are proven correct, and they are ambushed by Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, and several Death Eaters looking for the prophecy regarding Harry. When Harry refuses to give it to Lucius, he threatens to have his friends killed if he doesn't hand it over. Sirius and the members of the Order arrive, leading to a battle, resulting in Sirius being murdered by Bellatrix. As they return home at the end of the year, Harry tells Hermione and Ron that they have something Voldemort doesn't: friendship.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Meeting Harry at the Burrow, Hermione and Ron reveal that their parents are hesitant about letting them return to Hogwarts, considering how old Dumbledore is getting. Shortly after visiting Fred and George's newly opened joke shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, they observe Draco, his mother, Narcissa, and a group of Death Eaters inside Borgin and Burkes. Harry suspects that Malfoy is one of the Death Eaters now, though Ron and Hermione disagree.
Hermione becomes jealous when Lavender Brown starts a romantic relationship with Ron, causing her to seek retaliation by dating Cormac McClaggen, which goes wrong when he tries to kiss her under some mistletoe. She and Ron stop speaking to each other for weeks, but make up after Ron is poisoned, which was actually an attempt to kill Dumbledore by Draco. After Dumbledore's death at the hands of Snape, Hermione and Ron resolve to help Harry search for Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
Knowing that her parents are very likely to be targeted by the Death Eaters, Hermione reluctantly erases all their memories of her and sends them into hiding. She, Ron, and the other members of the Order meet up with Harry at Privet Drive and use Polyjuice Potion to take the form of decoy Harrys to fool the Death Eaters. They get to the Burrow safely, though Mad-Eye Moody and Harry's owl Hedwig are both killed during the journey. Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour visits the Burrow and gives Harry, Ron, and Hermione items that Dumbledore bequeathed to each of them; Ron receives the Deluminator, Hermione is given Dumbledore's copy of The Tales of Beedle The Bard, and Harry gets the Golden Snitch he caught in his first Quidditch match at Hogwarts.
When Death Eaters attack during Bill and Fleur's wedding that evening, Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape to London, and are attacked by two Death Eaters, Thorfinn Rowle and Antonin Dolohov, at a cafe. They incapacitate them and then wipe their memories, after which, they take shelter at Grimmauld Place, where they discover the identity of R.A.B: Sirius's younger brother, Regulus Arcturus Black. Consulting Kreacher, he reveals that the locket was stolen by Mundungus Fletcher. With Dobby's help, Kreacher captures Mundungus, who reveals to the trio that Umbridge took the locket from him.
Using Polyjuice Potion, Harry, Ron, and Hermione take the forms of Albert Runncorn, Reginald Cattermole, and Mafalda Hopkirk and enter the Ministry. They successfully get the locket from Umbridge and rescue Mary Cattermole, but are captured by Yaxley while escaping, and he discovers their hiding place, forcing them to go on the run. The trio travel across the country; Ron, who was injured during the escape, starts to get jealous of the bond Harry and Hermione are developing.
As she's giving Harry a haircut, a sudden realization hits Hermione: the sword of Gryffindor is Goblin-made, thus it only takes in what makes it stronger, recounting how Harry destroyed Tom Riddle's diary with a Basilisk fang in the Chamber of Secrets, adding that when he rammed the sword through the Basilisk's upper jaw, the venom of the Basilisk strengthened the sword's blade, giving the sword the ability to destroy Horcruxes, which is why Dumbledore left it to Harry in his will. Ron, negatively affected by the locket, lashes out at Harry and leaves him and Hermione, despite Hermione urging him to come back. Harry manages to cheer Hermione up with a dance.
Harry and Hermione then travel to Godric's Hollow, thinking that another Horcrux, as well as the sword, is hidden there. While there, Hermione discovers a tombstone belonging to Ignotus Peverell bearing a strange mark, and visit Harry's parents' grave. Following Bathilda Bagshot to the house where Harry's parents were killed, the two are attacked by Nagini, who disguised herself as Bathilda. Escaping to the Forest of Dean, Hermione reveals that Harry's wand was destroyed by a rebounding curse, and loans her wand to Harry.
Seeing Ron again after he saves Harry from drowning and destroys the locket with the sword, Hermione is initially angry with him, but reconciles with him after he reveals that he heard her voice saying his name in the Deluminator. Stumbling upon the mark again, Hermione suggests visiting Xenophilius Lovegood to find out what it means. Traveling to the Lovegood's house, Xenophilius reveals that the symbol on his necklace is the sign of the Deathly Hallows; Hermione then divulges the Tale of the Three Brothers. Xenophilius reveals that Voldemort took Luna in retaliation for what he had been writing. The trio escape the attacking Death Eaters, but are captured by Snatchers; Hermione casts a stinging jinx on Harry to disfigure his face, preventing them from identifying him.
The trio are brought to Malfoy Manor, where Bellatrix tortures Hermione after discovering she has the sword of Gryffindor, which she claims belongs in her vault at Gringotts, while Harry and Ron are locked up in the cellar, along with Garrick Ollivander, Griphook, and Luna. While Griphook is escorted upstairs by Pettigrew for interrogation, Ollivander and Luna are apparated to safety by Dobby, and Harry and Ron sneak back upstairs as Bellatrix prepares to kill Hermione. The boys intervene and Dobby almost drops a chandelier on Bellatrix, and apparates Griphook and the trio to safety, but is killed when Bellatrix throws her dagger at them. Ron and Hermione then assist Harry with burying Dobby at Shell Cottage.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
Consulting Griphook about Bellatrix Lestrange's vault, he reveals that a replica of the sword was put in the vault by Snape the past summer; Harry deduces that another Horcrux is hidden in there, considering how she was asking Hermione what else they took from it. Hermione then uses a hair she acquired from Bellatrix at Malfoy Manor in Polyjuice Potion to take her form. The Goblins at Gringotts are smart enough to know Hermione is not the real Bellatrix, forcing Harry to use the Imperius Curse on Bogrod. They manage to get to the vault and acquire the Horcrux, Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, but are double-crossed by Griphook, who steals the sword from them. Harry, Ron, and Hermione then release a Ukranian Ironbelly dragon guarding the vaults and use it to escape.
The trio then returns to Hogwarts after Harry has a vision of the castle and Rowena Ravenclaw. While Harry searches for the next Horcrux, Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, Ron and Hermione venture down to the Chamber of Secrets and acquire Basilisk fangs from the Basilisk's skeletal remains, with Hermione using one of them to destroy the cup; surviving the resulting tidal wave, Ron and Hermione kiss. Using the Marauder's Map, they track Harry to the Room of Requirement and turn up just in time to back him up against Draco, Goyle, and Blaise Zabini. While Ron deals with their adversaries, Harry and Hermione retrieve the diadem from the mountain of furniture, and escape from Fiendfyre cast by Goyle on broomsticks, rescuing Draco and Blaise in the process.
After realizing Nagini is the final Horcrux, the trio goes to the boathouse, where they witness Voldemort ordering Nagini to kill Snape so he can gain full control of the Elder Wand. Hermione comforts Ron as he grieves for his brother Fred, who was killed during the battle, tearfully offering to accompany Harry as he goes to find Voldemort after realizing he is also a Horcrux, and is devastated by Voldemort declaring her best friend's demise, until Harry reveals he is still alive. During the final battle, as Harry faces off with Voldemort, Ron and Hermione deal with Nagini (in the book, she faces off against Bellatrix alongside Ginny and Luna), and are nearly killed by the snake when Neville decapitates her with the sword, enabling Harry to finally defeat Voldemort.
19 years later, Ron and Hermione get married and have kids, and see them off as they board the Hogwarts Express alongside Harry and Ginny.
Video games
Main Series
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Hermione first appears as Harry and Ron are unable to access the Gryffindor Common Room and divulges the new password to them, after which, she and Ron enter.
On Night One, she asks Harry for his help in getting Neville out from behind a tapestry, saying that he needs to go and get a Severing charm from Herbology Greenhouse 3, but first must get a book on pulling up Horklumps.
During the second day and night, Hermione tells Harry that their class for the day is Defense Against the Dark Arts and asks him to get a copy of Hogwarts: A History from the Restricted Section for information on the Chamber of Secrets.
Suspecting Draco Malfoy may be the Heir of Slytherin on Night Three, Hermione brews a Polyjuice Potion, allowing Harry to take on Goyle's form and get some information out of him.
Prior to a Quidditch match on Day Five, Hermione figures out something crucial and goes to the library and is later found Petrified. Luckily, she finds out the creature residing in the Chamber is a Basilisk, and is revitalized on Day 6.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Spin-Offs
Harry Potter for Kinect
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
Relationships
Quotes
Gallery
Trivia
- Of the three main characters in the series, Hermione is the oldest, Ron is the second oldest, and Harry is the youngest.
- Hermione is based off of J. K. Rowling herself at a young age.