Name: Hermione Jean Granger
Age: 15
Birthday: 9/19/1979
Location: England
Parentage: Muggle-born
Parents: Mr. & Mrs. Granger (Dentists)
Pets: Crookshanks (cat)
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Hermione is a Gryffindor student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and is a close friend of Harry Potter and Ron and Ginny Weasley. She plays a key role in many of Harry's adventures and serves as a moderating influence on Harry and Ron.
Personality
Hermione acts, at times, like the mother hen of the trio. She is very studious, and can be a bit bossy and fussy. She's the best student in her year and one of the best in the school, and is often teased and admired in equal measure for her "know-it-all" tendencies. Harry, Ron and especially Neville depend on her for academic help; and her knowledge, research skills, and common sense often prove invaluable in overcoming the trio's more serious challenges.
Hermione always goes the extra mile when completing homework assignments, handing in four feet of parchment when she was only asked for two, carrying out independent research and regularly reading ahead of the class. Upon her very first meeting with Harry and Ron, she announces to them that she's, "learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough."
This excessive studying and determination to be the best at everything often reflects Hermione's deep seated insecurity, a fear of failure that can give way to irrational panic and anxiety. Given that she receives top grades in all of her O.W.L. exams in her fifth year (except for Defence Against the Dark Arts, where she received the second-highest grade) this panic would appear to be misplaced.
Background
Hermione is Muggle-born, that is, the child of two non-magical parents. Mr and Mrs Granger have, to date, received very little "page time." They are both dentists and, according to Rowling, "they are a bit bemused by their odd daughter but quite proud of her all the same." Rowling noted she initially considered giving Hermione a younger sister, but now says it's "too late." Therefore, it's usually considered canon that Hermione is an only child.
Hermione has brown eyes and, when she first appears, "lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth." Many at the school have teased her for her looks, including, on one occasion, Professor Snape. During the fourth book, Hermione gets her teeth shrunk to a "normal size" by magic, though her dentist parents wanted her to continue with her braces. When she applies Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and does her hair up in a chignon for the Yule Ball, even Harry and Ron notice she's pretty.
Hermione's name is pronounced her-my-oh-knee, as readers find out in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This was the most frequently asked question J. K. Rowling received, so in this book she cunningly had Hermione teach Viktor Krum how to pronounce her name properly (without much success). Rowling said she obtained it from William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, claiming that she wanted it to be unusual, since if fewer girls shared her name, fewer girls would get teased for it. "Hermione", appropriately, is derived from 'Hermes', the Greek god of invention, inspiration, eloquence and quick thinking.
Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:20 am
