since my first read nearly a decade ago, harry potter has changed my life. With my wavy hair, bookish tendencies, and a classroom presence that swung between brown-nosed and arrogant know-it-all, I, like many millennial women, found my first true literary role model in Hermione Granger. The series may have been named after Harry, but anyone with half a brain knew that Hermione was the true hero of the story. She was bright and brave and a supportive friend, while Harry was, well, a little reckless and dumb. if hermione had been the protagonist she voldemort she would probably have been defeated about three books earlier, with a much lower body count.
yes, hermione was something special and, for the most part, the series respected and celebrated her. however, there is one passage that has bothered me ever since i read harry potter and the philosopher’s stone when she was nine years old. The trio are on a quest to find the Philosopher’s Stone before the bad guys can get their hands on it, and Ron is unconscious having sacrificed himself in a giant game of chess. Hermione, in typical sparkly glory of hers, has saved the gang from being poisoned and they approach the final chamber where the stone is hidden. There is only enough potion to allow one of them to enter the room, and it is decided that Harry should be the one to go. So far, so good, right?
and then this happens:
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I am now a 27 year old woman and this passage makes my blood boil as much as when I first read it.
let me break my anger for you.
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hermione is a young witch who has to put up with a lot of nonsense throughout the series. she is treated like a second-class citizen because she is Muggle-born, her classmates and her occasional bad teacher tease her for being too smart. Even Harry and Ron, her closest friends at Hogwarts, constantly give her a hard time. and yet, despite all this nonsense, she continually puts her life on the line for people who honestly don’t deserve her. She doesn’t need to constantly bail Harry and Ron out of trouble. in fact, she doesn’t need to get involved with them at all. voldemort is not her villain to fight, and she could live a quiet life if she really wanted to. but she doesn’t, because she’s hermione granger and she has to stand up for the abused and oppressed (see her passion for house elf life). her so she aligns herself with harry and later with the order of the phoenix and saves the entire wizarding world multiple times.
then why j.k. rowling tries to minimize the importance of hermione in this quote?
I know, I know: This was so early in the series, and Hermione had yet to become the glorious witch goddess we would come to know and love. but even in the first book, she was important, not just to the plot, but to a lot of young readers who saw themselves in this plucky little bookworm. seeing her act like she’s second best to harry, harry, who can’t even remember not leaving her invisibility cloak in the tower for god’s sake , was infuriating. Hermione Granger is nobody’s second fiddle, and she should never act like her gifts are something to apologize for. Not only that, but the traits she attributes to Harry? she has displayed them galore.
Am I exaggerating? of course, it’s me; I am a 27-year-old woman who insists on a single passage from a children’s fantasy novel that came out in 1997. Every word of this story is an overreaction. But that doesn’t change the fact that seeing Hermione put herself down in Philosopher’s Stone was hard to read when she was a child, and it’s still hard to digest as an adult. rowling has written strong, funny, amazing women throughout the harry potter series, which makes this quote so frustrating. Hermione may have gotten the respect she deserved in the end, but she deserved better than that passage. and the girls reading that deserved better too.
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