Trying to be Normal: An Analysis of Hermione Granger

When readers first meet Hermione Granger on the Hogwarts Express, it seems evident she will become a thorn in the hero's side, a nagging presence to haunt Harry Potter constantly quoting in his ear. For some readers, this first impression never lets up. Others can see through this bossy exterior and into her sensitive and caring heart. That's why I wrote this story. As the description says, these are the events that made Hermione Granger. She didn't just fall out of the sky as the obnoxious girl she seems to be. A lot of thought went into these nine chapters and here I will outline it for you, now that the story has been out for nearly a year.

In Chapter One we find Hermione and her mother as a very rather average mother and daughter couple, with the small exception of Hermione's strange powers. Celia is a wonderful character on her own. She's had to put up with a quirky child with special 'gifts', struggles similar to those of any parent with gifted muggle children. Dealing with bullies and with Hermione's emotional needs are difficult things to do and Celia does them (usually) with grace and patience. Imagine how it would have been raising a magical child and having no idea why things were happening? Often gifted kids are alienated from their peers; Hermione happens to be gifted in multiple ways and therefore is doubly exiled. The little details show the Hermione we know—her independence, a strong desire to please, and emotional sensitivity.

Chapter Two shows Hermione's tendency to over exaggerate, to set the wrong priorities, and lose control of her emotions in the small immature body of a seven-year-old. She's utterly terrified by breaking the rules and of disappointment because they're the one thing she seems to be able to do right. In this chapter Celia really does a great job sticking up for her daughter without letting her get away with too much. Her temper in this chapter is reminiscent of Hermione's outbursts in the series, yet Celia is a distinct character. She's created with less of the domineering exterior that Hermione has developed. This chapter also raises the important theme of the school's place in counter-bullying. Many times the rules that are set are horribly unfair; for instance, students fighting in self-defense are punished as well. The situation that arose for Hermione in this chapter shows the disciplinary inconsistencies that so often occur within school systems.

Chapter Three introduces the reader to Hermione's father Ambrose. He comes off as rather abrasive in this chapter, but in truth is soft at heart. He too has a bit of a short fuse like Celia and Hermione, but he's a reasonable man that loves his daughter. He and Celia are just caught up in a very unusual situation. As a normal family, they deal with all the normal problems of raising a daughter who is teased cruelly at school. Dad tries to give solutions; Child exasperatedly insists he doesn't know what he's talking about. Mom and Dad have different ways of approaching "The Problem" and there is a clash. These are things that could happen to any family. They are neither perfectly happy nor horribly abusive parents (ideas that often pop up in fanfiction these days). Their pure normalcy is crucial to the theme. The extra spice of abnormality is thrown in as Hermione continues to experience problems with magical powers. The vanished broccoli, for instance. Her eagerness to please, temper, sensitivity, and unrealistic expectations for herself arise yet again.

Chapter Four is a particular favorite. Shannon Davis, though a bit of a bully, really is trying her hardest to have a half-way decent play date. Hermione isn't exactly putting in that much effort. Had she, perhaps Shannon wouldn't have resorted to petty name-calling. Hermione's most disastrous act of magic to date appears when Shannon loses her teeth. Now, about Hermione and her teeth. From what readers heard in the fourth book, she'd been trying to convince her parents to let her shrink them "for ages." My guess as I wrote this was that it wasn't just Hogwarts students who teased her for having buck teeth. The fight between her and her parents between her third/fourth years was probably astronomical. We see again in this chapter that Hermione is blowing things out of proportion, as she fears going to jail. Her persistent effort to be unrealistically perfect also shows when she fails in her attempt to "stop crying for the rest of her life." However, Hermione is still a child. She tries to run away but still needs her mom and dad, so never gets farther than the sycamore tree. The theme of normalcy arises yet again with the presence of the family's impending new baby. Hermione's jealousy is spiking, an interesting layer in the theme of "being normal."

Chapter Five. The motivation behind this chapter was the fact that J.K. Rowling once said she'd planned to give Hermione a sister, but she'd never made it into the books. She almost gave Hermione a sister. Therefore, I also chose to almost give Hermione a sister. Creative liberties while remaining canon and whatnot. Hermione is constantly trying to impress her parents and this is really demonstrated here, as well as more of her rather irrational fears, such as whether her strange powers had killed her baby sister. One might question why none of this traumatic childhood has made it into the books. I would imagine Hermione had told Ron some of these things (very few, as he's rather an insensitive wart for a good portion of the books) due to their long periods of time together without Harry around. When it came to Harry and Hermione, however, it always seemed to be Hermione helping Harry with his feelings and not vice versa.

In Chapter Six I added a bit of sarcasm. As the author, I know she's being ridiculous. The readers know she's being ridiculous. But Hermione feels what she feels and thinks what she thinks. It's really a dramatic irony of sorts. This is the cusp of her childhood, where everything gets (mostly) better. Her parents have stopped trying to fix her and have learned to just accept her and deal with her, something highly beneficial for everyone. It demonstrates the idea that 'normal' doesn't always mean happy. Even the kids have become less unbearable. It's really a more pleasant chapter. The next two chapters were also much happier. The smell of freshly mown grass in Chapter Seven is of course because of what Hermione smells in Amortentia. The themes of normalcy arise yet again because finally Hermione has (maybe) found a place where she will be accepted. The new theme brought up by this chapter, however, is the fact that Hermione is muggle-born. This arises yet again in Chapter Eight when she meets Ollivander and the goblin, and again at the start of Chapter Nine. The story melts right into place with where we as readers meet Hermione on the Hogwarts Express. One can only imagine, however, how awful she really must have been feeling when she realized that she couldn't even make friends with kids that were supposed to be like her. This particular story, however, has a happy ending.

She's finally made her parents proud, as she'd strived to do for so very long.

If you've enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it, I recommend my upcoming fic which is a rewrite of the first book from Hermione's perspective. It should be a good time.