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An Exploration of Hermione's character arc: The Failure of Institutions and Rebellion

I find that Hermione has many character arcs throughout the books, may those be with her leadership, her relationship to knowledge, the burgeoning of her agency, her negotiation of both privilege and marginalization, or her finding her place in society. My favorite arc though is Hermione's relationship with rules and institution and how that relates to the way she perceives her place in the world.

We start in PS with a Hermione who believes in institutions and regards rules highly. She is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. She believes that teachers are there to always help, that rules exist for a reason, that if people are punished for breaking such rules, it is well-deserved. Don't get me wrong, Hermione already has her own very strong sense morality at this time (we meet her helping Neville after all), but she also believes that the institutions around her align with her personal morality. Her rule-breaking here is primarily out of loyalty to her friends and just plainly trying to do the right thing (eg. Norbert, getting the Philosopher's Stone etc.).

In CoS, Hermione learns of the word "mudblood" - learns that no amount of assimilation would change the minds of the pureblood bigots for whom her very crime is daring to exist. The dirt is in her very blood and the prejudice is such that people are willing to kill her and others like her. CoS is the very first time the Wizarding World personally failed her, and her biggest rule-breaking is in resistance to that. She brews the Polyjuice Potion as a move to protect herself and the other muggle-borns. The rule-breaking here is personal. Hermione is reacting to and defending against an entity who wanted nothing more than to completely eradicate her and people like her from this world.

In PoA, we see Hermione's first experience of the more systemic injustices in the Wizarding World. She spends a considerable amount of the year preparing a case for Buckbeak that gets thrown because Lucius Malfoy lined the pockets of the judges. She meets Sirius Black who never got a fair trial and was falsely imprisoned, meets Fudge who was much more concerned about his reputation than justice. It is notable that up until the very last chapters, her approach in this book is to still play by the rules. When Buckbeak's case and appeal gets thrown, she see no hope for attaining justice. It is only when Dumbledore and Harry pointed out the use of time-turner to save both Sirius and Buckbeak that it occurs to her to go outside of the law to correct these systemic injustices. In PoA, the rule breaking is still personal - she saves Buckbeak and Sirius - but it also has the effect of correcting systemic injustices.

GoF is where the failure of the Wizarding World is truly highlighted. She finds out about house-elves and how even Hogwarts houses them. She and her friends are slandered by the media. She finds no recourse or support from official channels like the and has to find justice on her own. SPEW is an interesting contrast to Buckbeak's case in that where her defense of Buckbeak followed the law to the letter, SPEW actually seeks to change the law and give more rights to the house-elfs. Hermione is moving towards more radical positions and methods even in her day-to-day advocacy. Here in GoF, she breaks the rules almost purely in response to systemic injustice.

OotP is the climax of this part of Hermione's arc. The failures in the system that were highlighted in GoF come out in full force in OotP. We meet Kreacher, experience the full force of the media slander, and the government had decided to deny Voldemort's return in order to preserve their reputation. Hogwarts similarly has become unsafe due to the interference of the Ministry. It is notable that while Hermione may still move within the bounds of the law (eg. antagonizing Umbridge in her class while telling Harry to keep his head down, talking to Flitwick about the Hog's Head) most of her activities are firmly outside of it. Between the DA, publishing the Quibbler interview, and knitting the elf hats, her movements are not only against the institutions of the Wizarding World, but they are decidedly outside the very framework of what these institutions consider to be acceptable acts.

Consider for example the difference of SPEW and the DA as institutions of resistance. SPEW advocated that the house-elves be given seats in the Wizengamot as a long term goal. It is the kind of plan that entails an implicit trust in the integrity of the government. The underlying belief is that the status quo can be changed through the systems of the government itself. In contrast, the DA is an complete act of rebellion. It sought to undermine the core goal of the government that year and functions through a method that is completely outside of government control and systems. The shift from SPEW to DA illustrates Hermione's further disillusionment of the system.

When the Ministry finally truly falls in DH, Hermione has already made her peace with the failure of the institutions and is more than ready to fight in the rebellion.

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Hermione is (relatively) good with people

Something understated about Hermione is that she has a pretty wide social circle in the books.

We see this best during the Hog's Head meeting. Nearly all of the non-Gryffindor participants are Hermione's friends or acquaintances one way or another. While it was Harry's story that convinced them of the necessity of the DA, it was Hermione they trusted enough to come in the first place. These people are connected through Hermione, and they are here because she specifically hand-picked them to be there. Most of the non-Gryffindor members of the DA are people she trusted and who trusted her in return.

This is especially noticeable when Ernie Macmillan raised concerns for their security and safety. He was afraid to sign because he feared what being associated with the DA would mean for his position as prefect. Harry tried to appeal to his sense of duty, but it was Hermione who eventually managed to convince him. And Hermione's reply was simple:

“Ernie, do you really think I’d leave that list lying around?” said Hermione testily.

No one raised any further security concerns after that. Hermione's delivery was sharp and testy, but they trusted Hermione's assurance that she will keep the list safe. It's a testament to both her reputation and their relationship with her that they trusted the reassurance of her word alone.

Another thing to note is that Hermione actually has her ear on the ground. She knows enough of Ravenclaw to know that Cho was flying terribly and she feared being kicked out of her team. She knows the intricacies of Ginny's life even when her brothers did not. She knew of the machinations of Romilda Vane and friends. Hermione usually knows the gossip around the school, and that tells me that she actually has connections to quite a few social circles other than her own.

Furthermore, we know that Hermione has the best relationship with the teachers. A big part of this is that she is a very good student, but the other half is that she actually knows how to direct her relationship with her teachers to her best advantage. We see this in how Hermione figures out which teacher to go for which of their machinations. She went to Lockhart for access to the Restricted Section, McGonagall for the Firebolt, Flitwick for their Hog's Head meeting. This means that she isn't afraid of them, and they are all very eager and willing to help her when she actually approaches them.

I do not deny that Hermione can sometimes be stubborn and abrasive to the point of alienating others. I do not also deny that she lacks diplomacy skills and may at times be insensitive. What she lacks in social skills though, she makes up for by sheer helpfulness and competence. People trust that she is kind and capable. They know she is reliable and willing to help. This helps her fosters trust with the people around her, and it shows in the way her schoolmates react and interact with her.

The key in Hermione's relationships with others is that she is trusted. Whether it be students or teachers alike, they trust that Hermione is good at what she does and that informs their opinion of her endeavors

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Fan Comic for Beyond the Veil Chapter 14 - Shedding the Maker's Skin

I've never really done comic work before but wanted to dip my toes in it. There's no better way of doing it than by: 1. Making fanart of a fic you love 2. Gifting it as a birthday present (a very late one) Beyond the Veil is written by the amazing writers @ashesandhackles and @thedreamermusing. The plotting alone in that fic blows my mind. It's a master work and a sandbox of inspiration for fans as myself. Chapter 14 had stuck with me in particular. It won't come as a surprise for those who have read it and know who my favourite baby girl is. :0) It is cold, dark and cathartic. Written with subtlety and purpose that feels so true to the character. I knew this scene was an important one for Ashes, so I asked if she wanted to collaborate with me. She sent me her drawings of what she visualised, and it opened up the doorway for me to map it into panels. In my line of work, I am always required to work smart and fast. As someone who likes to take her time in painful amounts it's probably not the best career for me. XD But that's why we have fandoms, right?

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◉ why did blaise go to azkaban?

I forgot what precisely this was about, but I morbidly love the idea of Blaise ending up there for tax evasion. He attempted to skive off paying the inheritance tax and was jailed. Is getting sent to the dementors an overkill for this? Yes, but at no point has wizarding society not functioned in terms of overkill.

If one dug more deeply though, they found that he was used as a government scapegoat.

His mother of course bailed him out eventually. (This may be figurative or literal - I don't remember if the Wizarding World had any concept of bail.)

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tried again to figure out what he looks like in my head

need more tries

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DAY 8 OF @remadoramicrofics - Guts

There was fire in her eyes, and her brown hair flickered, the roots flaring red.

"I wish you had the guts to live your life," she hissed viciously.

He made his voice as patient as he could, but he felt the timbers of his vocal chords trembling with anger of his own. How could she not see?

"I don't think you understand what this is about," he said coldly.

"Don't I?" she asked, her eyes welling up. "Sometimes, Remus, it feels like you are waiting to die."

She couldn't possibly know what that felt like - waking up in an unknown places, joints burning with inflammation, when taking breath hurts your lungs. When you are overcome with exhaustion so extreme, you wonder if the next full moon will kill you. How could she know with a body that relented to her every demand?

He turned away from her, and he could hear her cry - he knew those were tears of anger. He tried searching for words to say and came up empty. Perhaps, that was for the best.

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Day 3 of @remadoramicrofics - Cellar

Word count: 118.

She falls from the top of stone dais, her limbs disentangling as though pulled by the moon. He thinks he can hear her bones shatter, sounds his mind pulls from a dark cellar - one stone step at a time. He runs towards her falling body, his right knee sputtering in protest. When his fingers feel her pulse thud against her skin - alive, alive, alive -

-that's when he hears Sirius' last laugh.

Something fragile, like the warm lamp glow spilling at the feet of the cellar door, like his mother's voice on the other side of the door 'Remus, Remus, I'm here, I'm always here' dies in the dark.

Harry screams in agony. He lets go of her hand.

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44 for Sirius and Snape?

44. Their happiest memory

SIRIUS

Seeing Harry for the first time. He sees Harry after a long and stressful Order mission, which consisted of mostly waiting around outside known Death Eater's house ( a probable relative). He was stressing over circumstances around Regulus' death and Remus dipping in and out and what it means. He was tired, despairing and exhausted - as someone who is fighting a war at 21 is. Near the end of his shift, he receives a Patronus from James and he immediately takes off towards Godric's Hollow.

James greets him at the door, tired but happy looking and in Lily's arms, Sirius sees Harry and his entire world shifts.

SNAPE

Happiness is for lesser mortals. The man hasn't known what that has felt like without some bitter aftertaste. But I picture brewing potions illegally with Lily, challenging each other's ideas of magic and that spark of intellectual connection - those are memories he would hold onto.

Character Asks

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““Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) actually came around the next morning, because we lived near each other at the time, and he said, ‘Have you seen the new book? We’ve got a lot of work to do, mate.’ He was quite happy, and I didn’t know how to break it to him. So I said, ‘Have you actually read it yet, Gaz?’ ‘No, just clicked through it.’ A few days later I’m in makeup and he comes in, and sits down, and goes ‘Have you heard the news?’ ‘What’s that, Gaz?’ ‘It’s terrible fucking news.’ ‘What is it?’ ‘You know how everyone is talking about who dies in book five? It’s fucking me! This woman puts the poor bastard in prison for 12 years, brings him back for a few scenes, and then she kills him!’””

— David Thewlis (Remus Lupin)

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First Impressions 🪄

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What are your headcanons on Blaise’s mother ;) ?

blaise's mother is a lot of fun. she's canonically a riff on the black widow, so she has a bunch of marriages to rich men who then die suspiciously and leave her their fortunes. blaise's father in particular is supposed to be very wealthy, since blaise runs in the same circles as draco (canonically), but Slughorn doesn't mention blaise's dad at all, so I sort of took that to mean that they're new money and/or foreign. on the other hand, slughorn does know and respect Blaise's mom, besides which, Blaise is obviously a hogwarts student in the first place, so she's probably british and resides primarily in britain. but that's all we can infer!

personally, although i think the black widow allusion is fun, my headcanon is that blaise's mother wasn't actually involved in most of her husband's deaths — i think it's more interesting if she's just someone who finds wealthy, lonely older men when they're in the last legs of their life, offers them honest companionship in exchange for being taken care of, and then has a comfortable, open-eyed transactional marriage with them. this is kind of the only way it makes sense for her to get their fortunes, anyway; if she were actually at all connected to the death, it would be super suspicious, and the authorities would have intervened. the fact that she has a "reputation," according to slughorn, ironically tells me that she's probably not responsible for their deaths — if you're actually going around killing your husbands left and right, you'd want to better cover your tracks, or at least finding a quieter way to get their money. (like alimony, for instance). it just seems way too complicated and cartoonish once you start thinking about her as a real person; that rumor is most likely to be just that, a rumor, exaggerated and dramatic as rumors tend to be. she's a woman who's had multiple marriages to rich men; of course she's going to be vilified.

but that also makes me tend to think that in at least some cases, she had real feelings for them! blaise himself is evidence that she had affection for at least one of her husbands; even if he was an accident, she's a witch, and she could definitely have taken care of that pregnancy if she wanted to. sure, maybe she didn't have deep romantic love for blaise's father (or maybe she did), but she liked him enough to have his kid, when she could've theoretically had a child with any one of her husbands. so my headcanon is that she and blaise's father were really good friends while he was alive, and though she was sad when he died, blaise never really grew up missing his father; his family structure is kind of unorthodox by default, so it doesn't occur to him that there's anything to miss. like, dude has seven castles. he's fine.

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AU: Hermione's parents took Harry on a summer road trip 💫

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Reconciling Kindness and Callousness: A Discussion on Hermione and Emotions

One of the aspects that people struggle a lot with when it comes to Hermione is how she deals with emotions. This is a struggle that I, personally, find to be fair because she is quite complex in this regard.

Hermione can analyze people's emotional states well and is often shown manipulating emotions to get what she wants. We can see this as early as Philosopher's Stone where she, for example, flatters Hagrid to get him to reveal more information about the Stone.

“Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here,” said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid’s beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. “We only wondered who had done the guarding, really.” Hermione went on. “We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you.”

As the series goes on, we will find more and more examples of Hermione perceiving, analyzing, responding, and even using other people's emotions with great accuracy and sensitivity. Most notable perhaps is her explaining Cho's emotional state to Harry and Ron in OotP, but several smaller examples are littered all over the books like her being the first to notice Neville's distress in GoF, correctly reading Harry's feelings about the Goblet of Fire, and giving a similar analysis for Tonks in HBP among other.

For as many examples as we can give of her perceptiveness and sensitivity to emotions, it also cannot be denied that Hermione commits massive social blunders over the series, many of which are attributable to emotional stupidity or failing to read the room. Most notable perhaps is her reaction to the death of Lavender's bunny where she uses it as a jumping point to try and convince her of the bogusness of Divination. There are many other examples of course, ranging from her haranguing Harry and Ron early in PS, to her approach with the house-elves, to insisting Harry teach them DADA in OotP despite his obvious discomfort.

How does one then reconcile Hermione's great sensitivity to people's emotions with her just as great callousness, both being prominent and consistent aspects of her character all throughout the series.

To me the answer is three-fold.

First, Hermione is incredibly cerebral even when it comes to emotions.

It is worth noting that Hermione's assessments of people aren't actually instinctive or even very empathetic. Rather, they are often profiles she builds about people based on observation and inference.

Let us take a look at the way she dissects Cho's feelings for example:

“Well, obviously, she’s feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she’s feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can’t work out who she likes best. Then she’ll be feeling guilty, thinking it’s an insult to Cedric’s memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she’ll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can’t work out what her feelings toward Harry are anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that’s all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she’s afraid she’s going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she’s been flying so badly.”

Hermione says what Cho's feeling and then follows it up with the circumstances that might have created those feelings plus her evidence for them. She lays everything out in a clean and methodical manner very reminiscent to when she's lecturing the boys about some sort of fact in their missions.

While certainly not cold or emotionless, it does become readily apparent that Hermione processes the emotions of people around her the same way she processes most other forms of information. She "studies" people around her, and from there, builds a baseline of information against which she infers what they are feeling and decides how to respond accordingly. In many ways, people's emotions to her are information just like any other.

Secondly, as kind and as warm as Hermione is, she prioritizes problem-solving over caretaking and is amazing at compartmentalizing emotions away if that's what it takes to get things done.

The fact that she understands what someone else is going through does not always mean she prioritizes these feelings. As mentioned above, what she understands of other people's emotions is just another bit of information she holds - and how she uses these facts vary wildly depending on whichever problem she was trying to solve at the time. Whenever she makes a social blunder, it is almost always traceable to her needing to solve some problem first and insisting on solutions that require significant emotional costs from the people around her.

The most extreme version of this is probably her insisting that Ron focus on their mission right after Fred dies.

They seemed to be wrestling together, and for one mad second Harry thought that they were embracing again; then he saw that Hermione was trying to restrain Ron, to stop him running after Percy. “Listen to me—LISTEN RON!” “I wanna help—I wanna kill Death Eaters—” His face was contorted, smeared with dust and smoke, and he was shaking with rage and grief. “Ron, we’re the only ones who can end it! Please—Ron—we need the snake, we’ve got to kill the snake!” said Hermione. But Harry knew how Ron felt: Pursuing another Horcrux could not bring the satisfaction of revenge; he too wanted to fight, to punish them, the people who had killed Fred, and he wanted to find the other Weasleys, and above all make sure, make quite sure, that Ginny was not—but he could not permit that idea to form in his mind— “We will fight!” Hermione said. “We’ll have to, to reach the snake! But let’s not lose sight now of what we’re supposed to be d-doing! We’re the only ones who can end it!” She was crying too, and she wiped her face on her torn and singed sleeve as she spoke, but she took great heaving breaths to calm herself as, still keeping a tight hold on Ron, she turned to Harry. "You need to find out where Voldemort is, because he’ll have the snake with him, won’t he? Do it, Harry—look inside him!”

From the section I bolded, it is obvious that Hermione knows that Ron is grieving and that she too is feeling the horror of Fred's death as well. It is worth noting though that she doesn't actually spare any words to comfort Ron. She doesn't stop to talk him through his feelings - rather she is telling him over and over that their mission has to come first. They both watched Fred die, but her focus even now is seeing the mission through.

This leads us to the final aspect:

Hermione projects this ability to compartmentalize to the people around her, especially when she believes them to be working together.

It is noteworthy that not only did Hermione set her own emotions aside, she asked that Ron do so too. And when Ron finally calms down, she then asks Harry to go and look into Voldemort's head. Not only is she compartmentalizing her own emotions away, she expects both boys to do so too.

Once more, there are many smaller instances like the above that cropped up all over the series. The Lavender problem, her campaign with the house-elves, her insistence that Harry teaches them DADA, her many many arguments with Harry - all of these are traceable to her insistence on setting emotion aside to solve a problem.

Doing the right thing holds primacy over people's feelings - both her own and those of the people around her.

Conclusion:

Hermione is a sensitive individual who reads people's emotions well and has many times reacted with great kindness and empathy to distress. This ability to read emotions however happens in line with her very cerebral personality, and while she can be sweet and caring, when push comes to shove Hermione focuses on problem-solving. This oftens leads to a disregard for other people's feelings and a consistent streak of callousness.

All in all, I find Hermione's relationship with emotions to be utterly fascinating. It is complex and dynamic, something that we see grow with her over time. Her reactions and tendencies are not clear-cut nor easy to map. Not only does Hermione defy the false dichotomy of book intelligence versus emotional intelligence, both are integral in the way she processes and reacts to emotion.

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“You’re going to deny your old friend a tradition?”

“Fuck tradition… and fuck you too.”

Sirius laughed. “I thought Wolfsbane was supposed to retain your politeness, Lupin?”

Lupin scowled at him just before reaching for the bucket again and spitting blood and bile into it. “Everything is a game to you – even my misery.”

“Oh, come off it,” Sirius scoffed. “You’ve been dull all day. Come, let’s go terrorise London.”

Lupin made a sad attempt at throwing his shoe at Sirius.

“Why don’t you want me here? Is it the Wolfsbane?” Sirius asked.

Lupin hitched his blanket higher. “Well deduced.”

the @thecatisdrawing illustrating my favourite moment from her WIP: As Moments Do , the spiritual companion to our favourite work together: Toys in the Attic.

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fem!Severus Snape x Lily Evans

“, .. thought we were supposed to be friends?” Snape was saying. “Best friends?”

“We are, Sev, but I don’t like some of the people you’re hanging round with!”

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Favorite relationship → Harry and Hermione

Requested by @professorlupins

The scar on his forehead burned so badly that he clapped his hand on it. “What’s up?” said Hermione, looking alarmed. “Scar,” Harry mumbled. “But it’s nothing … it happens all the time now …” None of the others had noticed a thing; all of them were now helping themselves to food while gloating over Harry’s narrow escape.

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If Harry had told Ron and Hermione about Snape's Worst Memory, what would their reaction have been?

Sorry for the delay anon! Here are my thoughts!

RON:

I think he will come swinging in defense of James and his friends - but especially James. Not only does he heavily dislike Snape in general, Ron also responds most keenly to Harry's emotional state. He will sense almost immediately just how bothered Harry is by seeing his father act in such a manner, and he will move to comfort him by arguing for why James did what he did and how Snape may have deserved it anyway.

Ron's sense of justice is also very relationship-driven and immediate. Minus the obviously immoral things, he has to see and know the person themself and their plight before it moves him, especially if he starts from a position of dislike. The fact that he doesn't see the memory at all is important then. It means that that bullied Snape is not actually a reality for him, only a hypothetical. All the misery he has had to endure because of him would color his judgment, and he would give that (along with Harry's distress over his father) more weight than a far-off story.

You add the fact that Snape called Lily "mudblood" even after her attempts to help him and it would mean he would come swinging in favor of James.

HERMIONE:

Hermione is a bit more complicated. Her first concern would be (like in canon) that Harry no longer has occlumency lessons. She is a pragmatist and is a problem-solver before she is a caretaker. Not having any more occlumency lessons would be what would strike her as the bigger priority because this leaves Harry vulnerable, and she understood far earlier than he did how dangerous those visions are.

On the memory itself, James's actions would horrify her. Her sense of justice is such that the sheer violence of the attack and Snape's helplessness would make an impression on her. Her sense for power imbalances is strong, and she never fails to advocate for the weaker party when called to question. In this case, her personal feelings for Snape (which are complicated in their own right with or without this memory) are immaterial in her judgment. He is very obviously the victim in this scenario, and she would feel for him.

I do think though that she would sense Harry's discomfort, and she would try to comfort him. But Hermione is a bad liar and cannot hide her feelings well. Her silences would be loud, and Harry would, nonetheless, interpret them correctly as her judgment over his father.

On the use of mudblood, I don't think she would be all that surprised tbh. She already knows that he was a Death Eater, so his bigotry wouldn't be all that shocking to her I don't think. It would certainly not be enough to overcome the fact that he is currently fighting against Voldemort on their side and that Dumbledore trusts him wholeheartedly. She would honor this change, and she wouldn't hesitate to remind Harry and Ron of this should it come to that.

(Tangentially, OotP is crucially the year she spends advocating for Kreacher, even as he called her a mudblood as much as he could. For as much as this is a slur against her, she does not react very strongly to it (Harry and Ron often has more violent reactions to this word being used against her). She is not yet at a point where "mudblood" feels quite so personal or frightening. The oppression she experiences is not quite integrated to her psyche. I don't think this changes much - I doubt her reaction to Snape would change all that much even if she did take it more personally - but it is worth noting where her feelings on "mudblood" are at this point in time.)

CONCLUSION:

Basically, Ron's approach to justice is very relational and emotional while Hermione's is much more cerebral and big-picture. Ron's feelings about Snape and his desire to comfort Harry would lead him while Hermione would set her (and Harry's) feelings aside to look at the situation more objectively.

Hope this answers your question anon!