HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERMIONE!
It's September 19th! Aka the birthday of Hermione Jean Granger, inspiration for bookworms everywhere and the brightest witch of her age. <3
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HERMIONE!
I cannot even begin to express how much I love Hermione Granger. She is such an important character to me. When others made fun of me for always having my nose in a book and for actually enjoying some lessons and often wanting to answer the teachers' questions (though I would like to point out that I'm not nearly as obsessed as she is - I would be happy if exams were cancelled! - and did learn to calm down and let others answer questions too), she was an inspiration. She's such a strong, caring, intelligent, beautiful and brave character and a loyal friend; Harry wouldn't have gotten far without her. She doesn't sit around waiting to be rescued like some damsel in distress; in fact, she gets the others out of scrapes. I don't think she's ever worried too much about things like makeup or fashion throughout the books the way Lavender and Parvati do, though she does have her front teeth shrunk to a normal size when they're hexed to look like a beaver's, she's well-groomed and she turns up looking gorgeous at the Yule Ball. She's sensible. And do I even need to talk about how awesome it was when she punched Malfoy? 8D Or when she set the birds on Ron?
(Also, one of my pet peeves in HP fanfiction is when Hermione returns from the summer holidays with a makeover, i.e. her hair is miraculously now sleek and curly instead of bushy, and she wears light skilfully applied makeup and sexy fashionable clothes, and attracts Draco Malfoy or goes back in time to attract young Sirius Black or whoever. I HATE it. As far as I'm concerned she needs none of that to be attractive. An international Quidditch star found her attractive just the way she was. And it strikes me as OOC.)
Yet she's human; JK Rowling herself has said, "Underneath Hermione's snottiness there is a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure." We remember her boggart in Prisoner of Azkaban; still, she isn't crippled by her insecurities but works to ensure her fears don't come true. And she sacrifices so much for the war - reading it in the book was bad enough, but watching her Obliviate her parents in the Deathly Hallows movie made me tear up, and oh gods, the torture scene at Malfoy Manor - and there's no way Harry would have won without her. And in the end she has an excellent job, is married to the man she loves, and has two children. <3
My brother thinks he's making fun of me when he compares me to her, pointing out my love for books and my frizzy hair and protruding front teeth (at one point he said Emma Watson was 'too hot for the character' and said even I would be a better choice), but I just grin when he does because I choose to take it as a compliment. To me, she's a wonderful role model for girls, if a bit uptight about rules and studying; I'm nowhere near as uptight about rules or concerned about study schedules or whatever, and tend to put more effort into subjects I like and neglect those I dislike. >_> I have been called a walking encyclopedia or dictionary by friends, though. XD
Hermione taught me about the value of intelligence, loyalty, bravery, determination, strength, erudition, compassion, wit, being yourself, logic, calm in the face of danger, love and so much more. I admire her so much.
Happy Birthday to one of the greatest witches the wizarding world has ever known! Hermione Granger, we raise our goblets to you!
And I shall end with some of her classic little gems:
"Ron," said Hermione in a dignified voice,"you are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet."
"Because that's what Hermione does. When in doubt, go to the library."
"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have."
"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled."
~