We Heart It
Yesterday, I talked vaguely of something that reading Harry Potter taught me about obedience. It came in the form of the character Hermione Granger, Harry’s rational, bibliophile of a friend who soaks up words like an Earth-sized sponge. She remembers verbatim documents she’s read and dialog she’s heard. I love this about her. I have always wanted to just spout out something word-for-word that I’ve heard or read from another source. But one thing that struck me about Hermione is her obedience. She always acts in accordance to the rules, but there’s an important derivation that must be taken into account in terms of the way Hermione works. She always acts in accordance to the rules as long as they align with her own belief system and as long as they don’t restrict her from finding out information imperative to her friends’ and her lives. Hermione soon realizes that what goes on at Hogwarts is a matter of life or death. Not just her life, but Ron’s life, and most especially Harry’s, and when the lives of those she loves is threatened, she takes matters into her own hands.
Whose idea was it to steal the ingredients for the polyjuice potion from Snape’s office so she, Harry, and Ron could take the form of Slytherin students to find out if Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin? Whose idea was it to start Dumbledore’s Army when Umbridge made it clear there would be no spell work in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class, thus making it impossible for students to learn how to defend themselves against Voldemort? Whose idea was it to insist she and Ron go with Harry in his hunt for the horcruxes that would help Harry defeat Voldemort?
Hermione’s.
We Heart It
1. Listen to Your Inner Voice
She has her own internal obedience system, and the only reason why it works for her is because of her strong belief in doing what’s right, no matter the consequences. She wants to help her best friend prove he’s not behind the attacks in The Chamber of Secrets; she wants her classmates to know how to protect themselves against Voldemort and the Death Eaters in The Order of the Phoenix; she wants to help put an end to the grisly murders and kidnappings led by Voldemort in The Deathly Hallows. What it all comes down to for her is fighting against the evil that lashes its fangs at her friends year after year, and if putting an end to it means breaking the rules, then that’s what she’ll do.
2. Don’t Mind How Others Think of You
Hermione takes a lot of heat for being a witch. Because she’s muggle-born, she gets a lot of flack from Draco who never passes up a chance to call her a “mudblood,” a nasty word I’m guessing is akin to the muggle’s MF-er. So, basically Draco is a foul-mouthed thug no one should pay attention to, because it makes him feel better to put other people down. Hermione teaches us not to be taken with the way others think of us, because oftentimes their opinions are not the ones we need to worry ourselves with, especially if the person is constantly bullying you. How many times does she hold back Ron from punching Draco in the face for calling her a mudblood? Of course, she kind of snaps when Hagrid’s hippogriff gets sentenced to death and she punches Draco in the face, but she was doing it because he’d caused Hagrid serious grief and was responsible for the looming death of his beloved pet, Buckbeak. Who doesn’t deserved a punch in the face for causing that?
3. Think Creatively
When Hermione’s cutting Harry’s hair in The Deathly Hallows Pt. 1, she is stricken with a sudden thought that tells them how to destroy the horcruxes once they’ve located them. (I would explain it to you, but I’m sure that would be considered a spoiler.) She distances herself from the larger issues at hand to do something that focuses her attention elsewhere. This gives her subconscious the space it needs to work out issues without actively thinking about them.
4. If Someone’s About to Torture Your Best Friend, Create a Diversion
In The Order of the Phoenix, just as Umbridge is about to perform the Cruciatus Curse on Harry, Hermione improvises with a little fib to keep Umbridge from causing her best friend pain, even though it may get her in trouble later. Don’t stand around and watch someone bully the people you care about. Stand up for your friends and what you believe in. Be strong and brave enough to take the heat for the ones you love.
5. Don’t Lose Sense of Who You Are
When Ron leaves Harry and Hermione in a fit of anger caused by the horcrux, Hermione has two options: 1) she can break down and render herself completely dysfunctional over the abandonment of her friend, or 2) she can grieve the loss while sticking with the task at hand. Remember the scene in The Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 when they disapparate from the woods to the rocky mountain without Ron, giving him no way to find them should he want to return, and how Harry puts up the protective enchantments while Hermione cries and sets up the tent? She allows herself some room to grieve, but by the next day she knows she has to keep going to help stop Voldemort. She knows who she is even without Ron, even though his absence causes her great pain.
6. Apply Yourself
Hermione doesn’t do anything half-assed. If she’s going to do something, she’s going to do it to the best of her ability and then some. Remember in The Prisoner of Azkaban when she was taking so many classes she had to use a time turner to go back in time to attend some of we lessons because the coincided with other classes? Call her an overachiever, but she’s a go-getter. She uses her head and never passes up a chance to go to the library and learn something new. Not only can she keep up with her own work, but she can do that, help Hagrid research ways to save his hippogriff, and help Ron finish his homework.
Furthermore, Hermione has a kind heart. She doesn’t approve of the abuse of first-years once she and Ron are elected prefects, she organizes a group to fight against the ill treatment of house elves, she constantly forgives Ron for being a prat, and she even takes the pain from Bellatrix LeStrange, who carves the word “mudblood” on her arm with a knife in order to preserve the secrecy of their hunt for horcruxes. Hermione is strong, passionate, and loyal. She doesn’t let anyone run her over and she sticks by her instincts. She pays acute attention to detail, which pays off in so many ways it’d take a whole book to explain them all (or 7). She is easily my favorite character in literature (sorry, Jane Eyre), and in reading Harry Potter, I not only get immense entertainment, but an array of life lessons.