Hermione Jean Granger (first name pronounced /hərˈmaɪ.əni/) is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She initially appears in the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as a new student on her way to Hogwarts.

As the series progresses, she becomes close friends with Harry Potter and often uses her quick wit and encyclopaedic knowledge to help him. Rowling has stated that Hermione resembles her at a younger age, with her insecurity and fear of failure. Hermione is a Muggle-born Gryffindor student, and the best friend of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

The daughter of two dentists, she is an overachiever who excels academically, and she is described by Rowling as a "very logical, upright and good" character. Her parents are a bit bemused by their odd daughter, but quite proud of her all the same." Though Rowling has described the character of Luna Lovegood as the "anti-Hermione" because they hold the exact opposite ideologies, Hermione's foil at Hogwarts is Pansy Parkinson, a female bully based on real-life girls who teased the author during her school days. Rowling claims the character of Hermione carries several autobiographical influences.

"I did not set out to make Hermione like me but she is...she is an exaggeration of how I was when I was younger." She recalled being called a "little know-it-all" in her youth. Moreover, she states that not unlike herself, "there is a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure" beneath Hermione's swottiness. Finally, according to Rowling, next to Albus Dumbledore, Hermione is the perfect expository character: because of her encyclopaedic knowledge, she can always be used as a plot dump to explain the Harry Potter universe.

Rowling also claims that her feminist conscience is saved by Hermione, "who's the brightest character" and is a "very strong female character."

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