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One thing that always left me curious is why Hermione Granger never seems to make friends with the other female students, with the possible exceptions of Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood.
I think a lot of it is jealousy. Hermione’s show off nature causes people to reject her before they get to know her. Most girls probably believed that Hermione thought herself better than them and thus didn’t want to befriend her. They don’t realize that she’s most likely very insecure and hiding behind her ample smarts. (more in depth analysis of that coming next chapter)
Had Hermione been sorted into Ravenclaw, as the hat was tempted to do, I think it would’ve been much easier for Hermione to have met some more like-minded students, both male and female, whom Hermione would’ve found to be her peers academically speaking.
I do agree there. She wouldn’t have been so ostracized since the Ravenclaw’s would have seen her as someone who “got it” in terms of what’s important.
The Sorting Hat spent five-and-a-half minutes wavering between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw before deciding to place Minerva in the former; it spent nearly four minutes trying to decide between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and “seriously considered” putting Hermione in Ravenclaw, but ultimately went with Gryffindor instead. Both witches were put into Gryffindor, probably because of those remarkable ladies’ sheer guts, even though their brains are top-notch.
Which brings us back to that question of the Hat and how does it know? (yes, yes, yes, it’s magic and it’s charming so I shouldn’t question it too much) but did the Hat sense something about Hermione and Minerva? Does it have some sort of prescience? What about Hermione as she stands right now in chapter 9 shows her Gryffindor nature–the bravery portion of what Gryffindor supposedly stands for? She goes on accidental adventures like the Trapdoor escapade in this chapter, but does not seek them out. In fact, she tries to get Harry and Ron to NOT go on the Midnight Duel adventure and she’s clearly a stickler for the rules. While I think she’s trying to forge a connection with the boys, I don’t think it’s that she longs for adventure in the same way that Harry and Ron are going to feel post Trapdoor midnight run. So what did the Hat see??
(RG is still bothered by this Hat, y’all)