She was unnervingly smart

First things first, we couldn’t talk about Hermione without mentioning that big old brain of hers. Quite frankly, if you’re not intimidated by her intelligence, you should be. This is a witch who successfully brewed Polyjuice Potion in her second year, figured out what was lurking in the Chamber of Secrets, got a hundred and twelve per cent on her Charms exams and came up with the idea for Dumbledore’s Army. She could accomplish anything if she put her mind to it and demonstrated that repeatedly. If we’re truly honest both Harry and Ron would not have survived without Hermione’s mind. You wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of someone with brainpower like that… as several people soon learnt when they ended up there.

She defeated the slippery Rita Skeeter

Rita Skeeter with her Quick-Quotes Quill and her nasty little articles caused quite the kerfuffle in Goblet of Fire – whether that was revealing Hagrid was a half-giant or falsely insinuating that romance was blossoming between Harry and Hermione. No matter how many people she hurt, she always seemed to get away with her poison penmanship… until Hermione decided to put a stop to it. Turns out Rita Skeeter was an unregistered Animagus and could transform into a beetle. Who was the person to figure that out? Hermione of course. She caught Rita Skeeter hiding in the hospital wing at Hogwarts and kept her in a jar with an Unbreakable Charm on it until the end of the school term – when the Hogwarts Express arrived back in London. She even managed to make Rita promise to keep her quill to herself for an entire year. For an adult to be willing to bow to the demands of a teenager shows just how impressive and daunting Hermione really was. We also enjoyed the fact that the next time Rita wrote anything, it was at Hermione’s, let’s say… request.

There was that time she attacked a teacher

In her third year at Hogwarts, Hermione attacked a teacher. Yes, you heard us right. Rule-abiding bookworm Hermione Granger attacked one of her teachers when she deemed it necessary. In Prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry, Ron and Hermione met Sirius Black for the first time, Professor Snape happened to get in their way. When Hermione tried to suggest that Snape should allow Lupin and Sirius to explain themselves, he refused. Well, that just wouldn’t do. Hermione, along with Harry and Ron, disarmed the Potions professor and the collective force of their spells rendered him unconscious. We’re guessing that wouldn’t have been in Snape’s top five favourite memories.

Hermione might just hex you…

It wasn’t just teachers that ended up on the wrong end of a spell courtesy of Hermione – several of her fellow students did too. There was Marietta Edgecombe whose face was covered in disgusting purple pustules spelling the word SNEAK when she betrayed Dumbledore’s Army to Professor Umbridge. There was Cormac McLaggen who she Confunded to help give Ron the edge in Quidditch try-outs. Speaking of Ron, there was the time Hermione sent a flock of little golden birds to attack him in a moment of anger. Knowing all this, we reckon you would be nothing short of a fool to do something to annoy Hermione because one way or another you will always get your comeuppance.

She doesn’t even need magic to be a little terrifying

Yes, Hermione might be a whiz when it comes to spellwork and a dab hand at brewing potions, but when it comes to standing up for her friends this witch doesn’t even need magic to be a formidable foe – just ask Draco Malfoy’s face. When he insulted Hagrid, he felt the full force of Hermione’s wrath…

He should have just kept his nasty opinions to himself.

So, there you have it. This is one witch who was as fierce as she was smart – we bet everyone who dared to cross her soon regretted it… we know we would.