The Brightest Witch of Her Age, or Why Chase Really Loves Fandom's New Interpretation of Hermione
I have a confession to make: I jumped on the Harry Potter fandom bandwagon a century late.
Well…that’s not too much of an exaggeration - I’m certainly in the generation that grew up alongside and were defined by the story of three British teenagers and their great adventure into magic, mystery, and young adulthood. But I staunchly refused to read the books or watch any of the movies until, after years of persuasion, I finally went to see the final film in 2011. Unsurprisingly, I was blown away by what I had been missing for over a decade and went off in search of these books that everyone had made such a fuss over while I was growing up. It was no small sacrifice - I had very much treasured my “Only Person Left On Earth Who Has No Idea What Harry Potter Is About” trophy (it was a swell, shiny trophy but considering it had about as much worth as my “I’m Not Like Other Girls” medal, it was high time for it to get tossed).
Anyway, like any avid and curious reader, I consumed those books as if I were Galactus after a hunger strike. I sped through the first book on a train trip to Chicago (it seemed appropriate to start reading these books on a train). The next six were also quickly started and finished and several misconceptions I had about the series were cheerfully debunked. For instance, I was utterly convinced that Draco was the main villain and Voldemort was, like, his dad or something. Or how that wizarding prison was not in the country Azerbaijan and that its most famous escapee actually wasn’t a bad guy despite the fact that his name was Sirius Black (seriously, the only thing that can top that for a villain name is Maleficent J. McEvilplans III).
To no one’s surprise (especially not my own), I grew especially if reluctantly fond of Hermione Granger, the bushy-haired, overachieving, know-it-all witch. It was a reluctant liking, perhaps because I saw far too much of my younger self in her - eager to impress people with knowledge, arms always loaded with books, not particularly beautiful with hair that would never cooperate. While my overall favorite character would end up moving to someone else, Hermione was technically the character I could relate to the most.
While reading though, I never once considered that she could actually look like me.