Hermione Granger Lion of Gryffindor: Brief musings on the misconception that she was sorted into the wrong house

Most refutations focus on the Sorting Hat's consideration of values as well as traits. This has been covered extensively.

What has not been covered:

Gryffindor's Head of House

Minerva McGonagall - Minerva was a Roman goddess known as Athena to the Greeks, she was the goddess of wisdom, war, and reason. She highly favored Odysseus who was a cunning strategist.

It is not a coincidence that this is the name used for the head of Gryffindor. Or that Hermione favors the logical reasoning of Arithmancy.

In personality Hermione is very similar to McGonagall and Percy Weasley. All three possess the following traits:

• Intelligence

• Takes academic responsibilities and rules seriously

• Lacks patience for the illogical and for immature behavior

As presented, Hermione's adherence to school rules and insistence on taking her studies seriously is a Gryffindor trait. Consider Percy obsessively shining his Prefect badge or his behavior in the Great Hall in Prisoner of Azkaban when he is tasked with assisting the professor's with student safety.

"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

He behaves like an Officer or DI/TI in the military, putting the recruits to bed. Similarly, Hermione tries to enforce the rules within the Trio but in a much more pleasant way. From Hermione's perspective it is a student's duty to do their homework. It has very little to do with her valuing intelligence, she makes it clear that there are "more important things" at the end of Sorceror's Stone, again this has been spoken about ad nauseam.

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled."

Because for her death is preferable to dishonor. A value she upholds under torture.

Like Percy she is highly competitive, she wants to be the best in all her classes and earn a high rank (Prefect, Head Girl).

Hagrid and McGonagal: Two Heads, One Coin

"Harry watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Harry’s amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lop-sided.

Gryffindor House, represents the fire element, Hagrid exemplifies their more passionate tendencies through the widely accepted Gryffindor traits - Bravery & Chivalry - this overshadows their more strategic and orderly characteristic but it's worth noting; Harry, Ron, and Hermione all have quick tempers. So does Ginny, Fred, George and every other Gryffindor in the story.

This nature is represented in the house color and the Weasley's red hair, obviously. But is also represented in Hermione's bushy, mane like hair. She gets the lion characteristics associated with the house, most obviously her orange cat, Crookshanks and his tuft tail and her highly protective nature (Hermione is the most loyal to Harry, she takes her duty to protect him seriously even if it makes him mad in the process).

The Golden Trio

In literary analysis stories with 3 main characters can archetypical represent the Christian Trinity, or Body, Mind, Spirit, or Birth, Life, Death cycle.

For example, Star Trek; Spock (mind), Kirk (spirit), and Bones (body).

The Harry Potter series is no different.

Hermione: Mind
Harry: Spirit
Ron: Body

From a story structure stand point, Hermione's intelligence is emphasized to serve this purpose, she functions as Harry's conscience and the Trio's strategist, she's the head (mind) of the group.

She does the research, plans the polyjuice heist, wields the time turner, and engineers Umbridge's epic crash out.

In Gryffindor house she is right at home.