If you’re like us, you’ve probably read all seven of the Harry Potter books.  (If you haven’t, though, have you been living under a rock?)  As we all know, there was that inconvenient prophecy that said either Harry or Voldemort would have to die.  Yikes.  Of course, we all know how that had to turn out, but what if, in some alternate universe where Potter fans would become rabid angry, Harry were to die?

It’s not like there’s someone who can clean up that mess…oh, wait.  If you’ve paid attention while you were reading, you might have noticed that there is someone waiting to jump in should the unthinkable happen.  How would Hermione save the day?

1: She can time travel.  The Time Turner, anyone?  In her third year, Hermione was able to get a magical device to allow her to time travel and attend multiple classes at once.  Sounds like punishment to us, but if she were to say, go back in time and kill Voldemort before he became a problem, that would have made the punishment completely worth it.

2: She’s used to pulling others out of jams.  Hermione saved Harry and Ron multiple times, so saving others would likely be no sweat to her.  She pays attention in class and learns what she’s doing, after all.  Without her, they never would have rescued the Sorcerer’s Stone, beaten the dragon at the Triwizard Tournament, or even found the Basilisk. 

3: She was pretty much in charge of the resistance.  When it came time to assemble a group against Umbridge (and ultimately the Death Eaters,) Hermione was the one who led the way.   Using creative spells to keep the group together and communicating in secret, she’s the real reason the group kept running.  And if Dumbledore’s Army were to lose its mouthpiece, AKA Harry, she would have taken the lead in no time.  Maybe she would have even taken the whole army back in time to kill Voldemort.  Who knows?

4: She could always just brew some Polyjuice Potion.  An excellent way to get around without detection involves the use of a potion that disguises the user as someone else, and provided she doesn’t drop a cat hair in the potion by mistake, she and her army are good to go.

5: She’s not caught up in sports or her ego.  Hermione hits the books while her friends are off worrying about Quidditch, so if Harry were to die, would it make that much difference?  She’s always the one figuring out what to do next and where the bad guys are hiding.  Oh, and she played a big role in figuring out where the Horcruxes all were.

Poor Hermione.  Sometimes we think she should have been the main character in the Harry Potter series instead of being shoved aside as supporting cast.  After all, she did a huge amount of the work it took to make the wizarding world safe again.  We’d love to see the series retold in her point of view (though the amount of studying might, admittedly, make for some boring parts.)