Hermione Granger as the Goddess Athena

While Athena carefully watches over those who invoke her hero protection on the battlefield, Hermione successfully demonstrates against the injustices of other, seemingly lesser magical creatures. She is the champion of the underdog; not only is she an academic whiz-kid, but a political activist as well. Within Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hermione pioneers the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, an organization designed to assist the house elves of Hogwarts receive equal rights and wages. Hermione announces the discrimination to Ron and Harry between classes: "You do realize that your sheets are changed, your fires lit, your classrooms cleaned, and your food cooked by a group of magical creatures who are unpaid and enslaved?" (Goblet of Fire 239). While other schoolmates may view her as obnoxious and a know-it-all, Hermione is no less unsure and insecure as her classmates, but what she feels she lacks in femininity, she makes up for with cunning, hard work and determination. "When Athena rules in a women's psyche, she-like most women who resemble either Artemis or Hestia-is motivated by her own priorities. Like the Artemis archetype, Athena predisposes a woman to focus on what matters to her, rather than on the needs of others" (Bolen 79). Though Hermione becomes a pillar of strength and fortitude, she is not lost to the plight of others. Hermione involves herself in issues which are close to her heart, such as helping Harry and Ron with the Devil's Snare and liberating the house-elves at Hogwarts.

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the students in the Defense against the Dark Arts Class are introduced to a boggart; "a shape shifter...[that] it can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten...the most" (Prisoner of Azkaban 133). According to J.K. Rowling, when Hermione faces the boggart during the end of term exams, it takes on the form of Professor Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Gryffindor House. The boggart tells Hermione that she has failed everything, Hermione's greatest fear. Ironically, Hermione's greatest fear comes at the hand of one of Hogwarts' strongest females: Professor McGonagall.

Flushed with his success, Harry hung around to watch Ron and Hermione. Ron did very well until he reached the hinkypunk, which successfully confused him into sinking waist-high into the quagmire. Hermione did everything perfectly until she reached the trunk with the boggart in it. After about a minute inside of it, she burst out again, screaming.

"Hermione" said Lupin, startled. "What's the matter?"

"P-P-Professor McGonagall!" Hermione gasped, pointing into the trunk. "Sh-she said I'd failed everything!"

It took a little while to calm Hermione down. When at last she had gained a grip on herself, she, Harry and Ron went back to the castle. Ron was still slightly inclined to laugh at Hermione's boggart, but an argument was averted by the sight that met them on the top of the steps. (Prisoner of Azkaban 319)

The image the boggart took for Hermione during her end of term exams is a curious one indeed, as the boggart chose to expose Hermione's fear of failure. Yet, as Mayes-Elma points out: "Rowling does a good job in showing young readers that it is acceptable for females to be intelligent, and even more intelligent, in the case of Hermione, than their male counterparts" (Mayes-Elma 88). For this quality, Hermione propels herself into an atmosphere much greater than the other students at Hogwarts; she is Athena incarnate as she grows intellectually and warrior-like throughout the series.

Yet, it was the form that the boggart took that is intriguing. Out of all the professors at Hogwarts, McGonagall is the form that the boggart chooses. Minerva McGonagall is named after the Roman goddess of intelligence and creativity, and the Roman counterpart to the Greek Athena. As Dr. Sue Jennings explains about the two goddesses: "Although she is closely identified with the Greek Goddess Athena, it also has been suggested that Minerva did not have a warlike aspect until the fusion between the goddesses" (Jennings 160). This is an interesting aspect of Hermione's persona, in that it exposes her true fears: a fear of failure and a fear of knowing her true self. In this exercise, Hermione runs from not only failure but herself, as McGonagall is a metaphoric symbol of an older Athena female and an innate Athena fear.

Like Athena, Hermione rarely is ruled by her emotions; in fact, most of her fellow students would consider her unemotional, as she has a tendency to be socially inadequate, a fact she tends to hide in her studies. For Hermione, glory is found within knowledge, not social activities, so to balance the growing teenage angst, she buries her emotions, opting to focus more on studies than boys. Acutely aware of her physical appearance, Hermione is more comfortable in the realm of books than femininity. Emotions stray the mind from its true goal: to learn. Only when greatly provoked by Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin student who disliked Harry, Ron and Hermione, did Hermione react emotionally, punching him square in the nose for his rude, derogatory remarks. As Victoria Schmidt explains, the Athena archetype female is often reserved when it comes to her emotional side, resorting to her logical tendencies rather than allow her heart to lead her into battle. "To others she seems unemotional because she's always cool and calm in a crisis. She appears to be calculating something behind intense eyes" (Schmidt 45). Hermione is such a female; her emotions remain in check throughout the series, with momentary signs of worry for Harry and jealous romantic feelings for Ron.

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