Madam Ariasher

THE MASK OF ZORRO (1998)

Because she doesn’t believe in pre-determination. She doesn’t want to. Hermione was raised by two dentists in some placid, perfectly normal neighborhood in England. She went to a proper primary school, dotted all of her i’s and crossed all of her t’s, and ate entirely too few sweets. All in all the Muggle world wasn’t kind to her, but neither was it openly hostile, and she likely would have gone on to work in government, or else take up the family business as a dentist.

Instead, she’s whisked away by a woman with severe posture and a sincere smile, who tells her she’s a witch. She holds her parents’ hands as they walk towards The Leaky Cauldron, and ‘oh of course this has always been here, Mum, I’d just had no idea that neither of you could see it, and never thought to point it out. After all, what would I want with a dingy pub?’

And then she leads them into Diagon Alley and her entire world changes, forever. For the better.

And while yes, this was maybe always technically meant to happen (she had been born a witch, after all), to her that isn’t pre-determination. That’s sheer dumb luck, or genetics, or SOMETHING–something that can be traced back to, something that can be explained or measured. Something sensible.

Hermione doesn’t wait for doors to open for her. She builds them. She took literally every class available to her, turning back time so she could do so, just so she could keep her horizons open. Because her future isn’t pre-determined. She determines it.

Hermione's modification of her parents' memories is one of the biggest sacrifices we see in the series. It is an act that is commonly talked about fandom as one of courage and love, but I find that the discussion rarely goes beyond that. As such I wish to examine further the nuances of that decision further.

A common interpretation is that Hermione modified her parents' memories to keep them safe, but upon closer reading, this is actually how she explains the rationale behind her decision:

“I’ve also modified my parents’ memories so that they’re convinced that they’re really called Wendell and Monica Wilkins, and that their life’s ambition is to move to Australia, which they have now done. That’s to make it more difficult for Voldemort to track them down and interrogate them about me—or you, because unfortunately, I’ve told them quite a bit about you.

Her main concern is that her parents might have information about her or Harry, and her changing their memories is her way of mitigating that danger. Far more than protecting her parents, this is a measure that is designed to keep the mission safe. And the idea that this is merely a mitigating measure is important to remember because it implies that them being captured is still very much a possibility for her.

Both the act itself and her reasoning implies a cold, ruthless streak that does not spare loved ones or family if she believes them to be in the way of her goals. The mission comes first, and she will do what she must to see it through.

The next part of her explanation is just as interesting.

“Assuming I survive our hunt for the Horcruxes, I’ll find Mum and Dad and lift the enchantment. If I don’t—well, I think I’ve cast a good enough charm to keep them safe and happy. Wendell and Monica Wilkins don’t know that they’ve got a daughter, you see.”

This line transforms the memory modification from a simple pragmatic act to a gift of love. Where the first section is her prioritizing the war over her parents, this second paragraph turns that around and presents it as her last attempt of taking care of them even after her death. She can't keep them safe. She can't stay with them. She can't even let them stay the same people.

But she can do this. She can keep them happy in her own terribly messed up way.

Furthermore, this paragraph showcases Hermione's own acknowledgement and acceptance that this war might kill her. She minces no words about the possibility of her dying. Death is an eventuality that she had seriously considered and prepared for - prepared her family for.

And lastly:

Hermione’s eyes were swimming with tears again. Ron got back off the bed, put his arms around her once more, and frowned at Harry as though reproaching him for lack of tact. Harry could not think of anything to say, not least because it was highly unusual for Ron to be teaching anyone else tact. “I—Hermione, I’m sorry—I didn’t—” “Didn’t realize that Ron and I know perfectly well what might happen if we come with you? Well, we do. Ron, show Harry what you’ve done.”

Whatever else I said about ruthlessness and acceptance, it is clear in these final lines that these decisions and measures are painful to her. This was not a decision she made lightly or callously. Nor was it made out of a disinterest in their welfare. There is a lot of pain and baggage that accompanies her erasing herself from her parents lives. There is grief that she cannot hide nor run away from no matter how focused she is in preparing for this mission.

And yet she modified their memories anyway. Here she is in the Burrow rolling her eyes at Harry's concern because she had already chosen her path, and nothing he says or does will dissuade her. Despite the pain she feels and the danger she foresees, it's not a decision she regrets or even questions.

Here, we see the strength of her will, her decisiveness, and steadfastness.

Conclusion:

Hermione modifying her parents' memories showcases her at both her best and her worst.

There is such ruthlessness in this decision that it takes my breath away every time I read it. She had made peace with her parents forgetting her, possibly never remembering her, of them getting caught and getting tortured for information, and even her own death. She had considered all of these possibilities - even made one her reality - and deemed them completely acceptable if that is what it takes to fight in the war. It is a commitment to duty to the highest extent, and she pays the price of that willingly and painfully.

She knew perfectly well all the possible consequences of this path, and yet even after all of that, it is still the path she chose. And one that, we will see later, she will never deviate from no matter what staying costs her.

And yet even here, there is love. Love that sought to do what she can for her parents even past her death. A love that was ultimately not enough, but one that tried to do right by them even when there were no good options. A love that ended in grief and loss, but also a love that persisted anyway.

I have read many interpretations of Hermione's parents in meta and fic. They run the gamut from all-loving, saintlike parents to functioning alcoholics to outright abusive, and many of these make excellent cases purely on how such upbringings would very probably result into a child like Hermione.

I have a lot of love for the outline (and journey no matter how bare) that we see in canon though. There is something compelling in the idea that Hermione was a raised by people who loved her very much and who she likewise loved fiercely. That despite their love, these people could not understand her. That regardless of her own love for them, she ended up estranged from these parents nevertheless. That for all her parents tried to reach out to her, she strongly felt that she could not rely on or share her life with them. That their story ends (as we see it) with her deeply hurting them and leaving them behind.

There is something so deeply tragic at the thought that there was no tragedy in the Grangers. There is no big hurt. There is no lack of love. And yet their family frayed and broke apart anyway. There is something terrifying about relationships simply fizzing out - and how not even love could save them.

Every time I read Hermione modifying her parent’s memories, there is a very vivid image it conjures for me. That of a desolate funeral with two empty seats on the front row where her parents should be.

I can’t help but associate the charm with funeral arrangements, Hermione’s last wishes for her parents being that they live happy and safe far away from the war she’s reasonably certain would kill her. Her magic made it that she never existed for them, and in a sense this was the first time she died, all traces of her self erased from existence, the people who love her no longer able to reach her.

It’s an act that features a role reversal - of her bequeathing her parents a future she wasn’t sure she would see, of parents outliving their child in not one but two lives. Her next death would presumably be more final than the last.

In a story where living on is so deeply intertwined with being remembered, Hermione erases all memories of herself to prevent them from grieving her. In a last ditch attempt for their happiness, she removes their love. Love, the only power to defy death. Love, upon the remembrance of, keeps the dead from ever truly leaving us.

the unintentional cool kids

Brooke Shields +*:ꔫ:*