Because enchanted coins are way more fun than texting.
Hermione full body shot

Hermione’s magical talents saved the day on several occasions – preventing Harry and Ron from being crushed by Devil’s Snare, teaching Harry the Summoning Charm he used to great effect in the Triwizard Tournament, fixing Ron up after he was Splinched, hiding their camp from prying eyes and many, many more very important things. But while all of those would undoubtedly be useful in our lives, we also enjoyed the more nuanced tricks and charms of Hermione’s magical trade. Here are some of our favourites.

PMARCHIVE-WB F2 PolyjuicePotion HermioneMakingPolyjuice 3731 5keS86lwbKEgIQQKCk6CwQ-b2

The bluebell flames spell

As we discover in Chamber of Secrets, ‘conjuring up portable, water-proof fires was a speciality of Hermione’s’. While she used this skill for setting Snape’s robes alight, brewing Polyjuice Potion and keeping people warm, we also think it’d be mighty useful for aesthetic reasons. Pretty blue waterproof flames? Imagine how well they’d go down in the decor of one of our many, many parties. Put them in one of those jars Hermione occasionally carried them in, and they’d make fine table decorations.

Impervius

This is surely a spell all glasses-wearers wish existed in real life, and one that helped Harry during some particularly stormy Quidditch matches. Okay, we don’t have to contend with rainy Quidditch matches ourselves, obviously, but any spectacle-wearer knows how annoying it is wearing glasses on a rainy day – on the ground. Thankfully, Hermione introduces us to Impervius: the spell that repels water, so there’d be no more blinking behind rain-speckled glasses if you got caught in a downpour. And if you live in the UK, you’ll know that this happens pretty much all the time.

Harry is being chased by the rogue bludger during quidditch

The Protean-Charmed coins

Hermione’s method of communicating with Dumbledore’s Army was genius – or definitely very advanced, seeing as the Protean Charm she put on those Galleons was some major N.E.W.T.-level magic. Never mind that, though. Just think how cool it would be to summon your friends to your social gatherings rather than faffing about with Facebook invites. Who needs technology? This way’s much simpler and cooler. No need to put up with everyone chiming in on group chat with alternative dates, times and locations – there’s one date, one location, you go or you don’t go and that’s it. We admit this isn’t as important as summoning together Dumbledore’s Army for a battle against Lord Voldemort, but… making plans is hard!

The Confundus Charm

Alright, it wasn’t just Hermione who mastered this one, but her sneaky usage of it to help Ron beat Quidditch Keeper rival Cormac McLaggen is a perfect example. Designed to confuse its subject (or object, given the fake Mad-Eye Moody used it on the Goblet of Fire), Confundus would be a great charm to have in your repertoire for tricky situations. ‘Oh, didn’t I reply to your invitation? I’m sure I did (coughCONFUNDUScough).’ ‘I’ve failed my driving test, you say? That’s funny, I could have sworn you said I’d passed (coughCONFUNDUScough)…’

Oppugno

Conjuring up a flock of twittering birds is not necessarily what we’d think of during a moment of heartbreak. We’d probably just tweet about it. See what we did there. However, this is what Hermione did after she saw Ron ‘wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose’. Still, the second part of that charm was interesting – you know, the bit where she made the birds fly at Ron and peck him. It’s not a spell we’d use every day, but if you really wanted someone to go away it would certainly come in useful.

Lavender sits with Ron in Hogwarts.

The enchanted bag

Forget the Goblet of Fire, put away the Sorting Hat, hide the sword of Gryffindor and stick those Horcruxes somewhere far away – arguably the greatest magical artefact ever created was Hermione’s beaded bag, enchanted using an Undetectable Extension Charm so it was large enough to store everything they needed for their Horcrux hunt. And we mean everything: tent, books, Phineas Nigellus’s portrait. What’s more, it didn’t even seem to be heavy (at least we hope not, or Hermione would have done herself an injury lugging all that about for months on end). Who wouldn’t want a bag like that? We would also have to request a wand so that we could perform Accio on items within it, though – imagine trying to find your keys in a bag that big.

Harry Potter to Fantastic Beasts
Discover the films