Hermione Granger Is Even Cleverer Than You Thought

We've all read the Harry Potter books at least twenty-five times by now, but every time you pick one up, it's like reading it for the first time. There are so many Harry Potter theories to puzzle over, and details that nobody ever noticed before — and that's because J.K. Rowling is super-smart and filled her books to the brim with hidden clues that we're still only just finding. The latest Harry Potter detail to explode on Reddit is about Hermione Granger — and it suggests that she's even more of a brainbox than we already knew.

If you've been paying close attention, you may remember that in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry and Ron try to buy a potion that promises to help them do well in their exams. The potion in question is Baruffio's Brain Elixir — but before Harry and Ron can test it out, Hermione confiscates it and throws the contents away. And it's just as well she did, because if you look alllll the way back to Sorcerer's Stone, there's a reminder that Baruffio doesn't always get things quite right. In one of their first ever lessons, when the trio are learning how to properly pronounce the Levitation Charm ("Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa" of course), Professor Flitwick tells them the story of Wizard Baruffio as a cautionary tale. Baruffio once said "s" instead of "f" and ended up with a buffalo on his chest — and of course Hermione remembered that, because the witch can do no wrong.

J.K. Rowling has said before that she misses writing Hermione Granger — and I can understand why. Rowling scattered clues like this throughout her books, and having the eagle-eyed Miss Granger on hand to point them out is a real treat. Without her, who knows what could have happened to Harry and Ron if they'd swallowed Baruffio's Brain Elixir?!

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