How Old is Hermione Granger?

Hermione Granger is the brightest witch of her age. She was never into partying and mischief. Hermione was a bookworm, and she lived for her studies. 

This behavior makes us think that she might have been older than she looked, but when she first got her Hogwarts letter, she was the same age as everyone else, who received the same letter. 

We think it was Hermione’s soul that was already grown up when her body was still trying to catch up.

Hermione Granger’s Birthday

Hermione Granger was born on September 19th, 1979. 

Hermione was born after the start of the Hogwarts school year. Therefore she couldn’t join the school right after receiving her letter. 

Hermione must have been very impatient to wait almost a whole year to join Hogwarts. Just because she couldn’t go to magical school straight away, it didn’t stop her from learning her school books by heart and preparing for her new adventure. 

How Old was Hermione Granger in Each Book?

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Hermione was almost one year older than Harry when we first met her on the Hogwarts Express. She was nearly 12 years old at the time.

Trying not to be the most hated girl in her year for having all the knowledge and then tangling herself in dangerous escapades around the castle took almost the whole first year at school. 

Hermione was only three months short of her 13th birthday.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Before the second year at Hogwarts, we met Hermione and her Muggle parents at Gringotts, exchanging Muggle money. It was August 19th, 1992, and Hermione was just one month before her 13th birthday.

The year got busy between avoiding the Slytherin’s monster and trying to find his Heir, and when Hermione woke up from being petrified, it was already May.

Hermione was 13 and four months away from her 14th birthday.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

It was the last day of the summer holidays before her third year, and Hermione was only three weeks before her 14th birthday.

She even bought herself an early birthday present, ginger half-kneazle Crookshanks, for the money from her parents.

During this year at school, Hermione received a Time-Turner. She used it the whole year to attend several classes at the same time. Some people think that because her body lived through double or even triple time, she aged accordingly, and therefore she should be almost one year older. 

From what we know of her schedule with the Time-Turner, and that after dropping two subjects, she could go back to her normal plan and give back the Tine-Turner, we don’t think she aged all that much. 

We go with the assumption that it negates the time she spent being petrified in her second year (when she was suspended in time), and therefore, after saving Sirius and Buckbeak’s lives, Hermione was 14 years and 9 months old.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

During the holidays before her fourth year, Hermione got to go to Quidditch World Cup with Harry and the Weasleys. It happened on August 18th, 1994, so one month before Hermione’s 15th birthday.

The whole year passed being busy with all the Triwizard Tournament commotion and apparently juggling two wizards at the time (according to Skeeter’s gossip in the Daily Prophet).

After Voldemort’s resurrection on June 24th, 1995, Hermione was only three months before her 16th birthday. 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry met Hermione in the Order of the Phoenix’s HQ on August 6th, 1995. It was one month and 12 days before Hermione’s 16th birthday.

Trying to survive Umbridge’s reign at school took up until June 17th, 1996. At that date, Hermione was 16 years and 9 months old.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The summer before her sixth year at Hogwarts, we saw Hermione after midnight July 13th, 1996. It was just after Harry met Horace Slughorn for the first time. At that time, Hermione was almost an adult witch.

Unfortunately, there is no mention of Hermione’s 17th birthday at all in the book. It could be because Harry (and the narrator) was obsessing about Dumbledores absence from school too much even to notice one of his best friends coming of age, and Hermione wasn’t one to boast.

The year of adult Hermione at school was rather busy, and after the unfortunate events on the Astronomy Tower on June 30th, 1997, Hermione was two and a half months short of her 18th birthday.

Harry Potter and the Deadly Hollows

On July 27th, 1997, Hermione was almost 18 years old. If not for the Wizarding War and her parents being sent to Australia, we could hazard a guess she would be celebrating her Muggle adulthood with her parents just before going back to school for her final year. 

That was not the case, and in fact, Hermione’s birthday passed without notice during the seventh book that took us on an “extended camping trip” with the culmination at Hogwarts and the Final Battle on May 2nd, 1998. Hermione was then 18 and a half years old. 

According to J.K. Rowling, Hermione went back to school to finish her final year, and we can only assume that she finally got to celebrate her 19th birthday properly, being in a steady relationship with no distractions like Horcruxes and war.

How Old was Hermione Granger in Each Movie?

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

In 2001, Emma Watson, the real-life Hermione Granger, was just turning 11 years old during the first movie’s release. It means that during the filming of the Sorcerer’s Stone, Hermione on the screen was only 10 years old playing a 12-year-old Hermione from the book.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

During the second installment of the Harry Potter series, Hermione from the screen was only 11 years old, playing a character from the book that was two years older.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

In the third movie of young wizard’s adventures that was released in 2004, Emma Watson, the screen Hermione Granger was 12 years, while her character was already 14.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

In 2005 the movie number four was released, and by then, the real-life Hermione Granger was 15 years old, finally catching up with her book counterpart in the book.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

After the premiere of the fifth film in 2007, Emma Watson was 17 years old to her 16 years old book Hermione Granger character.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

After another two years that passed between the fifth and sixth movie release, and in 2009, screen Hermione Granger was 19 years old, while the book Hermione was still only 17. 

Harry Potter and the Deadly Hollows part 1 and part 2

Part 1 and part 2 of the Deathly Hallows were released year after year in 2010 and in 2011 accordingly. At that time, Emma Watson was 20 and 21, respectively, and her book equivalent was 18 years old.

Conclusion

Hermione Granger is not only literally older than her two best friends. She is also more mature than them by a long shot. Even if she were to be one year younger, she would still outsmart them all, considering her thirst for knowledge and the sheer amount of common sense. 

Being older and smarter than Harry and Ron didn’t stop Hermione from enjoying the fun they had together, but it provided the right amount of soberness to survive the war and push the two boys to achieve more than they would without Hermione’s support.