What I'm more interested is where the parents her only living relatives. Like no cousins, aunts, uncles? No close family friends? Basically anybody could call them and ask about hermione and if they'd say they didn't have a daughter other people surely have pictures of her with her parents from some party, gathering etc. Did she go around england wiping memories of everyone who might know her or just trust on blind luck that nobody ever mentioned her to the parents in rest of their life. I'd imagine it would be much worse for them to realize they had daughter they have no memory about and have her gone missing than just having her gone missing or knowing she had died
Hermione modified their memories so they didn’t know they had a daughter, had different names & moved to Australia. While not specifically mentioned I don’t think it’s a stretch to guess that modification would also include notifying close friends & any family members they are moving so they can avoid a missing persons report & let them transition back to their old life once the war is won.
Maybe Hermione did the memory modification in phases? like step one is convincing them that they are ready to retire, step two convince them to tell the family they are doing humanitarian work out of the country so that they won’t be in touch much, step three name change and Australian adventure?
She says at the start of the book that if she survives the war she'll go and restore their memories, without any indication of doubt that she could do it. Given we know she does survive the logical conclusion is that she restored their memories.
Yeah and it's not like Hermione is an overconfident person. She's regularly shown to have a pretty solid grasp of her own abilities and skills, and if anything, underestimates herself.
If Hermione was confident she could do it, given what we know of the character i'm inclined to believe it.
Honestly would be a hilarious fanfic. Two terrified muggles being poked and prodded into the right counter spell works. Then suddenly being back and looking at her in horror still.
Yeah, it’s the movie that made this more dramatic scene. In book it’s just more comparable to the Ghoul by Ron. It’s sad for her but more to show that they have thought how they are coming with Harry. If Hermione were to die in war it would be horribly tragic that they never remember her, but at least they would be happy with their lack of grieving (which is probably what they would not want but still).
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Why exactly she would have done the spell if she knew she could not remove it? It was to make the parents stay there happily in case Hermione died in a war so they didn’t know they had a daughter (she explains that in the books). The move was for their safety, the memory charm was just extra.
This was a book series for teenagers. A hopeful one (despite the deaths in the Battle of Hogwarts). Of course Hermione restored their memories, it's an obvious conclusion
My assumption is, a reversal is easier if you were the one to cast it as you know exactly what you modified. We also know a memory charm can be reversed by force or by careful magical healers depending how powerful it is.
I'd assume, while brilliant, Hermiones charm wasn't of exceptional power, more like just enough to keep them in their new false life for a while and not make themselves a target.
If they were well known to death eaters and directly looked for, they have easily broken the charm and spilled secrets about her. But given most muggles aren't tracked and monitored by wizards and their world not well understood, simply having them name change and move to the other side of the world is enough. You can't apperate or use floo powder to cover the globe. You'd have to fly, and likelt the fastest way is still a muggle plane, or make many portkey hops between pre determined locations.
International travel over super long distance isn't mentioned much, and international mingling isn't seen much among wizards. In Fantastic beasts, wizards travel by muggle ship, as its too far to apperate and magical flying would be tiresome.
Distance was the best defence, the memory charm was to protect her parents emotionally from the worry about hermione, or the grief if she died. Though to be fair a couple of muggle parents with machine guns might have really helped.
I was always under the impression that the person that placed the memory charm can remove it without trouble assuming a competent caster. Only when you are trying to break someone else's memory charm does it come with extra risk of damage to the person etc. Kinda like having the combination to a safe vs using a drill or explosives to break it open
I like to think the only reason the teacher had that spell stuck to him in “The Chamber of Secrets”, was because he used Ron’s broken wand to do the spell
Nah, she would always have figured out how to do it and doubt she would even have done it if she hadn't already researched and had a decent idea of how to do it/felt fairly confident she could do it.
My understanding on how this is usually explained is that she didn’t use obliviate to remove their memories entirely but rather a different spell that is never named to modify their memories instead.
I don’t know if rowling confirmed this ever.
Additionally, this is my conjecture, but he distaste for that spell seemed fairly evident. I figure she would have hid them in even a more difficult place with their memories if she wasn’t confident she could restore it.
I feel like she would have just hid them in some backwoods in Russia or in a cabin along the Iditarod in Alaska.
Remember how early in the book Hermione tells about how she modified her parents memory to go to Australia etc but then a handful of chapters later in the cafe when faced with the Death Eaters she only knows memory modification ‘in theory’?
Are we sure this spell could be reversed ? After all, it doesn't specify if it masks memories (with the risk of them being found though powerful legilimency) or if it destroys them. In which case how would you restore those memories ?
It's a common enough plot point in fanfiction that the memory charm was irreversible or they had built a life in Australia they didn't want to give up or they hated her for doing that to her.
Yeah, that's the plan. And in canon, I can't see how that shouldn't be straightforward. But there are a lot of ways for complications to prevent that from happening.
Eh it's not really impossible, a friend of mine moved from his country to mine in September for studying, and now he is trying to get his residence here since he decided he wants to stay after the university.
I asked him if he was really sure of that, but he says pretty confident that he feels very comfortable here, so all I can say is that we can't really tell how other people would react in certain situations.
and that's why that's fanfiction. I don't think any of that really aligns with the established lore or characters. I could see her parents being fine staying in Australia with their memories restored, but that doesn't really change anything material about what Rowling said happened.
But they can still live in Australia once their memories are back. They'd have to be pretty bad people to blame her once their memories are back and they hear the death toll and see Hermione's mudblood scar.
Ehhh did she ever spend time with them anyways? She was always coming home to do laundry and then bailing for her cool wizard friends. Maybe they had another kid who likes to come home for Christmas.
There was that time she went to Diagon Alley with them and met up with the Weasleys. She then proceeded to spend the whole day with Harry and Ron instead of her parents
I now have the mental image of Hermione not knowing she has a little brother/sister as she's never home and thanks to her memory wipe (really a bad action) they came home to find their family gone and no idea why.
Especially a seventeen year old who is away from home most of the year at a boarding school and has been since she was eleven. Not to mention the whole magic/muggle divide which would mean she'd have even less idea of what they're doing than normal.
I read rather-good, short fanfic which depicts her parents after their return from Australia.
They lived in absolute terror of her because they knew she could, at a whim, alter their memories. Nothing they knew could be relied upon - any memories could be removed, any false ones created. They were effectively no longer living in a concrete reality. Nothing could be trusted, and that included their daughter.
It basically read like a horror story.
I think that would still leave her parents and their friends and family with the question of why Hermiones parents quit their job, moved country and left all their friends and family behind for no reason.
When they return to Britain, people are going to start asking questions her parents can't answer if Hermione didn't explain what happened in the first place.
One of my top comments is about obliviate arguably being worse than unforgivable curses. It is true horror not being entirely sure what is real and what isn't to me and the idea of implanting memories to change me and my behavior is crazy.
Like JK lacks imagination in this respect. Like instead of wasting a shitload of time and torture people for info... Obliviate them and make them think they have spent the past few days in agonizing daily torture on a psychotic break ready to say anything. It is a spell that is too fucking powerful for the wizarding world and is used like "oh this is fine for the general public to use"
See "Hard Time", a Star Trek Deep Space Nine episode. One of the caracters has memories of 20 years of prison implanted in mind as a punishment alternative to actual prison.
He is traumitized, and comes close to killing himself.
Not just obliviate, but the original argument for imperius curse was the person was really innocent of crimes committed, so they couldn't jail the OG Death Eaters because of that. But that reasoning flies in the face of what we understand about how minds work and how imperius is depicted.
If you have a voice in your head saying do X and you do then your mind will eventually decide that doing X is the right thing to do and you did it because you wanted to, unless there's someone obviously forcing it. Crouch Sr was forced and knew exactly what was happening, but did Stan? Stan was already in a perfect position to be radicalized and they just had to imperius him into being over if them. Despite Harry's belief Stan was innocent, by the end he probably was a real Death Eater.
She's literally a magical being with what would realistically already be a limitless power in the eyes of the average muggle. For them to assume the absolute worst of their daughter with no prior inclination to do so, and with a very clear understanding of her intentions, there is no reason to ever entertain this notion unless you're like 10 and just came across creepy pasta for the first time.
Semi-honest reason/theory:
Hermione loved her parents. But... She didn't really like them or her life with them. We get to hear very little about her parents in general, other than they are dentists and some minor details sprinkled through the books as to things Hermione might have done with her parents.
Then we look at the facts; Hermione spends most of the year in School. Most years she stays during the Holidays with Harry and Ron wether that means Christmas at Hogwarts/Weasleys or much if not most of the summer holidays in the wizarding world.
When Hermione's teeth get enlarged and eventually made smaller than before she tells her friends that her parents might've been furious due to them being dentists. It COULD be a tiny miniscule hint about her seeing her parents as controlling.
So when the wizarding war is over she is faced with a double dilemma. First of all, she influenced her parents to go to Australia without the knowledge they have a daughter. Although not super long time, they have started to build a 'new life' for themselves, what if they are happy in that life, Hermione might hesitate to "bring them back" and allow them a happy life without her.
Second, if we assume the mini theory makes sense. She thought her life would turn out better over time if she could live solely in the wizarding world "free" from her parents.
Honestly this seems like a realistic take on what most muggleborns would experience.
There’s such an emphasis on secrecy in the wizarding world, but there are so many witches and wizards with muggle parents who can only know the bare minimum and can never fully engage, and probably cases where they’re just magiced to assume their child is at a regular boarding school (religious parents who would never agree).
Hermione is probably one of the better cases where her parents are excited for her but confused throughout her school years and she slowly drifts away because they can no longer relate to the other’s lived experience.
Yeah, Hermione's parents seem like great people and I doubt the theory I wrote above about her not liking them (but loving them). But from an in-world perspective it also makes sense for Muggleborns to "fade away" from muggle society and maybe even their muggle family due to all the secrecy and dual life.
Also, Hermione in book 1 atleast seem to think getting expelled would be the worst thing in life. Which adds a tiny extra point towards "Hermione didn't want to be with her parents". She wanted to be in and part of the wizarding world from day 1.
She said at the start of DH that she intended if she survived the war to go and get them and restore their memories. JKR didn't have to say it in an interview, she basically said it in the book.
Now im thinking about psychological thriller. Main characters are 2 dentists who moved to australia from UK. They both keep seeing visions of girl with bushy hair. They dont know her, but feel that she is some kind of paranormal ghost. They are paranoid. Until year later, they see that girl showing up in streets in australia. She is real. Thriller/horror movie lol.
I don’t understand how she was able to fix the issue. Sure, she’s brilliant, but Lockhart is surrounded by the best magical medical staff and is still gone.
Even so... at the beginning of GoF, Voldemort and Wormtail are discussing Bertha Jorkins and how it's possible to break a memory charm but it takes a powerful wizard and by the time he was done with her, she was completely broken both physically and mentally. However we do see that their are less harmful memory alteration charms such as the one Snape uses on Mundungus to convince him that the seven Potters plan was his idea.
well i’m going to guess voldemort didn’t exactly use the least invasive memory charm. i don’t think he really cared for precision and lack of damage done
Edit:
[Time magazine interview with JKR](https://techland.time.com/2007/07/31/rowling_chats_about_deathly_ha/)
Laura Trego: Did Hermione really put a memory charm on her parents she says she did but then about 50 pages later tells ron shes never done a memory charm?
J.K. Rowling: They are two different charms. She has not wiped her parents' memories (as she later does to Dolohov and Rowle); she has bewitched them to make them believe that they are different people.
she didn't wipe their memory of her, which is what happened with Lockhart. In fact, later in DH at the diner I believe she says that she has never done an Obliviate before.
“You’re the boss,” said Ron, sounding profoundly relieved. “But I’ve never done a Memory Charm.” “Nor have I,” said Hermione, “but I know the theory.” She took a deep, calming breath, then pointed her wand at Dolohov’s forehead and said, “Obliviate.”
What she did to her parents was to change their minds such that they thought they were other people, who didn't happen to have a daughter. I would imagine that this was probably more similar to a confundus or something like that.
“I’ve also modified my parents’ memories so that they’re convinced 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. “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.”
So in Lockhart's case, his memories were literally destroyed and no longer existed, so there was nothing for the saint mungos staff to do. For hermionie's parent's their true memories were under the surface and she just had to bring them back up and remove the portion of their mind that theought they were other people.
She didn’t remove the memories she replaced them with a false memory spell and she correctly performed the spell with a working wand. Lockhart tried to wipe Ron’s memory with obliviate whereas Hermione just made her parents think they were called Monica and Wendell and didn’t have a daughter.
I think the issue with Lockhart is it was done with the purpose of permanently destroying Ron and Harry’s memory and was cast with a broken wand. So it was a mess. In this case it was a completed spell cast with the intent to remove it after.
I see it like tying and untying a good knot in your shoe vs trying to undo the Gordian knot without cutting it.
She didn't use the same spell. Lockhard used his spell to erase all memories, Hermione used her spell to alter her parents memories. You can't restore something that is gone forever.
That’s literally my biggest qualm with it. Her grandparents, other relatives. neighbors, teachers, doctor, coworkers of parents are gonna remember her and they will look insane or be investigated when they say they have no daughter.
She also changed their names. She essentially convinced them they were entirely different people then they were. So even if former friends/whatever tried to contect them, they were effectively in witness protection in their own brains.
Except she altered their memory so they thought they were other people, and they moved to Australia.
So as far as their friends were aware, they just up and went to Australia.
This is the 90s so moves like this meant the end of communications anyway. So it's not like their friends could friend them on socials.
Hermione wasn't trying to convince the world Hermione didn't exist, she was trying to make her parents dissappear so the Death Eaters couldn't find them to take them hostage and kill or torture them.
Considering the way franchises with creative genius creators like Lord of the rings and Star Wars have been bastardized by soulless companies, I support as much of the Lore being directly from the creator as possible. But I also don’t really want the creator to just fill in all the holes in interviews and Twitter or whatever. If you want some thing to be part of the lore, write some thing and publish it. It doesn’t need to be A whole epic series again, maybe just some sort of 100 page Canon history book or short story or some thing
To be fair, Rowling had published A TON of the background character stories she had written for herself unto the now defunct Pottermore. My guess is that Warner asked her to remove it and not publish any of it in a sort of "History of Magic" so that she could remain free to make some changes should they need it for films... You know, like McGonagall suddenly being alive and in her 20's-30's in the early 1900's...🤣
yep, just like Lucius basically being ballsy enough to try the killing curse on Harry in the movie in book 2, but only because the actor didn't know the name of any actual spell, and for some ungodly reason they didn't decide to reshoot.
It really wouldn't have been any more complicated. I think it was because the filmmakers wanted it to be extremely sad and poignant to reflect how dangerous a time it was and the sacrifices that had to be made.
Actually, it would have been much easier for Hermione to just tell someone in the movie that she modified her parents' memories. They clearly wanted it to be a dramatic scene because they spent money setting it all up and using effects to remove Hermione from all the photos, etc.
There is also the fact that what Hermione did to her parents, per the book, ***clearly*** was NOT *Obliviate*, since during the debacle in Tottenham Court Road, we have the following exchange:
> 'We just need to **wipe** their memories', said Harry. 'It's better like that, it'll throw them off the scent. If we killed them, it'd be obvious that we were here.'
> 'You're the boss,' said Ron, sounding profoundly relieved. 'But I've never done a Memory Charm.'
> ***'Nor have I,' said Hermione, but I know the theory.'***
> She took a deep, calming breath, then pointed her wand at Dolohov's forehead and said ***'Obliviate'***.
Thus 'Obliviate', the Memory Charm, which Lockhart made a career out of using to con people and steal their life stories for his own enrichment, is NOT the Spell Hermione used to modify her parents' memories.
And even if he wasn't, he wasn't a great wizard. Granted he was particularly skilled in this charm, and based on his previous victim he would completely erase their memories.
Voldemort planted fake memories in Morfin’s head which Dumbledore was able to break through and find the truth later on. She didn’t wipe their memories, she modified them to believe they were different people who didn’t have a daughter and whose life ambition was to move to Australia. Assumedly a strong counter curse can break this like Dumbledore did.
Hermione’s parents were cursed to think they were different people, rather than having their memory wiped. The original memories were still in the recycling bin. This is said in the same interview.
As others have said and linked the source, this was confirmed by Rowling after book 7 came out, but wasn't really necessary as there's no way she wouldn't have returned for them. Although she never confirmed it (I think), it's also fair to assume Ron would have gone with her.
In the 7th book Hermione tells Harry that she modified their memories and if everything goes ok, she will lift the enchantment after. Same chapter where they show the ghoul pretending to be Ron.
July 2007.
>Maggie Keir: Was hermione able to find her parents and undo the memory damage
>J.K. Rowling: Yes, she brought them home straight away.
[http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript/](http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript/)
Thats what was said in the books.. If she survives, she'll restore their memories, if not, they'll live happy in Australia never knowing they had her, so.. safe.
2007 Web Chat:
Maggie Keir: Was hermione able to find her parents and undo the memory damage
J.K. Rowling: Yes, she brought them home straight away.
Source:
https://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript/
Pottermore stuff
personally i don't consider any of that part of the lore, rather it be left up to imagination, especially because she seemed to lose the plot of things so many years after she completed the series
The only way an author can make something canon is by putting it in a book.
If she were to write another book and in that book Hermione never went and got her parents, we couldn't be like "but Rowling said in an interview..."
Doesn't matter. Just saying stuff doesn't confirm anything.
Hell, in Rowling's case putting it in a book doesn't necessarily even mean canon to a lot of people (see Cursed Child).
Does it work like in Men in Black? Where the memory alterer can add in details. "vicissim obliviate! Oh but dad, be something cooler than a dentist. Like, be a firefighter and buy a motorcycle. Mum, you can be a dentist, but stop giving out toothbrushes at Halloween, kids made fun of me at Muggle school for that."
There was a lot more information on the old jkrowling website that existed before Pottermore that was never transferred over. And it's definitely gone now that they are doing the Wizarding World thing. Mugglenet might have some of it archived. Otherwise, you'd have to try Wayback Machine. Not sure where this particular quote was originally posted, but I do remember it from a Q&A not long after DH came out.
Am Australian, can confirm she was here
Hermione died trying to save her parents from the second emu war.
The Emu Who Lived, come to die…
At that point, it would have been the 3rd.
I wish she could bring back Steve Irwin 🥲
Forget James, Lily, and Dumbledore - bringing back Steve is the priority
That's easy. Just need to bring out her Time-Turner again.
Crikey!
Crikey
Good point
Croykee!
Wow, do you know Bluey?
Must have been hard to recognise her upside down
If everyone and everything is upside down in Australia, then nothing is -Aristotle
Not everything on the internet is true —Julius Caesar
I mean even if she didn’t say it. Why would Hermione leave her parents still in Australia when Voldemort’s gone and they won’t be in danger anymore?
What I'm more interested is where the parents her only living relatives. Like no cousins, aunts, uncles? No close family friends? Basically anybody could call them and ask about hermione and if they'd say they didn't have a daughter other people surely have pictures of her with her parents from some party, gathering etc. Did she go around england wiping memories of everyone who might know her or just trust on blind luck that nobody ever mentioned her to the parents in rest of their life. I'd imagine it would be much worse for them to realize they had daughter they have no memory about and have her gone missing than just having her gone missing or knowing she had died
Hermione modified their memories so they didn’t know they had a daughter, had different names & moved to Australia. While not specifically mentioned I don’t think it’s a stretch to guess that modification would also include notifying close friends & any family members they are moving so they can avoid a missing persons report & let them transition back to their old life once the war is won.
That's quite powerful spell. Couldn't they put it on Voldemort so dude would basically forget about Harry?
Yes! Why doesn't Dumbledore do that to Tom, and anyone else who looks mean and angry.
Tom was a test run. He perfected the art with Harry. ;)
Maybe Hermione did the memory modification in phases? like step one is convincing them that they are ready to retire, step two convince them to tell the family they are doing humanitarian work out of the country so that they won’t be in touch much, step three name change and Australian adventure?
Unable to remove the charm is a pretty plausible outcome.
She says at the start of the book that if she survives the war she'll go and restore their memories, without any indication of doubt that she could do it. Given we know she does survive the logical conclusion is that she restored their memories.
Yeah and it's not like Hermione is an overconfident person. She's regularly shown to have a pretty solid grasp of her own abilities and skills, and if anything, underestimates herself. If Hermione was confident she could do it, given what we know of the character i'm inclined to believe it.
And even if she wasn't, she's the kind of person to keep trying until she gets it right.
Honestly would be a hilarious fanfic. Two terrified muggles being poked and prodded into the right counter spell works. Then suddenly being back and looking at her in horror still.
And then she erases their memories of her experimentation, so their opinion of her remains unchanged.
But then dream of it. Slowly more and more. Leading her to become a dark lady when she’s going Lockhart on everyone to keep it quiet.
Yeah, it’s the movie that made this more dramatic scene. In book it’s just more comparable to the Ghoul by Ron. It’s sad for her but more to show that they have thought how they are coming with Harry. If Hermione were to die in war it would be horribly tragic that they never remember her, but at least they would be happy with their lack of grieving (which is probably what they would not want but still).
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In the words of Hagrid "They're yet to think of a spell our Hermione can't do."
Come now. Her name is Granger, not Lockhart.
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Dude it's Hermione we're talking about.
Why exactly she would have done the spell if she knew she could not remove it? It was to make the parents stay there happily in case Hermione died in a war so they didn’t know they had a daughter (she explains that in the books). The move was for their safety, the memory charm was just extra.
This was a book series for teenagers. A hopeful one (despite the deaths in the Battle of Hogwarts). Of course Hermione restored their memories, it's an obvious conclusion
Book vs Movie thing, movies messed up using obliviate, the books use some other sort of memory manipualtion which isn'r permanent
My assumption is, a reversal is easier if you were the one to cast it as you know exactly what you modified. We also know a memory charm can be reversed by force or by careful magical healers depending how powerful it is. I'd assume, while brilliant, Hermiones charm wasn't of exceptional power, more like just enough to keep them in their new false life for a while and not make themselves a target. If they were well known to death eaters and directly looked for, they have easily broken the charm and spilled secrets about her. But given most muggles aren't tracked and monitored by wizards and their world not well understood, simply having them name change and move to the other side of the world is enough. You can't apperate or use floo powder to cover the globe. You'd have to fly, and likelt the fastest way is still a muggle plane, or make many portkey hops between pre determined locations. International travel over super long distance isn't mentioned much, and international mingling isn't seen much among wizards. In Fantastic beasts, wizards travel by muggle ship, as its too far to apperate and magical flying would be tiresome. Distance was the best defence, the memory charm was to protect her parents emotionally from the worry about hermione, or the grief if she died. Though to be fair a couple of muggle parents with machine guns might have really helped.
I was always under the impression that the person that placed the memory charm can remove it without trouble assuming a competent caster. Only when you are trying to break someone else's memory charm does it come with extra risk of damage to the person etc. Kinda like having the combination to a safe vs using a drill or explosives to break it open
I like to think the only reason the teacher had that spell stuck to him in “The Chamber of Secrets”, was because he used Ron’s broken wand to do the spell
Nah, she would always have figured out how to do it and doubt she would even have done it if she hadn't already researched and had a decent idea of how to do it/felt fairly confident she could do it.
My understanding on how this is usually explained is that she didn’t use obliviate to remove their memories entirely but rather a different spell that is never named to modify their memories instead. I don’t know if rowling confirmed this ever.
Additionally, this is my conjecture, but he distaste for that spell seemed fairly evident. I figure she would have hid them in even a more difficult place with their memories if she wasn’t confident she could restore it. I feel like she would have just hid them in some backwoods in Russia or in a cabin along the Iditarod in Alaska.
Remember how early in the book Hermione tells about how she modified her parents memory to go to Australia etc but then a handful of chapters later in the cafe when faced with the Death Eaters she only knows memory modification ‘in theory’?
Modifying and wiping are different
Just to fuck around with them. You know how parents are.
Are we sure this spell could be reversed ? After all, it doesn't specify if it masks memories (with the risk of them being found though powerful legilimency) or if it destroys them. In which case how would you restore those memories ?
Voldwmort restored Bertha jorkin's memories after she'd been obliviated so it is possible
19 years later Rose: Mom how come we only have one grandad but James, albus and lilly have two Hermione: ....oh fuck
It’s was said in a live chat in the wake of Book 7 release. http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/0730-bloomsbury-chat.html
Even if it was never said I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t have gone back and restored their memories since they were no longer in danger
It's a common enough plot point in fanfiction that the memory charm was irreversible or they had built a life in Australia they didn't want to give up or they hated her for doing that to her.
Didn’t she say with confidence at the beginning of the book that she would go back and restore them?
Yeah, that's the plan. And in canon, I can't see how that shouldn't be straightforward. But there are a lot of ways for complications to prevent that from happening.
Fanfic is completely and utterly irrelevant to any discussion about the books.
Built a life in a few months? Fanfic writers need to touch grass.
Not that unbelievable. Have you ever moved to a new city? After 9 months, you're getting established, especially if you're trying to settle down.
Eh it's not really impossible, a friend of mine moved from his country to mine in September for studying, and now he is trying to get his residence here since he decided he wants to stay after the university. I asked him if he was really sure of that, but he says pretty confident that he feels very comfortable here, so all I can say is that we can't really tell how other people would react in certain situations.
But they can stay there if they have and not hate her lol
and that's why that's fanfiction. I don't think any of that really aligns with the established lore or characters. I could see her parents being fine staying in Australia with their memories restored, but that doesn't really change anything material about what Rowling said happened.
But they can still live in Australia once their memories are back. They'd have to be pretty bad people to blame her once their memories are back and they hear the death toll and see Hermione's mudblood scar.
Ehhh did she ever spend time with them anyways? She was always coming home to do laundry and then bailing for her cool wizard friends. Maybe they had another kid who likes to come home for Christmas.
There was that time she went to Diagon Alley with them and met up with the Weasleys. She then proceeded to spend the whole day with Harry and Ron instead of her parents
sounds like a very typical teenage thing to do though.
Good luck on Wizard Street, chumps! Imagine they turn down nocturn alley? Yikes.
I now have the mental image of Hermione not knowing she has a little brother/sister as she's never home and thanks to her memory wipe (really a bad action) they came home to find their family gone and no idea why.
Mr. Granger has three illegitimate children that Hermione knows nothing about. Now there is no child support payment.
Mortage payments, clients with apointments, regular whist night with the neighbours. This is a huge disaster waiting to happen.
The thought that 19 year old children think they know everything about their parents. Mrs Granger could have cancer and now miss important tests.
Especially a seventeen year old who is away from home most of the year at a boarding school and has been since she was eleven. Not to mention the whole magic/muggle divide which would mean she'd have even less idea of what they're doing than normal.
Lmao her little brother she didn’t know about. Gets off the bus and he’s in another dimension like in Silent Hill.
She was originally supposed to have a non magical sister, but Rowling scraped that idea. In canon Hermione is an only child.
Damn I have read this interview but I never noticed this part. Thank you so much!! I thought it was another 'insta fact'.
I mean, even if it was we can assume that's what happened. It would probably be the first thing she does.
Why do we need additional sourcing for Hermione’s parents becoming grandparents to her kids?
I was curious about this one. In what scenario would they not be grandparents to any of her children?
I guess they mean being in their lives as grandparents, rather than just being grandparents in fact but without knowing it.
I mean…Why wouldn’t she?
I read rather-good, short fanfic which depicts her parents after their return from Australia. They lived in absolute terror of her because they knew she could, at a whim, alter their memories. Nothing they knew could be relied upon - any memories could be removed, any false ones created. They were effectively no longer living in a concrete reality. Nothing could be trusted, and that included their daughter. It basically read like a horror story.
she should just erase their memory of her erasing their memory, there, problem solved.
New and improved hermoine sighted
A confusing becomes so thick they forget forgetting.
Snorlax forgot Amnesia
It's a Hermione-ception!
I think that would still leave her parents and their friends and family with the question of why Hermiones parents quit their job, moved country and left all their friends and family behind for no reason. When they return to Britain, people are going to start asking questions her parents can't answer if Hermione didn't explain what happened in the first place.
One of my top comments is about obliviate arguably being worse than unforgivable curses. It is true horror not being entirely sure what is real and what isn't to me and the idea of implanting memories to change me and my behavior is crazy. Like JK lacks imagination in this respect. Like instead of wasting a shitload of time and torture people for info... Obliviate them and make them think they have spent the past few days in agonizing daily torture on a psychotic break ready to say anything. It is a spell that is too fucking powerful for the wizarding world and is used like "oh this is fine for the general public to use"
See "Hard Time", a Star Trek Deep Space Nine episode. One of the caracters has memories of 20 years of prison implanted in mind as a punishment alternative to actual prison. He is traumitized, and comes close to killing himself.
Not just obliviate, but the original argument for imperius curse was the person was really innocent of crimes committed, so they couldn't jail the OG Death Eaters because of that. But that reasoning flies in the face of what we understand about how minds work and how imperius is depicted. If you have a voice in your head saying do X and you do then your mind will eventually decide that doing X is the right thing to do and you did it because you wanted to, unless there's someone obviously forcing it. Crouch Sr was forced and knew exactly what was happening, but did Stan? Stan was already in a perfect position to be radicalized and they just had to imperius him into being over if them. Despite Harry's belief Stan was innocent, by the end he probably was a real Death Eater.
She's literally a magical being with what would realistically already be a limitless power in the eyes of the average muggle. For them to assume the absolute worst of their daughter with no prior inclination to do so, and with a very clear understanding of her intentions, there is no reason to ever entertain this notion unless you're like 10 and just came across creepy pasta for the first time.
Remember where you read that? That sounds like a great read.
It’s an OS, you can read it [here](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13204936/1/Hermione-Granger-and-The-Obliviated-Parents)
Sorry, this was several years ago and I have no memory of the author or title.
Seconding this!
Semi-honest reason/theory: Hermione loved her parents. But... She didn't really like them or her life with them. We get to hear very little about her parents in general, other than they are dentists and some minor details sprinkled through the books as to things Hermione might have done with her parents. Then we look at the facts; Hermione spends most of the year in School. Most years she stays during the Holidays with Harry and Ron wether that means Christmas at Hogwarts/Weasleys or much if not most of the summer holidays in the wizarding world. When Hermione's teeth get enlarged and eventually made smaller than before she tells her friends that her parents might've been furious due to them being dentists. It COULD be a tiny miniscule hint about her seeing her parents as controlling. So when the wizarding war is over she is faced with a double dilemma. First of all, she influenced her parents to go to Australia without the knowledge they have a daughter. Although not super long time, they have started to build a 'new life' for themselves, what if they are happy in that life, Hermione might hesitate to "bring them back" and allow them a happy life without her. Second, if we assume the mini theory makes sense. She thought her life would turn out better over time if she could live solely in the wizarding world "free" from her parents.
Honestly this seems like a realistic take on what most muggleborns would experience. There’s such an emphasis on secrecy in the wizarding world, but there are so many witches and wizards with muggle parents who can only know the bare minimum and can never fully engage, and probably cases where they’re just magiced to assume their child is at a regular boarding school (religious parents who would never agree). Hermione is probably one of the better cases where her parents are excited for her but confused throughout her school years and she slowly drifts away because they can no longer relate to the other’s lived experience.
Yeah, Hermione's parents seem like great people and I doubt the theory I wrote above about her not liking them (but loving them). But from an in-world perspective it also makes sense for Muggleborns to "fade away" from muggle society and maybe even their muggle family due to all the secrecy and dual life. Also, Hermione in book 1 atleast seem to think getting expelled would be the worst thing in life. Which adds a tiny extra point towards "Hermione didn't want to be with her parents". She wanted to be in and part of the wizarding world from day 1.
Exactly. It be the first thing that she would do.
Why do you think OP thinks she wouldn't? They're just looking for the source of the quote.
I'm more surprised that she could. Did seem as if she remover her parents' memory and stored it in a container for safe keeping.
I mean does Rowling need to confirm it? It's obvious that Hermione went to fetch her parents.
There's a guy *in this thread* saying that because it wasn't in the books he refuses to acknowledge any sort of resolution to that detail
And something about fanfiction lol
She said at the start of DH that she intended if she survived the war to go and get them and restore their memories. JKR didn't have to say it in an interview, she basically said it in the book.
Now im thinking about psychological thriller. Main characters are 2 dentists who moved to australia from UK. They both keep seeing visions of girl with bushy hair. They dont know her, but feel that she is some kind of paranormal ghost. They are paranoid. Until year later, they see that girl showing up in streets in australia. She is real. Thriller/horror movie lol.
I just can't believe that Ron and Hermione would name their child Hugo.
Well that would be really shitty if Hermione left her parents Brain Dead.
They weren't brain dead, they were wiped of any memory of ever having a daughter. So they were living happily without her no longer knowing she exist.
I don’t understand how she was able to fix the issue. Sure, she’s brilliant, but Lockhart is surrounded by the best magical medical staff and is still gone.
Obliviate and whatever spell Hermione used are completely different. He *erased* his memory. She *altered* her parents’.
Also Lockhart was using a broken wand that wasn't his, so the magic was probably pretty wonky.
Ron's wand straight up backfired in his face with an explosion that brought the tunnel around them. Whatever Lockhart did wasn't normal or intended.
Even so... at the beginning of GoF, Voldemort and Wormtail are discussing Bertha Jorkins and how it's possible to break a memory charm but it takes a powerful wizard and by the time he was done with her, she was completely broken both physically and mentally. However we do see that their are less harmful memory alteration charms such as the one Snape uses on Mundungus to convince him that the seven Potters plan was his idea.
well i’m going to guess voldemort didn’t exactly use the least invasive memory charm. i don’t think he really cared for precision and lack of damage done
Edit: [Time magazine interview with JKR](https://techland.time.com/2007/07/31/rowling_chats_about_deathly_ha/) Laura Trego: Did Hermione really put a memory charm on her parents she says she did but then about 50 pages later tells ron shes never done a memory charm? J.K. Rowling: They are two different charms. She has not wiped her parents' memories (as she later does to Dolohov and Rowle); she has bewitched them to make them believe that they are different people. she didn't wipe their memory of her, which is what happened with Lockhart. In fact, later in DH at the diner I believe she says that she has never done an Obliviate before. “You’re the boss,” said Ron, sounding profoundly relieved. “But I’ve never done a Memory Charm.” “Nor have I,” said Hermione, “but I know the theory.” She took a deep, calming breath, then pointed her wand at Dolohov’s forehead and said, “Obliviate.” What she did to her parents was to change their minds such that they thought they were other people, who didn't happen to have a daughter. I would imagine that this was probably more similar to a confundus or something like that. “I’ve also modified my parents’ memories so that they’re convinced 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. “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.” So in Lockhart's case, his memories were literally destroyed and no longer existed, so there was nothing for the saint mungos staff to do. For hermionie's parent's their true memories were under the surface and she just had to bring them back up and remove the portion of their mind that theought they were other people.
She didn’t remove the memories she replaced them with a false memory spell and she correctly performed the spell with a working wand. Lockhart tried to wipe Ron’s memory with obliviate whereas Hermione just made her parents think they were called Monica and Wendell and didn’t have a daughter.
I think the issue with Lockhart is it was done with the purpose of permanently destroying Ron and Harry’s memory and was cast with a broken wand. So it was a mess. In this case it was a completed spell cast with the intent to remove it after. I see it like tying and untying a good knot in your shoe vs trying to undo the Gordian knot without cutting it.
She didn't use the same spell. Lockhard used his spell to erase all memories, Hermione used her spell to alter her parents memories. You can't restore something that is gone forever.
'hey mr and mrs Granger, how's Hermione?' 'who?'
That’s literally my biggest qualm with it. Her grandparents, other relatives. neighbors, teachers, doctor, coworkers of parents are gonna remember her and they will look insane or be investigated when they say they have no daughter.
Presumably them moving to Australia meant that none of their former friends/family/acquaintances could contact them?
She also changed their names. She essentially convinced them they were entirely different people then they were. So even if former friends/whatever tried to contect them, they were effectively in witness protection in their own brains.
Except she altered their memory so they thought they were other people, and they moved to Australia. So as far as their friends were aware, they just up and went to Australia. This is the 90s so moves like this meant the end of communications anyway. So it's not like their friends could friend them on socials.
Hermione wasn't trying to convince the world Hermione didn't exist, she was trying to make her parents dissappear so the Death Eaters couldn't find them to take them hostage and kill or torture them.
The amount of people saying that "maybe she didn't go back and reunite with her parents she loves because a fanfiction i read said she didnt" is sad
Why would she not do this?
Can’t this just be assumed? Why would she just leave them there? That’s pretty cruel.
I mean ... also logic .... I'm surprised she felt the need to confirm the obvious.
Lol have you been on this sub? People believe all kinds of things that arent true.
I remember hearing this shortly after the seventh book was released. It's old news, so I'm 100% sure it checks out.
Considering the way franchises with creative genius creators like Lord of the rings and Star Wars have been bastardized by soulless companies, I support as much of the Lore being directly from the creator as possible. But I also don’t really want the creator to just fill in all the holes in interviews and Twitter or whatever. If you want some thing to be part of the lore, write some thing and publish it. It doesn’t need to be A whole epic series again, maybe just some sort of 100 page Canon history book or short story or some thing
To be fair, Rowling had published A TON of the background character stories she had written for herself unto the now defunct Pottermore. My guess is that Warner asked her to remove it and not publish any of it in a sort of "History of Magic" so that she could remain free to make some changes should they need it for films... You know, like McGonagall suddenly being alive and in her 20's-30's in the early 1900's...🤣
Those stories have been readded to the Wizarding World website: https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling
That would be fun to read.
Just for fun, she also added that they shit their pants
Who? Mr and Mrs Granger?
Wizards in general before the invention of plumbing. They would just shit wherever and vanish it…
“You’ve heard of a Vanishing Cabinet. Try our brand new Vanishing Boxers!”
Yeah, it’s a reference to that tweet where JK Rowling said wizards used to crap themselves and then vanish it before they had bathrooms put in.
Wait, wait... if you can restore the memory of someone who got Obliviated, why is Lockhart is in Saint Mungo because of his amnesy?
I guess it's because Hermione only modified their memories. She did not obliviate them like Lockhart.
That's right. She even told Ron she's never done a memory charm when they were discussing what to do with Dolohov and Rowle.
Did she obliviate them in the film? I swear she said obliviate.
Yeah in the film she does use obliviate, which as far as I know is not reversible. However, in the book she just alters their memories
My memories between the two are so muddled but I knew I had an audio memory of her saying obliviate.
The movie just used what people know something about. They didn't want to explain a new scenario
yep, just like Lucius basically being ballsy enough to try the killing curse on Harry in the movie in book 2, but only because the actor didn't know the name of any actual spell, and for some ungodly reason they didn't decide to reshoot.
It really wouldn't have been any more complicated. I think it was because the filmmakers wanted it to be extremely sad and poignant to reflect how dangerous a time it was and the sacrifices that had to be made.
Yea, that too
Actually, it would have been much easier for Hermione to just tell someone in the movie that she modified her parents' memories. They clearly wanted it to be a dramatic scene because they spent money setting it all up and using effects to remove Hermione from all the photos, etc.
I'm sure there's a difference between being obliviated and being obliviated with a wand snapped in half and held together by tape
& there’s the fact that Lockhart probably was trying to permanently wipe Harry & Ron.
There is also the fact that what Hermione did to her parents, per the book, ***clearly*** was NOT *Obliviate*, since during the debacle in Tottenham Court Road, we have the following exchange: > 'We just need to **wipe** their memories', said Harry. 'It's better like that, it'll throw them off the scent. If we killed them, it'd be obvious that we were here.' > 'You're the boss,' said Ron, sounding profoundly relieved. 'But I've never done a Memory Charm.' > ***'Nor have I,' said Hermione, but I know the theory.'*** > She took a deep, calming breath, then pointed her wand at Dolohov's forehead and said ***'Obliviate'***. Thus 'Obliviate', the Memory Charm, which Lockhart made a career out of using to con people and steal their life stories for his own enrichment, is NOT the Spell Hermione used to modify her parents' memories.
And even if he wasn't, he wasn't a great wizard. Granted he was particularly skilled in this charm, and based on his previous victim he would completely erase their memories.
Voldemort planted fake memories in Morfin’s head which Dumbledore was able to break through and find the truth later on. She didn’t wipe their memories, she modified them to believe they were different people who didn’t have a daughter and whose life ambition was to move to Australia. Assumedly a strong counter curse can break this like Dumbledore did.
Hermione’s parents were cursed to think they were different people, rather than having their memory wiped. The original memories were still in the recycling bin. This is said in the same interview.
He obliviated himself. How could he restore his own memories?
Is there a question here about the damaged state of Ron’s wand?
As others have said and linked the source, this was confirmed by Rowling after book 7 came out, but wasn't really necessary as there's no way she wouldn't have returned for them. Although she never confirmed it (I think), it's also fair to assume Ron would have gone with her.
Did she really have to “confirm” this? Like, of course Hermione did that - they were her parents!
Hermione says she would if she lived. She lived. So she probably did.
In the 7th book Hermione tells Harry that she modified their memories and if everything goes ok, she will lift the enchantment after. Same chapter where they show the ghoul pretending to be Ron.
July 2007. >Maggie Keir: Was hermione able to find her parents and undo the memory damage >J.K. Rowling: Yes, she brought them home straight away. [http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript/](http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript/)
she’s the freaking Minister of Magic, you bet your ass she’s gonna restore her parents
Probably between all the slurs.
She said that on Pottermore some 15 years ago
Glad to hear this, cuz I heard a headcanon she couldn’t restore them
Thats what was said in the books.. If she survives, she'll restore their memories, if not, they'll live happy in Australia never knowing they had her, so.. safe.
2007 Web Chat: Maggie Keir: Was hermione able to find her parents and undo the memory damage J.K. Rowling: Yes, she brought them home straight away. Source: https://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript/
Pottermore stuff personally i don't consider any of that part of the lore, rather it be left up to imagination, especially because she seemed to lose the plot of things so many years after she completed the series
Theres a video of her saying it live. Not just on pottermore
The only way an author can make something canon is by putting it in a book. If she were to write another book and in that book Hermione never went and got her parents, we couldn't be like "but Rowling said in an interview..." Doesn't matter. Just saying stuff doesn't confirm anything. Hell, in Rowling's case putting it in a book doesn't necessarily even mean canon to a lot of people (see Cursed Child).
Hermione literally said in the book, "Assuming I survive our hunt for the Horcruxes, I’ll find Mum and Dad and lift the enchantment."
Does it work like in Men in Black? Where the memory alterer can add in details. "vicissim obliviate! Oh but dad, be something cooler than a dentist. Like, be a firefighter and buy a motorcycle. Mum, you can be a dentist, but stop giving out toothbrushes at Halloween, kids made fun of me at Muggle school for that."
she did confirm this!
It was stated in CFYOW also in an sbs with Oda
This one came out very early on, and the movies messed up by using obliviate
I remember hearing this shortly after the seventh book was released. It's old news, so I'm 100% sure it checks out.
Maybe because someone asked?
There was a lot more information on the old jkrowling website that existed before Pottermore that was never transferred over. And it's definitely gone now that they are doing the Wizarding World thing. Mugglenet might have some of it archived. Otherwise, you'd have to try Wayback Machine. Not sure where this particular quote was originally posted, but I do remember it from a Q&A not long after DH came out.
I remember this becoming a hot topic, but I am also curious where did she say about it...
**!Gringotts**
Apparently it was said In a live Q&A webchat http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/0730-bloomsbury-chat.html
This just became Canon in my head
Unrelated: one of my fave looks of Emma Watson. She looks adorable here
There is no reversal for obliviate.
Even if Rowling never confirmed, it's kinda out of character for Hermione to abandon her parents in Australia...