J.K. Rowling Planned for Hermione to Have a Sister in the 'Harry Potter' Books

“Nobody in my family’s magic at all.” Hermione Granger offered that vague statement when she meets Harry Potter and Ron Weasley for the first time aboard the Hogwarts Express. Most fans missed a possible meaning behind Hermione’s words.

In a 2004 interview with the BBC, Rowling explained, “I always planned that Hermione would have a younger sister, but she’s never made an appearance and somehow it feels like it might be too late now.”

Hermione’s younger sister was apparently due to arrive at Hogwarts sometime around the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. But by the time the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was released, Rowling believed it was too late.

With this bit of information, we’re left wondering what this younger sister would have been like. Would she have been a genius like her older sister, or the opposite? Rowling would have faced a challenge in naming the younger Granger, too: Hermione is a female version of Hermes, the Greek god who acts as a messenger.

That’s fitting, because Hermione transitions back and forth between the Muggle world and the Wizarding world throughout the series. Would a sister have made this messenger role unnecessary since there would be two magical people in the family?

We’ll never know, but we’re sure that Hermione has enough brains and wit for one family.

[h/t ScreenRant]

This article also appears on Mental Floss.