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In one of my previous questions, I found out one of the reasons Harry and Ron didn't finish their education was because Kingsley wanted them to help 'clean up'.

Did he also ask Hermione? Did she refuse?

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AncientSwordRage
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2 Answers2

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Hermione wasn't interested in a career in law when she was 17/18, as evidenced by her conversation with Rufus Scrimgeour in Deathly Hallows:

‘Are you planning to follow a career in Magical Law, Miss Granger?’ asked Scrimgeour.

‘No I’m not,’ retorted Hermione. ‘I’m hoping to do some good in the world!’

Ron laughed.

Deathly Hallows - page 105 - Bloomsbury - chapter 7, The Will of Albus Dumbledore

That Ron laughed at this indicates to me that he wouldn't have been too fussed if Kingsley didn't ask Hermione to join the Department of Magical Law Enforcement immediately following the Battle of Hogwarts.

Hermione elected to finish Hogwarts and take her N.E.W.T.s after the battle and Voldemort's defeat.

We don't see a lot of Kingsley in the books unfortunately. But what we do see is a man who is insightful and reads between the lines with remarkable ease. Recall in Order of the Phoenix when he was in Dumbledore's office with Umbridge, Fudge, Dawlish, Harry, Marietta Edgecombe, and Percy -- he was able to discern that he needed to place Marietta under a memory charm in order to save Harry's neck, just by correctly reading the situation. Kingsley was an Order member; I'm guessing the Order discussed mostly Harry, but also Ron and Hermione in the years between Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows. Instead of excluding Hermione from his new Ministry (in particular the Department of Magical Law Enforcement), Kingsley may just have been perceptive enough to understand this about Hermione:

J.K. Rowling: I love Hermione. She went with Ron and Harry because she has a really good heart. That's not about brain. Ultimately, she had a bigger heart than she had a brain and that's saying something for Hermione. But did she- Was she naturally drawn to battle? No, she wasn't. She's not a Bellatrix. She's not a woman who actually wants to be hurting, fighting, killing. Not at all. She would be glad to go back to school, be glad to get back to study, and then would join them at the Ministry.

LEAKY CAULDRON - INTERVIEW WITH J.K. ROWLING - 12.23.07

Hermione did go on to work for the Ministry of Magic, first in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, then for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

J.K. Rowling: Hermione began her post-Hogwarts career at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures where she was instrumental in greatly improving life for house-elves and their ilk. She then moved (despite her jibe to Scrimgeour) to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement where she was a progressive voice who ensured the eradication of oppressive, pro-pureblood laws.

THE LEAKY CAULDRON - WEBCHAT WITH J.K. ROWLING - 7.30.07

So Hermione got there eventually!

Finally, it's entirely possible Kingsley did ask Hermione to join the new Ministry right away and she simply turned the offer down in favor of completing her studies.

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Slytherincess
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  • Very good reasoning. – AncientSwordRage Sep 12 '12 at 17:34
  • Thanks! I remembered that quote about Hermione not wanting to be on the front lines and thought it was relevant. :) – Slytherincess Sep 12 '12 at 17:58
  • Highly relevant. – AncientSwordRage Sep 12 '12 at 17:58
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    @Slytherincess I'm pretty sure that Kingsley altered Marietta's memory in OOTP. An unforgivable curse in Dumbledore's office in front of the Minister by an Auror, seems like pushing the envelope a bit... – TGnat Sep 12 '12 at 18:37
  • @TGnat -- All good points. I'll change it. A memory charm makes far more sense. :) – Slytherincess Sep 12 '12 at 18:56
  • @Slytherincess I believe that Dumbledore explains it to Harry while the rest are unconscious, if you want to verify. – TGnat Sep 12 '12 at 19:01
  • @TGnat - I'm sure you're right and I'll take a peek at OOTP. :) – Slytherincess Sep 12 '12 at 19:07
  • Just wanted to nit pick a bit, a career in Magical Law is not the same as a career in Magical Law Enforcement. Think Lawyer vs. Police Officer. – NominSim Sep 12 '12 at 22:02
  • @NominSim - In the Muggle world, sure. In the Wizarding world? Eh. I don't know. It's actually JKR who intertwined Magical Law with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in her comment in the webchat quote, not me. I once saw a list of all the professions each department oversees. I'll see if I can find that again and see what it says for the Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement. :) – Slytherincess Sep 12 '12 at 23:49
  • @NominSim - Here's the list I was talking about: http://potterwords.livejournal.com/7223.html#Law I'm not clear how it's organized, though (for example, Auror is listed in two different places). The Council of Magical Law is listed, but offhand I can't recall which book introduced this particular bureaucracy. Potterwords is mainly for checking canon names, spelling, and capitalization. I don't know if the bureaucracies are correctly tiered. – Slytherincess Sep 13 '12 at 00:14
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Based on the transcript quoted in the answer to your previous question, it is pretty much a dead certainty that Hermione would have been asked by Kingsley Shacklebolt to help restore law and order (along with Harry, Ron, et al).

However, Hermione is more of a traditionalist/"rule follower", and so she apparently chose to go back to school instead.

Note - I'm not claiming that Hermione would allow the existing rules to get in the way of doing "the right thing", only that, if the rules and the right thing are reasonably close, she will tend to follow them.

Donald.McLean
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  • But then do we have any proof she did that? Or is this just speculation? – AncientSwordRage Sep 11 '12 at 17:47
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    According to the transcript of the J.K. Rowling interview that is quoted in the referenced question (http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/12/23/transcript-of-part-1-of-pottercast-s-jk-rowling-interview) she did go back to Hogwarts for her NEWTs. By the time she graduated, the need for help in the auror department would have been less acute. – Donald.McLean Sep 11 '12 at 18:08
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    The issue is I see a few ways it could have gone: Kingsley doesn't see Hermione as a good field-agent/Aurora, despite being a capable witch. Or he does but feels Ron and Harry will do. Or he doesn't, but asks anyway, or he doesn't ask. The fact she didn't go isn't proof of any of those, unless I'm missing something – AncientSwordRage Sep 11 '12 at 18:14
  • I can't imagine any reason why Kingsley would not have asked Hermione and in fact, I think Ron and Harry would have been scandalized/insulted if he hadn't. However, you are correct, we have no information either way, so we're just making educated guesses here. – Donald.McLean Sep 11 '12 at 18:34
  • So long as that's clear I'm happy – AncientSwordRage Sep 11 '12 at 18:42
  • Since this question asks for further speculation on what is already material taken from an interview with JKR, no one could possibly have any information on this besides JKR herself. – Gorchestopher H Sep 12 '12 at 16:26