This is list of the presents Harry got year 1 and 2 (I don't have all the books with me)

Year 1-
Birthday-
Hagrid-cake, owl (Hedwig)

Christmas-
Hagrid-wooden flute
Dursleys- 5 pence
Mrs. Weasley- sweater, fudge
Hermione- Chocolate Frogs
Dumbledore- Invisibility Cloak

Other-
McGonagall- Nimbus 2000
Hagrid- album of his parents
different sweets, from unspecifed Hogwarts students

Year 2-
Birthday-not mentioned, Dobby took all Harry's mail

Christmas-
Dursleys- toothpick
Hagrid-treacle fudge
Ron- Flying With the Cannons
Hermione- luxury eagle feather quill
Mrs. Weasley- sweater, plum cake

Other-
Lockhart- set of books
Ginny- singing Valentine

Year 3-
Birthday-
Hermione- Broom Servicing Kit

Christmas-
Siruis- Firebolt

Other-
Fred & Geroge- Marauder's Map

(Can someone please find all the other presents Harry got from books 3-6 and post them)

Hermione's presents always aid Harry in some way. In year one, Harry found Dumbledore's card in his last Chocolate frog from Hermione, which lead them to find Nicalos Flamel. In year two, Harry wrote in Riddle's diary using the eagle feather quill Hermione gave him. Year three, Hermione's Broom Servicing Kit was able to keep Harry distracted for while when Aunt Marge came, and it is still one of his prized possesions.

JKR likes to hides to things. Most of these presents have nothing to do with the plot. It could have been any chocolate frog or any quill...why specifically Hermione? Why hasn't Ginny given Harry anything that Harry greatly apreciates?

I think we will continue to see a pattren if we go through all of Harry's presents. Perhaps these are small clues hinting H/Hr. Thoughts?

Fantastic theory, but in book three Ron gives Harry a sneakoscope which he later uses... But yes, I agree, where are the presents from Ginny?

what an interesting idea ! You must have a good eye for detail hermione'sfrog!
I also like it when hermione gave harry some toast in Gof it was just a nice gesture when she was the only one who believed him

that was a nice recap I think that, typically, she was getting him stuff that was practical and thoughtful... wasn't she also giving both the boys a planner/scheduler - or was that in a fanfic?

If you go here: http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/harry.html ... you can see the entire list of all the presents Harry has ever received. For what occassion and from whom.

What stands out most about gifts for me is that Hermione has given Harry a broom-servicing kit...Harry has given Hermione a book...in HBP, when we see the Amortentia, Harry smells broom polish and Hermione smells new parchment...

Bolding mine. Hmm... I wonder what that signifies? hehehehe... I hope it does give a hint of something hahaha

I said that in a previous thread about why they smelled what they did during the amortenita class......but it was over looked

but anyway, I agree Accio! I've always thought that. Not to mention Hermione also smelled fresh cut grass.......who else do we know that does lawn work on a regular basis? Harry spends his entire summers doing yard work for the Dursleys.

Ron doesn't because their yard is always mentioned as being overgrown. That doesn't sound like freshly cut grass to me

Teehee. I love you guys. All that just sounds so perfect!

Thank-you so much for the link!

These Harry's most recurring presents:
Firebolt(Sirius)
Hedwig(Hagrid)
James's invisibility cloak(Dumbledore)
Marauder's Map(Fred & George)
Broomstick Servicing Kit(Hermione)

They appear in every book since it was introduced. This isn't a theory, more just a thought, but do you think it's an indication of who will die in DH?
Sirius and Dumbledore are already dead...possibily Hagrid and one of twins will die.
Maybe Hermione was the character given a reprieve so Hermione will not die, but seeing her nearly dead will awaken feelings for her in Harry (similar to OotP).

I remember in a thread several years old (pre HBP) we were talking about the presents and Hermione's state of mind when she gave them--

if as we HHR shippers believe, she started to realize she was in love with Harry in book 5 and tried (as she hadn't been doing before) to show more and more how equal Harry and Ron are to her--getting them homework planners and schedulers in her mind would affirm that thinking don't cha think?

Watch the shift of who Harry's best friend is based on christmas gifts alone (this is direct from the lexicon--I didn't get these myself):

SS:
Ron: Nothing
Hermione: Chocolate frogs

Though the gift is generic it shows Hermione to be more Harry-thoughtful than ron. Foreshadowing anyone? But remember Harry hasn't yet learned to appreciate Hermione as he should.

Cos:
Ron: Flying with the Cannons
Hermione: quill

Hermione's relationship improves and she moves from generic to useful (a step for her I imagine) whereas Ron gets him a present a little closer to his heart and still gets best friend position.

Poa:
Ron: Not specified
Hermione: Not specified

(Ignore this year.) This year the relationships (even stupidly-loyal Harry/Ron's is ridiculously skewed to hell). At the end though Harry at last recognizes Hermione as Ron's equal and thus:

GoF:
Ron: dungbombs
Hermione: Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland

Ron moves to dungbombs which I suppose are a mixture of generic/useful, but Hermione (the only one to believe his not entering himself into the triwizard tournament) gets him the gift closest to his heart now. See the switch?

OoTP:
Ron: bertie botts
Hermione: planner

Ron moves to a gift completly generic, (he's equal now with Hermione in SS) which makes sense to us given the fight with Harry in the previous year and how little in the book he is in year 5, but Hermione who is at her pinnacle of importance, and without doubt Harry's closest friend (closer than Sirius even) and who obviously feels more for Harry than Ron at this point (romantically or otherwise) gets them both the same gift? reverts back to the useful gift year of year 2? The only reason I can get from this is her starting to realize how important a certain someone (I suppose the R/Hr could argue she realizes her feelings for Ron) but whoever she's feeling anything for (I don't need to explain our copious HHr thoeires to any of you do I? ) she trying to distance herself. (And for all the R/HR shippers--did any of you see Hermione's reaction to HARRY's christmas present--that lovely book? that should help clarify a few things...)

HBP:
Not specified for either. This is equally telling--and shows how OOC the characters are, by the way: I got this off wikipedia and not my own biased sources:

"The sixth book[HP6] marks a notable change in Hermione's character. "

At last non-HHr ships who see the change. We all have our theories for the change, and it seems clear to me that's it's romantic interest in Harry that's changed her and the gifts are just a subtle way of marking it.

Plot devices.


This is not shippy but interesting. Harry receives these in his servicing kit:

And another gift that Harry has given Ron?

They've both got compasses. Those may come in handy later.


There's no reason for Harry to give Hermione that New Theory of Numerology book she liked though. That's just plain H/Hr fodder.

You might be onto something here,

What if, per chance, Hermione's gifts to both boys in OoTP was not really something she'd planned?
Think about the post-kiss scene, which was the last time Hermione saw Harry before she had to go to #12 GP. Maybe Hermione had planned on a special gift, but Cho's kiss made her retreat back. Harry was not a "free guy" anymore, he was with Cho. Whatever she'd got him, could have looked like she had feelings for him.
So, what does a girl give to a geezer when she doesn't want to be embarrassed to show her feelings but nonetheless not be rude?
Something that's generic and useful. That's socks or hankies to me, but Hermione didn't have time to go shopping, remember? So what did she already have with her that was suitable for two boys?
The dratted planners!

Just a fun theory, some may even call it a delusional one,

Well, the presents are an interesting place to view someone's outlook on people, but I think that those planners agree with my opinion about Hermione's emotional restraint; Hermione doesn't give out more emotion than she's shown, and she's not fond of public displays of affection. She also appreciates when attention is paid to the things she excels at (See my quick'n'dirty interpretation of her birth chart signs in my Astrology topic). So Hermione would view Harry's book as Harry paying attention to her and indirectly praising her for what she does well, which is something she likes; Hermione would view Ron's gift as a clumsy display of affection that, while innocent enough, is a little out of Hermione's safety zone.

Question: Did Hermione ever give Ron a birthday present?

Hermione has known Ron just as long as Harry, and Hermione was the first to point out that Ron is jealous of Harry. And she's aware of Ron's insecurities about his family's financial conditons. Plus, we all know how Ron loves material things (confiscating items he wants).

So isn't it odd that Hemione never gave Ron a real birthday present?...Or a Christmas present that Ron really liked/wanted?

After all "it's the thought that counts"...and Hermione has thoughts of Harry not Ron .

@ mystiquefire:

I think we're treading into "irrelevant" territory if we try to catalogue Ron's gifts; a lot of that happens outside of Harry's perception, which automatically makes it irrelevant to the plot; basically, if Harry doesn't see the gifts, they either don't exist or aren't important. While we can be sure (by common sense) that Hermione has gotten Ron gifts, Harry's not keeping score, so there's nothing revealing or special about them.

I think you're right on how Hermione would view Ron's gift. What we don't know is whether she was right about his feelings. Personally I thought the gift was so generically girly he could have given it to Ginny... oh wait...maybe he did in a roundabout way There's a theory (discussed here many times) that Hermione wasn't really pleased by Ron's gift (saying it was "unusual" was a polite WTF from her) and might have passed the perfume along to Ginny. As Ron has no money, where did he get the perfume? Possibly from Fred & George. It might have been a cast-off beta version of one of their later Wonder Witch products. In HBP, the perfume fueled suspicion that Ginny had used a love potion to get Harry to notice her. IMO, the perfume was a red herring, serving to mask Ginny's use of Felix Felicis to make herself lucky in all aspects of her life -- which made her seem like a Mary Sue.

Anyway- as someone who believes Ron has never fancied Hermione, I think he gave her something that "a girl" would like, rather than something that Hermione specifically would like - which was exactly what Harry did.

Ergh, I just found something problematic. I was looking at the list of Harry's presents, and both Hermione and Ron got Harry the same exact present. Why did they get him the same present? Were they together when they went shopping? I hope that isn't significant...

Which same present?? Was it in book 3, because you know HArry wasn't allowed in Hogsmeade at the time...

**so hoping it's book 3**
But even if it isn't--HHr are still getting together on July 21st hands down.

Harry gave Hermione a gift that he was sure she would like. That shows he pays attention to her interests. Ron gave her a generic girl gift, perfume, which she didn't particularly like and might have even fobbed off on someone else, e.g. Ginny. It seems that Ron didn't make any effort to figure out what Hermione would like. And when she told him the perfume was "unusual" (which is damning with faint praise) his reaction was something like "No problem" -- which to me means, "Yeah, whatever". This is yet another example of Ron having the wrong reactions for someone who supposedly fancies Hermione.

off topic, but in OoTP isn't there another specific point where either Hermione or Luna throws about the word unusual?

ehhh--trying to remember essays from the archives is difficult, but I'm going to search now for it...

Not to defend Ginny or Ron, but as has been pointed out here already, they have no $$$. Especially when compared to Harry who has an effectively unlimited budget, and Hermione who could ask her professionally employed parents for money whenever she needs.
I think this fact might skew the 'importance/significance' of Harry's gifts off a little. What would Ginny have bought Harry if she had Hermione's money? Or wouldn't Ron have bought him a servicing kit if he could have afforded it?

Just a thought...

Er...because the possibility of the weasley's lack of wealth ruining our lovely topic upsets me let me say that Ron could've put more effort into getting gifts--no Ron coming back with some fangled broomstick and saying 'I tried to put you know an anti-wind charm on it, for christmas or whatever..'

great gifts don't have to cost a lot of money, my all time favorite gift was an embrodiered eye glass case...(not that Ron's into embrodiery or anything, but the point is-- Harry didn't need that book to make Hermione so happy, something cheaper with the same amount of thought would've had the same effect)...

and back to my earlier post:

this is an excerpt from Ron/Hermione: not as obvious as it seems:



Sorry guys when I said I would be searching through the archives, I don't think even I knew how much I meant by it--but yet more are here and I promise Pumpkin Pie for Christmas is the last essay I'll retrace:



You know what's really pathetic, me searching through these archives and the only reason I remember my point is because the post I'm looking for is my own--eh

Dragoncateliz Jan 16, 2005, the day I joined:



and the post right after mine is by fishtankbabe it's so cute:

No, it was the presents they gave him for his 15th birthday. They both got him a box of Honeydukes Chocolates. You can see it here.

But when Harry turned 15 they were hauled up together in Grimmuald place under Dumbledore and the OoTP's orders, not to mention Mrs. Weasley...I don't believe they were allowed out of the house so it makes sense that they got the same present for him.

True, but I'm not sure they were at the Order when they went shopping. Also, going shopping together and getting the same exact present seems a little silly to me.

Present doesn't have to be expensive for it to be important.

Examples:

Hagrid- Hagrid's cake meant a lot to Harry because it was the first present he ever got. And the flute he gave Harry served as a plot device.

Dobby- Harry wears Dobby's socks even if they are ugly.

@ Dragoncateliz:

What I find interesting is that Ron shows interest in the Quibbler while Hermione trashes it; the Quibbler being an extension of Luna. I wonder what it is that Hermione has against blondes: The Weasley family males are attracted to blondes (Ron/Luna, Bill/Fleur...) and Harry is attracted to the darker women (Cho, and check out Harry's reaction to the first images of Bellatrix in GOF).

I have always thought that the subtle resurfacing of Hermione's gifts throughout the text is telling.

First, the chocolate frogs for Christmas 1st Year--an innocuous gift for 11-year-olds--BUT Harry and Ron and Hermione have been trying to figure out who Nicholas Flamel was. Neville needs a boost, so Harry gives him his LAST chocolate frog that Hermione gave him to cheer him up. Neville knows Harry collects the cards and hands it to him. And it's Dumbledore...AND Flamel...mystery solved! And Hermione's gift gave the solution.

The eagle feather quill is specifically mentioned at the beginning of PoA while Harry is still at the Dursleys writing an essay for school. Why mention the EAGLE part of the equation unless JKR wants us to think, oh, that's Hermione's gift...?

And, my personal favorite, the broom servicing kit. First, Harry is stunned and even says "Wow, Hermione" to himself. The best, though, is when Harry is trying to keep his cool when Aunt Marge is visiting. To distract himself, he tries to recall specific passages from the servicing manual. At one point while Vernon is blessing him out, Harry's thoughts wander off to his bedroom upstairs where he'd rather be spending time with Hermione's present.

I never, ever thought of it like that... That's just made my day!

...I actually don't think I remmeber any instance when Harry goes on about the presents ron gets him unless he's eating them...

Also don't forget that in book 4 Harry used the eagle feather quill to write to Sirius in the beginning of the book.

What I love about the whole gift-giving theme is that Harry and Hermione seem to know exactly what to get each other....like the broom servicing kit, and the book, which means they actually pay attention to each other. That's what I find most adorable, not really the mention of the gifts themselves or what they were.

It shows that Harry and Hermione really pay attention to each other. Harry got Hermione what she wanted, when Ron got her something that was "unusual". Hermione gets Harry a broomstick servicing kit that he really does not expect, but still loves it.

I love this ship.

Miss Mady

I think it just goes to show how wrong Ron is for Hermione..if he can't even pay attention to her long enough to know the kinds of books she likes to read, or anything (I mean, when in doubt, look for her in the library...come on!) like that.

I'm curious...what exactly would be classified as an odd perfume? It's just that Ron's gifts are not of a nature, that's attuned to Hermione's character...Harry, on the other hand...he knows Hermione better than Ron, methinks, and that's why his gifts are correspondingly more appropriate as the years pass...

What do you mean?

Just asking if, when a girl calls a perfume unusual, it's a good thing or a bad thing...cause Hermione's reaction is really vague...I like to think she didn't like it, but I'm still scratching my head...she could say that it's bad, or good, but unusual?! Why would she use that word to describe a perfume?

Usually, and I'm not speaking for all females, but usually the word "unusual" is a kind way of letting down the person who gave it to her

ah...of course, i knew that ...but thank you...that made it crystal clear

Why? Were you planning on giving a girl a bottle of odd-smelling perfume? Just remember, if she says it's unusual, run away and hide!

I'll admit, the thought has crossed my mind...but I have no idea what kind of smell is unusual smell...right now I'm flying solo, and there isn't really a girl I've focused my attention on yet...but we'll see how things go ...as for the perfume, I dunno...there's gotta be something good out there :/


Have you ever received an odd perfume?

Nope...no one in my family dares buy me perfume My sister on the other hand...she picks out her own strange smells...which she then parades all through the house in.

Hmm....sounds a lot like my sister ...some of the stuff she buys honestly makes my eyes water...

I know the feeling....whatever happened to like...good smelling purfume and cologne? I mean...there's only so much Old Spice I can stand before I want to run out of the room screaming...

Good perfume and cologne...it moved to Europe...and we're stuck with ah...some of the most well unknown "fragrances" out there...
Old spice...even I can't stand it...but what's the weirdest smell you've come across?

Ugh...some of the Axe body sprays have very odd smells....yet all the guys in my school seem to think that it was the greatest gift to men....Us girls and smarter guys use it as stink bombs in some of the hallways

Axe? pfft...amateurs I'd recommend Tag, but it isn't any better...stink bombs seem to be the only worthy use of such body sprays...except Adidas products...they're half decent to wear ...which perfume do you like best?

That sounds like something Ginny Weasley might do too.

I can't stand most strong perfumes/colognes. A slight whiff is fine, but if it's something that can be scented from halfway across the room ...

Speaking of perfumes, has anyone ever smelled honeysuckle? Is it nice and sweet and flowery? I've been scouring the books, and that's the only flower that I think is specifically mentioned at The Burrow. I've been wondering about what type of flower scent Ginny was wearing in HBP.

EDIT: LOL. This is from Wikipedia: During Victorian times, teenage girls were forbidden to bring honeysuckle home because it was thought to induce erotic dreams. Technically, Harry's not a girl ...but I'm almost certain that monster in his chest wasn't your typical, run-of-the-mill monster either.

Lol, only one kind, and my grandmother gets it from a friend of hers...it smells like lilies...other than that, I hate all other ones.

And yes, I know, using them as stinkbombs is a very Ginny Weasley-ish type thing to do, but what else would you do with about forty million spray cans of Axe that no decent girl in the tri-state area would go near? Use them as stinkboms, of course!

well, there is one other potential application...bug spray...don't know how effective it might be, but if it repels teachers, it might also repel flies and bees...

*lilies...I agree, they do smell nice...*

One of my guy friends sprayed Axe in my hair (I forget why)...since then it give me a headache every time I smell it.

Back to the topic:
IMO Hermione calling Ron's gift "unusual" is a bad thing. She was thanking Harry for his gift, and because Ron happened to be there she had to say something to him as well. The best non-insulting adjective she could find was "unsual".