Character Analysis
Hermione's role in this particular Harry Potter film isn't huge, as far as the plot goes. She's still an ace student, and she's still super supportive (and sometimes a bit lecture-y) with her BFFs Ron and Harry.
Don't ever change, Hermione. Don't ever change.
Like Harry, she ends up in Slughorn's exclusive supper club for gifted students. Duh. However, she has to deal with the fact that Harry is actually beating her in class thanks to help from the Half-Blood Prince (the dude whose used textbook Harry is using).
We get into more detail on that topic in Harry's analysis, but what you need to know here is that Hermione is not impressed when Harry uses the Prince's notes in his textbook to become a Potions whiz. She (correctly) suggests that perhaps following the directions of someone you don't know is a bad idea. She's super appalled that Harry has no interest in figuring out who's giving him these directions:
HERMIONE: For weeks, you carry around this book—practically sleep with it—and yet, you have no desire to find out who the Half-Blood Prince is.
And sure enough, when Harry uses one of the Prince's spells to disable Malfoy, it turns out to be a really nasty one. Hermione, as usual, is right—always know who's giving you your spells, Shmoopers.
Love Is Still in the Air…But Stalled
You may remember that Ron and Hermione have kind of been flirting with, well, flirting. But they still haven't taken the plunge. Unfortunately, Ronmione (or Hermon?) suffers a real setback when Ron ends up going hot and heavy with a girl named Lavender Brown for a while. Eye roll.
Hermione is beyond devastated when Ron chooses to date someone else, and it creates a lot of frostiness between them. She even invites Cormac McLaggen, a guy who was a jerk to Ron at Quidditch tryouts (and whom she doesn't really seem to like), to Slughorn's party just to bother Ron. Pretty stone-cold move, if you ask us. (It backfires, though: She ends up hiding from her date at the party.)
However, when Ron accidentally swallows poison and almost dies, Hermione rushes to his side like the loyal friend/more-than-friend she's always been. And his true feelings become clear when he calls for her at his bedside. Lavender is out, and Hermione and Ron are finally...well, finally back to whatever they were before.
And you know what? That's the best we're going to do on the Ronmione front (at least for this movie). But given how important Hermione and Ron's friendship has been to Harry's journey, we're glad they end the film on the same page. Awww.