Hermione Granger's beaded handbag

""When you say you've got the Cloak, and clothes..." said Harry, frowning at Hermione, who was carrying nothing except her small beaded handbag, in which she was now rummaging. "Yes, they're here," said Hermione, and to Harry and Ron's utter astonishment, she pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, some maroon socks, and finally the silvery Invisibility Cloak... She gave the fragile-looking bag a little shake and it echoed like a cargo hold as a number of heavy objects rolled around inside it."

- Description

Hermione Granger owned a small, purple, beaded handbag, which she purchased in the summer of 1997 or earlier. She placed an undetectable extension charm on it and inside and it held many possessions she and her friends would need during their hunt for Horcruxes

Second Wizarding War
In 1997, Hermione placed an Undetectable Extension Charm on her handbag in order to carry supplies for herself, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley when they went on their hunt for Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes during the Second Wizarding War. Inside the handbag, Hermione carried clothes, healing and camping supplies such as Dittany and Perkins's tent, books, and Harry's Cloak of Invisibility. She revealed this to Harry and Ron when they arrived at Tottenham Court Road after fleeing the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour upon the arrival of Death Eaters. When the trio was caught by Snatchers in the spring of 1998, Hermione stuffed the handbag down her sock to hide it. It was undiscovered even after they were brought to Malfoy Manor, enabling them to continue to use it in their travels afterwards.

Cloak of Invisibility
"Hermione ordered two cappuccinos: as Harry was invisible, it would have looked odd to order him one."

- Hermione Granger orders only two drinks as Harry was under the cloak

Inside her purple bag Hermione had stashed away Harry's Cloak of Invisibility. Albus Dumbledore had asked Harry in the previous year to make sure he had it on him at all times, and Hermione made sure of this by keeping it safe and close to her at all times. Hermione first had to get the cloak out for use when she, Ron and Harry escaped the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, aware that Harry was wanted and that the Death Eater's may follow them Harry was put under the cloak for protection. Hermione was unable to order Harry anything from the café they took shelter in as she claimed it would look strange ordering three drinks for two people.

The main use of the cloak for the three, however, was to conceal them as they Apparate and Disapparate from one place to another in search of the remaining Horcruxes that Dumbledore asked them to destroy shortly before his death.

The cloak was used once again by Harry to conceal himself and Griphook when they broke into Gringotts Wizarding Bank and stole Helga Hufflepuff's Cup. The cloak was later used to hide Harry, Ron and Hermione from prowling Dementors whilst they made their way into Hog's Head. Harry then used it after the Battle of Hogwarts to sneak off for some alone time.

Essence of dittany
"It was stuck, stuck to your chest. You've got a mark; I'm sorry, I had to use a Severing Charm to get it away. The snake bit you, too, but I've cleaned the wound and put some dittany on it..."

- Hermione Granger explains how she healed Harry after the attack by Nagini

Another item carried in the bag was a rather small bottle of dittany. Presumably, dittany is a rare plant, as Hermione was only able to obtain a small amount and only used it for the serious injuries she and friends acquired on their travels. Hermione used the dittany first to heal Ron Weasley's arm when he splinched it disapparating soon after the trio's escape from the Ministry of Magic in 1997. Hermione used it later on in her travels when Harry was bitten by Nagini at Godric's Hollow, she managed to heal his wounds and stop him from being seriously poisoned. Hermione finally used it on the trio's burns after escaping the Lestrange Vault.

Perkins's magical tent
The most used item Hermione would place in her handbag was Perkins's magical tent. The trio used this tent for several months after leaving 12 Grimmauld Place, camping in all sorts of weather conditions. Inside it had bunkbeds in which the trio took turns in sleeping in and a small cooker. The tent was lost when Snatchers caught them in 1998 and brought them to Malfoy Manor.

After they were rescued the trio stayed at Shell Cottage for a time, and Bill Weasley lent them a similar tent, which they only used once before returning to Hogwarts, just before the Battle of Hogwarts. The spell used to put the tent was Erecto. As well as having to use Erecto to put the tent up, many complex spells had to be used each night as protection around the tent, which Hermione took the task of doing as neither Ron nor Harry knew the spells that well. Hermione picked this particular tent as it was larger inside than it was outside, and made Muggle tents which she would be used to seem inferior.

Several books
"This is the one that gives explicit instructions on how to make a Horcrux. Secrets of the Darkest Art- it's a horrible book, really awful, full of evil magic... if he [Dumbledore] didn't do it until he was Headmaster, I bet Voldemort got all the instruction he needed from here."

- Hermione Granger on one of the books in her bag

Along with the essentials she and her friends would need Hermione included a large amount of books into the items she would take with her in her handbag for the hunt. Ron commented on it being like her taking a "library" with her.

Amongst the many books Hermione took were: Spellman's Syllabary (In case of Runes), The Monster Book of Monsters (In case of Monsters), The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts (To understand Voldemort), Hogwarts: A History (She didn't feel right without it), Break with a Banshee (Took some pondering to take it), An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe (To understand Voldemort's possible education), Secrets of the Darkest Art (One of the many Horcrux books she "borrowed" from the school library) and a some other unidentified books she would need.

The known books Hermione did not take on her travels with her included: Numerology and Grammatica, Travels with Trolls and Defensive Magical Theory.

Change of clothes
"It's OK, I've got the cloak, I've got clothes for both of you, just try and act naturally until - this will do"

- Hermione Granger discusses some of the contents of her bag

Hermione had also packed several changes of clothes for herself as well as Harry and Ron. She asked Harry and Ron to both change out of their wizarding robes to try and avoid drawing attention to them, she handed Ron a pair of old jeans that were too short in the leg, a sweatshirt, some maroon coloured socks. Harry hid under the cloak. Once they had changed Hermione's purple dress as well as the boys robes would be carried around in this bag.



Phineas Nigellus Black's portrait
When the trio used 12 Grimmauld Place as a hide-out, Hermione placed the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black in the handbag to prevent him from reporting their activities to Severus Snape, who was the new headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Phineas Nigellus had another portrait. She and Harry also questioned the portrait on what was going on in Hogwarts, such as how Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood were being treated under the new regime.

Polyjuice Potion
Hermione had taken some of Alastor Moody's polyjuice potion before his death and stashed it away in her handbag. It would prove to be very useful along her travels and result in it all be used up. The trio used Polyjuice to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic to search for Salazar Slytherin's Locket in September of 1997. Harry, Ron and Hermione disguised themselves as Albert Runcorn, Reginald Cattermole, and Mafalda Hopkirk, respectively.

The following year, Hermione used Polyjuice Potion again as part of the trio's plan to break in to Gringotts in order to retrieve Helga Hufflepuff's Cup from the Lestrange Vault. Using some of Bellatrix Lestrange's hair that had fallen on her clothing while Bellatrix interrogated her at Malfoy Manor, Hermione assumed her form.

Behind the scenes

 * In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the bag appears not beaded but instead tassley and drawstring. It is also not small enough to be shoved inside a sock and go undetected like it is in the books. Emma Watson described it as being more of a vanity bag you see in Manga.
 * Two prop replicas of this bag are sold; the first by Noble Collection and the second by TOMY.
 * The bag is also worn partly by Sophie Thompson, who portrays Mafalda Hopkirk, when the trio and Mary Cattermole run away from the Dementors after stunning Umbridge. Helena Bonham Carter also held the bag when she played Hermione disguised as Bellatrix.
 * The bag is David Yates's favourite prop from the films.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
 * Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7

Notes and references
Sac en perles d'Hermione Granger