(“Yeah, I’m a student at Headington, and—” “Wait, isn’t that . . . how is she? What’s she like?!”).

Presumably all social interactions at school would, in a certain way, be contextualized around her (“Do you think she’ll be at the dance this weekend?”

 “I don’t know—isn’t she going to have to be in Venice or whatever for the—what is it up to now?—Order of Phoenix premiere?”). 

And then there is also the potential to become her actual, real-life friend! Imagine being in her French class, 

and sitting a few seats away from her every morning for a year, wondering if she’ll be weirded out if you ask if she wants to study for the final together at a coffee shop?

And it is this last point that, apparently, was actually, in somewhat formal terms, addressed at Watson’s boarding school. Per a new report from The Tab, students at the Oxford school, Headington, which Watson attended in her teenage years, during the height of Potter mania, actually formalized guidelines to ensure that Watson’s fellow students wouldn’t pester her. A “penalty points system” was put in place (cue up your own “And that’s five points from Gryffindor!”-style joke here) that condemned students who “approached” the actress. Per the testimonial of a former student, “Of course if you were friends with her you could speak to her, but no one was allowed to go up and ask for an autograph or anything.” (Parents were also informed of the penalty system, in which three transgressions led to a detention, though—now that we understand the parameters of this “system,” it seems . . . not that intense? it’s hard to imagine a 16-year-old thinking, “Hmm, I’m going to restrain myself from asking Watson a series of specific questions about Daniel Radcliffe for fear of finding myself one-third of the way toward a detention.”)

Unsurprisingly, Watson’s presence seems to have been as notable, in terms of her effect on students, as you’d imagine, given the following recollections from fellow students.

The report also cites a student who told the outlet, “I even put up a poster saying welcome back Hermione. But nobody ever dared to ask her for an autograph. I remember being told about it quite formally, and was really scared of getting a penalty point. At the time it would have been so embarrassing.” (Putting up a sign that says “Welcome back Hermione” is perhaps not the . . . best way to show you were not affected by her presence in the cafeteria, but, setting that aside, it nice to hear that people mostly let her be, whether it was out of this “fear of embarrassment” or otherwise.)

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Source: Tampa Bay Times