Hermione Granger is crucial to Harry and Ron in their successful mission to solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione is revived after Harry kills the basilisk, but she is distraught to learn that all end-of-year exams have been cancelled as a school treat. Hermione buys a cat named Crookshanks, who takes to chasing Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. Before the start of term, Professor McGonagall secretly gives Hermione a Time-Turner, a device which enables her to go back in time and handle her heavy class schedule, though this is not revealed until the penultimate chapter. Much tension comes into play
Harry Potter fandom and its derivatives like "shipping" or "shipper" are commonly used as shorthand for the word "relationship." The "Harry Potter" series generated ship debates with supporters of the prospective relationship between Harry Potter and his close female friend Hermione Granger at odds with supporters of Hermione ending up instead with Ron Weasley, close friend of both. Quotes from Rowling which seemed to contradict the possibility of Harry ending up with Hermione were usually countered by claiming them to be deliberate obfuscations designed to lure astute observation off-course (though such claims were far from undisputed, given that these allegedly vague quotes included