The Sorting Hat wanted to put Hermione in Ravenclaw, but Hermione asked to be put in Gryffindor. Through speaking to others on the train, she determined Gryffindor was the best house and thought it would be the quickest route to find good friends. She had lived her Muggle life shunned by her peers for all the odd magical things she did as well as her know-it-all behavior, and she thought it would be easy to make friends with wizarding children. She was so devastated after Ron’s comments because all she wanted was a friend, and even though she was around magical children, she still wasn’t able to find that one person. One of her happiest memories is the feeling of belonging she found after the troll incident. That’s why her friends are so important to her and why she has been so incredibly loyal to Ron and Harry. Because she knows what it’s like without anyone.