I finally received my email from Pottermore saying I could enter the site. It felt like everyone and their owl was already on the site, but based on the reaction of my Twitter feed, there are still quite a few people waiting. I couldn’t wait. I’d get to shop in Diagon Alley, go to Hogwarts, explore the books, get more info on the books and characters from J.K. Rowling herself, and–this is the best part–get sorted into one of the four houses at Hogwarts.
I’ve always thought of myself as a Ravenclaw over the other four houses. Besides the fact that I don’t particularly fit in any of the other houses, I’ve always defined myself by my wit and brains. This self-defining has been unhealthy in the past; I used to obsess over grades to the point where anything below a low A was unacceptable. The grades, I believed, were a reflection on my own mental abilities, something I’m still coming to terms with despite being out of school for over two years. This may be why I’m not in grad school. My hobbies and values also tend toward the witty and intellectual, making me a Ravenclaw at heart. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
I prepared myself for the sorting, trying to prepare myself for the possibility that the Sorting Hat might not see me worthy of Ravenclaw, and then what?
The sorting began. The questions were hard. Besides the fact that you couldn’t really pigeonhole answers to houses easily (not that I wanted to anyway), the questions themselves were hard. I won’t spoil them for anyone who hasn’t gone through the sorting process, but I deliberated a lot on these questions, making sure I had chosen my correct answers. And then the Sorting Hat thought.
And then it put me in Hufflepuff.
I’m not sure how to feel about that. I’m not really a Hufflepuff. At all. Yes, I have some traits associated with Hufflepuff; most people have traits associated with each of the houses. But the Hufflepuff traits aren’t the main ones associated with me.
Still, I know I’m still a Ravenclaw at heart. Maybe I can be a Ravenpuff. Besides, in the end my sorting isn’t a huge deal anyway. I can still consider myself a Ravenclaw in Hufflepuff clothing and keep doing my thing in Pottermore.
At least I didn’t get sorted into Gryffindor. That would have been an even worse fit.