Ask any Harry Potter fan which Hogwarts house they think they’d belong to, and there’s a pretty good chance that their response will be “Gryffindor”.

This is hardly a surprise. After all, not only is it the house that Harry – along with Ron, Hermione and most of the other major supporting characters – was sorted into, but it’s also the house “where dwell the brave at heart”.

Toss in Gryffindor’s reputation for good-natured mischief, and you’re pretty much looking at the coolest student fraternity ever, magical or otherwise.

But whilst Gryffindor is undeniably awesome, the adoration that is lavished upon it by so many fans often comes at the expense of discounting the positive qualities of other houses – most notably Huffepuff.

The Sorting Hat – that magical headgear responsible for deciding which students are placed where – even claims that house founder Helga Hufflepuff “took the rest” when selecting her charges, and that’s a view that seems shared by the general fandom.

However, this is selling short everyone who has ever worn a black-and-yellow scarf – including Newt Scamander, Cedric Diggory and Tonks – many of whom have proven themselves highly talented witches and wizards.

Here, I’m going to take a look at why we can’t all be Gryffindors, why there’s nothing wrong with being a Hufflepuff, and why we need to accept (and embrace) that we all possess traits representative of every house.

Continue reading “Soapbox: More Than Just “The Rest” – Learning To Embrace Your Inner Hufflepuff” →