About twelve years ago, my Aunt Jill introduced Tanner, my cousin and her only son at the time, and I to the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Being only four verging on five, the idea of wizards and witches was one I happily accepted. My cousin being younger then myself didn’t quite grasp the concept. And as per usual, we claimed house Gryffindor as our own.
However, as time progressed Tanner came to understand the movies and he truly claimed the stereotypical house of Gryffindor. I however, after seeing the third movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I knew Gryffindor was not the house for me.
Now this might sound quite silly, the idea that one could possibly claim a mythical house from a mythical school of wizardry in which there is a man who seeks to destroy all the good mythical people. But you must know that for the nerdy people, this is normal.
But back to what I was saying, I relinquished all claims to the house of Gryffindor and laid claim to House Slytherin.
So when my family went to Universal Studios in Orlando, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was our first stop. I, of course, collected as much Slytherin Merchandise as our budget allowed.
Then my friend informed me of the Pottermore test that is supposed to categorize you into a house based on your answers. I immediately created account and took the test.
My results thankfully came out as Slytherin.
“Or perhaps in Slytherin,
You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means,
To achieve their ends.”
I like the way you mention that Hogwarts houses really do mean something to a lot of people. I am a Gryffindor even according to Pottermore, but that’s because it’s the house that I really identify the most with and not just because of the main characters in the series.
I like how you always felt as though you belonged in the house people typically see as “the bad guys” and the only thing people normally remember about Slytherin is that majority of its population follows the villain of the story. Although personally, I myself am a Gryffindor, I really like how you just knew, regardless of its stereotypes, that you were a Slytherin.
I like how you admit to following the typical route of Gryffindor, as almost everyone does at first, but then you break off and go your own way. There was also suspense that I enjoyed when you detailed how you bought Slytherin merchandise before taking the test. Great job!
I really love how personal this feels in the way that very few people would willingly choose to be Slytherin over Gryffindor. And as for stereotypes, they don’t matter. House sorting is based on what you /value/, not who you are. Slytherins aren’t all bad guys, my dad and you included, they just value those “bad guy” traits. Even after spending all that time claiming bravery and courage, you found solace in cunning loyalty and stuck with that gut feeling, and that says more about you than your house ever will.