The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (a thread for Potterheads)

I always had trouble sorting myself, because I never really fit into the perceptions, I was always a mostly even mixture, nothing standing out. I'm not brave, I'm not intelligent and clever and knowledgeable, I'm not cunning, and I've got big trouble dealing with people. My friends back in high school id'ed me as a Slytherin.

Spoiler: whimsy sorting itself. warning: depressing.

Then I came across a theory that the house is not what you are, but what you value most (in terms of sorting hat chats, primary v secondary, i'll come to that in a second), which was when I could finally sort myself - because while I value bravery, while I value knowledge and cleverness, while I value shrewdness, I value community above all, because I've been so lonely growing up. Dad was busy at work and dealing with mom, mom has a shitload of mental issues and doesn't really know how to mom (.... I've got a thread about that in ITA), my grandmas were always travelling about and couldn't really deal with me either, and I was the eternal weird kid the other kids couldn't deal with either. In MMOs no one cared that I was the weird kid.

Reading the Sorting Hat Chats, that up there doesn't fit completely on canon either, but SHC includes it in the values vs methods thing, and I guess I can now pretty much describe what I am:

Primary: Burned Hufflepuff modeling?performing Slytherin, because burned Hufflepuff can't deal with everything but Slytherin gives methods how to deal, they're not perfect, they're not complete, I'm constantly refining them, but they work, and that's what counts, who cares if they're not "really me", they're mine.
Secondary: Hufflepuff modeling?performing Ravenclaw. This one's tricky. I always thought I worked hard, and others told me I slacked off, but that was before my ADHD diagnosis and getting my ass on meds. Nowadays people begin telling me I'm working too hard. I still think I'm not doing enough. There's just so much I want to do, and so little time and energy. -sighs- But I can't plan things out completely. Don't have the knowledge or brains for it. But I do like being prepared for stuff, like, there's an assortment of stuff I always carry with me (A pair of scissors, sticky tape, pen, pencil, eraser, sharpener, something to jot down notes on, a stapler, a pad, qtips, earplugs, a mobile phone, stimtoy), and on cons that base preparedness kit gets extended (headache pills, bandaids, desinfectant, needles, pins, thread, safety pins, glue, and a multitool). I tend to do my worldbuilding before I do the stories, and other smaller stuff, but it's in no way consistent or as extensive as a true Ravenclaw's would be.

tl;dr:
Primary: Burned Hufflepuff modeling?performing Slytherin
Secondary: Hufflepuff modeling?performing Ravenclaw

 

welp I'm a bit late to things because I needed sleep
but I've seen TSHC before and I id'ed myself as a Ravenclaw primary, Slytherin secondary
Slytherclaw forever

 

Oh, sure. Those examples are pretty extreme - they're just explaining that people can wind up the polar opposite of what you would expect from [House] while still maintaining [House] mindset and values. I wouldn't say that TSHC Hufflepuffs dehumanise people easily, but rather that in order to mistreat people without compromising their values they have to dehumanise them (or not believe they're mistreating them, but that's a human thing, not a House thing).

Actually, I'll take that back, I don't think they have to dehumanise them - Hufflepuffs can excommunicate them, too. I think that might be a good explanation for what I've seen happen to @seebs a few times. The SJ movement displays Hufflepuff values ("let's stand together and demand that all people be treated as persons"), and the SJWs who pepper their arguments with the assumption that he's AFAB/truscum/[insert other frowned-upon demographic here] are displaying the Hufflepuff fault of redefining who counts as "community" so that they can be as nasty as they like without guilt.

Of course, that's specific to TSHC Hufflepuff characterisation. I saw two or three people mentioning personal loyalty as a Hufflepuff trait here, which is interesting, and not something I'd heard before. But I haven't ever really been involved with the HP fandom.

 

Funny thing is, in terms of values vs methods, I'm kind of the other way around - I've said for years and years that I'm Ravenclaw first but would be Hufflepuff second, so when I checked out TSHC I was expecting (quite reasonably) to be Ravenclaw primary, Hufflepuff secondary. But I think, actually, that my methods are Ravenclaw and values are Hufflepuff (probably). Except the reason for that is that my personality, my characteristics, my core identity, my self is so very overwhelmingly Ravenclaw... whereas my approach to Hufflepuff-ness is sort of what Jessica Rowling said: 'Everyone should want to be a Hufflepuff.' So basically, I'm very much undeniably a Ravenclaw, but I aspire to Hufflepuff.

This train of thought distracted me from the rest of the TSHC stuff, so I might be missing out on other important concepts.

Also, I love blue and bronze. Fabulous. They're not colours I would wear as, like, an overall outfit scheme, but as a badge or accent or crest or whatever I think they're lovely - and I would totally go for it as part of a decorating scheme. I was disappointed that the films changed it to blue and white.

 

The TSHC stuff does say that the primary/secondary doesn't mean you have to be your primary; it's just the terminology they used in place of "motivation" and "method."

 

Ah, right, fair enough. Well then - I've said for years that my House order would be RHSG. (Funny thing: years after we stopped talking about Harry Potter together, my older brother and I brought it up again, and each of us was fully aware of the order in which the other identified with the Houses. I mean, we'd already established long ago that we were both definitely Ravenclaws, but he knew I'd be RHSG and I knew he'd be RSGH.)

 

FELLOW POTTER FANS
i need help.
I'm writing an au (hopefully, eventually, i'm sticking this in the longterm to be returned to semi regularly project bin) that's a allignment reversal.
To put it simply- Dumbledore is the unofficial head of a horrifically racist system of government, characterized by a terribly corrupt ministry (the ministry doesn't actually change much, it's still the go with the winner type thing it mostly was in canon) and Voldemort is the badly slandered thought to be dead head of a rebellious faction that has been painted as evil by those in charge.
How do I factor in Horrorcruxes if Voldemort is Light?

 

One option: Desperate times call for desperate measures. It's a terrible thing but he's concluded it's necessary.

A thought that came up in late Methods of Rationality (spoilers)

Spoiler

If Voldemort had given a shit about his followers, he would have taught all of them how to make at least one horcrux. It's not so hard for people fighting evil systems to do one or two evil things for the sake of surviving to keep fighting, after all. And it sure wouldn't be hard to paint them as evil if they've dabbled in such magic.

 

OH YES THANK YOU.
I don't really plan on reading methods of rationality but this is a cool idea.
What I'm probably going to do is since this has been going on for a very long time, Voldemort slowly grew desperate and created Horrorcruxes for himself- Harry in this case was an intentional last ditch attempt to save himself (because splitting his soul so many times also messed up him up mentally somewhat). And I like these ideas.
Dumbledore's side paints itself as the good guys (being the evil racist dictatorship that would have made Grindelwald proud, if he hadn't turned chicken and needed to be framed) so they do avoid some tempting forms of magic, at least in public.
That and Dumbledore has access to a philosopher's stone.
The whole war with grindelwald was originally an attempt to take over the muggle world, as well as the wizarding world, but the reason that wizards hide now, is nuclear bombs and also fear is a good way to control a populace.

 

Man I am trying to be at least somewhat fiscally responsible with my income but I am needing a Potter fix so bad and the movies don't quite do it for me, and I have such a hard time just sitting down and reading anymore. I used to love reading, and I just... have a really hard time with it now. So I was thinking about buying the audio books but they're like 28USD each on iTunes and my heart hurts to think about spending that much money on one thing that's just for fun, but, Hogwarts.

 

Abuse the public library system?

 

^^^ or you could be a Lawless Heathen and pirate it

 

slightly tangential
but
they changed pottermore
WTH

otherwise, i might suggest hogwartsishere.com [sic]
which is online hogwarts classes

 

Yeah. Apparently they did it in September? and now it's like... harry potter buzzfeed. Only not as amusing.
And i signed up for hogwartsishere a while ago and never did anything on it. But I should go back and try it out. but also spoons.

 

spoooons
yeah
it's like work but notwork for me, so I love it

I only just found out about pottermore, so it's raw for me

 

What? WHAT?? Does that mean Old Pottermore is gone? I can't continue journeying through the books with it??
(not that I've been on it in a while, but that was because I wanted to be able to devote my full attention to it when I did!)

 

Something I've been thinking about today as I've been listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks I have: in the Order of the Phoenix, how did Hermione get to Grimmauldplace? Did she go to the burrow first, or did her parents bring her? Did the order pick her up in the same manner as they did Harry? (And Hermione really doesn't fly...) Anyone any theories?

 

I've always assumed she went to the Burrow first, but hey, that's just me.

 

Knight Bus?

 

I'm personally a huge proponent of the theory that Hermione obliviated her parents almost immediately after Voldemort returned - evidence wise, as far as canon is concerned, we don't see her mention going home to her parents after the fourth book, and also she's a damn smart witch. She probably could guess that a war was coming, just like everyone else, and so prepared accordingly without telling anyone
Tho the one plot hole that I remember is the whole not being able to perform magic underage thing, so perhaps Dumbledore was in on it? Idk. So in this case, she spent her holidays with the Weasleys, mostly, and so travelled with them :O