Pottermore and the Identity Crises

(Yes, I have a Sorting Hat)

It's 2013, which Harry Potter fan hasn't been sorted yet on Pottermore!? . . . hmmm, don't answer that.  For those who have, maybe you can relate a little to what I'm going to write . . .

I wasn't a beta tester.  Tried, but the system wouldn't take my email for some reason.  So I waited with everyone else, jealous of those who got into the site September 2011, and watched as the promised October 2011 public opening flew to April 2012.

So in April of last year I giddily signed up and got sorted . . . into Hufflepuff.  Stufflebeam, Hufflebeam, I've got that whole "uffle" thing going on with my last name.  But I'm not a Hufflepuff!  I'm a Gryffindor!  Yes, I'm one of those people who always identified with those lions.  If I was sorted at 11 years old, there's no doubt I'd be a Gryff.

I was so disheartened that I stopped going to Pottermore altogether.  Then I started thinking about it, never a good thing, which meant I was playing mind games with myself.

 

I did go to a Harry Potter party at the movie theater when the last movie came out, and was unofficially sorted into Hufflepuff by a Twelawney cosplayer pulling out buttons from a jar.  And when my Dad finished watching the movies I asked him what house he would be sorted into, and he said Hufflepuff.  As genius as he is (he used to go to bed reading a calculus book), he really would be sorted into Hufflepuff.  Loyal, kind, hardworking, honest, trustworthy, humble, etc, are all qualities we should strive to have.  Maybe it's genetic, but then my Mom is a Gryffindor, and she doesn't need Pottermore to tell her so. 

J.K. Rowling said in a Web Chat October of 2012: "Hufflepuff is my favorite house in some ways.  There comes a point in the book where each house has a chance to rise up to a certain challenge. The Slytherins decided they’d rather not play, the Ravenclaws – some play, some won’t, but the Hufflepuffs stay to fight. The Gryffindors – compromised of lots of full hearty and show off people. The Hufflepuffs stayed for a different reason. They didn’t want to show off, they weren’t being reckless, that’s the essence of Hufflepuff."

So you know what I did?  I deleted my account and signed up again!  And the second time I was sorted (I was being completely honest, and took ample time with each question), I was sorted into Gryffindor!  Of course I started feeling super guilty.  Was I a true Gryffindor?  Was I lying to myself?  So I got sorted again . . .

To date I've been sorted 8 times.  3 Gryffindor, 2 Hufflepuff, 2 Slytherin, and once in Ravenclaw.

In the end it really does come down to choice.  Dumbledore did say, "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our Abilities."  And he also later states about Snape, "Sometimes I think we sort too soon."

In the end, regardless of what the sorting hat says, we belong where he feel we belong, and I personal have qualities that work within each house.  I would be sorted into Gryffindor, get turned off with all the pride and ego in that house, and go make friends with Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws through clubs, choir, etc.  I'm a happy Gryff/Huffle mix who would be sorted into Slytherin before Ravenclaw, though I'm obsessed with books and love spending hours at the Library . . . those blissful college days doing research.

And in the end it's all a bunch of fun.

Oh, and we also get a wand.  Each time I've created an account, after deleting the last, I've gotten the very same wand, and that's because I answer the questions the same each time.  There's no other way I would answer them.

Length: 12 1/2 inches

Wood: Ebony

Core: Dragon

Flexibility: Surprisingly Swishy

I want to know what surprisingly swishy means.  Is it an insult or a compliment?  But I do like the described characteristics of those who get ebony:

"This jet-black wand wood has an impressive appearance and reputation, being highly suited to all manner of combative magic, and to Transfiguration. Ebony is happiest in the hand of those with the courage to be themselves. Frequently non-conformist, highly individual or comfortable with the status of outsider, ebony wand owners have been found both among the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix and among the Death Eaters. In my experience the ebony wand’s perfect match is one who will hold fast to his or her beliefs, no matter what the external pressure, and will not be swayed lightly from their purpose."

  

Below are some fun videos of those who've also had identity crises.  I'm not the only one!!!  But then I did get re-sorted . . .