Part Hufflepuff

Everyone possesses a little bit of each Hogwarts House. Although some traits may be more prominent than others, I genuinely believe that, more often than not, people are a divergent combination of houses. Growing up, I always wanted to be a Gryffindor. I was a brave kid, who loved speaking in class and riding rollercoasters. I even went as far as to name my childhood dog Gryffindor, after my house. I loved the idea of being a Gryffindor. Who wouldn't? The Gryffindors saved the day. They were the primary characters in the Harry Potter series, and although they all fell under the same house, they were all so uniquely individual. As I aged, reread, and rewatched the series, I began understanding the characters' complexities. Just because the characters fell into one house, didn't mean they were just one thing. Hermione was the most clever witch of their year and was not placed in Ravenclaw. Harry lived with a piece of Voldemort attached to him and was not in Slytherin. As soon as 11-year-old me was struck with this realization, I found myself face-to-face with the 'truth' about my House identity. As much as I loved my idealized place as a Gryffindor, I could no longer shy away from the fact that I was also a Hufflepuff.

Becoming a Hufflepuff after identifying as a Gryffindor felt like going from being the most popular kid in class to the world's biggest loser. Hufflepuffs never won in Quittich. Puffs were constantly outshined and possessed very little stardom (excluding the outlier of Cedric Diggory). I mean, why would anyone want to be the 'nice one' when you could be the brave and famous one? Or the cunning one. Or the clever one? Society even went as far as to make a comedy play off-Broadway making fun of the house! The world had accepted the Puff's place in the world as squalor and I was among them. I was a Gryffinpuff and there was nothing I could do about the hybrid state of my existence. In conversation about Harry Potter, I masked this side of my identity. Ironically enough, none of my masking translated into the real world. In fact, it was rather the opposite. My kindness towards others, my loyalty, and my trustworthiness were the traits that I found the most valuable and prided upon in myself. In terms of friendship, I'd much rather choose to be the trustworthy friend than the cunning one, any day of the week.

The older I've gotten, the more I've come to value seeing the Puff-in-people. I find patience and hard work admirable and tend to seek out others whose values align with mine. A few years ago, I came to another startling realization. Masking my true identity as a Gryffinpuff simply because I didn't like the social prejudice that came along with Hufflepuff made me a coward. I wasn't being a Gryffindor at all! I had already come to terms with the fact that being a Hufflepuff was awesome and admirable, so all that was left was for me to excersie my other house and tell people the truth. I sat my parents down, palms sweating, and looked them in the eye. They were aware this was big news. "Mom, Dad..." I said, voice quivering. "I'm a Gryffinpuff." I shouted my hybrid house from the rooftops from that point forward and haven't looked back ever since.