On Appreciating the Hufflepuffs

Growing up, everyone wanted to be in Gryffindor. If you characterized yourself as a do-gooder in the face of fear, or weathered hardships without complaint, you were a Gryffindor. If you always chose the high road and completed every side quest in every RPG, you were a Gryffindor. Gryffindor was the house of heroes, the house of the chosen one, and the house that Dumbledore seemed to rain upon with numerous points for whatever reason he deemed suitable.

"Harry finished his supper all by himself! Fifty points for Gryffindor!"
– Professor Dumbledore

But any of my friends with a dark side (no pun intended) would tell you that they preferred Slytherin. If you were the least bit cynical, but read your horoscope anyway, you were a Slytherin. Additonally, if you listened to death metal, you were probably a Slytherin. Slytherin was the house of riches to rags, the house that felt the constant glares of hatred from across the Great Hall, the house that was sick of all those goody-two-shoes Gryffindors. More importantly, though: Slytherin was cool. It had a history, a rivalry, a dark reputation, and it was a place for you to feel at home when you hit bouts of feeling like your parents just didn't understand.

And Ravenclaw—don't even get me started. If you were bookish, collected random facts, and loved solving puzzles, you were a Ravenclaw. If you over-analyzed everything, but never noticed when someone was flirting with you, you were a Ravenclaw. Ravenclaws watched TED talks and listened to public radio. Ravenclaws weren't brash; everything was deliberate, calculated. They saw themselves as the brains behind the brawn, and in addition, might have been a little snooty. The worst Ravenclaws listened to bands you "probably haven't heard of," and read Gravity's Rainbow in public, and the best wrote scripts to help you access all the blocked websites at work.

Hufflepuffs, on the other hand, get a pretty raw deal in the world of Harry Potter. You could never describe a Hufflepuff as "ambitious" or "valiant," or "brilliant." "Loyal" hardly seems as flashy a trait as any of the others. Jokingly, I used to imagine introducing a Hufflepuff boyfriend to my parents. In the scenario they'd wait until he left before saying, "Well, he's… nice." A friend of mine once said that the sorting hat sorted everyone, the world wouldn't divide up into equal fourths because Hufflepuff was for the rest. Hufflepuffs just weren't that special.

"There's more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good-looking!"
– Cedric Diggory

But we all know a Hufflepuff. Some of our closest friends are probably Hufflepuffs. A Hufflepuff will split a cookie with you, and give you the bigger half without even thinking about it. Hufflepuffs always know how to defuse awkward situations. They make the best wingmen. They're not dramatic, they don't fish for compliments, and they never have problems dealing with change. When your ego gets the best of you, a Hufflepuff will keep it in check. Hufflepuffs are charismatic, empathetic, and easy to take for granted because they put their friends before anyone else.

Why? They don't need a reason why. A Hufflepuff doesn't need to know the good deeds you've done, or how powerful your wand is, and a Hufflepuff doesn't care how you do at math (thank goodness).

What in the world does any of that have to do with good friendship? If you ask me, all the other houses need to constantly reaffirm their identities, forever reminding themselves that they faced dragons, or got "Exceeds Expectations" on their OWLs. Hufflepuffs stand alone, knowing in themselves, who they are, being constantly under-appreciated, deserving of respect, but never demanding it. So I urge you today to appreciate the Hufflepuffs in your life because a Hufflepuff makes for a solid friend and all-around admirable person.

What about you? What kind of person did you see yourself, and, in your case, what house would make the best home? 

– Ari