Go! Go!.... GryffinPuff?

(Small note: I seem a little crazy in this post. Please take that into account when you read it.)

My Pottermore letter finally arrived yesterday. After having a truly craptastic morning, this completely turned my day around.

It was like getting my Hogwarts letter at 11. I was so excited to get home, go buy my books, cauldron, and pet. It was like nothing crappy had happened to me earlier in the morning. It was fantastic.

*the Read More is here for spoilers. If you want to remain spoiler free about what happens in Pottermore, turn away NOW!



Logging onto Pottermore for the first time and actually having it say welcome was awesome. You go through each chapter as if you're living it yourself. Picking up little trinkets along the way, little tidbits of extra information that JK Rowling has provided added into each chapter, back story to characters that you've always wanted to get to know more.

I reached the Diagon Alley chapter and was stoked to go shopping for my stuff. I now have a Ginger cat (that I've decided to name Sheldon, even though you can't TECHNICALLY give them a name), and all my needs for Hogwarts. But I was mostly excited to get my wand. Everyone has thought and analyzed what their wand would be and what it means. After answering a few simple questions, I finally got my answer.


Spruce, Unicorn Hair, Ten and three-quarter inches, Pliant.
Pottermore allows a really in-depth description of what those mean. Here is what mine means:

Spruce

Unskilled wandmakers call spruce a difficult wood, but in doing so they reveal their own ineptitude. It is quite true that it requires particular deftness to work with spruce, which produces wands that are ill-matched with cautious or nervous natures, and become positively dangerous in fumbling fingers. The spruce wand requires a firm hand, because it often appears to have its own ideas about what magic it ought to be called upon to produce. However, when a spruce wand meets its match - which, in my experience, is a bold spell-caster with a good sense of humour - it becomes a superb helper, intensely loyal to their owners and capable of producing particularly flamboyant and dramatic effects.

Unicorn Tail Hair
Unicorn hair generally produces the most consistent magic, and is least subject to fluctuations and blockages. Wands with unicorn cores are generally the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts. They are the most faithful of all wands, and usually remain strongly attached to their first owner, irrespective of whether he or she was an accomplished witch or wizard.

Minor disadvantages of unicorn hair are that they do not make the most powerful wands (although the wand wood may compensate) and that they are prone to melancholy if seriously mishandled, meaning that the hair may ‘die’ and need replacing.

THIS WAND IS PERFECT! I can't even begin to explain how perfect this wand is for me.

With my bags all packed, I was ready to get back to Hogwarts.


This was the part I was looking forward to the most, and the part that I was DREADING the most. The Sorting Ceremony.

When I first read the books, I didn't really sort myself into a house. I just followed Harry on his journey as a Gryffindor. It wasn't really until I was further on in the books that I really started thinking about what house I was most like. When I re-read the Sorting Hat's song, one house stood out to me as the house that I would want to be in.
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
This house, seemed like me. Though it is the one house that really doesn't get mentioned very much, aside from a few students, it was the house that I identified with most. So taking the Sorting Hat quiz, designed by JK Rowling herself, was intimidating. Luckily, JK gives you a little pep talk before you try on the hat, which helps a bit. Only a bit. I thought, FOR SURE, that if for some unknown reason I wasn't in Hufflepuff.... I'd be a Ravenclaw. My last question on the quiz, was "Heads or Tails?", WHAT THE HECK KIND OF A QUESTION IS THAT?!?!?



The screen went black and I gasped, as my screen went from the Pottermore colors, to SCARLET AND GOLD. That's right, this girl right here got sorted into GRYFFINDOR! How that happened, I have no idea. I was confused with the choice when my screen changed color. I stared at it for a good few minutes just trying to think how I could possibly be considered brave or daring. The girl that has to be forced through a door that she didn't even know was open. The girl who spends her weekends on the internet or watching copious amounts of TV.

How on earth could I be a Gryffindor?

I immediately jumped onto Skype with Whitney, since she went through a similar experience with her sorting. I was speechless. I was legitimately having a difficult time putting sentences together. She showed me a post on Tumblr, which was pretty much the only thing that made her feel better about her sorting. After reading the Gryffindor analysis, I can see it a bit more, but I'm still incredibly confused.

Gryffindor
True Gryffindors have a very strong sense of what is right and what is wrong, and this is a part of what gives them such strong opinions. Depending on the person, this may be taken to a Borderline degree, and they may see people as either good or evil, not in between and no chance of redemption for those on the darker sides of things. Alternately, Gryffindors may see all people as being initially good, and only making the wrong choices take the down the wrong road. Both of these behaviours are why Gryffindors and Slytherins can easily clash. Gryffindors are usually incredibly intelligent, but they tend to be slackers, more focused on getting a taste of something new than sticking to responsibility. This can be their downfall from success, or quite the opposite, bringing them a rise up into something they love. Once they find their true place in the world, Gryffindors will often use their accomplishments to the benefit of others in some form or fashion. Actors, singers and athletes can often be classified as Gryffindors. Despite their good intentions, they can also quite often be ill-tempered and overly emotional, which is their Achilles’ Heel in most instances. A darker Gryffindor may become out of control because of this, hurting those they love or holding a grudge for many years.

Gryffindor was one of the last houses I ever associated with myself. But maybe JK Rowling sees something in me that I can't. Or maybe I should have picked tails. I still associate myself a lot with Hufflepuffs though. So I am combining the two houses in my mind to be a GryffinPuff. I am a GryffinPuff!

All this being said, Pottermore is amazing. I am so excited to see what happens as they unlock new books to explore.


Seriously though, Pottermore. It's changing lives!