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About Slytherin:
Slytherin is one of the four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and is traditionally home to students who exhibit such traits as cunning, resourcefulness and ambition. Its emblematic animal is the snake and its colours are green and silver. The house ghost is the Bloody Baron. Founded by Salazar Slytherin, the house is composed mostly of pure-blood students, due to its founder's mistrust of Muggle-born witches and wizards. Slytherin house has a negative reputation, with many claiming that it is the source of most Dark Wizards in Britain, notably Tom Marvolo Riddle, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort, as well as many of his Death Eaters (followers). It has a traditional rivalry with Gryffindor.
Slytherin corresponds roughly with the element of water.
Slytherins tend to be ambitious, shrewd, cunning, strong leaders, and achievement-oriented. They also have highly developed senses of self-preservation. This means that Slytherins tend to hesitate before acting, so as to weigh all possible outcomes before deciding exactly what should be done. According to Albus Dumbledore, the qualities which Salazar valued in the students he chose included cleverness, resourcefulness, determination, and "a certain disregard for the rules."
The Sorting Hat claims that blood purity, is a factor in selecting Slytherins. This suggests that it bases its decisions more upon the views of its members than on any accurate test of a student's lineage. Muggle-born Slytherins exist, but are very rare.
It might also be possible (though unlikely) that the Sorting Hat simply sorts anyone with ill intentions into Slytherin, regardless of whether they possess cunning and ambition. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were both incredibly stupid and did not have that clever, cunning mind, but were still sorted into Slytherin.
Cunning and ambition are easily turned towards ill purposes, but are not inherently negative; furthermore, daring, intelligence, and loyalty can as easily become negative. A reason Slytherins may be thought less of by people is perhaps because many of them seem to value their own lives more than the lives of others.
Founder: Salazar Slytherin
House colors: Green and Silver
Animal: Serpent
Element: Water
Traits:
- Traditionalism
- Resourcefulness
- Cunning
- Ambition
- Shrewdness
- Leadership qualities
- Self-Preservation
- Determination
- Intelligence
Head:
- Horace Slughorn
- Severus Snape (formerly)
- Phineas Nigellus Black (formerly)
Ghost: The Bloody Baron
Common room: Slytherin Dungeon
Founder: Rowena Ravenclaw
House colors: Blue and bronze
Animal: Eagle
Element: Air
Traits:
- Intelligence
- Wit
- Wisdom
- Creativity
- Originality
- Individuality
Head:
- Filius Flitwick
- Rowena Ravenclaw
Ghost: Helena Ravenclaw
Common room: Ravenclaw Tower
About Ravenclaw:
Ravenclaw is one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, founded by Rowena Ravenclaw. Members of this house are characterised by their wit, learning, and wisdom. Its house colours are blue and bronze, and its symbol is the eagle. The house ghost, who in life was the daughter of the house's founder Rowena Ravenclaw, is the Grey Lady. Many great wizards and witches have come from this house, including Filius Flitwick, Garrick Ollivander and Luna Lovegood.
Ravenclaw roughly corresponds with the element of air.
Ravenclaw House prizes learning, wisdom, wit, and intellect in its members. Thus, many Ravenclaws tend to be academically motivated and talented students. Hermione Granger, an extremely intelligent witch and the top student in her year, was sorted into Gryffindor, though she admitted that the Sorting Hat had seriously considered placing her in Ravenclaw.
Slytherin prefect Gemma Farley did note that Ravenclaws are so competitive when it comes to academic success that they are known to backstab each other, and likely other students, in order to get the top marks, while Hufflepuff prefect Gabriel Truman noted that they are so proud of the success of famous members, such as Laverne de Montmorency, that they claim any intelligent wizard as a member of Ravenclaw, such as Bridget Wenlock, who was in fact a Hufflepuff.
Other interesting facts:
- Slytherin students might possess a certain skill in Potions. Harry's two Potions masters, Severus Snape and Horace Slughorn, both belonged to the Slytherin house. However, it is possible that this talent in Slytherin students could merely be a coincidence, as students from other houses at Hogwarts also shared this talent
- Slytherin students also seem to be gifted in Occlumency. Most of the known Occlumens in the books come from Slytherin
- Slytherin House was the winner of the first house cup on Pottermore
- J. K. Rowling stated that by 2017, Slytherin is no longer the pure-blood bastion that it once was. However, its dark reputation still lingers, hence Albus Potter's fears
"You could be great, you know, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that."
—The Sorting Hat to Harry Potter
"Or perhaps in Slytherin, You'll make your real friends, Those cunning folk use any means, To achieve their ends."
—The Sorting Hat
Other interesting Facts:
- The Ravenclaw colours in the films are blue and silver. In the books, Ravenclaw colours are blue and bronze. Likewise, Ravenclaw's symbol is an eagle in the books and a raven in the films.
- Eagles are a symbol for a broader vision and strength of mind and heart.
- In the Romanian version, the Ravenclaw house is changed to "Ochi-de-soim", literally "Eye-of-Hawk", possibly because ravens are better known as signs of death or danger, and the members of the house have a broader way of thinking, being smart and witty, thus the name of the house.
- The Ravenclaw Common Room does not appear in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, but it is still possible to glimpse the stairwell inside the Tower. The Common Room's door can also be glimpsed at.
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
—Rowena Ravenclaw
"Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, If you've a ready mind, Where those of wit and learning, Will always find their kind."
—The Sorting Hat
Luna: "What do you think, Harry?"
Harry: "What? Isn't there a password? What if you get it wrong?"
Luna: "Well, you have to wait for somebody who gets it right. That way you learn, you see?"
— Luna Lovegood and Harry Potter entering the Ravenclaw common room.
Founder: Helga Hufflepuff
House colors: Yellow and Black
Animal: Badger
Element: Earth
Traits:
- Dedication
- Hard Work
- Fair play
- Patience
- Kindness
- Tolerance
- Unafraid of Toil
Head:
- Pomona Sprout
Ghost: Fat Friar
Common room: Hufflepuff Basement
About Hufflepuff:
Hufflepuff is one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Its founder was the medieval witch Helga Hufflepuff. The Head of Hufflepuff is Pomona Sprout. The Fat Friar is the House's patron ghost. Hufflepuff is the most inclusive among the four houses; valuing hard work, patience, loyalty, and fair play rather than a particular aptitude in its members. Its emblematic animal is the badger, and yellow and black are its colours.
Hufflepuff corresponds roughly to the element of earth
Students belonging to this house are known to be hard-working, friendly, loyal, honest and rather impartial. It may be that due to their values, Hufflepuffs are not as competitive as the other houses, or are more modest about their accomplishments.
Hufflepuff appears to have the least rivalry with the other houses, except in Quidditch.
According to Minerva McGonagall, all four of the houses have produced exceptional witches and wizards in their time, but due to Helga Hufflepuff's policy of accepting any student and its usually poor performance in the House Cup, Hufflepuff is often thought to be the house of less talented wizards. However, this is merely a misunderstanding of the Sorting Hat's poem. The Hufflepuff house has produced a great many of successful and influential members of the wizarding world.
Hufflepuff has produced the fewest number of dark wizards than any other house at Hogwarts. Their cheerful and friendly demenor can probably account for this property of the House. Hufflepuff firmly demonstrated its loyalty during the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, when they were second only to Harry Potter's own house of Gryffindor in the number of students willing to stay and fight against Voldemort and his forces in the defence of their school.
Other interesting Facts:
- Hufflepuff has produced the fewest Dark wizards of all the four Houses, if any.
- Giffard Abbott was most likely a Hufflepuff, given his attitude towards this House and sharing a surname with known Hufflepuff Hannah Abbott .
- Amos Diggory may have been a Hufflepuff if he attended Hogwarts, as his son, Cedric was.
- The most members of Hufflepuff house appear to have either blonde or brown hair
- The Hufflepuff Basement was the only common room that Harry Potter didn't enter during his years at Hogwarts.
"You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true, And unafraid of toil"
—The Sorting Hat
Founder: Godric Gryffindor
House colors: Crimson/Scarlet and Gold
Animal: Lion
Element: Fire
Traits:
- Bravery
- Loyalty
- Nerve
- Chivalry
- Courage
- Daring
- Short-tempered
Head:
- Minerva McGonagall (formerly)
- Godric Gryffindor (formerly)
Ghost: Nearly-Headless Nick
Common room: Gryffindor Tower
About Gryffindor:
Gryffindor is one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, founded by Godric Gryffindor. Its emblematic animal is the lion, and its colours are scarlet and gold. Minerva McGonagall is the most recent Head of House. Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, also known as "Nearly Headless Nick" is the house ghost. The particular characteristics of students Sorted into Gryffindor are courage and chivalry.
Gryffindor corresponds roughly to the element of fire, which may partly be the reason for its colours.
The Gryffindor house emphasises the traits of courage as well as "daring, nerve, and chivalry," and thus its members are generally regarded as brave, though sometimes to the point of recklessness. Notably, Gryffindor house contributed many members to Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix. According to Phineas Nigellus Black, members of other houses, particularly Slytherin, sometimes feel that Gryffindors engage in "pointless heroics." Another Slytherin, Severus Snape, considered many Gryffindors to be self-righteous and arrogant, with no regard for rules.
However, this may be taken with a grain of salt, as Gryffindors and Slytherins have shared a fierce house rivalry since their founders, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, respectively, had a severe falling out over Slytherin's emphasis on blood purity. There might also be an element of feeling wronged;as Harry and his fellow Gryffindors tend to win in a lot of circumstances which, when viewed from a Slytherin's point of view, may be considered unfair. Examples of this include the last-minute points awarded by Headmaster Dumbledore at the Leaving Feast, which conveniently put Gryffindor ten points ahead of Slytherin in the 1991–1992 school year, the fact that no points were deducted for the rule breaking that happened during that night and Harry being permitted by Professor McGonagall to have his own broomstick for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, even though first-years are not normally permitted their own broomsticks.
Even members of other houses might have felt that Gryffindor received favouritism, considering that many saw Harry being chosen as the fourth competitor in the Triwizard Tournament as stealing Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory's thunder unfairly.
Overall, however, the houses of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tended to side with Gryffindor in its rivalry with Slytherin. This was particularly notable during the Second Wizarding War — the members of Dumbledore's Army were from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, but lacked any Slytherins (This may be because they were not notified of the Army's creation as it came through word of mouth and they did not seem to associate with many or any Slytherins), and during the Battle of Hogwarts, the Slytherin students left while many students from the other three houses remained behind to fight against Lord Voldemort.
Other interesting Facts:
- Many members of the Gryffindor House seem to have a gift for Transfiguration; Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall were both Transfiguration professors, while the latter was the Head of this House.
- Neville Longbottom was an exception to this 'rule', as Transfiguration was among his worst subjects (Herbology was his best).
- In the films, Padma Patil, Parvati Patil's twin sister, is seen as a Gryffindor, while in the books she is a Ravenclaw.
- Based on their portrait hanging in Gryffindor Tower, Valeria Myriadd, Oracutus Spheer, Damara Dodderidge, Percival Pratt and several other unknown individuals may have been Gryffindors.
- Rubeus Hagrid stated in the first book that all the wizards who went bad were from Slytherin, however, the Gryffindor Peter Pettigrew disproved this. Hagrid, however, didn't know that Pettigrew was still alive and working for Voldemort.
"You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring, nerve and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart"
—The Sorting Hat
"The House of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizarding world for nearly ten centuries."
—Minerva McGonagall
"Before Harry could speak, there was a massive movement. The Gryffindors in front of him had risen and stood facing, not Harry, but the Slytherins. Then the Hufflepuffs stood, and almost at the same moment, the Ravenclaws, all of them with their backs to Harry, all of them looking toward Pansy instead, and Harry, awestruck and overwhelmed, saw wands emerging everywhere, pulled from beneath cloaks and from under sleeves."
—before the Battle of Hogwarts
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