How Do You Identify Yourself?

There are so many ways to identify yourself.  

• where you grew up
• where you work
• if you're married or not
• if you're a mom/daughter/granddaughter/aunt/niece etc
• if you're religious or not
• by you're political beliefs
• if you're a reader or not

You can also identify yourself by a Hogwarts House.  Yes folks, a fictional wizarding school that sorts you into houses while you attend school there for seven years.

When Pottermore started years ago I took the sorting test and got sorted into Hufflepuff.  I admit, I was a little disappointed.  But I read all the writings on Hufflepuff and some really awesome wizards and witches came from this house. The qualities listed really do describe me: Hufflepuffs value hard work, patience, loyalty, and fair play. As much as I wanted to be in Gryffindor  I think Hufflepuff really does fits me.

I listen to Mugglecast (a Harry Potter podcast).  One of the casters said he thought that the Pottermore test was rigged to evenly distribute people into houses so that when the houses compete with each other the numbers would be even.  So I started to question my Hufflepuffness.

I took another test found on the Internet.  This test said I was Ravenclaw with Hufflepuff in a close second.  I was shocked!  I have never identified with Ravenclaw.  I am not GT.  I don't like studying.  I do like learning but I'm not a nerd about it. (Sorry if I've offended any Ravenclaws out there!)  So I started questioning everything I knew about myself.  Was I a Ravenclaw?  Did that house fit me better?  Could this be right?!?

A Syltherin friend of mine reminded me that the Sorting Hat would let me pick which house I want to be in if I didn't like what it chose for me.  She reminded me if I didn't feel like a Raveclaw I could choose to be a Hufflepuff. That relieved some of my anxieties about the Ravenclaw sorting.

Then Pottermore changed their website and we were able to retake the sorting test.  I jumped on this!  I retook the test and... I'm still a Hufflepuff!  This confirmed what I've felt inside myself since first coming to terms with my first Hufflepuff sorting.  I am loyal and hard working, I play fair... I need to work on the patience part but 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Deep thoughts by Linsey.