Yeah, I was bored. Maybe, sometime, if I get bored again, I'll do one for Slytherin/Gryffindor/Hufflepuff... but probably not. I've been rather enamored by Ravenclaws lately.

Ravenclaws are generally ignored. They're the house closest to Slytherin, and a Ravenclaw is usually at the top of their year.

Of course, until Hermione Granger came to Hogwarts. Most Ravenclaws cursed the Sorting Hat - not literally, of course, though some of them came close to trying - for not putting the girl in their house.

Ravenclaws are also seen as apathetic, but when Michael Corner stares out at the room boredly, he's taking in everything that's happening and storing it in his great, Ravenclaw mind. When Padma Patil doesn't take notes in History of Magic, it's because she remembers everything she hears. When Quirinus Quirrell ignores you and stares off blankly, he's figuring out to cure cancer.

Not all Ravenclaws are brilliant, however. Kenneth Towler, who was in the same year as the famed Weasley Twins, got one OWL. That's right. One. But nobody talks about Kenneth Towler, and that's possible, because Fenrir Grayback killed him. If you mention Kenneth Towler and his lack of intelligence to any Ravenclaw, they'll roll their eyes and tell you that you're wrong, Kenneth Towler was obviously a Hufflepuff. The Hufflepuffs seemed to have adopted Kenneth, because any one can tell you information that they decided on about Kenneth Towler. Hufflepuffs are very accepting.

But this isn't about the lame house of Hufflepuff. This is about the wondrous house of Ravenclaw.

You know how all the other houses have passwords to get into? Ravenclaws are different. You have to answer a riddle correctly, and if you don't get it right you've got to sit outside until someone comes along and gets it right.

Kenneth Towler was known for sitting outside the entrance for hours. Nobody knew why. He was a Hufflepuff. A Hufflepuff that liked the color blue.

Ravenclaws are under a lot of stress, you know. If you don't have a Hermione Granger in your year, you /have/ to get top marks. Even if you do have a Hermione Granger, you have to be in close second. Ravenclaw is a competition. Even if you're fairly nondescript, you are part of the competition. Ravenclaw isn't about bravery, beauty, selfishness, or friendship. Ravenclaw is about competition.

It's like Slytherin and their selfishness. If you're a Slytherin you're self-absorbed. If you're a Ravenclaw you're competitive. Simple as that.

Maybe that's why Kenneth Towler was (wasn't) a Ravenclaw. Nobody was more competitive than Kenneth Towler.

Another example of Ravenclaw competitiveness concerns Michael Corner. Michael Corner had always prided himself in how soft his hair was, and it was kind of long for someone of the male gender, brushing the nape of his neck. However, in Michael Corner's fourth year, a group of Gryffindors had the longest, prettiest hair imaginable. The next year, when all of that lovely hair was chopped off, Michael Corner sported the prettiest, longest, most luscious black hair Hogwarts had ever seen. It wasn't cut until his seventh year. Alecto Carrow chopped it all of.

Michael Corner hid in the Room of Requirement until it was long enough to cut evenly. He didn't want to use magic on it. IT would become stringy and besides, that was cheating.

Ravenclaws aren't big on cheaters. If something is /completely/ and /perfectly/ legal, such as Cho Chang's seeking technique, then it's fine. But outright cheating? No. There was no glory to be found in that.

Knowledge, glory, competition... nothing could matter more to a true Ravenclaw.

I don't know how I came up with half of that.

Oh, and Kenneth Towler was an actual character. x3 Just mentioned of course, but still. Fred put Bulbadox powder in his pajamas. Yeah. I just shoved him in Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff.