To Belong.
A report by Ashley Clearwater, Daily Prophet.
Humble, Courageous, Cunning, and Intelligent. These are just a few of the words used in everyday vernacular at this school when describing its students. They go to classes, they play Quidditch and they wear their House colors with pride. Yet, what really goes on in the secret life of these seemingly quite achievers? We will now delve deep into this mysterious world known as the Hogwart Houses and reveal for the first time its sordid underbelly.
When a child enrolls into Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, their parents are undoubtedly full of pride. Hogwarts is after all argumentatively most prestigious of the magical schools operating in our world as we know it. Their grounds are lush with neatly trimmed lawns; they boost a full sized Quidditch pitch and pride themselves on having some of the most highly trained staff members the wizarding world has produced teaching their students. Hogwarts surely is a school to be reckoned with on the educational front.
However, it is not the state of the art facilities that are of most interest to the parents and its potential students. No, that honor is afford to the infamous Sorting Ceremony which takes place at the start of each school year and for many will undeniably, ultimately decide the social fate for these young wizards and witches.
However, before delving into those matters let us examine the Houses themselves. For those of you who have been living under a rock the Houses are named, naturally, after the four founders of Hogwarts. Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, and Rowena Ravenclaw – each of whom had certain character traits and expectations for their original students which have been carried on down the centuries and still clearly seen in the modern students today.
Many people have questioned the Sorting Hats techniques over the years, wondering if it picks Houses at random or whether it really identifies some particular trait from the subconscious minds of the students upon whose head it sits. For some of these youngsters it seems their houses are predetermined with many family lines all falling into the same House most notable of these examples is the Weasley family with all seven children being sorted into Gryffindor.
For others however the process is appears decidedly trickier. Some families have been known to deliberately try and mould certain thoughts and behaviors into their children since birth. In desperation some other parents have even been known to send the Headmaster of Hogwart, Albus Dumbledore a list of characteristic traits their children supposedly display in an attempt to sway the sorting hats judgment. There has been a considerable boom in this practice since young Harry Potter was sorted into Gryffindor. Many parents have tried, to apparently no avail to get their children sorted into the same house so they can rub shoulders with the young celebrity.
When asked about these attempts Albus Dumbledore had this to say, "Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak" Which made this reporter scratch her head and question the real sanity of the leading mind behind this famous school. On further investigation when asked what he thought about parents wanting their children to meet Mr Potter, Professor Dumbledore stroked his bread and stated in a more comfortably sane manner," It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
We were declined any further interview on the subject with the Head Master as he then excused himself saying he was urgently needed elsewhere yet it should be noted that not long after he was spotted strolling the corridors with a pair of students and sharing chocolate frogs with them.
Our minds still rattled with questions which were largely left unanswered. What really happens inside the infamous Hogwart Houses? Is there a difference that affects how your child might achieve in Hogwarts? Not satisfied thus far out investigation then took another track and we went to the Heads of the Houses themselves for more information.