Pottermore

Recently, I learned that J.K. Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, has a website, called pottermore.com. As well as being a hub for information concerning everything applicable to the Wizarding World, it also includes a Sorting Hat test that will place you into one of the four Hogwarts student houses, as well as determine your Patronus, your wand, and your Ilvermorning house (North American equivalent of Hogwarts).

I would not say that I am a Harry Potter superfan. However, the format of the book series being publicized on a year-by-year basis synced up perfectly with my own growth. I was eleven when the first book was published, starring Harry Potter at age eleven. When Harry was twelve, I was twelve, when he was thirteen, I was thirteen etc. I literally grew up with him.

I became aware of this website when I started noticing people being proud of belonging to Hogwarts houses as if it were fact. Also, that they were proud of belonging to houses other than Gryffindor, which is where nearly all the main characters from the series are from. There were even people repping Slytherin, which was home to most of the series antagonists.

Very exciting. And best of all, J.K. Rowling invented the test, so it is canon!

As I am "Gryphon", a frequent nickname that many people come up with for me is "Gryffindor". Despite this, I thought I might fall into reliable Hufflepuff or intellectual Ravenclaw.

Wrong. Turns out I live up to my name, and proud to say I canonically belong to the House of Heroes itself, Gryffindor!

However, my patronus, that being a spell that takes the shape of an animal that represents everything good within you, is an adder. I'm a Gryffindor, but my patronus is a snake, the symbol of rival house Slytherin!

Even though Harry Potter's patronus is a stag, he did have an affinity for snakes, being able to speak to them intuitively using parseltongue. That, paired with the fact that the Sorting Hat seriously considered him as a  candidate for Slytherin, gave him a good deal of insecurity.

As my age syncs up so well with his, and having been sorted as Gryffindor but also having an affinity for snakes, makes me feel like I am literally Harry Potter.

My wand is 13 inches, pinewood, with dragon heartstring core, and supple flexibility. This means that I am flexible and adaptable, have a long lifespan, prefer nonverbal magic, and am a bit of a loner. I also have the potential to turn to the Dark Arts.

I'm also from the Ivermorning House Thunderbird. But since we have yet to see the inside of Ilvermorning, I don't particularly care. It was desribed on the website as the "House for adventurers". Kind of sounded like a North American equivalent of Gryffindor.

I've since been trying to convince people to take the test. So far, the only person I've convinced is my mother. Turns out, she is also Gryffindor, with a Newfoundland dog as a patronus. Her wand is twelve and a half inches, made of cherrywood with a dragon heartstring core and slightly yielding flexibility.

Jealous of her wand. Cherrywood is considered to have "strange power" and known as the most prestigious in Japan. It is considered intensely dangerous when paired with a dragon heartstring core, which she has, and must only be wielded by the most talented spellcasters.

I thought mine was cool, but Mom's got a legit prodigious, concerning wand.

My brother opted not to take the test for now. He is currently preferring to be a Muggle.

By the way, this is the post that ties me with last year's number. If I make one more post before the New Year, I beat last year and will have kept my resolution for 2018.