Leontine_Willow asked me to cover this topic, and I'm always happy to do something for her! She's still fairly new to the Harry Potter fandom, so if you guys want to help her out with finding amazing fanfics and stuff, go for it! I'm sure she'd appreciate it. Also, go read her new fanfic! She's got two chapters up and I know she'd love the support!

Anyway, this is prompted because of all the stereotypes and misinformation I've seen about the Houses, and the unwarranted hate Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff get a lot of the time. Of course, I'm the living stereotype of Ravenclaw House, so I do not help my House's case very often, but I get really frustrated when I see all the wrong ideas people have of my House and Hufflepuff. Honestly, there's a lot of wrong ideas about Slytherin and Gryffindor here as well, but I'm mainly trying to cover the topic of House hate (which is not cool, guys, seriously).

I'll really briefly talk about Slytherin and Gryffindor before I get into that,

Generally, throughout the fandom, Gryffindor is everyone's favorite, followed by Slytherin (home of the Edgy™). Everyone adores Gryffindor because in the books, they weren't shown to have any major flaws as a House and people (for some reason) can't see why an entire House of brave, daring teenagers all stuck together through their hormonal high-school-type years could potentially be a bad thing.

Everyone loves Slytherin for the same reason everyone loves Snape, I feel like, saying that they're all misunderstood and tragic and dark (or they hate them for those reasons, replacing "misunderstood" with "evil"). However, this isn't the case, and I think this illustrates the same lack of understanding that makes everyone either forget about Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff or actively hate them. Slytherin's defining traits are ambition and cunning. Most people translate ambition into a thirst for power (which would fit in with the narrative above) but that's not necessarily it. Everyone has ambition. I have ambition to publish a book and be an amazing teacher and mother. Some people have ambition to go to third world countries and start foundations to help people. Some people have ambition to open their own business, or marathon all the Harry Potter movies without falling asleep, or simply make it through high school without a mental breakdown. Ambition can translate into so many different things, and Slytherin, while it is definitely home to pureblood elitists, is also home to the great minds that will go out and change the world one day.

Now, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. I've seen hate on these Houses even in the comments of my books. I think this misconception of the Houses goes all the way back to the original books and the fact that there are hardly any characters from either of these Houses that have more than a passing part in the story. Cho, Marietta, Lockhart, Luna, Cedric, and Tonks are the only characters from either House who make any sort of impact on the plot of the books. Cho is universally hated among the fandom (another thing I take issue with), and so is Marietta, Lockhart is a fraud who lost his memory, and Cedric died before he got much of a chance to be anything beyond loyal, kind, and brave (heck yes, Hufflepuffs can be brave. It's canon). A lot of the impact he had on the story was how his death affected Harry, which doesn't do much for Hufflepuff House. So that leaves us with Luna and Tonks.

Now, both of these characters definitely go against everything the fandom associates with their House. Everyone seems to think that all Ravenclaws are like me: boring, stuck-up, know-it-all, smart, bookish prudes who don't know how to have fun because they're always studying. I don't know why this is the prevailing view, considering the fact that Cho and Luna, at least, don't fit into that box. The thing with Ravenclaw is that it's considered the smart House when it's actually the House of learning. I'm sure most of you think that means the same thing, but it doesn't. Learning can be learning about anything. It doesn't necessarily have to be schoolwork. As long as it's something your passionate about, that you want to understand better or be able to do better or know more about, it fits the bill. That's why Ravenclaw has so many artists and poets and creative people who aren't your typical bookworm nerds. It's probably the most accepting of the Houses, because in all honesty, the world has many Lunas, and they would all find their place in Ravenclaw. Personally, I see it as the most diverse House, full of people who are passionate about wildly different things and have learned to live with that because they're Housemates, and that's what you do. Ravenclaws are not boring, not stuck-up, and not nerdy (at least not all of them). Ravenclaws are passionate, creative, and accepting, and I will not tolerate any more hate.

Hufflepuffs are stereotypically losers with no backbone who can't defend themselves and, while they're sweet, are stupid and fat and spend all their time eating. I don't understand how anyone ever got to this conclusion, considering our most prominent Hufflepuff is Nymphadora Tonks herself (and now freaking Newt Scamander?? How does this stereotype live on?). The most defining features of Hufflepuffs are loyalty and diligence. Loyalty to the point where they'll do anything, even if it's against their conscience, for their friends. Diligence to the point where they will work their butts off for a cause they believe in, even if it means sacrificing their free time, and even their health. Hufflepuffs are the ones who get things done. They believe in hard work. I don't get why everyone thinks they're lazy cinnamon buns. Have you ever seen a Hufflepuff whose friend has been slighted? They will work tirelessly until they're gotten revenge. Hufflepuffs are the ones who see what needs to be done, and instead of spending years planning and talking, they go out and do. Slytherins have ambition and Ravenclaws have passion, but Hufflepuffs have the drive to actually go through with what needs to be done. They're the ones who will truly change the world, because they'll work for the change.

Anyway, rant over. I normally try not to rant in this book, but honestly this is a topic that really annoys me. Please make sure, when you're characters from these two Houses (or any of the Houses) that you consider this! Don't think "Oh, this character is Ravenclaw, so I can make her the nerd." That's a stereotype across literature as a whole, and really cliche, and Merlin, is it lazy. Your characters from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff should be just as thought out and deep as any other character. Sure, use the House traits as general guides for their behavior and personality and mannerisms, but do you know how general those words are? Very! Hard work? Loyalty? I can name you any number of different people who fit that bill! For goodness sakes, Nazis were hard working and loyal to their country. Horrible example, given the current political climate in the US (let me take a moment and say I am grieved by what happened in Charlottesville and don't support Nazis in any way, shape, or form. This is a horrible evil that's infiltrating my country), but I think it serves to prove the point. These traits are such broad, vast categories that your characters can be literally anyone you want them to be.

Think of my main characters in Star of Gryffindor. (Spoilers ahead, read at your own peril) Yes, they are all Gryffindors, simply because I was new to the fandom and didn't want to put them all in my own House, but they are all very, very different. You have James, impulsive, quick to anger, probably your most stereotypical Gryffindor if people stopped to think about Gryffindor means for more than two seconds. Astra is also impulsive, and she's independent and not very trusting, especially of authority figures (even Mr. Potter. If you remember all those dreams in the second and third books...). They're both pretty typical, and similar, but yet they're different in ways, as well. It's pretty clear why they're both in Gryffindor, because they generally don't think or care about the consequences of their actions and don't let their fear rule them.

Then, you've got three completely different personalities. Albus is a little timid, kind-hearted, and very, very loyal. I've been told he belongs in Hufflepuff, but I disagree. I think that the Hat places you in a House based on what your value most, not what you are, necessarily. Because what you value will normally be what drives you more. And Albus, he values bravery very highly. He might be terrified, but he will do the right thing in spite of that (*cough* *cough* going down to the Chamber of Secrets with Astra to avenge Evie's murder). He goes to great lengths to protect his friends and his relationships with them (even suppressing romantic feelings for Astra for over a year at this point...? Who knows...). I use bravery as a general guide to his actions, working with the other traits I've given him. His type of bravery is protecting the people he loves at any cost.

Colette sometimes seem to be more blatantly brave, but a lot of that stems from a very great desire to look like she doesn't care. She's smart, calculating, and probably would have done well in Slytherin, but the Hat saw the core of her that she tries to hide, the part that cares, the part that would do anything for the people she loves. That's why she got mad when she was sorted into Gryffindor: she wanted to be in a House where she didn't have to care. To be brave, you have to care about something you're doing. Otherwise, there's no point to the bravery and it just becomes stupidity. Her type of bravery is doing the right thing even though she wants to pretend it doesn't matter to her, because she knows it's right.

Wren, to me, is the most obvious Gryffindor out of the five, but I've been told she doesn't belong in the House at all because of what happened in the first book. When she was eleven, and scared, and her parents were in danger and her own family were the ones using her. Maybe that's cowardice. I see a child being manipulated. I also see that same girl, two years later, escape. As Astra has pointed out, that took a lot of courage. She escaped her family, and instead of just running away, she let the Ministry take her. She expected to be locked in Azkaban for the rest of her life, because that was the penalty for using Unforgivable Curses, and she didn't know the story about her being under the Imperius Curse. Even after the trial, she faced the hatred and insults of everyone. Everyone. Even her old friends. Even her roommates. She faced all of that, on top of constant fear that her parents would somehow find a way to get her back, and she remained a decent human being. I don't know about you, but that seems pretty brave to me. She's a more difficult character for me to write, because while a lot of what she does is guided by bravery, she's also been affected by those two years with her family, with horrors I've never written about because it would be really difficult to do it justice. She survived horrible abuse and that leaves mental scars. Her type of bravery is overcoming that to be a good person.

~End of Spoilers~

The way I crafted my Gryffindors works for any of your characters from another House. The very basis of who they are is the House traits, but you can't stop their. Make each character unique, with different personalities and flaws. Think of how the very broad House traits work for your particular character. It should be different for each of them, as you see above. Even Astra and James aren't totally the same in how their bravery works. James is brave when he's angry. Astra is brave when she's noble. Everyone is going to be different, and it's up to you to decide what those traits mean for your characters.

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Wow, this book has almost 20k reads! That's so amazing! I'm so glad all of you have found this so helpful! Make sure to keep sending me topics and questions so I can keep churning out chapters!