im not even a slytherin, im a ravenclaw, but i can’t tell you how much i hate house sterotypses
Don’t get me wrong, I love Harry Potter, but this is RIDICULOUS. No, you are not part of any of the houses. It is a work of FICTION. Next you’re gonna start saying yeah, I fought off a dementor last night. You effing weirdos.
THEY ARE NOT REAL!
we found the muggle guys
i’ll get the memory charm going
damnit, I thought we had a protection spell to keep them out.
the thing about the hogwarts houses is that most fans of this series literally grew up with it, and thus they were the first clues we had to establishing identities. associating yourself with a certain house made kids who were only just beginning to find their ways in the world feel like yes, they had a place they belonged, a place where the values they thought most important were cherished and upheld.
we’re all quite aware that harry potter is a work of fiction, and we’re more than aware that people cannot be boxed in to four separate houses. but now, the hogwarts houses are less a ‘oh harry potter is real here’s my wand’ and more a ‘these are my core values and how i perceive the world’. it’s a personality analysis, and it should take you years to figure out which house you identify with the most.
some people start out thinking they’re gryffindors or ravenclaws, and grow up and realize they’re actually slytherins and hufflepuffs. it prompts people to really look into their personalities and sense of self in order to figure out what is really important to them and how they look at reality. i thought i was a hufflepuff all through childhood, despite it never feeling right — now that i’m older, i’m much, much more comfortable with my identity as a ravenclaw.
it’s our way of keeping our love for the harry potter fandom strong while also developing a sense of community. all fandoms with factions do this: game of thrones, avatar: the last airbender, even homestuck to a certain extent.
as a last note: incidentally, when rowling developed the dementors as a plot device she used them as a physical manifestation of depression. that’s why chocolate works so well on them, and why it is quite possible for someone to have fought off a dementor last night.