Pottermore Hogwart's House Descriptions

Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Crest

House Descriptions from Pottermore! 

Hufflepuff

Congratulations! I’m Prefect Gabriel Truman, and I’m delighted to welcome you to HUFFLEPUFF HOUSE. Our emblem is the badger, an animal that is often underestimated, because it lives quietly until attacked, but which, when provoked, can fight off animals much larger than itself, including wolves. Our house colours are yellow and black, and our common room lies one floor below the ground, on the same corridor as the kitchens.

Now, there are a few things you should know about Hufflepuff house. First of all, let’s deal with a perennial myth about the place, which is that we’re the least clever house. WRONG. Hufflepuff is certainly the least boastful house, but we’ve produced just as many brilliant witches and wizards as any other. Want proof? Look up Grogan Stump, one of the most popular Ministers for Magic of all time. He was a Hufflepuff – as were the successful Ministers Artemesia Lufkin and Dugald McPhail. Then there’s the world authority on magical creatures, Newt Scamander; Bridget Wenlock, the famous thirteenth-century Arithmancer who first discovered the magical properties of the number seven, and Hengist of Woodcroft, who founded the all-wizarding village of Hogsmeade, which lies very near Hogwarts School. Hufflepuffs all.

So, as you can see, we’ve produced more than our fair share of powerful, brilliant and daring witches and wizards, but, just because we don’t shout about it, we don’t get the credit we deserve. Ravenclaws, in particular, assume that any outstanding achiever must have come from their house. I got into big trouble during my third year for duelling a Ravenclaw prefect who insisted that Bridget Wenlock had come from his house, not mine. I should have got a week of detentions, but Professor Sprout let me off with a warning and a box of coconut ice.

Hufflepuffs are trustworthy and loyal. We don’t shoot our mouths off, but cross us at your peril; like our emblem, the badger, we will protect ourselves, our friends and our families against all-comers. Nobody intimidates us.

However, it’s true that Hufflepuff is a bit lacking in one area. We’ve produced the fewest Dark wizards of any house in this school. Of course, you’d expect Slytherin to churn out evil-doers, seeing as they’ve never heard of fair play and prefer cheating over hard work any day, but even Gryffindor (the house we get on best with) has produced a few dodgy characters.
What else do you need to know? Oh yes, the entrance to the common room is concealed in a stack of large barrels in a nook on the right hand side of the kitchen corridor. Tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of ‘Helga Hufflepuff’, and the lid will swing open. We are the only house at Hogwarts that also has a repelling device for would-be intruders. If the wrong lid is tapped, or if the rhythm of the tapping is wrong, the illegal entrant is doused in vinegar.(Hufflepuff pours acid on people who get there knock wrong, dark stuff from them but they do live next to Slytherin!)

You will hear other houses boast of their security arrangements, but it so happens that in more than a thousand years, the Hufflepuff common room and dormitories have never been seen by outsiders. Like badgers, we know exactly how to lie low – and how to defend ourselves.

Once you’ve opened the barrel, crawl inside and along the passageway behind it, and you will emerge into the cosiest common room of them all. It is round and earthy and low-ceilinged; it always feels sunny, and its circular windows have a view of rippling grass and dandelions.

There is a lot of burnished copper about the place, and many plants, which either hang from the ceiling or sit on the windowsills. Our Head of house, Professor Pomona Sprout, is Head of Herbology, and she brings the most interesting specimens (some of which dance and talk) to decorate our room – one reason why Hufflepuffs are often very good at Herbology. Our overstuffed sofas and chairs are upholstered in yellow and black, and our dormitories are reached through round doors in the walls of the common room. Copper lamps cast a warm light over our four-posters, all of which are covered in patchwork quilts, and copper bed warmers hang on the walls, should you have cold feet.

Our house ghost is the friendliest of them all: the Fat Friar. You’ll recognise him easily enough; he’s plump and wears monk’s robes, and he’s very helpful if you get lost or are in any kind of trouble.

I think that’s nearly everything. I must say, I hope some of you are good Quidditch players. Hufflepuff hasn’t done as well as I’d like in the Quidditch tournament lately.

You should sleep comfortably. We’re protected from storms and wind down in our dormitories; we never have the disturbed nights those in the towers sometimes experience.

And once again: congratulations on becoming a member of the friendliest, most decent and most tenacious house of them all.

 Ravenclaw

I’m Prefect Robert Hilliard, and I’m delighted to welcome you to RAVENCLAW HOUSE. Our emblem is the eagle, which soars where others cannot climb; our house colors are blue and bronze, and our common room is found at the top of Ravenclaw Tower, behind a door with an enchanted knocker. The arched windows set into the walls of our circular common room look down at the school grounds: the lake, the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch and the Herbology gardens. No other house in the school has such stunning views.

Without wishing to boast, this is the house where the cleverest witches and wizards live. Our founder, Rowena Ravenclaw, prized learning above all else – and so do we. Unlike the other houses, who all have concealed entrances to their common rooms, we don’t need one. The door to our common room lies at the top of a tall, winding staircase. It has no handle, but an enchanted bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. When you rap on the door, this knocker will ask you a question, and if you can answer it correctly, you are allowed in. This simple barrier has kept out everyone but Ravenclaws for nearly a thousand years.

Some first-years are scared by having to answer the eagle’s questions, but don’t worry. Ravenclaws learn quickly, and you’ll soon enjoy the challenges the door sets. It’s not unusual to find twenty people standing outside the common room door, all trying to work out the answer to the day’s question together. This is a great way to meet fellow Ravenclaws from other years, and to learn from them – although it is a bit annoying if you’ve forgotten your Quidditch robes and need to get in and out in a hurry. In fact, I’d advise you to triple-check your bag for everything you need before leaving Ravenclaw Tower.

Another cool thing about Ravenclaw is that our people are the most individual – some might even call them eccentrics. But geniuses are often out of step with ordinary folk, and unlike some other houses we could mention, we think you’ve got the right to wear what you like, believe what you want, and say what you feel. We aren’t put off by people who march to a different tune; on the contrary, we value them!

Speaking of eccentrics, you’ll like our Head of house, Professor Filius Flitwick. People often underestimate him, because he’s really tiny (we think he’s part elf, but we’ve never been rude enough to ask) and he’s got a squeaky voice, but he’s the best and most knowledgeable Charms master alive in the world today. His office door is always open to any Ravenclaw with a problem, and if you’re in a real state he’ll get out these delicious little cupcakes he keeps in a tin in his desk drawer and make them do a little dance for you. In fact, it’s worth pretending you’re in a real state just to see them jive.

Ravenclaw house has an illustrious history. Most of the greatest wizarding inventors and innovators were in our house, including Perpetua Fancourt, the inventor of the lunascope, Laverne de Montmorency, a great pioneer of love potions, and Ignatia Wildsmith, the inventor of Floo powder. Famous Ravenclaw Ministers for Magic include Millicent Bagnold, who was in power on the night that Harry Potter survived the Dark Lord’s curse, and defended the wizarding celebrations all over Britain with the words, ‘I assert our inalienable right to party. There was also Minister Lorcan McLaird, who was a quite brilliant wizard, but preferred to communicate by puffing smoke out of the end of his wand. Well, I did say we produce eccentrics. In fact, we are also the house that gave the wizarding world Uric the Oddball, who used a jellyfish for a hat. He’s the punch line of a lot of wizarding jokes.

As for our relationship with the other three houses: well, you’ve probably heard about the Slytherins. They’re not all bad, but you’d do well to be on your guard until you know them well. They’ve got a long house tradition of doing whatever it takes to win – so watch out, especially in Quidditch matches and exams.

The Gryffindor's are OK. If I had a criticism, I’d say 

Gryffindor's tend to be show-offs. They’re also much less

tolerant than we are of people who are different; in fact,

they've been known to make jokes about Ravenclaws who 

have developed an interest in levitation, or the possible 

magical uses of troll boogies, or ovomancy, which (as you 

probably know) is a method of divination using eggs.

 Gryffindor's haven’t got our intellectual curiosity, whereas

 we've got no problem if you want to spend your days and

 nights cracking eggs in a corner of the common room and

 writing down your predictions according to the way the yolks

 fall. In fact, you’ll probably find a few people to help you.

(Gryffindor's aren't intellectual, curios or tolerant! Just ask a 

Slytherin they would say the same about them, scary!)

As for the Hufflepuffs, well, nobody could say they’re not nice people. In fact, they’re some of the nicest people in the school. Let’s just say you needn’t worry too much about them when it comes to competition at exam time.

I think that’s nearly everything. Oh yes, our house ghost is the Gray Lady. The rest of the school thinks she never speaks, but she’ll talk to Ravenclaws. She’s particularly useful if you’re lost, or you’ve mislaid something.

I’m sure you’ll have a good night. Our dormitories are in turrets off the main tower; our four-poster beds are covered in sky blue silk eiderdowns and the sound of the wind whistling around the windows is very relaxing.

And once again: well done on becoming a member of the cleverest, quirkiest and most interesting house at Hogwarts.

Slytherin

Congratulations! I’m Prefect Gemma Farley, and I’m delighted to welcome you to SLYTHERIN HOUSE. Our emblem is the serpent, the wisest of creatures; our house colours are emerald green and silver, and our common room lies behind a concealed entrance down in the dungeons. As you’ll see, its windows look out into the depths of the Hogwarts lake. We often see the giant squid swooshing by – and sometimes more interesting creatures. We like to feel that our hangout has the aura of a mysterious, underwater shipwreck.

Now, there are a few things you should know about Slytherin – and a few you should forget.

Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths. You might have heard rumours about Slytherin house – that we’re all into the Dark Arts, and will only talk to you if your great-grandfather was a famous wizard, and rubbish like that. Well, you don’t want to believe everything you hear from competing houses. I’m not denying that we’ve produced our share of Dark wizards, but so have the other three houses – they just don’t like admitting it. And yes, we have traditionally tended to take students who come from long lines of witches and wizards, but nowadays you’ll find plenty of people in Slytherin house who have at least one Muggle parent.

Here’s a little-known fact that the other three houses don’t bring up much: Merlin was a Slytherin. Yes, Merlin himself, the most famous wizard in history! He learned all he knew in this very house! Do you want to follow in the footsteps of Merlin? Or would you rather sit at the old desk of that illustrious ex-Hufflepuff, Eglantine Puffett, inventor of the Self-Soaping Dishcloth?
I didn’t think so.

But that’s enough about what we’re not. Let’s talk about what we are, which is the coolest and edgiest house in this school. We play to win, because we care about the honour and traditions of Slytherin..

We also get respect from our fellow students. Yes, some of that respect might be tinged with fear, because of our Dark reputation, but you know what? It can be fun, having a reputation for walking on the wild side. Chuck out a few hints that you’ve got access to a whole library of curses, and see whether anyone feels like nicking your pencil case.

But we’re not bad people. We’re like our emblem, the snake: sleek, powerful, and frequently misunderstood.

For instance, we Slytherins look after our own – which is more than you can say for Ravenclaw. Apart from being the biggest bunch of swots you ever met, Ravenclaws are famous for clambering over each other to get good marks, whereas we Slytherins are brothers. The corridors of Hogwarts can throw up surprises for the unwary, and you’ll be glad you’ve got the Serpents on your side as you move around the school. As far as we’re concerned, once you’ve become a snake, you’re one of ours – one of the elite.

Because you know what Salazar Slytherin looked for in his chosen students? The seeds of greatness. You’ve been chosen by this house because you’ve got the potential to be great, in the true sense of the word. All right, you might see a couple of people hanging around the common room whom you might not think are destined for anything special. Well, keep that to yourself. If the Sorting Hat put them in here, there’s something great about them, and don’t you forget it.

Gryffindor

Congratulations! I’m Prefect Percy Weasley, and I’m delighted to welcome you to GRYFFINDOR HOUSE. Our emblem is the lion, the bravest of all creatures; our house colors are scarlet and gold, and our common room lies up in Gryffindor Tower.

This is, quite simply, the best house at Hogwarts. It’s where the bravest and boldest end up – for instance: Albus Dumbledore! Yes, Dumbledore himself, the greatest wizard of our time, was a Gryffindor! If that’s not enough for you, I don’t know what is.

I won’t keep you long, as all you need to do to find out more about your house is to follow Harry Potter and his friends as I lead them up to their dormitories. Enjoy your time at Hogwarts – but how could you fail to? You’ve become part of the best house in the school.

Gryffindor do talk a lot but then again we know them so well! Long live Slytherin! 

Pottermore Book 2 Chamber of Secrets Pure-blood explained

Here at last we have Pottermore Information on the History and Term Pure blood! 

Personally I think a lot of this information is some what contradictory to the how the pure blood ideology appear's in Chamber of Secrets. But I always through that J.K.Rowling was holding information back in Chamber of Secrets like what Tom Riddles Diary really was e.g a Horcrux and the real purpose of the Chamber of Secrets complete with Basilisk is Salazar Slytherin 'sInternal Hogwart's security system or defence system after he left or was it shoved out by Godric Gryffindor??

The term 'pure-blood' refers to a family or individual without Muggle 

(non-magic) blood. The concept is generally associated with Salazar

 Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft

 and Wizardry, whose aversion to teaching anybody of Muggle

 parentage eventually led to a breach with his three fellow founders,

 and his resignation from the school.

Slytherin's discrimination on the basis of parentage was considered an

 unusual and misguided view by the majority of wizards at the time.

 Contemporary literature suggests that Muggle-borns were not only

 accepted, but often considered to be particularly gifted. They went by

 the affectionate name of 'Magbobs' (there has been much debate

 about the origin of the term, but it seems most likely to be that in such

 a case, magic 'bobbed up' out of nowhere).

Magical opinion underwent something of a shift after the International

 Statute of Secrecy became effective in 1692, when the magical

 community went into voluntary hiding following persecution by

 Muggles. This was a traumatic time for witches and wizards, and

 marriages with Muggles dropped to their lowest level ever known,

 mainly because of fears that intermarriage would lead inevitably to

 discovery, and, consequently, to a serious infraction of wizarding law.*

Under such conditions of uncertainty, fear and resentment, the pure-

blood doctrine began to gain followers. As a general rule, those who 

adopted it were also those who had most strenuously opposed the

 International Statute of Secrecy, advocating instead outright war on

 the Muggles. Increasing numbers of wizards now preached that

 marriage with a Muggle did not merely risk a possible breach of the

 new Statute, but that it was shameful, unnatural and would lead to

 'contamination' of magical blood.**

As Muggle/wizard marriage had been common for centuries, those

 now self-describing as pure-bloods were unlikely to have any higher 

proportion of wizarding ancestors than those who did not. To call

 oneself a pure-blood was more accurately a declaration of political or

 social intent ('I will not marry a Muggle and I consider Muggle/wizard

 marriage reprehensible') than a statement of biological fact.

Several works of dubious scholarship, published around the early

 eighteenth century and drawing partly on the writings of Salazar

 Slytherin himself, make reference to supposed indicators of pure-

blood status, aside from the family tree. The most commonly cited 

signs were: onset of magical ability before the age of three, early 

(before aged seven) prowess on a broomstick, dislike or fear of pigs 

and those who tend them (the pig is often considered a particularly

 non-magical animal and is notoriously difficult to charm), resistance

 to common childhood illnesses, outstanding physical attractiveness

 and an aversion to Muggles observable even in the pure-blood baby,

 which supposedly shows signs of fear and disgust in their presence.

Successive studies produced by the Department of Mysteries have

 proven that these supposed hallmarks of pure-blood status have no

 basis in fact. Nevertheless, many pure-bloods continue to cite them as

 evidence of their own higher status within the wizarding community.

In the early 1930s, a 'Pure-Blood Directory' was published

 anonymously in Britain, which listed the twenty-eight truly pure-blood

 families, as judged by the unknown authority who had written the

 book***, with 'the aim of helping such families maintain the purity of

 their bloodlines'. The so-called 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' comprised the

 families of:

• Abbott

• Avery

• Black

• Bulstrode

• Burke

• Carrow

• Crouch

• Fawley

• Flint

• Gaunt

• Greengrass

• Lestrange

• Longbottom

• Macmillan

• Malfoy

• Nott

• Ollivander

• Parkinson

• Prewett

• Rosier

• Rowle

• Selwyn

• Shacklebolt

• Shafiq

• Slughorn

• Travers

• Weasley

• Yaxley

(Also as to the Pureblood family list of the sacred 28 families. Where? Oh Where? Are the Potter family, as James Potter is from a Pureblood line??? Perhaps not eh?? Oddly am a glad that the Gaunt made it as they don't appear on the Black family tree and everyone else does! )

Black Family Tree with every surname on it apart from Gaunt!

Love this Wizards of Britain Family Tree makes my heart warm as everyone is included! 

A minority of these families publicly deplored their inclusion on the

 list, declaring that their ancestors certainly included Muggles, a fact

 of which they were not ashamed. 

Most vocally indignant was the numerous Weasley

 family, which, in spite of its connections with

 almost every old wizarding family in Britain, was proud of its

 ancestral ties to many interesting Muggles. 

Their protests earned these families

 the opprobrium of advocates of the pure-blood doctrine, and the

 epithet 'blood traitor'. Meanwhile, a larger number of families were

 protesting that they were not on the pure-blood list.

* Over subsequent decades and centuries, the number of mixed

 marriages began to climb again until the healthy levels of today, and

 this has not led to widespread discovery of the hidden magical

 community. Professor Mordicus Egg, author of The Philosophy of the

 Mundane: Why the Muggles Prefer Not to Know, points out that Muggles in love

 generally do not betray their husbands or wives, and Muggles who fall

 out of love are jeered at by their own community when they assert that

 their estranged partner is a witch or wizard.

** In fact, the reverse appears to be true. Where families adhered

 consistently to the practice of marrying within a very small group of

 fellow witches and wizards, mental and physical instability and

 weakness seems to result.

*** Widely believed to be Cantankerus Nott.

Information take from Pottermore, Book 2, Chamber of  Secrets, in chapter 7

Mudbloods and Murmurs! 

Fifty Shades of Twilight: Part 2.0 Classic/ Modern Literature & Others Influences

Hello, and welcome to Part 2.0 of my Fifty Shades of Twilight blogs about the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy .
In the table below I have gathered together stories, novels, TV shows & films all which have influenced Fifty Shades of Grey. I know that there are more themes for each story than I have included. What has surprised me the most about this table was the shared themes between each story & how many themes Fifty Shades shares with them, especially classic literature.  I will do an other post going to more detail about this next time, enjoy the table.

Media	Title	Creator	Leading Lady	Leading Men	Themes
Book	Jane Eyre	Charlotte Bronte	Jane Eyre	Mr Edward Rochester St John	Horror/ Mystery/Thriller Supernatural Self-Discovery Journey Romance Gothic
Book	Dracula	Bram Stoker	Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray Lucy Westenra	Jonathan Harker Count Dracula Dr. John Seward  Quincey Morris Hon. Arthur Holmwood  Professor Abraham Van Helsing	Horror/ Mystery/Thriller Supernatural Self-Discovery Journey Romance Gothic
Book	The Strange Case of Mr Jekyll and Mr Hyde	Robert Louis Stevenson	Young Girl  Maid	Dr Henry Jekyll Mr Hyde	Horror/ Mystery/Thriller Supernatural Self-Discovery Journey Gothic
Book	Frankenstein	Mary Shelley	Elizabeth Lavenza	Dr. Frankenstein The Monster	Horror/ Mystery/Thriller Supernatural Self-Discovery Journey Gothic
Book	Bridget Jones's Diary	Helen Fielding	Bridget Jones	Mark Darcy  Daniel Cleaver	Romance Social commentary Self-Discovery Journey Relationships Drama
Book	Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy	E.L James	Anastasia Steele	Christian Grey Jose Rodriquez	Erotica /Romance Mystery/Horror/Thriller Self-Discovery Journey
Book	Wuthering Heights	Emily Bronte	Cathy	Heathcliff	Horror/Thriller/Mystery Romance Supernatural Revenge Gothic
Book	Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries True blood	Charlaine Harris	Sookie Stackhouse	Vampire Bill Eric Viking Northman	Horror/Thriller/Mystery  Supernatural Romance Tolerance
Book	Pride and Prejudice	Jane Austen	Elizabeth Bennett	Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy Mr Wickham	Romance Drama Social Commentary Self-Discovery Journey
Book	Great Expectations	Charles Dickens	Pip	Estella	Romance Drama Social Commentary Thriller/Mystery/Horror Revenge Self-  Discovery Journey Victorian culture
Book	Rebecca	Daphne Du Maurier	Second wife Rebecca	Max de winter	Romance Horror/Thriller/Mystery Relationships
Book	Twilight  Saga	Stephenie Meyer	Isabella Swan	Edward Cullen Jacob Black	Romance Horror/Thriller/ Mystery Teenage Supernatural Christian themes
Play	Romeo and Juliet	William Shakespeare	Juliet	Romeo	Teenage Romance Revenge Tragedy
Book	Gone with the wind	Margaret Mitchell	Scarlett O’Hara	Rhett Butler	Romance War Social Commentary Tragedy
Book	Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented	Thomas Hardy	Tess Durbeyfield	Angel Claire Alec  Stoke	Tragedy Romance Social Commentary Christian/Pagan themes
Book	The Hunger Games	Suzanne Collins	Katniss Everdeen	Peeta Mellark Gale Hawthorn	Greek Myths Roman culture Romance Drama War Social Commentary Tragedy Horror/Thriller/Mystery Christian themes Fantasy Science- fiction
Book	Beauty and the Beast La Belle et la Bête	Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve	Belle	The Beast	Fairy tale Drama Romance
Book	Katherine	Anya Seton	Katherine  de Roet	John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster	Medieval Knights Mystery Romance Drama
Film	Pretty Women	J.F. Lawton.	Vivian Ward	Edward Lewis	Romance Social Commentary Fairytale
TV Show	Doctor Who	Steven Moffet Russell T Davies	Rose Taylor River Song	The Doctor	Fantasy Science- fiction Romance Drama Horror/Thriller/Mystery
TV Show	Sherlock	Steven Moffet	The Women Irene Adler	Sherlock Holmes	Horror/Thriller/Mystery Romance Drama Crime