the inspiration for this blog post comes largely from a conversation that happened earlier this week in the ML chat - for whatever reason, gryffindor-themed content tends to get the least engagement on social media. it seems that almost no one wants to be a gryffindor, because it’s the house that gets the most attention in the books and that somehow makes it… less cool?  

and i’m totally guilty of feeling this sentiment too - when I took the pottermore sorting hat quiz for the first time at the ripe age of 12, it sorted me into gryffindor and i was distraught. i wanted to be a ravenclaw, or even a slytherin (i’m not nice enough to be a hufflepuff so there's no use gunning for that one, i knew that then and it still holds now), but gryffindor just seemed so… common and unoriginal. it seemed like i was putting myself in a house just because that’s where the main characters of the series were - or at least, that’s what i thought people would think of me (why i was so concerned what people would think of my hogwarts house of all things is another thing entirely, but not relevant to this blog post). 

but over time, i’ve come to realise a couple of things. the first is this: i could be nothing but a gryffindor. yes, i have some traits of the other houses, but at the end of the day, the defining traits of a gryffindor (both the good and the bad) are also the traits that define me. and secondly, most of those traits are, uh, kinda super badass. being defined by your bravery, by your ability to do something even if it scares you, by the fact that you let yourself be guided by your intuition and what you know in your soul to be right - screw whether or not we’re overrated, that’s a pretty damn awesome way to be.

and the third realization, of course, is that it’s not just the traits that make the house, but also the people in the house. and the gryffindors of hpft are a small but mighty force of individuals who are so incredibly creative, wonderful, tenacious, dedicated, and (of course) courageous, and all of them are what really make me so, so incredibly proud to call myself a lion.