Hogwarts Elite? Heck, yeah!
The fun thing about being so new to LJ is that I'm constantly stumbling upon new people, new comms, and altogether mindblowing new content. Just now, I followed a link in
furiosity 's fics (a really awesome fic, I might add!) to hogwarts_elite , which turns out to be a pretty cool comm. Hey. Add me in, I say!
But (and there's always a catch, isn't there?) they don't accept LJs which are less than a month old, which means I have... let's see... until September 3rd to go before I'm eligible. BOOOOOO. But, consoling myself with the adage that good things come to those who wait, I will no doubt find the will to survive.
In the meantime, I have the application form filled out and quite ready, all polished and gleaming.
||IN ESSENCE UNITED||
01. Who is your favorite character in the Harry Potter series?
Harry. Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry.
And just to make it a complete seven, Harry.
He's one of the most believable, realistic, well-developed and likeable heroic literary characters I've ever come across. He's two steps ahead of the standard boy hero: he grows up in front of our eyes into someone we truly respect, and he does it without climbing onto the Fantasy Hero Pedestal (Of Doom) where no mere human thirst or petty jealousy can assail the pure-white heart of Our Hero. This is so rare. Most literary main characters have that unattainable quality - without even realising it we suspend our disbelief long enough to believe that such perfect people exist. But Harry is as real as real can be: he's lazy, he swears, he gets jealous, he makes huge mistakes, he's sometimes cocky, he's a bit stupid, too... All these qualities serve to temper his adorable (and admirable) wholesome goodness. Harry makes Huckleberry Finn look cutesy, Holden Caulfield phony and Frodo Baggins unbearably sappy. (And BTW- I love all three of these characters and books, but I'm just saying, Harry's fantastic.)
02. Who is your least favorite character in the series?
Molly Weasley.
She might seem like a strange choice when there are outright villains around - Umbridge, anyone? - but I *like* villains, because that's who they are. What really gets me is that Molly's supposed to be one of the good guys. The author and the text make it clear that she is to be admired, that she is an ideal mother, an ideal woman even, who for all her faults is just simply so kickass that she commands love and respect. I could not disagree more.
Molly Weasley is a good wife, a marginally competent mother and a terrible person. If she joined the Muggle workforce, she'd be the manager who keeps getting promoted for "bottomline" reasons even though nobody can really stand her. I find her judgemental, bossy, overbearing and arrogant. With her scheming, cunning ways and her propensity for using emotional blackmail, I'm surprised she wasn't in Slytherin (JKR's Slytherin, of course, not fandom's).
Molly manages to keep all her children fed and clothed and in line (for most part), but that's the end of her mothering ability. She plays blatant favourites with her children, fawning sickeningly over Percy and treating the twins abominably right to the very end. She belittles them constantly. When she says "That's everyone in the family", we know she means it, because it's not something she says in anger to hurt the twins, but in a moment of pure, unconscious joy. She truly isn't thinking of them - so much so that she doesn't even notice George's protest at this terrible sentiment. Her ideas about their joke shop seems to make a marvellous turnaround, but only when it's clear they are successful. She accepts expensive jewellery bought with money from the jokeshop; anybody but Molly would have had the decency to at least look abashed at that point, but she's just giddy. Even in the climactic Battle of Hogwarts, when Percy finally makes his apology and Fred moves forward to welcome him, he's shoved aside by Molly in her hurry to reach her favourite, prodigal son... How could she?!
And it's not just the twins either: she's horrible to Hermione because of some rumour she read in a gossip rag. The Gospel According to Molly also says if innocent people end up spending thirteen years in Azkaban, it's their own damned fault. Therefore, they lose all parenting rights to any godsons they may happen to have.
The HBP situation with Fleur, at least, Molly got as good as she gave, so I'm not complaining. :D The two are SO well-matched, I wish there'd been more scenes of their adversarial relationship before everything became hunky-dory.
I don't think Molly's "love for her family" is a good excuse for the way she behaves. She has a lot in common with Petunia Dursley, really, and I can't understand why one of these women is "good" and the other "bad".
Also, the way Molly was given her moment of battle glory irritated me: for a woman who can't even handle a simple Boggart to kill Bellatrix Lestrange was too much.
I admit I'm bringing personal baggage into this assessment of her: both my parents were Mollys and not a day goes by when I don't give thanks to the universe I don't have to live with them any more. Reading Molly's scenes makes me angry; it brings out the worst in me. I don't like the person I become when I'm thinking about her, so I'll stop now. (What, over-involved with fictional characters? Me? Surely you jest!)
03. If you could spend a day as one of the Harry Potter characters, who would you choose?
Voldemort. Voldemort is a deliciously evil villain (as opposed to an OMG-SCARY-BATSHIT villain like Umbridge), and I would love to live in his head for a day. It's all very well for Dumbledore and Harry to theorise about what goes on there, but I think there's more to this guy. So, okay, he wants to live forever. Then what? What does he plan to do during forever? Where did he get this fear of death from anyway? Was it something that happened in the orphanage, or is it just part of him? What did he do after disappearing from Borgin and Burkes'? What sorts of Dark Magic does he know, and where did he learn it all?
What does it feel like to have your soul in eight pieces?
04. What would you change about the series?
This might seem like a weird pet peeve, but I'd change the way wizarding history is treated in the books. As it stands now, I have no idea how the wizarding world ended up this way, with its curious mixture of 19th century-ness and modern culture... The passing explanations Jo gives us are jokes rather than proper landmark events. How did the wizarding world change because of the founding of Hogwarts - or, for that matter, because of Dumbledore in 1945 and Harry in 1998? What are magical societies like outside of the UK? What sort of culture takes a creature with a name like Ug the Unclean seriously? :D Meesa wants to know!
If JKR had thought deeply about history and causality and Wizarding society, it would also fix a lot of other naggling concerns I have, the biggest being the issue of OMG ALL the Slytherins of Harry's generation are EVIL. I kept hoping we'd see Slytherin DA members in the final book, or *something* to redeem the House if not the individual House members... but Jo seemed to have other plans. :P The way things stand in that universe, and especially after Dumbledore's pronouncement ("Perhaps we sort too soon"), I really don't understand why they don't simply expel Slytherins straight off... the Sorting Hat sure makes it easy to identify the evil kids! I mean, I know it's better to let TEN guilty go free rather than condemn one innocent, but how about a HUNDRED guilty? How about a thousand? That seems to be the proportion of "bad" Slytherins to "good".
05. What traits and characteristics do you think define the true qualities of each of the four houses?
There's a significant difference between the way the Houses are presented in the books, and the way they're percieved by us fans (with the possible exception of Gryffindor). We read our own interpretations and speculations into canon, and even where there may not be hard textual evidence to support our views, I don't think our readings are invalid. In general I'm a canon-whore: fics that make Snape into a fluffy bunny, or Hermione into a tarted-up bombshell, irritate me. But when it comes to the Houses and their characteristics, canon is vague - I believe it's intentionally vague. So in my analysis of House qualities you'll see a lot of non-canon-supported theorising. After all, if I just stuck to canon on this one, I'd have no more than two or three words to say about some of the Houses.
Ravenclaw: A love of learning, the belief that knowledge is not just power, but an end in itself. Endless curiosity. A philosophical bent of mind. Their doorknocker (in DH) is made of awesome! I think many of the main characters have a lot of Claw in them: Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin, Voldemort, Hermione... I'm not just talking about these characters' obvious intelligence, but their whole approach to knowledge, really. They'd never prefer not to know something - Harry, on the other hand, often wishes precisely that. Voldemort may well ignore certain branches of learning because he considers them beneath him, but that's just the Slytherin in him (overconfidence... arrogance) beating out his inner Ravenclaw thirst for knowledge.
Slytherin: Survival, and if possible, prosperous survival. Slytherin, of all the Houses, most closely resembles nature untamed. Slytherin is about using all the gifts man has - brains, brawn, power, society, knowledge - to live the most fulfilling and satisfying life possible. Some canon Slytherins' idea of a fulfilling and satisfying life is immature, inelegant and shallow. But a Slytherin who understands what truly makes human beings happy would be a force to reckon with.
Gryffindor: Bravery - in the Indian caste system, Gryffindors would be Kshatriyas, the ruling caste whose duty it is to protect civilians. Standing up for the defenceless is what Gryffindors do; but apart from a basic good guys vs bad guys segregation, Gryffindors don't care about ideological differences. They'll stand up for a Seamus Finnegan just as easily as for a Percy Weasley or a Draco Malfoy or a Colin Creevey. They're selfless and courageous and they'd make excellent police officers.
Hufflepuff: The idealists. Hufflepuffs' dream is a fair world where success follows reliably on hard work's heels, friends are always loyal, opportunities are equal, and every person is honourable. I think Hufflepuffs are most likely to lean left politically, maybe even far left. This is also the house of the activist - I see Hufflepuffs caring so deeply about truth and fairness that they will fight for the idea. They don't have Gryffindor's blindness to ideologies; they are capable of standing against questionable ideas that come from the "good guys", too. I've always thought Hermione's SPEW was a very Hufflepuff concept.
06. Describe the canon house qualities that you feel accurately reflect you. Please try to include traits from each of the four houses.
From Gryffindor, the house of courage, selflessness and impulsiveness, I get almost nothing. Whether I choose to protect someone is entirely a function of how much I have to lose by protecting them, and how much I love them - it's a calculation, not an impulse that makes the choice easy. I'll run away at the threat of a fight - or at least, try to talk my opponent into a debate rather than a physical combat.
My Ravenclaw side gives me really good reasoning abilities. I can talk circles around anyone, my logic is impeccable, and knowledge is my only worship. I'm curious about anything and everything, my reading tastes reflect that. I can't remember the last time I went 24 hours without reading.
I am an activist at heart, which would make me comfortable in my idea of Hufflepuff, though not the popular conception of what that House is. I am not always kind and caring, but I volunteer for a whole bunch of causes (by writing letters, op-eds, etc.), because the issues move me and compel me to take action. My biggest frustrations come from what I see as unfairness in life: non-equal opportunities, restrictive social pressures, discrimination, lack of freedom.
However, I wouldn't put myself at risk to speak up for these causes - I still don't have the guts to tell my inlaws where to stick their sexist ideals of what their daughter-in-law should be like. Also, I think I'd be happy with extreme unfairness if it guaranteed the greatest number of people the greatest chances for a happy life. So I think my natural home is in Slytherin. I tend to take things as they are, and my preferred method of causing change is to beat the system from within - if I can and if I don't have to risk too much to do it. I sometimes fail to appreciate the inherent value of certain things like compassion and sacrifice. I am selfish, and though I am fiercely ethical, it's probably only because my dream is to be (or remain) an ethical person... not because I have some idealistic feeling that all people should be "good".
07. Which house do you feel least affinity to?
Gryffindor. I've never understood what makes them tick. Live to fight another day, is my motto - but Gryffindors, who I think would make great soldiers, police officers, fire fighters and civil defence workers, are the opposite. Ironically, it's because I am so unlike Gryffindors that I admire them, I think. I would never in a million years be self-sacrificing, but those who are that way command my respect.
||MIRROR OF ERISED||
08. What do you wish to accomplish in life?
To live well: experience as much as I can, travel as far as my budget allows, communicate as much as I have learned, and DO as many different things as possible in one lifetime. I derive the greatest pleasure from communicating what I have learned (which is why I am a writer), and the rest of my goals are a means to that end.
09. Describe exactly what you would see in the Mirror of Erised. (This is not the same question as #09.)
I'm writing behind a small but beautiful mahogany desk in a room filled with books. At least a couple of shelves feature my books. Behind me is an enormous window that opens to a balcony overlooking the busiest part of town in a big city that's somehow my hometown in India, but way more posh and filled with people who don't think a woman isn't really a person. My husband is working at the desk perpendicular to mine, doing his programming thang as usual, and there's a window in front of him (that's the way he likes it) because ours is a cool corner apartment. (Hypothetical kids may exist, but they're not real in my life yet so they're not concrete in the Mirror.) A gigantic barrel of Lindt truffles in the far corner, which I am steadily emptying (munch munch). Oh, and I'm gorgeous: at least six inches taller than I am now (5 ft even, thx), killer legs, and just the right amount of slender. :D What, this is MY Mirror dream!
10. What makes a person deserving of your respect?
Integrity - say what you mean, mean what you say. A healthy curiosity about life, because there's nothing duller than people who think they know everything they need to. Plus a basic level of intelligence, book-smarts, street-smarts and sense of humour are necessary as well. This sounds like a lot to ask, but I'm only talking basic levels here, really. Have you ever tried talking to a person who, for example, thought reading one book a year was "enough" or considered the entire F/SF genre "shallow"? That's what I'm saying will lead to a spontaneous leakage of respect from me.
11. Do you believe in fate or free will?
Ooooh, good question. But I don't know enough about either to have a belief.
From what I know of physics, fate is a plausible concept. If time is a dimension just like space, then just because WE are trapped in just one direction of time, it doesn't mean time itself experiences such limits. So technically, if there were aliens - say, sixteen-eyed turquoise bunnies from NGC 4144 - who don't experience time the way we do, they could have "foreknowledge" of what is "going to happen" to us, because they could see all of time "at once" the way WE see all directions of space at once. Does that mean everything is fated? Then again, there's quantum uncertainty, which, if I understand it correctly (HAR DE HAR HAR, that's likely!), which abhors such certitudes as fate, and really, who knows if time IS a full dimension like space where movement is possible in more than one direction? Do all dimensions HAVE to have two directions? Plz to be telling where is that rule written.
Then there's free will, which is another problematic idea because nobody knows what exactly it is, though we all "know what it means". I, for one, don't think there is a floating, ethereal "will" somewhere in our minds, souls or brains that is independent of our body. I think our choices are a product of electricity and chemistry - neurons and hormones. But then again, we know so little about the workings of our brains that I may be wrong. Who knows?
I would love to find out. Both fate and free will seem absurd, both seem plausible, and I just don't know enough to decide between them. I don't even know if the two ideas are mutually exclusive.
12. Do you consider yourself a leader or a follower? Please provide examples if applicable.
Meh, interview question. The truth? Neither. I'm the kid in kindergarten that went home with a note saying "does not play well with others", except in my case it didn't mean I'd just bit someone's ear or whatever, but that I just didn't want to play with other people. I'm a natural introvert. I don't like to lead OR follow. I'm happy enough in my own corner doing my own thing. If you want to come over to my corner and share my activity, I'll be glad, because it does get a bit lonely sometimes. But don't expect to be led or followed.
13. What's one thing you would do if you knew you would suffer no consequences from it?
Rob a bank. Become a multi-millionaire without having to pay the taxes. Be set for life. Man, this is a frequent daydream. You think I'm kidding, but I'm totally not.
14. What would you do if you had a time turner?
Win the lottery! But if you want a different answer from the one above, I'd tell young-me start writing from a much younger age. I only began writing in earnest about four years ago, though I had always drabbled a bit writing weird stories and little poems since I was 7. I wish I could go back to my kid-self and tell her: it's okay to write! It's not a waste of time! Some people even make entire careers out of writing - and you can, too. And pssst: computer engineering is NOT for you, don't ever take that at university.
15. What do you think are your top 5 positive characteristics?
I'm excellent at logical argument. Seriously, I'm an international tertiary-level debating champ. Boo yah!
I'm also happy. Even when I'm pissed off, I'll soon begin to entertain myself with a melodramatic, cathartic rant, which puts me in a good mood. My bad moods last a maximum of 10 minutes, flat.
I have a can-do attitude. I'm proactive, I never wait around for things to fix themselves, and I have a rather stupid level of faith in the general solveability of life's problems. Sometimes I think I have too much perspective, but how can that be a bad thing?
I'm talented at writing and a couple of other things. I'm glad of this, because otherwise I'd never be able to respect myself.
I'm fiercely independent. I've done a lot of stuff on my own, when the chips were down and it seemed like the whole world was set against me - and I LOVED every minute of it. Now I never want to go back to being bossed around by people like I was in my teenage years.
16. What do you think are your top 5 negative characteristics?
I am not meticulous. If I'm cleaning, I simply can't SEE a lot of the dirt my husband can. If I'm programming, I end up putting in a million bugs. If I'm writing, I paint my stories in broad strokes and have to go back to put in the details.
I am rather unforgiving, especially if I feel I have been personally wronged. Grudges don't rule my life - 99.99% of the time they're not even on my mind - but I do hold on to them for years and years.
I'm lazy. Self explanatory.
I was astoundingly stupid at academic work in college. The one time in my life when academic grades really mattered was the one time I didn't ace 'em all. :(
I'm annoyingly argumentative. Always up for a debate, and it drives some people up the wall. I've learned never to START a debate... only if someone is truly willing to have a nice, invigorating argument do I get involved these days. :)
||HOGWARTS EXPRESS||
17. Name: Anita Ray
18. Age: 25
19. How did you find out about Hogwarts Elite? Link from one of furiosity 's fics.
20. Optional: Link us to where you have promoted this community in your personal journal to earn your future house five points. Here you go: TA DAAA.
Had fun filling it out. I got to articulate my thoughts on a number of thoughts on HP that have only existed as free-floating gunk in my head until now.
So. Does anybody know anything about this comm? Is it famous? What're the people like there? I thought it was really worth joining from that one cursory look I took... what say you LJ veterans?
furiosity 's fics (a really awesome fic, I might add!) to hogwarts_elite , which turns out to be a pretty cool comm. Hey. Add me in, I say!
But (and there's always a catch, isn't there?) they don't accept LJs which are less than a month old, which means I have... let's see... until September 3rd to go before I'm eligible. BOOOOOO. But, consoling myself with the adage that good things come to those who wait, I will no doubt find the will to survive.
In the meantime, I have the application form filled out and quite ready, all polished and gleaming.
||IN ESSENCE UNITED||
01. Who is your favorite character in the Harry Potter series?
Harry. Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry.
And just to make it a complete seven, Harry.
He's one of the most believable, realistic, well-developed and likeable heroic literary characters I've ever come across. He's two steps ahead of the standard boy hero: he grows up in front of our eyes into someone we truly respect, and he does it without climbing onto the Fantasy Hero Pedestal (Of Doom) where no mere human thirst or petty jealousy can assail the pure-white heart of Our Hero. This is so rare. Most literary main characters have that unattainable quality - without even realising it we suspend our disbelief long enough to believe that such perfect people exist. But Harry is as real as real can be: he's lazy, he swears, he gets jealous, he makes huge mistakes, he's sometimes cocky, he's a bit stupid, too... All these qualities serve to temper his adorable (and admirable) wholesome goodness. Harry makes Huckleberry Finn look cutesy, Holden Caulfield phony and Frodo Baggins unbearably sappy. (And BTW- I love all three of these characters and books, but I'm just saying, Harry's fantastic.)
02. Who is your least favorite character in the series?
Molly Weasley.
She might seem like a strange choice when there are outright villains around - Umbridge, anyone? - but I *like* villains, because that's who they are. What really gets me is that Molly's supposed to be one of the good guys. The author and the text make it clear that she is to be admired, that she is an ideal mother, an ideal woman even, who for all her faults is just simply so kickass that she commands love and respect. I could not disagree more.
Molly Weasley is a good wife, a marginally competent mother and a terrible person. If she joined the Muggle workforce, she'd be the manager who keeps getting promoted for "bottomline" reasons even though nobody can really stand her. I find her judgemental, bossy, overbearing and arrogant. With her scheming, cunning ways and her propensity for using emotional blackmail, I'm surprised she wasn't in Slytherin (JKR's Slytherin, of course, not fandom's).
Molly manages to keep all her children fed and clothed and in line (for most part), but that's the end of her mothering ability. She plays blatant favourites with her children, fawning sickeningly over Percy and treating the twins abominably right to the very end. She belittles them constantly. When she says "That's everyone in the family", we know she means it, because it's not something she says in anger to hurt the twins, but in a moment of pure, unconscious joy. She truly isn't thinking of them - so much so that she doesn't even notice George's protest at this terrible sentiment. Her ideas about their joke shop seems to make a marvellous turnaround, but only when it's clear they are successful. She accepts expensive jewellery bought with money from the jokeshop; anybody but Molly would have had the decency to at least look abashed at that point, but she's just giddy. Even in the climactic Battle of Hogwarts, when Percy finally makes his apology and Fred moves forward to welcome him, he's shoved aside by Molly in her hurry to reach her favourite, prodigal son... How could she?!
And it's not just the twins either: she's horrible to Hermione because of some rumour she read in a gossip rag. The Gospel According to Molly also says if innocent people end up spending thirteen years in Azkaban, it's their own damned fault. Therefore, they lose all parenting rights to any godsons they may happen to have.
The HBP situation with Fleur, at least, Molly got as good as she gave, so I'm not complaining. :D The two are SO well-matched, I wish there'd been more scenes of their adversarial relationship before everything became hunky-dory.
I don't think Molly's "love for her family" is a good excuse for the way she behaves. She has a lot in common with Petunia Dursley, really, and I can't understand why one of these women is "good" and the other "bad".
Also, the way Molly was given her moment of battle glory irritated me: for a woman who can't even handle a simple Boggart to kill Bellatrix Lestrange was too much.
I admit I'm bringing personal baggage into this assessment of her: both my parents were Mollys and not a day goes by when I don't give thanks to the universe I don't have to live with them any more. Reading Molly's scenes makes me angry; it brings out the worst in me. I don't like the person I become when I'm thinking about her, so I'll stop now. (What, over-involved with fictional characters? Me? Surely you jest!)
03. If you could spend a day as one of the Harry Potter characters, who would you choose?
Voldemort. Voldemort is a deliciously evil villain (as opposed to an OMG-SCARY-BATSHIT villain like Umbridge), and I would love to live in his head for a day. It's all very well for Dumbledore and Harry to theorise about what goes on there, but I think there's more to this guy. So, okay, he wants to live forever. Then what? What does he plan to do during forever? Where did he get this fear of death from anyway? Was it something that happened in the orphanage, or is it just part of him? What did he do after disappearing from Borgin and Burkes'? What sorts of Dark Magic does he know, and where did he learn it all?
What does it feel like to have your soul in eight pieces?
04. What would you change about the series?
This might seem like a weird pet peeve, but I'd change the way wizarding history is treated in the books. As it stands now, I have no idea how the wizarding world ended up this way, with its curious mixture of 19th century-ness and modern culture... The passing explanations Jo gives us are jokes rather than proper landmark events. How did the wizarding world change because of the founding of Hogwarts - or, for that matter, because of Dumbledore in 1945 and Harry in 1998? What are magical societies like outside of the UK? What sort of culture takes a creature with a name like Ug the Unclean seriously? :D Meesa wants to know!
If JKR had thought deeply about history and causality and Wizarding society, it would also fix a lot of other naggling concerns I have, the biggest being the issue of OMG ALL the Slytherins of Harry's generation are EVIL. I kept hoping we'd see Slytherin DA members in the final book, or *something* to redeem the House if not the individual House members... but Jo seemed to have other plans. :P The way things stand in that universe, and especially after Dumbledore's pronouncement ("Perhaps we sort too soon"), I really don't understand why they don't simply expel Slytherins straight off... the Sorting Hat sure makes it easy to identify the evil kids! I mean, I know it's better to let TEN guilty go free rather than condemn one innocent, but how about a HUNDRED guilty? How about a thousand? That seems to be the proportion of "bad" Slytherins to "good".
05. What traits and characteristics do you think define the true qualities of each of the four houses?
There's a significant difference between the way the Houses are presented in the books, and the way they're percieved by us fans (with the possible exception of Gryffindor). We read our own interpretations and speculations into canon, and even where there may not be hard textual evidence to support our views, I don't think our readings are invalid. In general I'm a canon-whore: fics that make Snape into a fluffy bunny, or Hermione into a tarted-up bombshell, irritate me. But when it comes to the Houses and their characteristics, canon is vague - I believe it's intentionally vague. So in my analysis of House qualities you'll see a lot of non-canon-supported theorising. After all, if I just stuck to canon on this one, I'd have no more than two or three words to say about some of the Houses.
Ravenclaw: A love of learning, the belief that knowledge is not just power, but an end in itself. Endless curiosity. A philosophical bent of mind. Their doorknocker (in DH) is made of awesome! I think many of the main characters have a lot of Claw in them: Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin, Voldemort, Hermione... I'm not just talking about these characters' obvious intelligence, but their whole approach to knowledge, really. They'd never prefer not to know something - Harry, on the other hand, often wishes precisely that. Voldemort may well ignore certain branches of learning because he considers them beneath him, but that's just the Slytherin in him (overconfidence... arrogance) beating out his inner Ravenclaw thirst for knowledge.
Slytherin: Survival, and if possible, prosperous survival. Slytherin, of all the Houses, most closely resembles nature untamed. Slytherin is about using all the gifts man has - brains, brawn, power, society, knowledge - to live the most fulfilling and satisfying life possible. Some canon Slytherins' idea of a fulfilling and satisfying life is immature, inelegant and shallow. But a Slytherin who understands what truly makes human beings happy would be a force to reckon with.
Gryffindor: Bravery - in the Indian caste system, Gryffindors would be Kshatriyas, the ruling caste whose duty it is to protect civilians. Standing up for the defenceless is what Gryffindors do; but apart from a basic good guys vs bad guys segregation, Gryffindors don't care about ideological differences. They'll stand up for a Seamus Finnegan just as easily as for a Percy Weasley or a Draco Malfoy or a Colin Creevey. They're selfless and courageous and they'd make excellent police officers.
Hufflepuff: The idealists. Hufflepuffs' dream is a fair world where success follows reliably on hard work's heels, friends are always loyal, opportunities are equal, and every person is honourable. I think Hufflepuffs are most likely to lean left politically, maybe even far left. This is also the house of the activist - I see Hufflepuffs caring so deeply about truth and fairness that they will fight for the idea. They don't have Gryffindor's blindness to ideologies; they are capable of standing against questionable ideas that come from the "good guys", too. I've always thought Hermione's SPEW was a very Hufflepuff concept.
06. Describe the canon house qualities that you feel accurately reflect you. Please try to include traits from each of the four houses.
From Gryffindor, the house of courage, selflessness and impulsiveness, I get almost nothing. Whether I choose to protect someone is entirely a function of how much I have to lose by protecting them, and how much I love them - it's a calculation, not an impulse that makes the choice easy. I'll run away at the threat of a fight - or at least, try to talk my opponent into a debate rather than a physical combat.
My Ravenclaw side gives me really good reasoning abilities. I can talk circles around anyone, my logic is impeccable, and knowledge is my only worship. I'm curious about anything and everything, my reading tastes reflect that. I can't remember the last time I went 24 hours without reading.
I am an activist at heart, which would make me comfortable in my idea of Hufflepuff, though not the popular conception of what that House is. I am not always kind and caring, but I volunteer for a whole bunch of causes (by writing letters, op-eds, etc.), because the issues move me and compel me to take action. My biggest frustrations come from what I see as unfairness in life: non-equal opportunities, restrictive social pressures, discrimination, lack of freedom.
However, I wouldn't put myself at risk to speak up for these causes - I still don't have the guts to tell my inlaws where to stick their sexist ideals of what their daughter-in-law should be like. Also, I think I'd be happy with extreme unfairness if it guaranteed the greatest number of people the greatest chances for a happy life. So I think my natural home is in Slytherin. I tend to take things as they are, and my preferred method of causing change is to beat the system from within - if I can and if I don't have to risk too much to do it. I sometimes fail to appreciate the inherent value of certain things like compassion and sacrifice. I am selfish, and though I am fiercely ethical, it's probably only because my dream is to be (or remain) an ethical person... not because I have some idealistic feeling that all people should be "good".
07. Which house do you feel least affinity to?
Gryffindor. I've never understood what makes them tick. Live to fight another day, is my motto - but Gryffindors, who I think would make great soldiers, police officers, fire fighters and civil defence workers, are the opposite. Ironically, it's because I am so unlike Gryffindors that I admire them, I think. I would never in a million years be self-sacrificing, but those who are that way command my respect.
||MIRROR OF ERISED||
08. What do you wish to accomplish in life?
To live well: experience as much as I can, travel as far as my budget allows, communicate as much as I have learned, and DO as many different things as possible in one lifetime. I derive the greatest pleasure from communicating what I have learned (which is why I am a writer), and the rest of my goals are a means to that end.
09. Describe exactly what you would see in the Mirror of Erised. (This is not the same question as #09.)
I'm writing behind a small but beautiful mahogany desk in a room filled with books. At least a couple of shelves feature my books. Behind me is an enormous window that opens to a balcony overlooking the busiest part of town in a big city that's somehow my hometown in India, but way more posh and filled with people who don't think a woman isn't really a person. My husband is working at the desk perpendicular to mine, doing his programming thang as usual, and there's a window in front of him (that's the way he likes it) because ours is a cool corner apartment. (Hypothetical kids may exist, but they're not real in my life yet so they're not concrete in the Mirror.) A gigantic barrel of Lindt truffles in the far corner, which I am steadily emptying (munch munch). Oh, and I'm gorgeous: at least six inches taller than I am now (5 ft even, thx), killer legs, and just the right amount of slender. :D What, this is MY Mirror dream!
10. What makes a person deserving of your respect?
Integrity - say what you mean, mean what you say. A healthy curiosity about life, because there's nothing duller than people who think they know everything they need to. Plus a basic level of intelligence, book-smarts, street-smarts and sense of humour are necessary as well. This sounds like a lot to ask, but I'm only talking basic levels here, really. Have you ever tried talking to a person who, for example, thought reading one book a year was "enough" or considered the entire F/SF genre "shallow"? That's what I'm saying will lead to a spontaneous leakage of respect from me.
11. Do you believe in fate or free will?
Ooooh, good question. But I don't know enough about either to have a belief.
From what I know of physics, fate is a plausible concept. If time is a dimension just like space, then just because WE are trapped in just one direction of time, it doesn't mean time itself experiences such limits. So technically, if there were aliens - say, sixteen-eyed turquoise bunnies from NGC 4144 - who don't experience time the way we do, they could have "foreknowledge" of what is "going to happen" to us, because they could see all of time "at once" the way WE see all directions of space at once. Does that mean everything is fated? Then again, there's quantum uncertainty, which, if I understand it correctly (HAR DE HAR HAR, that's likely!), which abhors such certitudes as fate, and really, who knows if time IS a full dimension like space where movement is possible in more than one direction? Do all dimensions HAVE to have two directions? Plz to be telling where is that rule written.
Then there's free will, which is another problematic idea because nobody knows what exactly it is, though we all "know what it means". I, for one, don't think there is a floating, ethereal "will" somewhere in our minds, souls or brains that is independent of our body. I think our choices are a product of electricity and chemistry - neurons and hormones. But then again, we know so little about the workings of our brains that I may be wrong. Who knows?
I would love to find out. Both fate and free will seem absurd, both seem plausible, and I just don't know enough to decide between them. I don't even know if the two ideas are mutually exclusive.
12. Do you consider yourself a leader or a follower? Please provide examples if applicable.
Meh, interview question. The truth? Neither. I'm the kid in kindergarten that went home with a note saying "does not play well with others", except in my case it didn't mean I'd just bit someone's ear or whatever, but that I just didn't want to play with other people. I'm a natural introvert. I don't like to lead OR follow. I'm happy enough in my own corner doing my own thing. If you want to come over to my corner and share my activity, I'll be glad, because it does get a bit lonely sometimes. But don't expect to be led or followed.
13. What's one thing you would do if you knew you would suffer no consequences from it?
Rob a bank. Become a multi-millionaire without having to pay the taxes. Be set for life. Man, this is a frequent daydream. You think I'm kidding, but I'm totally not.
14. What would you do if you had a time turner?
Win the lottery! But if you want a different answer from the one above, I'd tell young-me start writing from a much younger age. I only began writing in earnest about four years ago, though I had always drabbled a bit writing weird stories and little poems since I was 7. I wish I could go back to my kid-self and tell her: it's okay to write! It's not a waste of time! Some people even make entire careers out of writing - and you can, too. And pssst: computer engineering is NOT for you, don't ever take that at university.
15. What do you think are your top 5 positive characteristics?
I'm excellent at logical argument. Seriously, I'm an international tertiary-level debating champ. Boo yah!
I'm also happy. Even when I'm pissed off, I'll soon begin to entertain myself with a melodramatic, cathartic rant, which puts me in a good mood. My bad moods last a maximum of 10 minutes, flat.
I have a can-do attitude. I'm proactive, I never wait around for things to fix themselves, and I have a rather stupid level of faith in the general solveability of life's problems. Sometimes I think I have too much perspective, but how can that be a bad thing?
I'm talented at writing and a couple of other things. I'm glad of this, because otherwise I'd never be able to respect myself.
I'm fiercely independent. I've done a lot of stuff on my own, when the chips were down and it seemed like the whole world was set against me - and I LOVED every minute of it. Now I never want to go back to being bossed around by people like I was in my teenage years.
16. What do you think are your top 5 negative characteristics?
I am not meticulous. If I'm cleaning, I simply can't SEE a lot of the dirt my husband can. If I'm programming, I end up putting in a million bugs. If I'm writing, I paint my stories in broad strokes and have to go back to put in the details.
I am rather unforgiving, especially if I feel I have been personally wronged. Grudges don't rule my life - 99.99% of the time they're not even on my mind - but I do hold on to them for years and years.
I'm lazy. Self explanatory.
I was astoundingly stupid at academic work in college. The one time in my life when academic grades really mattered was the one time I didn't ace 'em all. :(
I'm annoyingly argumentative. Always up for a debate, and it drives some people up the wall. I've learned never to START a debate... only if someone is truly willing to have a nice, invigorating argument do I get involved these days. :)
||HOGWARTS EXPRESS||
17. Name: Anita Ray
18. Age: 25
19. How did you find out about Hogwarts Elite? Link from one of furiosity 's fics.
20. Optional: Link us to where you have promoted this community in your personal journal to earn your future house five points. Here you go: TA DAAA.
Had fun filling it out. I got to articulate my thoughts on a number of thoughts on HP that have only existed as free-floating gunk in my head until now.
So. Does anybody know anything about this comm? Is it famous? What're the people like there? I thought it was really worth joining from that one cursory look I took... what say you LJ veterans?