Horcrux, More-crux, Poor-crux!
01. Name: Manna
02. How did you find out about Hogwarts Elite? fandomsecrets, to be honest. But I also had a nice chat with butterbuns, who encouraged me to try applying.
||MIRROR OF ERISED||
03. What do you wish to accomplish in life?
I just want to be happy. I know this is probably a fairly common answer (along with all sorts of "I want to be rich and famous" types of answers to this question), but I'm the type of person who looks a little deeper than the surface when I can, and I've found most people want things like money or fame because they think it will make them happy. I don't think happiness is necessarily difficult to find in this world, but at the same time, what does it take to be truly happy? For me that would be being around people that I love, working a job that I don't hate (better yet, love), doing the things I enjoy doing in my spare time.
04. Describe exactly what you would see in the Mirror of Erised. (This is not the same question as #03.)
The Mirror of Erised is actually quite a frightening thing. In fact, it's one of the most frightening objects/artifacts in the Harry Potter world, if I'm to be perfectly honest with myself. Seeing yourself depicted in a scene borne from the deepest desires of your heart? Initially it sounds great, but it would be so easy to get lost in there no matter how smart/brave/etc you are. That said, if I had the chance to look into the Mirror of Erised, I think I would see two things: the first would be myself, looking--being, feeling-- happy/pleased, and the second would be people around me that I love. For a moment I considered adding in other things I do desire, like a college degree, but in the end I don't need a college degree to be happy, so I feel that seeing myself looking believably happy would probably be perfect. (To elaborate just a bit, in the Mirror, I would have teeth and I would be smiling.)
05. What makes a person deserving of your respect?
Respect is earned, it's not something I automatically hand over to anyone, at least not at full strength. Maybe I'm strange, I don't know, but I have what I call a "default level" of respect for people I first meet. The more I get to know someone and like them, the more they prove themselves worthy and deserving of respect, the higher my respect for them goes. Vice-versa, if they do things to deserve my disdain, then my respect for them drops from the default level. As to how respect is actually earned, it's pretty simple: be respectful. I know that sounds really silly, but if you're being respectful of other people around you, then you're also earning their respect-or at least, that's how it works with me. There are traits I look for in friends and others that I socialize with, but at the end of the day, the one quality that makes a person respectable is them actually being respectable. (To elaborate, I don't mind people who are brash, or outspoken, or speak without thinking first. But I do mind if they say something insensitive or hurtful and have absolutely no desire to correct themselves, to apologize, or to otherwise attempt to mend the situation. I greatly admire and respect hard working people, those who love their families and friends, and people who actively try to do the right thing.)
06. What is your biggest pet peeve?
I have a lot of pet peeves, and I assume most people do as well. I can't stand it when people are nasty or downright cruel to animals and children-no matter the reason. I hate two-faced people, I hate lying just to lie, and I can't stand it when people push their opinion on others or think their way is the only way, ever, period. But let's be honest, those things are rather minor, and at the end of the day, it all boils down to respect again. I'm a human being, and I want respect from other people. If you don't respect me-my thoughts, my beliefs, my opinions, the things that bring me joy, the things that bring me pain-then you've just triggered my biggest pet peeve. The "Golden Rule" should really be, "Treat others how they want to be treated", and everyone wants to be respected, be they child or adult. (Into the category of respect, I include the way people address one another, too. I don't expect to me given a title when I'm spoken to (i.e., "Ms.", "Ma'am"), but I also expect anyone with half a brain to not call me by a silly nickname when they don't know me, or to talk down to me (i.e., "Kid"-this one really ticks me off!). We are equals, so treat me like an equal, whether you've had a better education than me, or more money, or nicer things.
07. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
This is a difficult question. If I could change anything about myself, anything at all, that leaves me a lot of choices. For example, do I change something physical or something mental? I have to say that if there's something about my personality that I want changed, I can work to change it myself. A change won't happen overnight, but I can definitely work to change that…whereas with my physical body, nothing I do will really change the things about it that I don't like. So I have to answer this question with: I would make myself healthy again, giving myself full use of both arms and I would give myself some awesome teeth.
08. If you could do any one thing and suffer no consequences, what would it be?
It's completely against my moral code to do things like betray my friends or to steal, even if I didn't actually suffer any consequences. Consequences or no consequences, I couldn't do anything I felt was actually wrong. So my answer to this question could be one of two things: Either I rescue All the Cats Ever, because I adore animals, especially cats, and sadly rescuing cats has a lot of consequences normally, like running out of room and time and money, orrrr, because I'm an absolute klutz and can't sing, I would sing and dance in public…which normally would result in booing, jeering, laughter, or just general embarrassment.
09. What do you think are your top five positive characteristics?
01. Loyalty. I'm loyal to the people I care about and love. I'm loyal to my job. I never understood flakiness in a person, and I don't think I ever will. Once you have my love, it will not go away, ever. Even if you slight me, or hurt me, I'll still care, even if it's just a little, I'll be sad that I lost someone who once meant a lot to me, and I'll wonder if there was anything I could have done to make you stay.
02. Hard-working. This sounds silly, I know, but once I'm put to a task, or given a job to do, I will get it done, and I will do it to the best of my ability, whether it's a paid job or something a friend has asked me to do. Laziness is not something I condone, especially in the workplace, and by that I mean true laziness, like doing a half-assed job when you're getting paid, or breaking company equipment/stealing company things/getting paid to do nothing if you can swing it that way. I take pride in the work that I do, so I can get competitive depending on what the job is. I not only want to do the job, I want to do it right…and I want to do a better job than you.
03. Insightful. I spend a lot of time trying to understand people and how they work. This originally stemmed from writing fanfiction and wanting to know the characters I chose to write about well enough to portray them correctly, but it did spill into my offline life. Nobody is one or two-dimensional, there's always more to someone than that, and when you see your typical "class clown" type person, you know there's more to them than meets the eye. I like to puzzle people out, or better yet, explain to other people why they act the way they do, especially when they're my friends and they need a bit of defending!
04. Determined. If I'm truly determined to do something, nothing can stop me. I will do it. I will figure out a way to do it if it seems there isn't a way. And I like a little challenge, too. So once I've made up my mind to do something, it's set. So if you're someone I've decided to befriend? We're going to be friends. If you're someone I've decided to make smile? You're going to (eventually, I hope) smile. And if I decide I'm cleaning the house, I will clean the house until it's done, whether it takes two hours or fifteen.
05. Funny/The Glue. I'm not the token Funny Girl, but I do think I can be witty at times, and my personable attitude in person tends to make me a sort of "glue" in a group of people. I can be quick to anger but I'm usually the one standing between two friends trying to listen to both of them rant about one another while I point out when they're wrong/what they're doing wrong/why this is happening/why the other person is upset. I don't enjoy being caught in the middle, but I like to see a peaceful resolution come about, and I'm always pleased to be the person to provide it…sometimes with random, sarcastic humor.
10. What do you think are your top five negative characteristics?
01. Organization. I'm the sort who is "messily organized". I have stuff in piles, but I know where everything is. If you move something, I wont' be able to find it. But I am decidedly not organized compared to a lot of people, and this is one of my biggest weaknesses because I also struggle to simply work on getting better at it. I like to say if I had a place for everything, then everything would be in its place, but that's actually not true. I would still be throwing my clean laundry in a basket on the bureau instead of trying to cram it into the already-overstuffed closet.
02. Quick to anger. I don't flare up and say horrid, regretful, nasty things, because I know what if feels like to have things said in anger directed at you, but I normally have low blood pressure…until I get good and pissed off. Of course, my biggest pet peeve when it comes to what pisses me off is laziness on the job. One time I nearly fainted when my blood pressure skyrocketed at work because I was training the laziest (and creepiest) person I had ever had the misfortune to meet. That said, getting angry does absolutely no good most of the time, so it's an inherently bad trait I'd like to be rid of. I never stay mad for very long (my mother used to say, "You and [your sister] get into big screaming matches and two minutes later you're holding hands and skipping off into the sunset! That's weird!") but I do get mad a lot. And if some sort of injustice was committed to someone I care about, I will be irrationally angry about it, even if it doesn't involve me directly.
03. Being wrong. I'm a sore loser, I admit it. I hate being wrong about anything and everything. And I hate saying I'm sorry, too. Part of it has to do with my upbringing-though I always had to apologize for fighting with my siblings as a kid, we were never actually sorry about it, just sorry we got caught, and I think I remember all of two times ever that my mother apologized for something, and no single time at all that my father has. It's something I do have to work on. Admitting when I'm wrong, or apologizing when I've done or said something wrong, is very difficult for me.
04. I can be selfish, especially when it comes to food. My family likes to feed the pets at the table, but my cats don't get my food. It's my food. MINE. And when it comes to a family meal, if there is something I love on the table, I don't care how much someone else loves it, too, I will take a huge heaping portion of it. (As proved by my family making me serve myself LAST at birthdays because I love the fried potatoes so much that I will take too much.)
05. Blunt. I am so blunt, overly honest, and I sometimes say something and then stop and think, "Wait, was that tactless of me to say? Oops, I guess it was." I don't say things to intentionally hurt someone unless they do need a bubble busted, but sometimes my stray comments can be something I truly think or believe but that I didn't actually have to share. Sometimes I need a filter from brain to mouth.
||HOGWARTS, A HISTORY||
11. Who is your favorite character in the Harry Potter series?
Questions like this are what make this application hard. How do you pick a single favorite character? I love a lot of the characters as characters, even if they'd irritate me in real life (seriously, Sirius). I find things about the characters that I respect or like, like Molly's motherliness (saying that Harry was "as good as" her son!) or even Draco's hesitation when he realized he'd reached the point of no return. But at the end of the day there are some characters I simply relate to better than others. I love Tonks for a lot of her qualities, like her determination, and that even when she's really down and out she still does what needs done. But at the end of the day, I'm going to pick Remus Lupin as my favorite character. He's often written so…(excuse me, but) badly in fanfiction that only when you read the source material thoroughly do you really get a good idea of his character, and boy is it sad. His whole situation is sad. Awful, even. But that's not why I like him. I like him because, despite all the crap he's gone through-finding friends who cared about him despite what he was, being mistrusted and betrayed, losing his friends, getting a friend back who just wasn't the same anymore, losing that friend a second time, et cetera and so on-that he just. Keeps. Going. I mean, that takes real strength right there. He works with what he has. And you know he must hate what he is and how it can so easily affect those around him (if his actions in Books Six and Seven are any indication) but the guy just…keeps on keeping on. And that's really admirable when you stop and think about it. Most people faced with the things he's faced with in the canon material would crack under the pressure, or worse. (And he tolerates Severus Snape so well. I'd have kicked the man in the shins by the end of the fifth book at least twenty-seven times.)
12. Who is your least favorite character in the Harry Potter series?
I'll be a crowd-pleaser and say Umbridge. There are a lot of characters I dislike-Bane, Lucius, Vernon-but at the end of the day, all of these easily-hateable characters are cardboard cutouts. Lucius Malfoy was one of the worst, because he was cruel and hurtful and nasty to everyone, but in the end I think he knew he'd made the absolute worst decision, but it was too late to go back on it by then. Dolores Umbridge, however, learned no such lesson. In fact, I hate her because she never repented for her ways, never made things right for anyone. She hurt a bunch of kids, and she put out legislature that ruined the lives of other people (her anti-werewolf legislature, and the whole "Muggle-born" registry, for example). She was never sorry about anything she did, even after Book 5, because later we see her bearing down on innocent people and hurting them again in the final book. I shouldn't hate such a 2D unfleshed-out character so much, but I can't help it. I was so upset that she actually outlived quite a few of the people she hurt, including Remus.
13. What was your favorite plot or character revelation in the Harry Potter series?
Again with the favorites! How can I just pick one? Well, I did love the plot with Barty Crouch Jr., because it was done rather well, and it shows us that Azkaban is actually not as well-guarded to begin with as people think it is/as it's portrayed. I liked how well Tom Riddle Jr. was fleshed out, because fleshed out "villain" characters are few and far between, and the flashback scenes really did help, though I still felt absolutely no sympathy for Tom himself. I liked Sirius's anti-climatic death, though I was pretty irritated when it happened; I just felt like, wow, this is death, this hits it right on the head, he doesn't get to go out in a blaze of glory, he goes out laughing like he thinks he's got the rest of his life ahead of him. I loved the reveal of what had Tonks so upset all of the sixth book, because at first you're like, "Where did that come from? What? REALLY?" but when you read back, there was actually foreshadowing there in the text, and plenty of it. But my favorite is probably the reveal about Severus Snape and which side he was truly on: His own side, after all. (At least, that's how I interpret it. He loved Lily, so he changed sides because of that, because of what happened to her, not because he disagreed with the morals, not because he felt that Muggles and Muggle-borns were Sparkly and Wonderful, but for much more personal reasons. I did expect to see it, but at the same time, I was relieved. He wasn't some sort of sparkly hero, or even a proper anti-hero. He was just a dude who was looking out for Number One (aka himself) the entire time.) He was a morally ambiguous ass, a lot more like Sirius than he probably realizes, himself. It sure made for good storytelling, though. I had to wait a long time to find out where Snape's loyalties were.
14. Describe the canon qualities for each house that accurately reflect you.
• Gryffindor: I think I'm a chivalrous person-and by that, I don't mean the old-fashioned hurr durr men open doors for women, because that's not really chivalry; people should be chivalrous to everyone, it's respectful and just good manners! I've also got a lot of nerve sometimes; if it's important, I'll take risks.
• Slytherin: The best canon quality from Slytherin that I feel fits me has to be resourcefulness. I'm good at working with the tools available to me in any given situation, which has served me well over the years.
• Ravenclaw: I'm not overly smart, but I like to think I can be witty! And I do love to learn about things that personally interest me, for example, The Oregon Trail.
• Hufflepuff: I am a hard worker, and definitely also loyal and honest, but I'll admit loyalty fits me the best of all three, because I can slack off sometimes, and a person can't be honest all the time, especially not always to themselves…but I'm always loyal.
15. Describe the canon qualities for each house that do not accurately reflect you.
• Gryffindor: If it's not extremely important, I am a coward. And even then, sometimes doing something you have to do is really difficult, and I'll struggle to make myself do it. New situations tend to make me nervous, so I couldn't stride into a situation and be confident about it.
• Slytherin: I really lack ambition sometimes, and though I can sometimes get people to do what it is I want them to do, more often than not I can't-at least not through sheer cunning prowess. I'm too blunt to be sneaky!
• Ravenclaw: I'm uneducated and don't enjoy learning. I enjoy knowing things when it comes to stuff I care about (Bastille Day-July 14th, 1789!) but I don't like knowledge for the sake of knowledge.
• Hufflepuff: I'm definitely, definitely not impartial in most situations. I tend to take sides, whether it's the side of my personal beliefs or the side of a friend/loved one. I find it hard to be completely impartial unless the situation actually demands it. I'm usually biased.
||HOGWARTS EXPRESS||
16. Age: 25, creeping up on 26
17. Optional: Link us to where you have promoted this community in your personal journal to earn your future house five points. I did mention it here. :)
02. How did you find out about Hogwarts Elite? fandomsecrets, to be honest. But I also had a nice chat with butterbuns, who encouraged me to try applying.
||MIRROR OF ERISED||
03. What do you wish to accomplish in life?
I just want to be happy. I know this is probably a fairly common answer (along with all sorts of "I want to be rich and famous" types of answers to this question), but I'm the type of person who looks a little deeper than the surface when I can, and I've found most people want things like money or fame because they think it will make them happy. I don't think happiness is necessarily difficult to find in this world, but at the same time, what does it take to be truly happy? For me that would be being around people that I love, working a job that I don't hate (better yet, love), doing the things I enjoy doing in my spare time.
04. Describe exactly what you would see in the Mirror of Erised. (This is not the same question as #03.)
The Mirror of Erised is actually quite a frightening thing. In fact, it's one of the most frightening objects/artifacts in the Harry Potter world, if I'm to be perfectly honest with myself. Seeing yourself depicted in a scene borne from the deepest desires of your heart? Initially it sounds great, but it would be so easy to get lost in there no matter how smart/brave/etc you are. That said, if I had the chance to look into the Mirror of Erised, I think I would see two things: the first would be myself, looking--being, feeling-- happy/pleased, and the second would be people around me that I love. For a moment I considered adding in other things I do desire, like a college degree, but in the end I don't need a college degree to be happy, so I feel that seeing myself looking believably happy would probably be perfect. (To elaborate just a bit, in the Mirror, I would have teeth and I would be smiling.)
05. What makes a person deserving of your respect?
Respect is earned, it's not something I automatically hand over to anyone, at least not at full strength. Maybe I'm strange, I don't know, but I have what I call a "default level" of respect for people I first meet. The more I get to know someone and like them, the more they prove themselves worthy and deserving of respect, the higher my respect for them goes. Vice-versa, if they do things to deserve my disdain, then my respect for them drops from the default level. As to how respect is actually earned, it's pretty simple: be respectful. I know that sounds really silly, but if you're being respectful of other people around you, then you're also earning their respect-or at least, that's how it works with me. There are traits I look for in friends and others that I socialize with, but at the end of the day, the one quality that makes a person respectable is them actually being respectable. (To elaborate, I don't mind people who are brash, or outspoken, or speak without thinking first. But I do mind if they say something insensitive or hurtful and have absolutely no desire to correct themselves, to apologize, or to otherwise attempt to mend the situation. I greatly admire and respect hard working people, those who love their families and friends, and people who actively try to do the right thing.)
06. What is your biggest pet peeve?
I have a lot of pet peeves, and I assume most people do as well. I can't stand it when people are nasty or downright cruel to animals and children-no matter the reason. I hate two-faced people, I hate lying just to lie, and I can't stand it when people push their opinion on others or think their way is the only way, ever, period. But let's be honest, those things are rather minor, and at the end of the day, it all boils down to respect again. I'm a human being, and I want respect from other people. If you don't respect me-my thoughts, my beliefs, my opinions, the things that bring me joy, the things that bring me pain-then you've just triggered my biggest pet peeve. The "Golden Rule" should really be, "Treat others how they want to be treated", and everyone wants to be respected, be they child or adult. (Into the category of respect, I include the way people address one another, too. I don't expect to me given a title when I'm spoken to (i.e., "Ms.", "Ma'am"), but I also expect anyone with half a brain to not call me by a silly nickname when they don't know me, or to talk down to me (i.e., "Kid"-this one really ticks me off!). We are equals, so treat me like an equal, whether you've had a better education than me, or more money, or nicer things.
07. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
This is a difficult question. If I could change anything about myself, anything at all, that leaves me a lot of choices. For example, do I change something physical or something mental? I have to say that if there's something about my personality that I want changed, I can work to change it myself. A change won't happen overnight, but I can definitely work to change that…whereas with my physical body, nothing I do will really change the things about it that I don't like. So I have to answer this question with: I would make myself healthy again, giving myself full use of both arms and I would give myself some awesome teeth.
08. If you could do any one thing and suffer no consequences, what would it be?
It's completely against my moral code to do things like betray my friends or to steal, even if I didn't actually suffer any consequences. Consequences or no consequences, I couldn't do anything I felt was actually wrong. So my answer to this question could be one of two things: Either I rescue All the Cats Ever, because I adore animals, especially cats, and sadly rescuing cats has a lot of consequences normally, like running out of room and time and money, orrrr, because I'm an absolute klutz and can't sing, I would sing and dance in public…which normally would result in booing, jeering, laughter, or just general embarrassment.
09. What do you think are your top five positive characteristics?
01. Loyalty. I'm loyal to the people I care about and love. I'm loyal to my job. I never understood flakiness in a person, and I don't think I ever will. Once you have my love, it will not go away, ever. Even if you slight me, or hurt me, I'll still care, even if it's just a little, I'll be sad that I lost someone who once meant a lot to me, and I'll wonder if there was anything I could have done to make you stay.
02. Hard-working. This sounds silly, I know, but once I'm put to a task, or given a job to do, I will get it done, and I will do it to the best of my ability, whether it's a paid job or something a friend has asked me to do. Laziness is not something I condone, especially in the workplace, and by that I mean true laziness, like doing a half-assed job when you're getting paid, or breaking company equipment/stealing company things/getting paid to do nothing if you can swing it that way. I take pride in the work that I do, so I can get competitive depending on what the job is. I not only want to do the job, I want to do it right…and I want to do a better job than you.
03. Insightful. I spend a lot of time trying to understand people and how they work. This originally stemmed from writing fanfiction and wanting to know the characters I chose to write about well enough to portray them correctly, but it did spill into my offline life. Nobody is one or two-dimensional, there's always more to someone than that, and when you see your typical "class clown" type person, you know there's more to them than meets the eye. I like to puzzle people out, or better yet, explain to other people why they act the way they do, especially when they're my friends and they need a bit of defending!
04. Determined. If I'm truly determined to do something, nothing can stop me. I will do it. I will figure out a way to do it if it seems there isn't a way. And I like a little challenge, too. So once I've made up my mind to do something, it's set. So if you're someone I've decided to befriend? We're going to be friends. If you're someone I've decided to make smile? You're going to (eventually, I hope) smile. And if I decide I'm cleaning the house, I will clean the house until it's done, whether it takes two hours or fifteen.
05. Funny/The Glue. I'm not the token Funny Girl, but I do think I can be witty at times, and my personable attitude in person tends to make me a sort of "glue" in a group of people. I can be quick to anger but I'm usually the one standing between two friends trying to listen to both of them rant about one another while I point out when they're wrong/what they're doing wrong/why this is happening/why the other person is upset. I don't enjoy being caught in the middle, but I like to see a peaceful resolution come about, and I'm always pleased to be the person to provide it…sometimes with random, sarcastic humor.
10. What do you think are your top five negative characteristics?
01. Organization. I'm the sort who is "messily organized". I have stuff in piles, but I know where everything is. If you move something, I wont' be able to find it. But I am decidedly not organized compared to a lot of people, and this is one of my biggest weaknesses because I also struggle to simply work on getting better at it. I like to say if I had a place for everything, then everything would be in its place, but that's actually not true. I would still be throwing my clean laundry in a basket on the bureau instead of trying to cram it into the already-overstuffed closet.
02. Quick to anger. I don't flare up and say horrid, regretful, nasty things, because I know what if feels like to have things said in anger directed at you, but I normally have low blood pressure…until I get good and pissed off. Of course, my biggest pet peeve when it comes to what pisses me off is laziness on the job. One time I nearly fainted when my blood pressure skyrocketed at work because I was training the laziest (and creepiest) person I had ever had the misfortune to meet. That said, getting angry does absolutely no good most of the time, so it's an inherently bad trait I'd like to be rid of. I never stay mad for very long (my mother used to say, "You and [your sister] get into big screaming matches and two minutes later you're holding hands and skipping off into the sunset! That's weird!") but I do get mad a lot. And if some sort of injustice was committed to someone I care about, I will be irrationally angry about it, even if it doesn't involve me directly.
03. Being wrong. I'm a sore loser, I admit it. I hate being wrong about anything and everything. And I hate saying I'm sorry, too. Part of it has to do with my upbringing-though I always had to apologize for fighting with my siblings as a kid, we were never actually sorry about it, just sorry we got caught, and I think I remember all of two times ever that my mother apologized for something, and no single time at all that my father has. It's something I do have to work on. Admitting when I'm wrong, or apologizing when I've done or said something wrong, is very difficult for me.
04. I can be selfish, especially when it comes to food. My family likes to feed the pets at the table, but my cats don't get my food. It's my food. MINE. And when it comes to a family meal, if there is something I love on the table, I don't care how much someone else loves it, too, I will take a huge heaping portion of it. (As proved by my family making me serve myself LAST at birthdays because I love the fried potatoes so much that I will take too much.)
05. Blunt. I am so blunt, overly honest, and I sometimes say something and then stop and think, "Wait, was that tactless of me to say? Oops, I guess it was." I don't say things to intentionally hurt someone unless they do need a bubble busted, but sometimes my stray comments can be something I truly think or believe but that I didn't actually have to share. Sometimes I need a filter from brain to mouth.
||HOGWARTS, A HISTORY||
11. Who is your favorite character in the Harry Potter series?
Questions like this are what make this application hard. How do you pick a single favorite character? I love a lot of the characters as characters, even if they'd irritate me in real life (seriously, Sirius). I find things about the characters that I respect or like, like Molly's motherliness (saying that Harry was "as good as" her son!) or even Draco's hesitation when he realized he'd reached the point of no return. But at the end of the day there are some characters I simply relate to better than others. I love Tonks for a lot of her qualities, like her determination, and that even when she's really down and out she still does what needs done. But at the end of the day, I'm going to pick Remus Lupin as my favorite character. He's often written so…(excuse me, but) badly in fanfiction that only when you read the source material thoroughly do you really get a good idea of his character, and boy is it sad. His whole situation is sad. Awful, even. But that's not why I like him. I like him because, despite all the crap he's gone through-finding friends who cared about him despite what he was, being mistrusted and betrayed, losing his friends, getting a friend back who just wasn't the same anymore, losing that friend a second time, et cetera and so on-that he just. Keeps. Going. I mean, that takes real strength right there. He works with what he has. And you know he must hate what he is and how it can so easily affect those around him (if his actions in Books Six and Seven are any indication) but the guy just…keeps on keeping on. And that's really admirable when you stop and think about it. Most people faced with the things he's faced with in the canon material would crack under the pressure, or worse. (And he tolerates Severus Snape so well. I'd have kicked the man in the shins by the end of the fifth book at least twenty-seven times.)
12. Who is your least favorite character in the Harry Potter series?
I'll be a crowd-pleaser and say Umbridge. There are a lot of characters I dislike-Bane, Lucius, Vernon-but at the end of the day, all of these easily-hateable characters are cardboard cutouts. Lucius Malfoy was one of the worst, because he was cruel and hurtful and nasty to everyone, but in the end I think he knew he'd made the absolute worst decision, but it was too late to go back on it by then. Dolores Umbridge, however, learned no such lesson. In fact, I hate her because she never repented for her ways, never made things right for anyone. She hurt a bunch of kids, and she put out legislature that ruined the lives of other people (her anti-werewolf legislature, and the whole "Muggle-born" registry, for example). She was never sorry about anything she did, even after Book 5, because later we see her bearing down on innocent people and hurting them again in the final book. I shouldn't hate such a 2D unfleshed-out character so much, but I can't help it. I was so upset that she actually outlived quite a few of the people she hurt, including Remus.
13. What was your favorite plot or character revelation in the Harry Potter series?
Again with the favorites! How can I just pick one? Well, I did love the plot with Barty Crouch Jr., because it was done rather well, and it shows us that Azkaban is actually not as well-guarded to begin with as people think it is/as it's portrayed. I liked how well Tom Riddle Jr. was fleshed out, because fleshed out "villain" characters are few and far between, and the flashback scenes really did help, though I still felt absolutely no sympathy for Tom himself. I liked Sirius's anti-climatic death, though I was pretty irritated when it happened; I just felt like, wow, this is death, this hits it right on the head, he doesn't get to go out in a blaze of glory, he goes out laughing like he thinks he's got the rest of his life ahead of him. I loved the reveal of what had Tonks so upset all of the sixth book, because at first you're like, "Where did that come from? What? REALLY?" but when you read back, there was actually foreshadowing there in the text, and plenty of it. But my favorite is probably the reveal about Severus Snape and which side he was truly on: His own side, after all. (At least, that's how I interpret it. He loved Lily, so he changed sides because of that, because of what happened to her, not because he disagreed with the morals, not because he felt that Muggles and Muggle-borns were Sparkly and Wonderful, but for much more personal reasons. I did expect to see it, but at the same time, I was relieved. He wasn't some sort of sparkly hero, or even a proper anti-hero. He was just a dude who was looking out for Number One (aka himself) the entire time.) He was a morally ambiguous ass, a lot more like Sirius than he probably realizes, himself. It sure made for good storytelling, though. I had to wait a long time to find out where Snape's loyalties were.
14. Describe the canon qualities for each house that accurately reflect you.
• Gryffindor: I think I'm a chivalrous person-and by that, I don't mean the old-fashioned hurr durr men open doors for women, because that's not really chivalry; people should be chivalrous to everyone, it's respectful and just good manners! I've also got a lot of nerve sometimes; if it's important, I'll take risks.
• Slytherin: The best canon quality from Slytherin that I feel fits me has to be resourcefulness. I'm good at working with the tools available to me in any given situation, which has served me well over the years.
• Ravenclaw: I'm not overly smart, but I like to think I can be witty! And I do love to learn about things that personally interest me, for example, The Oregon Trail.
• Hufflepuff: I am a hard worker, and definitely also loyal and honest, but I'll admit loyalty fits me the best of all three, because I can slack off sometimes, and a person can't be honest all the time, especially not always to themselves…but I'm always loyal.
15. Describe the canon qualities for each house that do not accurately reflect you.
• Gryffindor: If it's not extremely important, I am a coward. And even then, sometimes doing something you have to do is really difficult, and I'll struggle to make myself do it. New situations tend to make me nervous, so I couldn't stride into a situation and be confident about it.
• Slytherin: I really lack ambition sometimes, and though I can sometimes get people to do what it is I want them to do, more often than not I can't-at least not through sheer cunning prowess. I'm too blunt to be sneaky!
• Ravenclaw: I'm uneducated and don't enjoy learning. I enjoy knowing things when it comes to stuff I care about (Bastille Day-July 14th, 1789!) but I don't like knowledge for the sake of knowledge.
• Hufflepuff: I'm definitely, definitely not impartial in most situations. I tend to take sides, whether it's the side of my personal beliefs or the side of a friend/loved one. I find it hard to be completely impartial unless the situation actually demands it. I'm usually biased.
||HOGWARTS EXPRESS||
16. Age: 25, creeping up on 26
17. Optional: Link us to where you have promoted this community in your personal journal to earn your future house five points. I did mention it here. :)