Tuesday, November 16, 2010

If I could go to Hogwarts

Just like many of you, I have often wondered what my life would be like at Hogwarts. Would I be good at Quidditch? Which House would I belong to? Which subjects would I excel in? Not being able to truly find out for myself how I would adjust to life at Hogwarts, I have come up with my own sketch of what my life would be like if I lived at Hogwarts.

House: I've always considered myself a Ravenclaw—I didn't need the Daily Universe to tell me that. I love books and learning and I don't want them to ever end. And I actually like studying (as long as it's not anything science related). And according to Jon-Michael Drehner from BYU, "I don't know who is more intelligent and creative than an English major." I must agree. However, I do have a mischievous, daring side that could qualify me for Gryffindor—after all, Hermione found herself in Gryffindor even though she had all of the qualities of a Ravenclaw—but I usually imagine myself in Ravenclaw. It kind of makes me sad that Ravenclaw is the House we know the least about. Another reason why the 7th book is so awesome—we learn very important things about Ravenclaw.

Wand: According to J.K. Rowling's website, my wand would be made of vine, like Hermione's, and I think it would contain one unicorn hair. It would be long—about 13 inches—and nice and flexible for charm work.

Favorite subjects: Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts would be my favorite subjects. I think I would excel most in Charms, mostly because I think that is the place where I would be most able to exercise my creativity, but I would also do well in Defense Against the Dark Arts. And transfiguration just sounds interesting, though a bit harder than most of the other subjects. I don't think I would like Potions that much—I'm not really much of a cook. And I'm not that great at making things grow, so Herbology wouldn't be my best subject, either. History of Magic might have some appeal, but I doubt even I would be riveted by it, especially the way Professor Binns teaches it.

Position on the Quidditch team: I know I would have wanted to try out for the Quidditch team. I think I would be a Beater. Not many girls play this position, but I played softball for like 12 years and always did well at batting practice. Being a Chaser would be fun too, but my aim isn't quite as good as my hand-eye coordination and I didn't play enough basketball as a Muggle to prepare me for it.

The Room of Requirement: I would use the Room of Requirement for several things, including the following:
  • Church. This seems a bit sacrilegious—I'm pretty sure there aren't any Mormon wizards. :) But, someone's got to be the first, right? So I'll go to church every Sunday morning and whenever the high councilman gets a little carried away with his stories, I'll just start practicing my non-verbal spells on him.
  • A music room. I know I couldn't live without a piano for an entire school year. And I like to sing to myself too. So I would use this room at least once a week whenever I needed to get away from people and lose myself in music.
  • A bathroom. Throughout the entire series, there are only 6 mentions (that I can think of) of people bathing: (1) when Cedric tells Harry to take a bath, (2) when Harry takes Cedric's advice and takes a bath with his egg, (3) when Hermione tells Harry that Quidditch captains have equal status with the prefects and get to use the prefects' bathroom and everything!, (4) when Ron and Ginny get back from an abyssal Quidditch practice and head for the showers after dinner, (5) when Wood tried to drown himself in the showers after losing the first Quidditch match of the season in book 3, and (6) the bathroom that sprouted in the Room of Requirement after the girls started showing up (book 7). This may sound weird, but I have often wondered where non-prefects showered, because I'm pretty sure the prefects and Quidditch players weren't the only ones who cared about cleanliness. Or maybe there was some kind of magic that allowed people to go months at a time without showering. The lack of any mention of showering just struck me as a bit odd, don't ask me why. Anyway, there is a point to this. If I could use the Room of Requirement, it would be for my own PRIVATE bathroom—not one that I would share with my fellows. Then I could take as long as I wanted and I wouldn't have to worry about any really awkward bathroom situations.
Patronus: I have thought about this one a lot. Somehow, it seems cheating to decide my own Patronus. So I decided to take one of those dumb Facebook quizzes and see what result I got. That result was a fox. (I guess that makes me a lot like Seamus.) And I think I'm going to stick with it. I'm a very pragmatic person and I rarely tell people what I am thinking, so I think the fox personality fits me well. Good job, Facebook.

Pet: Definitely an owl. I hate cats and I would get made fun of if I had a toad. :) And honestly, who would want a rat? Besides—I'm not much of a pet person and an owl would take care of itself. I would love to have a snowy owl like Harry's. I would probably call her Hedwig too.

Wizarding Career: I'd like to think that I would take a leaf out of Ginny's book and become a Quidditch correspondent writer. None of the other Wizarding careers I've heard about really scream me, except for Ginny's career choice. I don't think I could stamp out my passion for words even if I were a wizard.

2 comments:

  1. You know - I'm not sure I can tell that you actually like Harry Potter :)

    These are awesome!

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  2. Don't forget that Dumbledore used the room of requirement as a WC once too. He mentions it to Harry in the 4th book, I believe.

    ReplyDelete