The Virtues of Hufflepuff House and Cedric Diggory (Was: Snape and . . .cour

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 106441

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
 
> Well, she's the one who had a kid (Neville ?) say that "Hufflepuff
> wouldn't be too bad", and Hagrid call the Hufflepuffs "a load of
> duffers" (might not be exact quotes, but I'm sure I'm not very far),
> right back in PS/SS.

Hickengruendler: 
The only student whom I remember saying something negative about 
Hufflepuff is Draco. And I doubt we should see him as a moral 
instance. Hagrid said that people say Hufflepuffs were duffers. I 
never thought that it was Hagrid's opinion as well.
  
> Then in CoS, Ernie's bunch of Hufflepuffs appear quite stupid, 
coward
> and even ridiculous for believing so easily that Harry is the Heir 
of
> Slytherin and for making up huge stories about Harry and Justin.

Ernie didn't seem to me like a coward at all. He shielded Justin with 
his body when he thought Harry would attack him. That's actually 
quite brave. So they didn't believe Harry. That is true for most of 
the students either in CS or in OotP. In OotP Ernie defended him 
anyway. And in the end four Hufflepuffs and two Ravenclaws saved him 
from Draco.  
  
> Then of course there's simply the way the few Hufflepuffs we know 
are
> described : Justin the bubbling Muggle quasi-aristocrat or obvious
> queer figure, Ernie the New Percy, Hannah Abbott and her pigtails.

Justin as obvious queer figure? Just because he liked Lockhart? Than 
I could argue that Colin is also an obvious queer figure, because he 
follows Harry always around, while Justin just mentions one time how 
great Lockhart is. Even if Justin were gay, I don't know what this 
should say about the portrayal of the Hufflepuffs and why this should 
be negative.

I like Ernie. I think he is one of the most real and most alive 
characters in the whole series. In my opinion, he is, by far, the 
liveliest and most realistic minor character in the whole series, 
with all his strengths and flaws.
 

> And of course Cedric "pretty boy" Diggory. We readers might be aware
> that Cedric is really a neat person, but Harry's (and the other
> Gryffindors, in particular the twins) constant dislike of him is
> *bound* to have an effect on our judgement after a while.

Really? I disagree. I think it was obvious that Cedric has done 
nothing wrong and that Harry's and the twins reaction were clouded by 
jealousy and a grudge, because he dared to beat Gryffindor in 
Quidditch and in Harry's case because he loved Cho. Now, I don't care 
much for Cedric, because he is too perfect to be real in my opinion. 
But I don't think that we are supposed to agree with Harry or even 
the twins about Cedric. In PoA, JKR even emphasized, that Cedric 
wanted a repeat of the game, although he had won.
> 
> And then in OoP, we get Zacharias Smith !

We also get Marietta Edgecome. And it wasn't Zacharias, who betrayed 
the DA.  
  
> So yes, I think it is quite obvious that JKR intended for us to have
> little consideration for the Hufflepuffs. Now, why ever she would do
> that, I have no idea, but the proofs are there.
> 
> Del

I disagree completely. I think she intended to show us that there is 
a prejudice against Hufflepuff in the wizarding world, but I do not 
think, that it is JKR's opinion, or that we are supposed to agree 
with the wizarding world's opinion about Hufflepuff.

Hickengruendler