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

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 106515

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "huntergreen_3" 
<patientx3 at a...> wrote:
 
> 
> HunterGreen:
> I'm not so sure. What about Hufflepuff always being the lowest (or 
> second-lowest if something specific has happened with Gryffindor) 
in 
> house points at the end of the year?

Hickengruendler: This was only in book 1. We don't know if this is 
the standard. To make the triumph of Gryffindor complete, they had to 
beat Slytherin in the end. If they had beaten Hufflepuff or 
Ravenclaw, it wouldn't have been that satisfying. That means, 
Slytherin had to have more points than the other two houses, and then 
either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw must have the lowest number of points.

That said, I do think that there are some "duffers" in Hufflepuff, 
probably more than in the other houses (although none of the 
Hufflepuffs we've met so far come even close to Crabbe and Goyle). 
But I disagree that we are supposed to see the house negative. In 
fact, I would say that loyalty is one of the virtues that it will be 
truly central in the next two books. And Hufflepuff in itself 
represents loyalty. Don't forget we have seen several evil 
Slytherins, one evil Gryffindor (Peter, and no, I don't buy at all 
that he was in a different house than the other Marauders), a 
Ravenclaw as traitor in the DA, but so far no evil or treacherous 
Hufflepuffs. The most unsympathetic Hufflepuff, Zacharias, might be 
snotty and arrogant, but nonetheless he remained loyal to the DA.

I also think, that one of the themes in the books is, that those who 
are underestimated by the wizarding world will become some of Harry's 
and umbledore's best and most loyal supporters during the second war, 
and I wouldn't be surprised at all, if most Hufflepuffs will be among 
them.

 Or that their Head of House is 
> Profressor Sprout, who teaches a much less taxing class than 
> Transfiguration or Potions or Charms? (nothing against Sprout, of 
> course, just than when compared to McGonagal or Snape she's doesn't 
> seem as impressive). [i'm suddenly blanking on their animal, but I 
> seem to remember it also being less impressive, compared to a lion 
or 
> a snake].

It's a badger. And yes, it's less impressive than a lion, a snake or 
an eagle. But which of these animals do you want to meet in real life 
(other than in the zoo, of course *g*)? 

>And there's still the matter of the Sorting Hat's song that 
> I mentioned upthread. Although it could have just been a reflection 
> of Helga Hufflepuff's philosphies,  

I think that's what it was. And I will go even further. I think that 
it shows, that not only Salazar Slytherin, but also Godric Gryffindor 
and Rowena Ravenclaw were biased people, who only accept the students 
they consider to be worthy. The difference might be, that Slytherin 
judged the students by their blood, and Gryffindor and Ravenclaw at 
least by their virtues (and of course there's the tiny difference 
that only Slytherin put a monster in the Chamber of Secrets to kill 
all the students he didn't like). Nonetheless, judging from the 
description in the chapter "The Sorting Hat's new song", Gryffindor 
and Ravenclaw seem to me like Snobs at best, racists at worst, who 
consider some people to be worthier than others.

Hickengruendler