Ravenclaw

In the Harry Potter series, Hogwarts is divided into four houses, each bearing the last name of its founder. In the school's early days, students were handpicked by Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff themselves. The founders began to worry how students could be picked after their death. Godric Gryffindor took his hat off and the founders put "some brains" in it. Now, at the beginning of each school year, the magical Sorting Hat is placed on each new student's head, at a ceremony named the Sorting ceremony, and the Sorting Hat announces the house that the student is bound to join. Before beginning the sorting, it sings a short ballad about the founding of the school and the four houses; the song is different every year and the Hat takes all the year writing the song for the next year.

The hat sorts by judging the most obvious qualities of the student and choosing the most appropriate, however the student can will a difficult decision, such as when Harry clearly prefers Gryffindor to Slytherin or (somewhat implied) Hermoine prefers Gryffindor to Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff is known for willing to take any student who wishes to enter it.

There is a great deal of rivalry between the houses, not always friendly, especially between Slytherin and the other houses. This rivalry is demonstrated with the annual school competition for the House Cup which is determined by the amount of points earned or lost by each member of the rival houses. These points are awarded or taken based on students' conduct throughout the school year. All members of the faculty have the authority to grant and deduct points as they see fit in each instance. Some, like Severus Snape, the Potions master, tend to favour their own house, but that does not seem to be against the rules. He is despised by many students, other than those in Slytherin, where he is very popular.

Gryffindor

Gryffindor House is Harry Potter's house at Hogwarts, where he shares his dormitory with Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. Hermione Granger shares her dormitory with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. The entrance is guarded by a painting of a fat lady in pink, who permits entry only after being given the correct password (which changes regularly). There is a large common room, with a fireplace, and two staircases leading up to the boys' and girls' dormitories. The Gryffindor ghost is Nearly Headless Nick, their mascot is the lion and its colours are gold and dark red. The values associated with Gryffindor are courage and chivalry; Professor McGonagall is the head of house.

Godric Gryffindor, the founder of Gryffindor house, valued bravery. The Sorting Hat originally belonged to Gryffindor and, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter pulled a sword with Gryffindor's name on it out of the Sorting Hat. Albus Dumbledore said only a true Gryffindor could do that.

Slytherin

Slytherin House is the house founded by Salazar Slytherin. The emblematic animal of Slytherin is the serpent and their colours are green and silver. Its head is Severus Snape. Among its more infamous students are Draco Malfoy and Tom Riddle. It was said by Hagrid in the first book that all of those who went to Lord Voldemort's side were former Slytherins. The Bloody Baron is the Slytherin ghost. The values associated with the Slytherin house are ambition, cunning, slyness, and the ends justifying the means.

Contrary to the beliefs of his peers, Salazar Slytherin believed the school should employ a stricter policy of admittance. He believed that only children of purely magical ancestry should have permission to attend the school. Because of controversy with the other founders, he left the school. Before he left, he built an underground lair known as the Chamber of Secrets.

See Minor Slytherins for more information.

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Slytherin housed a Basilisk, a giant serpent, in the Chamber. He made it possible that the Chamber only be opened by his heir, which turned out to be Lord Voldemort (Tom Riddle).

Ravenclaw

Ravenclaw House is another of the four houses at Hogwarts. Ravenclaw's colours are blue and bronze (silver in the films) and their mascot is, oddly enough, the eagle. This house includes Penelope Clearwater (Percy Weasley's girlfriend) Cho Chang (Harry Potter's ex-girlfriend and seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team) and Luna Lovegood (a particularly weird girl in Ginny Weasley's year). Their house ghost is the Grey Lady. The Ravenclaw house is associated with the values of intelligence, knowledge and wit. Professor Filius Flitwick is the head of Ravenclaw.

Rowena Ravenclaw was the legendary founder of the Ravenclaw House. She was very intelligent and was described as "fair" (probably meaning beautiful). She only admitted intelligent students into her house.

See Minor Ravenclaws for more information.

Hufflepuff

Hufflepuff House is one of the houses at Hogwarts. Hufflepuff's colours are yellow and black, and its mascot is the badger. The traditional traits of Hufflepuff students are loyalty, patience, hard work, and justice. Hufflepuffs are sometimes unfairly stereotyped by the other houses as being unintelligent or meek. Cedric Diggory was their Quidditch captain and seeker. The Hufflepuff ghost is the Fat Friar. Professor Sprout is the head of Hufflepuff.

Helga Hufflepuff was the fourth founder of Hogwarts, and the founder of Hufflepuff House. She admitted loyal and hard-working students into her house, but also took in those who didn't fit into any of the four categories.

See Minor Hufflepuffs for more informatin.

J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the ...
Philosopher's Stone	book	movie
Chamber of Secrets	book	movie
Prisoner of Azkaban	book	movie
Goblet of Fire	book	movie
Order of the Phoenix	book	movie
Half-Blood Prince	book	movie
Book Seven (as yet untitled)	book	movie
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