I’ve also been wondering about the differences between the Houses recently, since two of my closest friends were both sorted into Hufflepuff on Pottermore. Both thought of themselves as Gryffindors and are very brave in their own ways, so I wondered why they weren’t put in Gryffindor. But then I remembered a quote that I love from C.S. Lewis about courage: ‘Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.’ What I think he’s saying here is that if you take any virtue you can think of, e.g. honesty, kindness, etc, there are situations in which you do have to be brave to have that virtue, or to act on it. Sometimes it takes great courage to tell the truth, for instance. So in a way, it seems like there might be more to be said about members of the other houses than about members of Gryffindor. If a Gryffindor’s main character trait is that they are bold, or daring, then that might be all that they are – but if a Hufflepuff’s nature is to be honest, trustworthy, a good friend, fair, etc – then they are all those things and also potentially very brave as well. Oh dear, I hope that made sense! I suppose it could be said that a Gryffindor is brave and potentially honest and fair as well, so it could work both ways.

And the Hufflepuffs certainly sound like the most welcoming group. (We never visit their common-room in the books, but I’ve read that Rowling described it as a cozy place near the kitchens with a round door – evocative of Bag End in Tolkien. Sounds like a great place to hang out.)

(moderated for language)

I took the supposedly accurate personality test that sorts you into a House online, and my highest scores were Hufflepuff AND Gryffindor as exactly the same. So I have no idea what House I’m in! But if I were to choose, I’d have to pick Gryffindor. Sorry Hufflepuffs! xP

I think JKR was insinuating in her interview that the hat basically puts the students where they want to go. I think that explains a lot, like Peter Pettigrew, and for that matter, Zacharias Smith. Peter was, by Griffindor standards, rather cowardly, but for some reason he wanted to be in Griffindor and that’s where he went. Zacharias didn’t seem to fit the kind, fair description of Hufflepuff, but he wanted to be placed there because he was a Hufflepuff descendant. We never hear of a student who is unhappy about their house assignment. I think Harry and Hermione took longer to sort because, being new to the wizard world, they didn’t already have a specific house picked out (other than “not Slytherin”). Draco had no doubt that he must be in Slytherin, so he was sorted immediately.