Slytherpuff Friendship

I see that many people post about friendship between Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Here I want to share my experience because I'm a Hufflepuff and my friend Lady Slytherin is, obviously a Slytherin.

Hufflepuff gets this reputation of being kind and loyal, even adorable. Slytherin, on the other hand, has the stereotype of being ambitious and evil. However, Lady Slytherin and I don't fit that stereotype. She's a sweet yet sarcastic Slytherin while I'm a troubled yet hilarious Hufflepuff. We also have different MBTI; she's INTJ, I'm ISFP.

Our friendship consists of:

1. Hufflepuff shares weird thing that she finds on the internet
2. Slytherin has various reaction to that weird thing: "hahaha", "what the hell", "aaaarrrghh", etc
3. oh wait, Slytherin also shares weird thing
4. we both can relate to Sirius Black's scene, "I did my waiting" because that would be our reaction when we finally become doctor
5. we have only one mutual fandom: Harry Potter
6. we respect each other's fandom but constantly compare them: she likes Tolkien's works, while I like A Song of Ice and Fire by George. R. R. Martin (Hufflepuff isn't always about cute story, you know)
7. Hufflepuff is that emo kid who still plays songs by My Chemical Romance
8. Slytherin is not really into bandom
9. our conversation starts with normal everyday thing but ends up with something absurd
10. usually I'm the one who makes the convo absurd
11. Hufflepuff relationship advice consists of: fiction book and some weird things from the internet (if you don't get it, it's all right)
12. Slytherin is more mature when it comes to relationship advice: give and take should be balanced, you should love yourself first, etc
13. still, we both don't really have good luck in relationship (being single for too long time and spending too much time with fictional characters, duh)
14. but if someday Lady Slytherin finds someone, I'm ready to ship them, they would be my OTP
15. and if someday I find someone, she would be surprised first because I'm not always that interested in relationship, not even fictional relationship
16. anyway, we love bookstore; we can just go to the bookstore trying the quill (kidding) or pen then feel happy 
17. or just look at the book covers and make joke about them
18. or give each other book recommendation
19. or give each other encouragement to buy book like, "Buy this Game of Thrones novel! You want it, right?" 

The list can be longer but I think that's enough for now. Do you have any experience with inter-house relationship?

Denial of a Harry Potter Fan

Let's talk about denial. It's one example of primitive defense mechanisms. It means refusal to accept reality or fact. 

As a Harry Potter fan, I deny the fact that Cursed Child exists. Okay, the story has been released quite a while ago and I'm a bit late to write it in my blog. However, it's my blog so I can write whatever I want here. 

I myself haven't read the book or watched the play but the internet is dark and full of spoiler (mimicking Melisandre) so I read the spoiler and curse the plot because it doesn't make sense. To be honest, it feels like fanfiction to me. 

I don't want to spoil a lot here but let me mention things that bother me. First of all, Voldemort. Never have I ever thought that Voldemort was capable of doing that.

Second: Cedric. He was a kind person and what he does in Cursed Child is out of character. A kind Hufflepuff won't do that. 

Third is Harry Potter. Really, what he said to Albus is unacceptable. Oh well, parents make mistake but again, that's out of character, especially when this character is Harry Potter.

Enough of my ramble. I'm out. See you in my next post.

On Hufflepuff and Kindness

In Harry Potter books we know that Hufflepuff values kindness, loyalty, hardwork, and justice. Sounds too nice, huh? I mean, compare those traits to Slytherin's ambition, Ravenclaw's intelligence, or Gryffindor's courage.

I'm a Hufflepuff and believe me, I once thought, "What 'badass' quality does my house have?" The answer to that question is, "Maybe none." If you insist, I can say that Hufflepuff's justice is badass but people often forget this one trait when they talk about Hufflepuff.

When talking about Hufflepuff, we often talk about kindness, loyalty, and hardwork. The harsh truth is some people view kindness as weakness. I need to learn more neuropsychiatry to find out why. Perhaps because kindness is associated with a child's innocence. That possible reason is, in my opinion, what makes Hufflepuff precious. This house understands that Hogwarts teaches children.

I found this tumblr post a while ago and I shivered with a little pride. It said, "Children. They were teaching children. Rowena, Godric, Salazar; they tended to forget that. .... 'I will take them all,' she said. .... 'I will teach them how to be the backbone, the heart of this world. I will teach them how to stand steadfast, when all hope is lost.' .... No, she knew theirs would not be an easy path, or a glorious one. They would have no songs. No great tales in books. No laurels. No consolation, no thanks. But they would be the reason why, when darkness finally came, all of them in all their different colours would stand shoulder to shoulder and draw their wands as brothers in arms. ...." I also recommend you to read the tag, seriously. Some of the tags say #and this my friend is why no one is quite sure what a hufflepuff really is #the answer is: everyone.

And that, my friends, is why I like being in Hufflepuff, being a Hufflepuff.

Talking about Fandom: the Feels

In fandom there is the term "feeling" which is shortened to "feels". It is that moment when you feel overwhelmed by something. You may call it sadness but it's different kind of sadness. It's just difficult to describe so we simply call it "feels".

If you want to see some examples, I once wrote a post entitled "Jleb" Harry Potter Moments. Yeah, it's quite similar to "jleb" in Indonesian.

However, no matter how overwhelming it is, we often intentionally hit ourselves with "feels". Here are two examples. Harry Potter fans know that Fred Weasley's death was sad but they still search in the internet for meme or fanfic or anything related to it, only to get struck with "feels" afterward. My Chemical Romance fans can get "feels" only by listening to any of their song but still, they listen to the songs, watch the videos on YouTube, watch past interviews, or read old articles. 

Why do we do that? Is it like when we fall in love? I mean, when we fall in love, we experience increase of dopamine and oxytocin. According to Marieb and Hoehn (2013), dopamine is "feel good" neurotransmitter; the ecstasy of romantic love may be just a brain bath of glutamate and norepinephrine, which act on the reward system to release dopamine. Oxytocin, on the other hand, promotes nurturing, couple bonding, and trust.

Questions:

1. Is our feeling in fandom similar to those of people who fall in love? Or is it just obsession?

2. If it's because of dopamine, why do we feel this strange emotion? Dopamine is supposed to make us feel good, right? Why do I feel miserable instead?

3. How long does it normally last?

Well, I guess for those who are not in fandom, it may sound like we punish ourselves. However, for people involved in fandom, it's just a normal activity. We sometimes even think, "I'm in the good mood for sad fanfic. Let me search and read. Don't disturb me while I'm suffering with this mess called 'feels'!"

Also, if you're interested in learning neurology, psychiatry, and fandom psychology, I have those three questions above. You may use it for research idea or something. 

Boggart and Sexual Assault

In Harry Potter series, boggart is an amortal shape shifting non-being that takes on the form of viewer's worst fear.

Hermione's boggart on her third year was Professor McGonagall telling her that she failed all exams. Molly Weasley's boggart was the dead bodies of her family.

When I was at school, I thought my boggart would be like Hermione's since I was quite an overachiever. After I entered medical school, I found out that failure in exam was not that scary so I guessed my boggart would be the dead bodies of my family or friends.

Then I was sexually assaulted and I understood what fear was like. It was worse than failure in exam, even worse than losing a loved one. I'm fine with bad grade in university. I can deal with losing a family member or friend quite well. However, sexual assault is different.

There are countless times I regret the assault. It's irrational, though. I'm the victim but why would I regret? I just can't help it. I think about "what if" and "I should have" even when I'm fully aware that it was not my fault and I can't turn back time.

In Harry Potter series, we say "Riddikulus" to combat a boggart. While saying the charm, we need to concentrate on something funny that the boggart will change shape into.

Sadly, everytime I think about those who assaulted me, or any kind of sexual assault, I think about the scene in Game of Thrones where Arya killed Meryn Trant, the cruel knight who was also a pedophile. In that scene, Arya stabbed Meryn Trant several times in his eyes and chest then finally slitted his throat. I sometimes imagine myself doing that to those who assault me but imagination is imagination. I can't do that. I don't do such thing.

I haven't got any idea of something funny to change my boggart into because there is nothing funny about sexual assault.

Green Things in My Fandoms

The prompt is "green" so I'm just going to brainstrom some green things in fandom.

Green is the colour of Slytherin. It's the house of those cunning folks who use any means to achieve their ends.

Harry Potter has green eyes. It is said that Harry has his mother's eyes. Rowling said if they were casting Lily, there needed to be a resemblance (in the eyes) but they don't absolutely have to be green.

The killing curse Avada Kedavra produces green light. On a side note, when writing this, I suddenly want to do flame test experiment and create green flame. I will ask my mother later. She's a chemistry teacher by the way.

House Tyrell has golden rose on green field as their sigil. They rule the Reach, the most fertile region and thus, the greenest part of Westeros.

There is a song by Panic! At The Disco called That Green Gentleman. I like the lyrics, "Things have changed for me and that's okay, I feel the same, I'm on my way." What I don't understand is the title. Why is the gentleman green? Why is the song given that title? Who wrote the lyrics and who gave the title? What did he think when he pick the title? Then I realise that the only sensible answer is, "Because it's a song by Panic! At The Disco."

I realise that I can't find any green thing related to My Chemical Romance. Well, Gerard Way hasn't dyed his hair green, has he?

Am I a Death Eater?

Gerard Way has just stated that he's sorted into Slytherin and his wand wood is made of yew. Then I remember something. Voldemort was a Slytherin and his wand was yew. The difference is, Gerard Way has dragon heartstring as wand core and Voldemort has phoenix feather.

Is Gerard Way secretly a Dark Lord? No, he's a Sleep Lord.

If he were Voldemort, would that make me, his fan, a Death Eater? No, I'd rather be a Pancake Eater.

What Makes Them Gryffindor?

Among all Hogwarts houses, Gryffindor is the most exposed through Harry Potter series because Harry Potter was a Gryffindor and his life was surrounded by Gryffindors.

Gryffindor's most well known trait is bravery and Gryffindors, in my opinion, are brave to do what they think is right. And for that "right thing", they're willing to sacrifice what's important for them, sometimes to the point of doing reckless or stupid things.

I know almost too many Gryffindors that I sometimes forget they're from the same house. There are trouble-making Fred and George Weasley, smart Hermione, ambitious Percy Weasley, clumsy Neville, and flirty Lavender Brown. We also see the infamous Peter Pettigrew. The question is, "Are they brave enough to be Gryffindor?" 

Look at Percy Weasley. He's smart enough to be Ravenclaw and ambitious enough to be Slytherin. Still, he was a Gryffindor. He was a Gryffindor who left his family and chose to work for the Ministry of Magic. How can a Gryffindor do such thing? I think Percy actually considered family important. Remember, even after he left his family, he congratulated Ron when Ron was chosen as prefect. Percy, at that moment, thought that Ministry of Magic was right and his family was wrong. Simple as that. He had the nerve to go after what he thought was right. He believed in Ministry of Magic, then he work there and left his family. After a while, he realised that his family was right then he came back to his family.

Hermione stated in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that the Sorting Hat had considered placing her in Ravenclaw but she chose Gryffindor because, as she said herself in her first year, "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!" She valued bravery more than cleverness. Also let's just remember how many times Hermione was involved in breaking the rules for the sake of "everyone's safety".

Neville Longbottom was sorted into Gryffindor for his bravery although he didn't realise it at first. I found a post that may have been reposted many times so I couldn't find the original resource. The post was written, "I had a thought: Neville's greatest fear was Snape. And for ten months of every year for seven years, he went back and faced that fear over and over and over again. It would be like tossing Ron into a nest of spiders every day. Or pitching Harry against a Dementor every day. Neville went back to Potions every time, never skipped out, never ran away. Kid was braver than anyone ever noticed from the very beginning, even before he started standing up for himself." That post explains how bravery doesn't simply mean not being afraid but it's more about how someone deals with fear. Neville, in this case, faced his fear.

What about Peter Pettigrew? I guess the Sorting Hat thought this way, "Peter wasn't loyal enough to be Hufflepuff. He wasn't smart enough to be Ravenclaw, neither ambitious enough to be Slytherin. So let's sort him into Gryffindor, muahahaha!!!" Ignore that "muahahaha". Or maybe Peter was sorted into Gryffindor because he chose it, since he wasn't brave enough to be Gryffindor. 

At the end, we can learn from Gryffindor that the act of bravery takes many different ways. Except from Peter Pettigrew. Really, I still don't understand how he was sorted into Gryffindor.

P.S. I feel satisfied that I can finish writing this post. Really, I didn't expect that writing about Gryffindor would be difficult. It was even easier to write the Slytherin post. I don't even know why.

Learning from Slytherin

I had a random conversation with Lady Slytherin. She's a self proclaimed Slytherin who was sorted into Gryffindor in Pottermore. 

Apparently, Lady Slytherin didn't accept that. She never accepts it. Then she tried a YouTube quiz "Which Hogwarts House Are You in?" and was sorted into Gryffindor. She said, "I'm not evil enough." After that, I showed her a BuzzFeed quiz "These Five Questions Will Tell You What Percent Slytherin You Are". And her result? She's 100% Slytherin.

This is a problem that bothers us. Many quizzes about Hogwarts house still consider Slytherin as evil. Lady Slytherin and I see Slytherin as a house with people who have "unique" priority and do their best to keep that priority safe.

Let's take a look. Harry, Order of the Phoenix, and Dumbledore Army's priority is to defeat Voldemort and the Death Eaters so people can live in peace. For that reason, they practice their magic and make strategies to defeat the dark wizards.

However, Slytherins have various priorities. For the Malfoys, their family matters. All that they do is to keep Malfoy family and lineage safe. Lucius stated that he had been under Imperius curse during the first Wizarding War (the one before Harry was born) then he wasn't prisoned in Azkaban. Thus, Malfoy family was still safe, rich, and powerful. After Voldemort was back, Lucius declared his loyalty again. He did it because he knew what Voldemort was capable of and he didn't want to risk his family.

For Snape, Lily was important. All of his act as double agent was motivated by his feeling for Lily. His motivation might not so "pure" as the other members of Order of the Phoenix. He still hated Harry at some point because Harry was James Potter's son. However, as Harry himself said, Snape was the bravest man he ever knew. 

And finally, let me talk about our infamous Slytherin, Tom Riddle aka. Voldemort. What did Voldemort consider important? Power and immortality. For those things, he was willing to read old books and travel the world. For those things, he was willing to live through the pain of splitting soul. And also for those things, he was willing to act polite and courteous to people (remember Helena Ravenclaw and Hepzibah Smith?).

Now I'm not saying that Slytherins are right. I'm saying that there's nothing wrong with being Slytherin as long as you understand what truly matters to you.