In Case of Dementors...

Faith of GeekyZooGirl and Micheline of Lunar Rainbow Reviews are hosting the Harry Potter Month in July and I'm on board! People can compete in the House Cup by accumulating house points. I'll be earning said house points by posting about Harry Potter among other Harry Potter related activities! This year I will be representing Hufflepuff!

Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and dispair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence, though they can't see them. Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself -- soulless and evil. You'll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life.  -- Prisoner of Azkaban

By the time you read this, I will be on my way to Hogwarts! So to prepare for this journey, I've stocked up on a couple of essentials.  Well, okay really just one.  Chocolate.

But I couldn't have just normal chocolate, I had to put a bit of Harry magic into the mix.  So I made these cute little wraps for each of the chocolate bars and since there were four of them, each one got a different house color! (Yay for unintentional house symmetry.) I will be munching on the Hufflepuff chocolate bar regardless of dementor interaction.  It never hurts to be over prepared. ;)

You can't be too careful about where and when you might run into a dementor... Now I'm off to practice my patronus. *clears throat. Readies wand.* Expecto Patronum!

Top Ten Tuesday: Facts About Me!

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

1. I'm a Hufflepuff, though you probably know this if you've been reading my blog for a while.  Plus, I'm in the middle of Harry Potter Month over here and it's chocked-full of Hufflepuff references.

2. I've recently discovered the art of bullet journaling and I've become obsessed, like I've spent more than four hours planning what to put in my journal before even starting it obsessed.  It's going to be great though! If you don't know what bullet journaling is you can go to the official website for more information.  Essentially, it's a place to keep everything, lists, ideas, thoughts, schedules.  It's beautiful.

3. In the past two years, I've become more and more in love with graphic novels and comics.  I'm a HUGE Marvel fan and I wanted to dive into the medium that Marvel originated. That's when I discovered how amazing all of these books are.  I love them and I'm trying to read as many as possible. There are just so many stories out there!

4. Speaking of Marvel, I've become addicted to the app Avengers Academy. I don't play app games often, but I happened to find this one during their Avengers Civil War campaign and I got hooked.  The basic gist is you recruit young adult version of a bunch of different Marvel characters and send them on missions.  It sounds slightly boring when you read it like them, but trust me it's awesome!

5. I'm moving in a week.  This isn't all that interesting, but it's a fact about me and it's happening super soon.  I'll be moving into my roommates new house next week sometime and I couldn't be more excited!

6. I'm a planner.  I like making lists and crossing things off once I've done then.  I like imagining potential and developing ideas. However, I am not awesome at executing all those carefully and thoughtfully planned out ideas. The real important ones get done though.

7. About 75% of my books are currently in storage, which is slightly annoying because sometimes I get an itch to read a book I own and I realize it's been put away.  Though, it does give me an excuse to go to the library.

8. I'm part Irish and I'm going to visit Ireland for the first time ever at the beginning of August!  I cannot wait to discover the country first hand.  My goal is to eat at as many favorite local places as possible and to have conversations with as many people I can.

9. I saw Me Before You last month, and immediately afterward, I tried to find a pair of bumblebee tights. I wasn't successful. :/  But I won't rest until I have a pair! My Hufflepuff striped socks will just have to do until then.

10. I love giving any book a chance.  I will read any genre (for the most part.) and any recommendation even if it's not one of my go to genres.  I often enjoy the books I don't think I will.  It's strange that it works that way isn't it?

My Harry Potter Profile

Faith of GeekyZooGirl and Micheline of Lunar Rainbow Reviews are hosting the Harry Potter Month in July and I'm on board! People can compete in the House Cup by accumulating house points. I'll be earning said house points by posting about Harry Potter among other Harry Potter related activities! This year I will be representing Hufflepuff!

Lee from Rally the Readers made this awesome HP profile to give us a snapshot of her Harry Potter history.  I liked it so much that I've created my own snapshot. I've borrowed the format and can't wait to share it with you.  Thanks Lee!

Here we go:

Name: Alex
Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff
Ilvermorny House: Pukwudgie

Year I Discovered HP: 1998, I got there way early. My elementary librarian assured me that I would love this book. She has no idea how right she was.

Last Time I Read the Books: Last year for Harry Potter Month!  I got through them all, it was great.

Favorite Book: Prisoner of Azkaban
Favorite Film: The David Yates movies (5-8) or Chamber of Secrets

Favorite Character: Neville Longbottom <-- There are many reasons and I'll be dedicating an entire post to him so stay tuned!

Character I Most Identify With: Hermione Granger, growing up she was always the one that I thought I was most like.  We both enjoyed reading and learning; I mean I frequently asked for extra homework when I was in 4th grade. Who does that? She's kind to mostly everyone and determined to make her mark on the world.

Character I Wish I Were More Like: Ginny Weasley, she's got a much more outgoing fierce personality that I would love tap into.  It would be useful.

Spell I'd Use Right This Moment: Expecto Patronum, I want very badly to find out what form my patronus takes. I've got plenty of happy thoughts ready and willing to help me.

Kiss, Cruise, Marry (Marauders Edition): Since it's a given that I'd kill Wormtail, I'm changing it up a bit. I'd kiss James because why not, he's pretty attractive and probably a decent kisser. I'd go on a cruise with Sirius because it would be seriously fun to hang out with him for a week.  And I'd marry Remus because he's got a good head on his shoulders and he's gentle and kind and friends with the most ridiculous men.

Thanks again Lee for this awesome idea.

Notable Quotable: J.K. Rowling (#122)

In honor of Harry Potter Month, the Notable Quotables will all be from Harry Potter this month!  I'll also be doing a couple extra because I want to get a quote from each book.  And where better to start than with the inception of my favorite trio!

"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."
--Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter Moment of the Week (#81)

hosted by Uncorked Thoughts and Lunar Rainbows Reviews.

Would you finish your studies in your 5th year, or would you go on until the 7th year?

I've always liked school, so there's no doubt in my mind that I would continue until my 7th year at Hogwarts. I would want to learn as much as possible about magic before I went out into the real wizard world. Plus, there's so much to explore in Hogwarts, why would you ever want to leave two full years early!?  That's just insane.

My Ilvermorny Sorting

Faith of GeekyZooGirl and Micheline of Lunar Rainbow Reviews are hosting the Harry Potter Month in July and I'm on board! People can compete in the House Cup by accumulating house points. I'll be earning said house points by posting about Harry Potter among other Harry Potter related activities! This year I will be representing Hufflepuff!

If we're looking at it logistically, I would have gone to Ilvermorny not Hogwarts (unless they take exchange students. Do we know if the wizarding schools have abroad semesters or accept students outside their pulling areas). So when it was announced that there was a written history written and a sorting test, I was more than curious about it.

The history of Ilvermorny is enchanting, as surely expected seeing that J.K. Rowling wrote it herself. The chance to uncover more of the wizarding world always gets me excited. I feel a particular fondness for Isolt Sayre, more than I expected honestly, because of her Irish heritage. I am many generations removed, but nonetheless, partially Irish (like 1/3 I think).

For those that don't know, Ilvermorny has four houses modeled from Hogwarts. They were named by Isolt, her husband and her two adoptive sons. They are Thunderbird, Wampus, Horned Serpent, and Pukwudgie. They are all named for magical beasts native to North America (I think). Each of the houses have character traits and representations that have become associated with them.

The Horned Serpent represents the mind and is said to favor scholars. The Wampus represents the body and is said to favor warriors.  The Thunderbird represents the soul and is said to favor adventurers. And the Pukwudgie represents the heart and is said to favor healers.

Alright, now that we've got the back story, let's get on with it shall we?  I took the test and was sorted into Pukwudgie!  -- It seems like it's pretty accurate because I do think with my heart. I am a very empathetic person which makes me sensitive to others' struggles. Pukwudgie favors healers and, to take that face value, I wouldn't necessarily say I'm a healer. I'm not great with medicines and I am absolutely lousy when I am sick. But I do care about the mental and spiritual health of those around me. I've been known to have a shoulder to cry on and an pair of ears ready to listen. Sometimes, healing comes from both of those things.

So while this is fun, I'm not particularly attached to this school or any of the houses, like I am Hogwarts. I just think it's neat. Maybe my fondness will grow overtime, who knows?  But for now I remain fondly a Hufflepuff and a Pukwudgie.  Peace.

Harry Potter and the Identity Crisis.

It's that time of year again!!! Faith of GeekyZooGirl and Micheline of Lunar Rainbow Reviews are hosting the Harry Potter Month in July and I'm on board! People can compete in the House Cup by accumulating house points. I'll be earning said house points by posting about Harry Potter among other Harry Potter related activities! This year I will be representing Hufflepuff!

All month long,  I'll continue(start to again...) to post my weekly Thursday Harry Potter Moment of the Week posts, but I'm sure there will be so much more Harry Potter fun in the future. Let's get this show on the road!

So I had something else planned for today and my intro, but I must talk about this now.

Back when Pottermore was introduced I was sorted into Hufflepuff - a story that I will share later this month. Then all the news about the Ilvermorny sorting quiz made me curious as to my house placement at the American wizarding school. I went to the site and found out I had to set up a new account because everything had changed and the site was like new. I got the option to take the sorting quiz again or gather the old house from the database, but I couldn't remember my old username so I took the test again.

Here's where the crisis started.

I was sorted into Ravenclaw. How was that possible? I had become solidly invested in my Hufflepuffness and am proud to call myself one.  So to wrap my head around the idea that I might not belong in Hufflepuff is crazy! I started the long inner-monologue (that may not have been so inner) of questions about myself, about my choices, about my convictions, about my house, about everything.

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Then I remembered two very important things from the books. 1) In Sorcerer's Stone, Harry has a conversation with the Sorting Hat at the sorting and the hat take his earnest desire to be anything but Slytherin into account. This obviously stuck with Harry, when he questions himself in Chamber of Secrets and asks the Sorting Hat again whether it made a mistake. And when his son became extremely nervous about where he'd be sorted, Harry told Albus Severus that the hat considers his desired house.

"'Not Slytherin, eh?' said the small voice. 'Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that -- no? Well, if you're sure -- better be GRYFFINDOR!" --the Sorting Hat to Harry, Sorcerer's Stone

"But if it really matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin.  The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account." - Harry Potter to Albus Severus Potter, Deathly Hallows. 

2) And then later Dumbledore himself ponders the question of when to sort kids. In Deathly Hallows, he asks the question when having a conversation with Snape, thinking that maybe he should not have been a Slytherin at all.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if we Sort too soon." - Dumbledore to Snape, Deathly Hallows. 

All this to say, that still doesn't help my with my crisis, it just gives me a firm grounding in the books that it's okay that I was Hufflepuff and might be Ravenclaw now. AND it's okay that I want to choose Hufflepuff over Ravenclaw. Both could be true and it's okay. For now though, my gut and loyalty tells me that I am firmly a Hufflepuff and will continue to be one far into the future. That doesn't mean that I can't also radiate a Ravenclaw's cleverness and innate curiosity, among other things.