Hufflepuff

"You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true, And unafraid of toil"

- The Sorting Hat

Hufflepuff is one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Its founder was the medieval witch Helga Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff is the most inclusive among the four houses; valuing hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty, and fair play rather than a particular aptitude in its members. The emblematic animal is a badger, and yellow and black are its colours. The Head of Hufflepuff is Pomona Sprout and the Fat Friar is the House's patron ghost.

Hufflepuff corresponds roughly to the element of earth, and it is for that reason that the House colours were chosen: yellow represented wheat, while black was emblematic of soil. The Hufflepuff points hourglass contains yellow diamonds.

Traits
Students belonging to this house are known to be hard-working, friendly, loyal, honest and rather impartial. It may be that due to their values, Hufflepuffs are not as competitive as the other houses, and are more modest about their accomplishments. Hufflepuff is the most inclusive among the four houses; valuing hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty, and fair play rather than a particular aptitude in its students.

Hufflepuff appears to have the least rivalry with the other houses, except in Quidditch, although the Triwizard Tournament did temporarily put a great deal of strain on the relationship between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, due to unusual circumstances of the selection of both Gryffindor student Harry Potter and Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory as Champions. This was mended by 1998, where a majority of Hufflepuffs rose to defend Harry from Pansy Parkinson and later helped to defend Hogwarts.

Reputation
"Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers,"

- Wizarding opinion of the House

According to Minerva McGonagall, all four of the houses have produced exceptional witches and wizards in their time, but due to Helga Hufflepuff's policy of accepting any student and its usually poor performance in the House Cup, Hufflepuff is often thought to be the house of less talented wizards and witches. However, this is merely a misunderstanding of the Sorting Hat's poem. The Hufflepuff house has produced a great many of successful and influential members of the wizarding world, such as the renowned Magizoologist Newton Scamander. A great number of exceptionally skilled witches and wizards also have their origins on this house, including noted Arithmancer Bridget Wenlock, and former Minister for Magic Artemisia Lufkin.



Hufflepuff has produced the fewest number of dark wizards than any other house at Hogwarts. Their cheerful and friendly demeanour can probably account for this property of the House. Hufflepuff firmly demonstrated its loyalty during the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, when they were second only to Harry Potter's own house of Gryffindor in the number of students willing to stay and fight against Voldemort and his forces in the defence of their school.

Common Room
The Hufflepuff dormitories and common room have never been seen by outsiders and is the only house with repelling devices in case of intruders. They are accessed through a pile of large barrels, found stacked in a shadowy stone recess on a right-hand side corridor near the kitchens. The barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, will open if tapped in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'.

As a security device to repel non-Hufflepuff students, tapping on the wrong barrel, or tapping the incorrect number of times, results in one of the other lids bursting off, drenching the impostor in vinegar.

However, once you make it through the tunnel entryway, the Hufflepuff dormitory is a quite cozy and welcoming place; it always feels sunny. The common room is a large, earthy, round room with low ceilings. The view from the round windows is of dandelions and rippling grass.

The decor emphasises the earthy-feel of the room with plants hanging and resting all about the room, some that even sing and dance. Burnished copper touchings with plush, cosy yellow and black patterned sofas and chairs welcoming a Hufflepuff student to relax and discuss the interesting specimens brought in by the Head of House, Professor Sprout. A Hufflepuff student retires through big, round doors in the walls of the common room to their dormitory.

Head of House
The Hufflepuff's head of house before and during Harry Potter's time was Pomona Sprout. She was the Herbology professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is possible that before Pomona was appointed as the Herbology professor and made head of house that Herbert Beery the previous Herbology teacher was the head of house, depending on if he was a Hufflepuff or not.

Behind the scenes

 * In J. K. Rowling's earliest concepts for the series, Hufflepuff's mascot was a bear rather than a badger.
 * Hufflepuff has produced the fewest Dark wizards of all the four Houses. In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, in an alternative timeline, Cedric Diggory became a Death Eater. He is, to date, the only Dark Wizard or Witch from Hufflepuff known in canon.
 * Giffard Abbott was most likely a Hufflepuff, given his attitude towards this House and sharing a surname with known Hufflepuff Hannah Abbott.
 * Amos Diggory may have been a Hufflepuff if he attended Hogwarts, as his son Cedric was.
 * Tumblr_n872xlLMms1rp57r0o4_250-1-.gif most members of Hufflepuff house appear to have either blonde or brunette hair, while Susan Bones and Helga Hufflepuff had reddish hair. Furthermore, Professor Pomona Sprout often wore brown clothes. Interestingly, this is reminiscent of the house attributions; brown/brunette is associated with the element of earth.
 * The Hufflepuff Basement was the only common room that Harry Potter didn't enter during his years at Hogwarts.
 * On Harry Potter: Beyond the Page, J. K. Rowling had this to say about Hufflepuff House..."This may surprise people, but it is the truth...In many, many ways, Hufflepuff is my favourite House. Here's my reasoning, bear with me. (Again, I don't want to spoil things too much for people who haven't read the whole series, so I'm going to say what I'm about to say quite carefully). There comes a point in the final book where each House has the choice whether or not to rise to a certain challenge, and that's everyone in the House. The Slytherins, for reasons that are understandable, decide they'd rather not play. The Ravenclaws, some decide they will, some decide they won't. The Hufflepuffs, virtually to a person, stay, as do the Gryffindors. Now, the Gryffindors comprise a lot of foolhardy and show-offy people, that's just the way it is, I'm a Gryffindor, I'm allowed to say it. You know, there's bravery, and there's also showboating, and sometimes the two go together. The Hufflepuffs stayed for a different reason; they weren't trying to show off, they weren't being reckless, that's the essence of Hufflepuff House. Now my oldest child (my daughter, Jessica) said something very profound to me, not very many days ago, actually, she said to me --and she, by the way, was not sorted into Hufflepuff House-- but, she said to me, 'I think we should all want to be Hufflepuffs.' I can only say to you, that I would not be at all disappointed to be sorted into Hufflepuff House."
 * Gabriel Truman states that Hufflepuffs are often good at Herbology, likely stemming from their house element of earth. Neville Longbottom was known to excel at Herbology but was placed in Gryffindor, despite begging the Sorting Hat to place him Hufflepuff.
 * Hufflepuff House won the fourth House Cup on.
 * In the video game adaptations of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the Hufflepuff robes are purple, instead of yellow. This is most likely because yellow is a difficult colour to animate.
 * The fact that Hufflepuff's secondary colour is black and emblematic of the soil is symbolic of the fact that unlike the other three houses whose secondary colours are those of precious metals, Hufflepuff house is humble, down-to-earth, and enduring, unlike gold, silver, and bronze, which are soft metals that are easily broken or warped. It shows the Hufflepuff house's ability to act as a shield, protecting the precious metals, which in this analogy are the other houses' students, and serves as the humble foundations of their unified strength.
 * Hufflepuff is the only house which Harry and Ginny did not name any of their children after a member of, and this, along with the fact that it's the only common room that Harry Potter never visits at any point and the only one whose house ghost is never part of anything important to the plot (other than appearing at the start of year feast in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone), makes it possibly the least important house of the four in the series.
 * It is ironic how often Hufflepuff is underestimated, given that its mascot is one of the most dangerous animals in the world. The African honey badger is known for being impervious to bee stings (with African bees being among the most toxic on the planet), are known for being able to fend off and reduce snakes to shredded flesh, and a single African honey badger is able to kill three lions on its own.

Appearances

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Notes and references
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