Hufflepuff

**Hufflepuff** was one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Its founder was the medieval witch Helga Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff was 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 was a badger, and yellow and black were its house colours. The Head of Hufflepuff was Pomona Sprout, and the Fat Friar was the House's patron ghost.

Hufflepuff corresponded roughly to the element of earth, and it was for that reason that the House colours were chosen: yellow represented wheat, while black was emblematic of soil. The Hufflepuff point hourglass contained yellow diamonds. Students sorted into Hufflepuff often demonstrated strong abilities in Herbology, owing to their correspondence to earth.

## Traits

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

Hufflepuffs were known to have a strong moral code, and a sense of right and wrong. Hufflepuffs were usually accepting of everyone. Students in Hufflepuff were known to value everyone and treat them as equal.

Hufflepuff appeared 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

According to Minerva McGonagall, all four of the houses produced exceptional witches and wizards in their time, but due to Helga Hufflepuff's policy of accepting any student Hufflepuff is often thought to be the house of less talented wizards and witches. However, this was merely a misunderstanding of the Sorting Hat's poem.

The Hufflepuff house had produced a great number of wizards and witches who would go on to be extremely successful and have great influence upon the history and course of the wizarding world, examples of such individuals including the famous Magizoologist Newton Scamander (a pioneer in the field of Magizoology), Arithmancer Bridget Wenlock (who discovered the magical properties of the number seven), Hengist of Woodcroft (founder of the all-wizard village of Hogsmeade) and former Minister for Magic Artemisia Lufkin (who was the first woman to hold the office and established the Department of International Magical Co-operation).

What made Hufflepuff differ from the other houses was the fact that they didn't tend to boast about these accomplishments. It was not considered to be part of their nature.

Hufflepuff was the house that produced the fewest Dark wizards throughout its history. Their cheerful and friendly demeanour could probably account for this achievement 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.

Hufflepuff's nature and reputation was perhaps best exemplified by its mascot, the badger. Though a quiet and largely unassuming creature that most perceive to be harmless, the badger can be surprisingly vicious if provoked and capable of fighting off animals many times its size, especially if there is a threat to what it cares about. Their capacity to be far more dangerous and cunning than their reputation would suggest, was also shown by the fact that of the four house common rooms, theirs was the only one that possessed an active defence mechanism against those who would try to seek unauthorised entry.

## Common Room

*Main articles: Hufflepuff Basement and Hufflepuff common room*
The Hufflepuff dormitories and common room were never seen by outsiders, and was the only house common room with repelling devices in case of intruders. They were 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, would 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, resulted in one of the other lids bursting off, drenching the impostor in vinegar.

However, once one made it through the tunnel entryway, the Hufflepuff dormitory was a quite cosy and welcoming place; it always felt sunny. The common room was a large, earthy, round room with low ceilings. The view from the round windows was of dandelions and rippling grass.

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

## Head of House

Helga Hufflepuff

(10th century)

Pomona Sprout

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.