Yesterday, Evanna Lynch, who plays the very eccentric Ravenclaw Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films, was sorted on Pottermore. Into Gryffindor. Here’s what she had to say (or tweet, rather) about the matter:

Ahhhh umm errrrrr…. Just got sorted. Slight identity crisis. Need to sit down and process this… #pottermore

I’m in Gryffindor. #Pottermore #confusion #shock #pride #happiness #LUNADONTLEAVEME!!!

 I don’t know what to do. I feel like Jo just told me I’m a man. I’m SO utterly confused.

Gryffindor! Woahhh what an honour! I’m so happy! But confused! But happy! BUT CONFUSED. #Pottermore #farewellravenclaw

Dammit, now I have to change my whole bleedin’ wardrobe!!! #pottermore #butredandgoldarenotmycolours

Sorry for the tweet explosion… I’m just…having a moment. #farewellravenclaw #pottermore #JowhathaveyouDONE?!

Evanna’s not the only one who has been thrown into an identity crisis over sorting on Pottermore. I received my own Welcome email from Pottermore at 9:41 a.m. CDT on August 15th, 2011, and I explained in a previous editorial, I didn’t waste any time. I devoured the new content available from JKR, and I especially speed-read my way through to the sorting ceremony, because I wanted to know, once-and-for-all if I had chosen the right house for myself, which was Ravenclaw, or if my very strong Hufflepuff side would win out in this case. It didn’t, but I’ll get to that later.

In Pottermore, there are essentially two sorting “quizzes”. The first involves getting your wand at Ollivander’s, where you answer seven questions about yourself. It had the same basic feel as the House sorting quiz to come later, but much more low-key. I had always envisioned myself having a Willow wand with Unicorn hair core, somewhere around fourteen inches. I had determined that about myself after I read on J. K. Rowling’s official website that, according to Celtic lore, the Willow was the “official” tree for my birthday (which is April 20th). Because of this page on Rowling’s website, I assumed that entering our birthdays during the initial registration process played a fairly significant role in determining our wand’s wood. However, I should have foreseen that, after reading the reports that there would be 33000 wand combinations on Pottermore, this sheer number would be impossible with only twelve wand woods from which to choose. Needless to say, I didn’t get Willow.

After answering such seemingly frivolous questions as eye color–after looking in the mirror several times, I determined that mine are blue-grey–as well as some important personality-related questions–such as my greatest fear, and what would I choose between the beach, the forest, and the castle (surprisingly, I chose the forest), or between the scroll and six other things in a trunk (I chose the scroll, obviously)–my wand chose me. It does have a Unicorn core (I knew all along that I wasn’t a Phoenix or Dragon person), and it is 14 1/2 inches (determined by the question about my height), but the wand’s wood? Pear. Yes, pear. I didn’t even know they made wands from the wood of a pear tree. They might as well use the tail feather of a partridge for the core. Because partridges and pear trees obviously go hand-in-hand.

After scoffing at my wand for a moment, I read Ollivander’s description about wand woods, and my contempt turned to understanding. The entry about pear wood reads:

This golden-toned wood produces wands of splendid magical powers, which give of their best in the hands of the warm-hearted, the generous and the wise. Possessors of pear wands are, in my experience, usually popular and well-respected. I do not know of a single instance where a pear wand has been discovered in the possession of a Dark witch or wizard. Pear wands are among the most resilient, and I have often observed that they may still present a remarkable appearance of newness, even after many years of hard use.

As I began to absorb this, I also decided in that moment to do a little further research into mythological pear symbolism. I found this:

Pear: In Greek and Roman mythology, pears are sacred to three goddesses: Hera (Juno to the Romans), Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans), and Pomona, an Italian goddess of gardens and harvests.

The ancient Chinese believed that the pear was a symbol of immortality. (Pear trees live for a long time.) In Chinese the word li means both “pear” and “separation,” and for this reason, tradition says that to avoid a separation, friends and lovers should not divide pears between themselves.

If the name “Pomona” sounds familiar, it’s because it’s also Professor Sprout’s first name. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of research Rowling put into naming her characters. “Pomona” is the perfect first name for Sprout, because she teaches Herbology, the art of magical “gardening” for lack of a better word, and her namesake is the goddess of gardens.

Also another name that was taken from Roman mythology was “Remus”. As the story (myth) goes, Remus and his twin brother Romulus were raised by wolves (hence why the name Remus is fitting for Professor Lupin, who is a werewolf). Remus is ultimately killed by his brother Romulus during a quarrel-contest over the name and location of the city that they intended to construct together. Romulus, having won the contest, named the city after himself: Rome. Of course, no such twin brother to Remus Lupin ever appears in Harry Potter, but knowing this myth prior to the seventh novel, I wondered whether this Remus would also die in the end.

But this post is not about character names, but about sorting.

With this first “sorting” complete, and with my new wand in hand, I started to become concerned about the next, and more “important” sorting quiz. This wand wood seemed more fitting for a Hufflepuff than a Ravenclaw. While “wise” is generally considered a Ravenclaw trait, “warm-hearted” and “generous” are traits that Helga Hufflepuff would have prized more than Rowena. What if I answer the sorting hat quiz questions similarly? What if the sorting hat (re: Pottermore) took into account the wand that I took with me into the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony?

What if it doesn’t matter what house I get sorted into?

Aye, there’s the rub. There’s the all-important question. What if I kept an open mind while taking the quiz? What if I didn’t bring any prior house loyalties into this? I know so many people have been so nervous about the prospect that they won’t be able to go back and re-take the quiz if they get sorted into a house that is not the house with which they have identified over the past fourteen years. I, however, have tried to think about the situation more optimistically since Pottermore was first announced. Yes, we fans should know ourselves far better than Jo knows us, but Jo certainly knows the qualities, traits, and other associations that the houses have better than we do. So, if we answer every question honestly, true to ourselves, we will get placed into a house that is true to ourselves, even if it’s not what we previously expected.

Besides, there are so many misconceptions about the houses anyway, especially among younger fans. Several young fans merely think that they should be in the same house as their favorite characters, such as Harry, Ron, or Hermione, even if they don’t have remotely the same personalities as their favorite characters. Or they don’t fully understand what it means to be a Ravenclaw, or a Hufflepuff. Actually, a certain “Albus Dumbledore”, as portrayed by StarKid in “A Very Potter Musical”, doesn’t understand what a Hufflepuff is either.

Dumbledore: Basically, I’ve just been putting anybody who looks like a good guy into Gryffindor, anybody who looks like a bad guy into Slytherin, and the other two can just go wherever the hell they want, I don’t really care.

Cedric Diggory: “Hufflepuffs are particularly good FINDERS!”

Dumbledore: What the hell is a Hufflepuff?

Jo Rowling, when writing the welcome letters for each house, points out those misconceptions about the houses, because she knows that they exist among the fandom. The satirical Dumbledore character as portrayed in AVPM is completely wrong. Not every Gryffindor is a good guy, and not every Slytherin is a bad guy, but that’s the misconception that we see. Read for yourself what they welcome letters say about the misconceptions.

Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths. You might have heard rumours about Slytherin house – that we’re all into the Dark Arts, and will only talk to you if your great-grandfather was a famous wizard, and rubbish like that. Well, you don’t want to believe everything you hear from competing houses. I’m not denying that we’ve produced our share of Dark wizards, but so have the other three houses – they just don’t like admitting it. And yes, we have traditionally tended to take students who come from long lines of witches and wizards, but nowadays you’ll find plenty of people in Slytherin house who have at least one Muggle parent.

Some time ago, I tweeted, “If the Pevensie kids went to Hogwarts: Peter would be in Gryffindor; Susan, Ravenclaw; Edmund, Slytherin; and Lucy, Hufflepuff.” One could argue that Edmund was redeemed in the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but even so, he still possess qualities that Slytherin would prize, even when he no longer supports the Witch over the Lion, even when he is no longer “evil”. In conclusion, you don’t have to be a “bad guy” to be a Slytherin. Want further proof? Read this very insightful article: Hogwarts House Psychoanalysis.

But I digress. I shouldn’t talk about the results before the quiz itself. After I began the quiz, I thought about each question slowly and carefully. Many times I caught myself thinking, “How would a true Ravenclaw answer this?” but I quickly rephrased it to, “How would Andrew answer this?” Some questions were easy. Of course I would want to study Centaurs over Trolls or any other manner of creature. I prefer Dusk to Dawn (I’m not a morning person). Yes, I more often choose heads in a coin toss over tails (I’m an optimist). Other questions were more difficult. “Upon entering a magical garden, which do you examine first? 1) A deep pool of water. 2) A tree with silver leaves and golden fruit. 3) A statue of a wizard with a twinkle in its eye. 4) A clump of red toadstools.” I chose the statue, but I could hardly stop myself from considering how each answer could determine a different house. Toadstools: Hufflepuff, obviously. Pool of water: Slytherin, because their “element” is water, the pool is deep, and because their common room is located in the dungeons with a view under the surface of Hogwarts Lake. Silver tree: I figured this one to be a Gryffindor choice, only because the statue felt more like a Ravenclaw choice to me, with it’s “twinkling” eye of curiosity.

I was actually surprised by how many questions were followed by exactly four choices that could be almost obviously associated with a house. For example, another question I received was, “What would you most hate to be called?” Choices included, “ignorant” (Ravenclaw), “greedy” (Hufflepuff), and “cowardly” (Gryffindor). Unfortunately, I didn’t write any of my questions down, so I am reporting from memory now, but there were other questions like this one, which disappointed me. Reports before Pottermore opened said that sorting wouldn’t be so obvious. However, I was satisfied with the balance between obvious and sometimes seemingly superfluous questions, though I felt I could figure out almost every question. Even the questions with only two answers: “Dusk”, I feel, would have led me towards Ravenclaw or Slytherin, whereas “Dawn” would have led me towards Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Hufflepuffs being the hard workers would have to be morning people to get the most work done in a day.

On a side note, I sorted my sister recently using a fan-made quiz (not Pottermore), and she landed, not surprisingly to me, into Hufflepuff. She gardens from sun-up to sun-down (Professor Sprout would be very proud) and is so generous a person that she literally gives away the produce in some cases, practically in cases where she charges so little it doesn’t make much difference anyway. She works very hard and is a morning person, in I think, very Hufflepuff fashion.

I can understand having a sense of house loyalty, and not wanting to have that revoked, even by Jo Rowling herself and her Pottermore project. However, I also feel that many people have in them traits valued by more than one house founder. My sister is very much a Hufflepuff. However, she could easily do very well in Ravenclaw too. She values eduction, as does Ravenclaw, though her intelligence stems from studying and working hard to achieve it, and hard work is a Hufflepuff character trait. I feel I have both of those houses in me too, but Ravenclaw shines more strongly.

Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom, as reported on Pottermore, both came very close to a “Hatstall”, which means that the sorting hat has to deliberate on where to put a student for longer than five minutes (which is very rare). Hermione was very nearly put into Ravenclaw (as was Professor McGonagall many years before her), and Neville argued with the hat that he should be sorted into Hufflepuff, thinking that he wasn’t brave enough for Gryffindor, but the hat obviously won that argument. As we all remember too, Harry Potter was also very nearly put into Slytherin. So, both characters and fans alike have more than one house in them.

As more and more fans are granted access to Pottermore over the next days and weeks, I think it is so important for them to remember to keep an open mind during the sorting ceremony and let the cards fall where they may. You may end up in the house you always wanted (like I did), or you may be utterly surprised (like Evanna Lynch was), but I think it’s important to embrace your house (like Evanna did) either way, no matter whether the house that Pottermore chooses is new, or old, to you.

Of course, that’s easy for me to say. I don’t have to buy a new wardrobe.

(And thank goodness. I love my Ravenclaw tie.)