The star of J.K. Rowling's newly announced first screenplay, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, comes from Hufflepuff and will hopefully bring his house the respect it deserves. Anyone who's seen at least one Harry Potter movie should know what I'm talking about when I say "houses"— they're the four groups that Hogwarts students can be placed into by the Sorting Hat during their first year.
Harry, Ron and Hermione are all in Gryffindor, the house for the "brave of heart;" Draco and Voldemort come from the cunning Slytherin and Luna has the intelligence of Ravenclaw. It is the fourth house, Hufflepuff, that tends to be forgotten.
But finally, there will be a lead character to come out of the hard-working, loyal house — Newt Scamander.
Not all Harry Potter fans are alike. We come from different places, have distinct opinions on almost every aspect of the series, read the books and watch the movies in our own ways, and of course, we are segmented into different houses.
I am definitely biased in my defense of Hufflepuff, as I myself am a proud member. How do I know? While there are countless sorting quizzes on the Internet, most Potterheads identify with the house assigned to them on Pottermore.
In case you don't know what that is (in which case why are you reading an article like this?), it's a website created by Rowling that lets users travel through levels of activities, each corresponding with the chapter of a Harry Potter book and some unlocking new material written by Rowling.
An early level of Pottermore brings users to the Sorting Hat, where a quiz that Rowling created assigns them to a house. Since the queen herself made the quiz, that's usually the house you identify with. Some of us are lucky enough to receive this message after the quiz:
Badger pride. It's also thanks to the site that we know Scamander was a Hufflepuff, as the screen that follows features a welcome message that describes the house and its famous alumni, revealing the allegiance of Scamander. This tells us a lot about him and his personality, thanks to the Pottermore description.
Now, there are a few things you should know about Hufflepuff house. First of all, let’s deal with a perennial myth about the place, which is that we’re the least clever house. WRONG. Hufflepuff is certainly the least boastful house, but we’ve produced just as many brilliant witches and wizards as any other...Hufflepuffs are trustworthy and loyal. We don’t shoot our mouths off, but cross us at your peril; like our emblem, the badger, we will protect ourselves, our friends and our families against all-comers. Nobody intimidates us...congratulations on becoming a member of the friendliest, most decent and most tenacious house of them all.
So essentially, Scamander should be a great guy. He must've found so much success with beasts because they trust him and sense his loyalty to their cause — it can't be easy to start an international werewolf registry. He's also done a lot of work with dragons, proving that Hufflepuffs really can't be intimidated.
Since Fantastic Beasts is supposed to be set in 1920s New York and the original textbook it's based on was published in 1927, the film will likely follow Scamander as he conducts his research. If it follows him any further in his life, we'll see some of that Hufflepuff excellence.
Besides doing a lot of important work for the Ministry of Magic, at some point Scamander goes on to be the Headmaster of Hogwarts. That's right, Dumbledore's job. We know this thanks to some Harry Potter fans with a keen eye who noticed his portrait hanging in the Headmaster's office in some of the films.
There's our guy. Presumably he was better-looking and dressed in his youth, a.k.a. the Fantastic Beasts movie. But even if he's not, I'll support him, I'm very loyal after all.
So Hufflepuffs, rejoice. We'll have another famous Badger to prove that there's more to our house than Cedric Diggory (played in the movie by a pre-Twilight Robert Pattinson) and a common room right next to the Hogwarts kitchens.
And I have a feeling that Scamander's house will be explicitly mentioned in Fantastic Beasts. Rowling is writing the screenplay herself, and she has said, "in many, many ways, Hufflepuff is my favorite house." Watch her interview below, and try to not be jealous of me and Scamander for being in the best Hogwarts house.
