Mugglenet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died - Emerson Spartz [68]
Verdict
In CoS, Harry has to slide down the drainpipe to rescue Ginny, but at least he saves her from Voldemort with some help from Fawkes, the Sorting Hat, and the Sword of Gryffindor. In OotP, Harry puts the “Grim” in Grimmauld Place. His bratty adolescent crisis can’t be explained by just the scar on his forehead so maybe J.K.R. should have let him lighten up a bit. Verdict: OotP is the worst book in the series.
Are the Hufflepuffs dismissed as lame?
Yes!
The Hufflepuffs are written off by everyone, including Jo. The Hufflepuff students don’t play an important role, and their house is the only one whose Common Room never gets a visit from Harry. While Professor Sprout is competent, and the late Cedric Diggory is an obvious hero, the rest of the Hufflepuffs seem soft and squishy. Even the cute Auror, Nymphadora Tonks, is essentially a weak character who loses her charm in HBP. Hannah Abbot is another one. She is always around somewhere shaking with fear. Not only is she afraid in PoA that Sirius Black has turned into a shrubbery (ooooh—scary!), in OotP she nearly has a nervous breakdown during O.W.L. exams.
In fact, Hufflepuff house seems to be full of victims! Take Justin Finch-Fletchly, who is nearly attacked by a snake in CoS, then later Petrified by the basilisk. He also hides at school because he thinks Harry is the Heir of Slytherin and wants to kill him (which is wrong, of course). Susan Bones is mentioned over and over as Harry’s classmate, and she actually talks to Harry in OotP, but only because her claim to fame is that her relatives keep getting zapped by Voldemort. It’s too bad that Harry only dates Ravenclaws or Gryffindors, since he could have taken Susan out for a butterbeer and discovered more about her.
The Hufflepuffs are not the cool kids. Ernie McMillan, ever-studious and talkative, has a Patronus that turns out to be a wild boar in DH. Instead of the noble symbol of Hogwarts, the boar represents the fact that he is a boring person, which is sort of true—he sounds like a young politician sometimes. Zacharias Smith is described as irritating, and he grates on Ginny Weasley’s nerves so much she hexes him in HBP. But, even worse, he is a coward, who runs over first-year students in his rush to escape during the Battle of Hogwarts in DH. And that’s not all—this losing streak runs in the family because Zacharias is a descendent of Helga Hufflepuff herself through his unfortunate relative Hepzibah Smith, a fat old lady who is greedy and vain. She’s a symbol of Hufflepuff weakness when she becomes just another victim of Lord Voldemort.
No!
Weak? Dumbledore’s Army is full of Hufflepuffs—they fight alongside Harry at the Battle of Hogwarts! It’s not weak that Ernie McMillan’s Patronus is a boar—that is a huge and dangerous wild animal, and, therefore, his Patronus might be stronger than any of the Gryffindor Trio’s. Tonks is a cool and funny Metamorphmagus or shape-shifter, and she gives her life fighting alongside her husband, Professor Lupin, in DH. And remember Cedric Diggory? He is so noble that he was going to give Harry a chance to win the Triwizard Tournament in GoF and deny himself the victory. That he also died at the hand of the most powerful wizard of all time doesn’t make him weak—just unlucky, like many characters from every house.
As for Hepzibah Smith, she can’t help it that Voldemort wants to kill her and steal the Hufflepuff cup in HBP. Harry’s parents were both in Gryffindor—were they weak because Voldemort killed them? Is Hagrid weak because he is described as overweight, or because he is attacked by Death Eaters? Of course not, and Hepzibah Smith is also a lonely old lady, and has more in common with Bathilda Bagshot or Bertha Jorkins—not stupid or weak, but a symbol of the way Voldemort uses people for his own greedy