What it is to be a Ravenclaw

What it is to be a Ravenclaw

Times are changing, and I'm getting worried.

Certainly, I don't mind what's happening, of course, but it is a bit disconcerting to see Gryffindors grinning at Slytherins and such like. Oh, fine, I'll admit that it was one Gryffindor, and it wasn't really a smile, more a half-smile, but still...

Enough with the blathering. I've got studying to do.

But, still, this whole thing is odd. I'm not sure what my place is in anything anymore. I assumed that when I was sorted into Ravenclaw I would be on top academically, one of the elite. I didn't care about that, of course, but it was rather a shock when Ravenclaws weren't at the top of every class, in every year. But I knew what it was really about- knowledge. You were stupid if you didn't care about what you learned first and foremost. So I didn't really wonder about it.

But you still don't understand, do you? Let me tell you a story.

Our common room is located behind a great stone block with words etched upon it. Every day as we pass the door we see the thing, but no one reads it. What would the point be? We've already read it. But the first years always read the script upon the stone before they enter the common room for the first time, like a rite of passage.

It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

When I first saw the portal a sixth year student told me that Rowena Ravenclaw had written it upon the door. She'd spent hours etching it, and casting spells so it never could be erased. I interpreted it my way and didn't give it another thought for about six years.

Then something happened that I could not ignore, could not explain away. It was when I was returning from Herbology.

A Slytherin stood before the door.

Sort of anti-climatic, I know. It was not his presence that was particularly astonishing; it was what I said. How it made me think.

I barely recognized him, could tell only by his tie what he was. He had brown hair and fair eyes that I remember even now, for they were my first real look at a Slytherin. They were cautious and calculating, but they were not unkind, not evil. He merely started at the sound of my footsteps before beckoning me forward and asking me a question, a peculiar glint in his eyes.

"How do you interpret this?"

I smiled nervously. By nature I'm fairly timid, but surely he couldn't be concerned about something that obvious.

I opened my mouth, egotistically, I'll admit. I was more than ready to prove to one of those evil Slytherins that we weren't to be looked down upon. I would provide a simple, concise answer, and leave it there. I opened my mouth to speak, ready to flaunt my intellect. Put the words that left me were not what I'd intended to say.

"It-it means that people aren't defined by their abilities. I'm not constrained by my thirst for knowledge, no more than you are by your ambition. I could be timid or outgoing, egotistical or modest, good or evil or in between."

The Slytherin gave me an odd look as I kept on blabbering, shocked at what was coming out of my mouth, that I knew this. I stumbled over words, thought hastily about what I was about to say, but I said it.

"It's like, all the other houses think that Ravenclaws are the only smart ones. Sometimes we even think that. But look at you, and Granger, Bones, Zabini, Malfoy. You-you aren't stupid. You're as smart as any of us. It's just what matters more to you. Like- I bet you care more about getting to the top of the class than the knowledge you gain. And-and Granger would throw it all away for saving something she felt was worth it. Bones wants it all to be fair and safe. But we want to know it all, to be the smartest people in the world. We want to-we want to study and learn. We don't care about grades; we care about what we know. But how can you not? The content of the course is more important than what happens in the course."

"The Hufflepuffs have the ability to comfort people, to communicate with them. The Gryffindors can show people the way, to lead them and to guide them. We Ravenclaws are clever; we supply the knowledge and the unerring obsession with study. And you Slytherins, you can inspire people with your plans. You're careful, cautious, you're ambitious to a fault. And you-"

I finally regained control of myself, checked my rampant tongue.

"Why are you standing there?" I said, trying to make my voice as calm and icy as possible, knowing my cheeks were burning from the imputiny of what I'd said.

"I came to see if you knew about us. And apparently you do." He smiled wryly at me. "And here I was, thinking everyone was oblivious." He tutted sardonically and then started to walk away. Without stopping or turning around, he said, "See you, Turpin."

And with this I awoke, for it was only a dream. No real Slytherin would ever do what he did in real life, not any of the ones I know. But it planted the seed for wonderment, cracked the adamantine façade I'd created, shattered my surety.

Do you see what I mean? Times most certainly are changing. I used to think that Ravenclaw reigned supreme, that anyone else was lesser than we. But now...I think I'll go talk to that Slytherin tomorrow. I'll see what he has to say- for in that dream I learned something from myself. Perhaps my precoceptions are incorrect.

Why not tonight, you ask?

The answer is simple: I've got to study.