My Hogwarts House dilemma

For a very long time, I didn't quite accept that I was a Ravenclaw. When one reads the Harry Potter books (which I did rather late in my teens) one is likely to identify with Gryffindor. After all, the central characters all make their home there. So not only do you feel their personal loyalty, but you are given a great deal more information about it, more stories developed within it, and you find it just overall more interesting because there's something happening. 

A few years after reading the books (and knitting myself a scarlet and gold scarf) a friend convinced me to take the sorting quiz on Pottermore. And I rather expected to get Hufflepuff, what with my love of peace and cooking and hobbits. Part of me still identified with Gryffindor. So when I got Ravenclaw, I was a little nonplussed.
And here's where I get all controversial: I didn't particularly like any of the Ravenclaws that I knew. Luna Lovegood is of course the most well known, and nearly all we've got to go on, as far as the house goes (I didn't find much help in Cho Chang or Padma Patil). And I just didn't identify with Luna at all. Besides being lost in our heads as children, I didn't feel we had anything in common. I prefer Shawn Spencer. And it's extremely difficult to connect Ravenclaw with anyone but Luna.

But I've been thinking about it more recently, and have realized that Ravenclaw is not really a strange choice for me. I do highly value intelligence, and enjoy seeking it out. I adore both logic and poetry; and having to answer a riddle to gain entrance to the Ravenclaw common-room sounds right up my alley. So I began to give it more thought (because clearly I have nothing better to do).

There were still things about Hufflepuff and Gryffindor that attracted me. After all, as Cinderella puts it so well, aren't we to simply Have Courage and Be Kind?

If you've ever heard me talk about dandelions, then you know I have an especial fondness for them and their sunny strength. For the way they bloom early and in the toughest situations, able to crack concrete with their quiet persistence, "unafraid to be turned to ash, or cut or poisoned, ready to be born again". This to me, seems very Hufflepuff. And between Wind in the Willows, and Prince Caspian, badgers hold a very dear place in my heart. And have you seen the Hufflepuff common-room and their hobbit-windows? I am entirely jealous.

The difficulty is, I have a many sided personality. I am fascinated by the sea, and comforted by a fireside. I will protect the children at any cost, or happily co-pilot your rescue mission into the darkest jungle. I don't get many chances for Gryffindor bravery, and I'm not generally one to stretch the rules, but there's something in all of us I think, that longs for the chance: for a cause big enough to give everything for: for a hill worth dying on. "Sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery..."


So one day, I started making a list. Ravenclaw: For & Against. It looks kind of like this.

FOR:
Poetry
Blue (have you seen my house?)
Books (or my shelves?)
Puzzles and Riddles (I write them as well as solve them)
Codes (I memorized morse, and have you heard me talk about Bletchley?)
Found two pens in my boot the other day
I made this list
I recognize a khopesh on sight
Rain is my favorite
Art
Stars
Life long learning!
"this is my sister, otherwise known as google"
Sometimes I'm a know-it-all. I'm sorry everyone.

The Against was a little more ambiguous, because I had to gather (mostly from perusing the internet) consensus on the attributes... well... attributed to Ravenclaw.
The biggest contenders were really just the reasons mentioned above why I could be a Hufflepuff. Other reasons include but are not limited to:

I'm practical. I don't want to discuss theories unless they'll work.
I'm a hugger. No stand-offishness please.
I like hands-on. I'm an S, not an N (think Meyers-Briggs)
I'm not a pessimist. I over-prepare, but I hope for the best.

At any rate, the Against side just isn't very convincing.
So I will concede the point. I am a Ravenclaw.
As long as I can keep the fierceness of the Athena Cabin, the home of a hobbit, and the humor of Psmith (actually, I think he'd fit in rather well).
Most of all, can I still be Watson? Because as much as I crave knowledge, there is plenty I need never know. As much as I like puzzles, I like the resolution even better. I am a Watson, not a Sherlock. And as Chesterton says, I have an open mind only so that I can close it upon something sound. I love the challenge of the story, because I trust the Author.
I will be a dandelion wherever I fall.

"Life is full of whimsical happenings, Watson"

~*~

"Wisdom begins in wonder" 

~socrates (sort of)

"Be curious, not judgmental" - walt whitman

And while we're at it, how about a Ravenclaw booklist from my shelves...

Queen of Attolia 

The Silver Chair 

Sherlock Holmes 

The Perilous Gard

The Dark is Rising   

"minds hold more than they know. particularly yours."

And a Riddle before you go:

You'll never know my depths

My surface may be smooth

But in my dark interior

My ways are cold, uncouth

I hold the tears of many

The sweat of labor too

I'm greatly loved by numbers

My thoughts are often blue

Deep, deep inside is life

And stories still untold

My heart will swell,

I rise and breathe

I am forever bold

My dance is like a storm

And rages uncontained

My partner is the moon

Without her I'd be chained

Un-quenching and unquenchable

My restless movements still the same

I'm difficult to fathom, yet

The whole world knows my name