What HP character do you identify with most? Or if you don’t feel you identify with any of them, what in general attracted you to the characters? So, I don’t really identify with one specific character. Growing up, filling these out throughout the few times I’ve applied and re-applied, this question was always the hardest because I couldn’t really answer it because while there were many characters I adored and were my favorites, there were none that were identifiable. So I just wanted to say I enjoy the update about what attracted me to the characters because that is definitely something I can answer, ha! To answer that question - the first character I liked was Hermione, because of how she always wanted to learn and that somewhat got in the way of her making friends (alongside her stubbornness et al.) Then there was Sirius, because of how he was willing to do anything for Harry, even if it meant losing himself - to the Ministry, to death, to terrible people. Neville, for his quiet strength that appeared in the most surprising of times, and the way he slowly gained confidence in himself the older he grew and lastly, Luna, because even though she was being picked on and torn down, she allowed herself to continue going as she was, to continue being herself no matter what, and to not let anyone get to her.
What moment in the books was the most meaningful to you OR what do the books in general mean to you? The moment Sirius offered Harry the opportunity to live with him. While it never came to pass (don’t get me started, aha!) the amount of hope I could feel through the words while reading has always stuck with me. While I didn’t need that kind of hope in my own life while reading, Harry did and he got that for the first time, and it was lovely.
What would you see if you looked into the Mirror of Erised? I’m going to get a little personal with this one, but I think, if I looked into the Mirror of Erised, I would see myself, in the future, no longer struggling with the regrets and health issues I’m currently facing. Right now, I’m currently facing the consequences of actions and inactions from my past self. There are things I could have and should have done when I was younger, that I didn’t do, that I now need to find a resolution for. Not only that, I’m currently facing a couple of health scares, so if I looked into the future, I would like to see myself completely finished facing those consequences, and having learned from them - well, it’s already a lesson learned - and completely healthy, no longer worrying about those health scares.
What would be your Patronus and what would be the happiest memory you would use to conjure it? I don’t know what the exact memory would be when I conjured my patronus, I do know it would be moments in time where I was hanging out with various members of my family - and I say various members because I am a child of divorce and multiple families now. So, there would be scenes of me with my Da’ and his side of the family and whenever we were together, a lot of scenes with my Ma’ and Step-Dad and the rest of my family when we were together, and then various scenes of me and my best friend, who I haven’t seen for quite a few years. So, essentially, the memories would be when I was just feeling at peace and happy with family and friends. As to what my patronus would be - it would, if I’m honestly speaking, probably be my cat, who passed a few years ago. She meant a lot to me, and I was devastated when she passed.
You have to venture deep into the Forbidden Forest one night. Pick one Harry Potter character other than Hagrid and one object (muggle or magical), besides your wand, that you'd want with you. So, thinking hard about this question, I would probably bring James, Sirius or one of the twins. This is because I’m the type of person who stresses and worries and sulks when I’m nervous or scared and being in the Forest during the night - when I can be quite scared of darkness and unknown places - I know I would need someone by my side who could distract me, especially with humor, and I think the characters above would be best for that. As for the object, this one is tough because with a wand, you could pretty much summon anything by your side. You won’t have to wait long, since your dorm is just however many feet away it is. So, with that logic, what is something I could bring that isn’t available to me inside of Hogwarts? Food is out, alongside drinks and bedding and extra clothes. Any sort of weapon is out, since I have my wand, unless I want a sword, in which case, again, Hogwarts has a sword. I might bring a dog or pet - some sort of animal that won’t abandon me to other animals and warn me if there’s anything dangerous, but I wouldn’t want to be close to the animal a whole lot in case it was extremely injured. So really, I probably wouldn’t bring any kind of item, if I’m honest. Especially since I would need my free hand available.
What was your ideal job as a child? What is your ideal job now? Do you think it would be the same in the Wizarding World? Being honest, I don’t think I ever had an ‘ideal’ job. There were many careers that I thought about growing up - teacher, author, racecar driver, marine biologist, social worker, psychologist, travel writer, sugar baby, journalist, soccer player, hockey player, wrestler, crime scene investigator/profiler, etc. That being said, there are two careers that, at my age, I do wish I had truly looked into, and that was as a teacher and an author. Maybe those are my ideal career paths, I don’t know, and I’m learning to accept that. Do I think it would be the same in the Wizarding World? I think it depends on a lot of different factors. What does it take to become a Professor? Is there hazard pay in Hogwarts or other schools? Does the Wizarding World have fictional authors or is it just non-fiction? How does one advertise their novel, if so? There are so many things we don’t know about this world, so how could I know if something is my ideal job there?
What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make? Life-changing ones and the small ones. Because the small ones could just lead to a butterfly effect to the bigger ones and the bigger ones have been set in motion for much longer than you think. Pretty much any decision can be difficult for me to make, so I always try to talk about my decisions with people around me, at the least, for some help.
Something I think everyone should experience in their lifetime (even if you yourself have not done it yet) is ______ because _______ I honestly have no idea how to answer this. How can I answer this, really, when I feel like I haven’t experienced a lot of things myself? People should just experience life in general, because you’re not going to be around forever, is my main thought. Be with the people you love, do the things you love, try the things you’ve always wanted to try, even if it’s terrifying. And if you don’t, that is perfectly alright too because it’s your life, you know?
What is one thing you would never want said about you? This is something else I don’t really know the answer to. In my earlier applications, I’m pretty sure I’ve said that I have had the worst things said about me growing up due to bullying. And that’s true. So if I had to really think about it, it would probably be that I would die unloved outside of my family, if only because that’s one of my biggest fears. Other than that, I’m not quite sure what the worst thing one could say about me is.
The hardest thing I've ever done is ______ because ______ Getting a little personal again, the hardest thing I’ve ever done is what I’m doing right now. I mentioned earlier I’m facing the consequences for my past actions and having health scares. Facing those consequences, dealing with the outcome of my actions is hard, because I’ve had to admit to many mistakes, I’ve had to learn and to grow and rely on people that I would have hated having to rely on when I was younger. I had to admit that it was okay to need help, to be wrong, that I wasn’t a disappointment to my Mom because of my choices, that she did still love me. So the hardest thing I’ve ever done is growing from this, because it’s something I’m still doing.
Do you believe that moral actions should be judged by the intentions behind them, or by the consequences they create? There is no black and white in this world, so definitely both. It’s hard for me to explain why but I essentially feel like, you can do something for the ‘greater good’ but if it leads to someone being abused, and you don’t admit to your choice being a mistake, and you decide to not remove the person from said home for the act of martyrdom, then you’re kind of more than a jerk, you know? (Does that make it obvious that I’m not a big fan of Dumbles? Hahaha). At the same time though, you can admit to doing something, you can face those consequences and grow and realize the intentions were wrong, and still be judged decades later, so it’s a very fine line.
What do you look for in a friend? What trait most annoys you about other people? I look for a lot of different things in a friend. At first, just someone who shares a smile with me, gets along with me. Eventually, I want to confirm that said friend shares the same interests and core values. I’m not going to be friends with someone, for example, who is anti-LGBTQIA+ when I’m bisexual. I’m not going to be friends with someone who doesn’t care about the ocean’s population when I check my tuna cans for it being dolphin friendly or cut my plastics so no animals can get stuck in them. A trait that annoys me the most about other people are just high-energy people who are cocky and/or expect you to change for them. I once read something like, ‘why are introverts always told to get out there and make friends? Why aren’t extroverts ever told to stay calm and shut up’ or something and it made me laugh. Not because I hate extroverts but because expecting people to change for you is just not something I can get with.
Explain what the following traits mean to you in your own words: ambition, courage, intelligence, justice, kindness, loyalty, power, wisdom. Right, these are a lot of words haha.So, I guess we should get started? For me, ambition means having the drive to go after something you want, even if there are many obstacles in the way or people keep telling you no or that it won’t work. You ignore what everyone says and you go for what you want. With courage, that is having the nerve to do something that scares you. Whether it be something simple like admitting you’re wrong about something, or changing your point of view on something you were extremely convicted on, to something not-so-simple like deciding to move out on your own to a different country or something. Intelligence is having smarts - whether it be book or street or emotional - and applying it to your everyday life, while also having the ability to seek more knowledge in ways that are helpful to you. Justice is righting the wrongs that deserve to be righted. I’m not too sure on my stance on vigilantism as a whole, but there are people in this world who deserve justice, and it shouldn't take decades for it to happen. Kindness is treating people, animals and things on the planet with good intentions and energy. Loyalty is being true to yourself, your friends, and your family, as long as it doesn’t go against your core set of values. Power is having the ability to do things that others do not have the ability to do, because of certain specifics - money, ambition, color of skin, etc. And finally, wisdom is very similar to intelligence for me. You have the knowledge and foreknowledge to know how to react or see how things may play out, or something similar. You’ve been through it, you’ve learned and grown and you’ve taken those lessons and know now, what to do if similar issues arise.
What do you think are your top five abilities or qualities? I never know how to answer these questions because I can never really think of positives for myself. The negatives come easier, you know? I guess, I would go with empathetic (but not like one of those girlies and others who label themselves as an empath and make it their thing) because I am always able to at least try and put myself in another’s shoes and try to understand where they’re coming from before judging or questioning. And I say try because sometimes judging and questioning is just an automatic behaviour that one has to learn to outgrow. I would also say emotional intelligence. I’ve been through a lot in my life, and it’s guided me to where I’m now, though I still make mistakes. There’s creativity - I try to think outside of the box and I do enjoy creative hobbies a lot more than most people in my family. I am also incredibly organised. I have spreadsheets upon spreadsheets, though I suck at formulas, I can always find what I need in my home because I know where it is and I keep my space clean, and I use journals to organise my mind and thoughts. Lastly, I would say I’m kind. I’m not going to go into how I’m kind, since that always seems performative for me, but I like to think I’m kind and caring and all of that good jazz.
What do you think are your top five weaknesses or worst qualities? Right, I’ll try to keep this limited to just five haha. Lacking confidence in myself. I feel like this is a big one because I never really had confidence in myself growing up and even now, I’m never confident when I try something - even that whole ‘fake it until you make it’ thing is not something I’m confident in. Then there’s emotional. I tend to let my emotions control me, even when I try to think things through before doing anything else. It especially rings true if I’m angry or hurt. I will never tell people how I’m feeling - but when I’m alone, it’s like a damn twister. I don’t know how much this matters but I cannot save money. I need to. I need to start saving money instead of spending it. It’s something I’m definitely working on, but it’s going to be a long lesson for me. I also prefer to be alone a lot of the time. Groups bigger than I’d say four people are exhausting to me - I’m an introvert so nine times out of ten, anything with four or more people will have me curling up and spending at least a day and a half alone afterwards, ha. But there’s also the fact that I tend to work better by myself, and that’s mainly because I can be quite bossy. I want things done my way. While I’ll always take input and change things if need be, I stick to my routines and like doing things the way I do it, even if it takes longer, because it helps me, you know. Especially if it’s something like baking or cooking or something to do with organisation. And if these change, I’ll get bossy to the people around me.
Name: Jamie
Age: Twenty-nine.
Where did you find out about us? I used to be a member forever ago….ten years I believe.
Do you plan on being active in the communities once you are sorted? Definitely