Having Harry Potter mania back after the success of Fantastic Beasts and the twentieth anniversary of the Philosopher’s Stone has been long awaited. It means that the time has come to brush the dust off those wizard robes and grab a chocolate frog milk shake as we go over some typical Ravenclaw behaviours. It is after all the best house to be in!
Read, read read
When they’re not in the library, Ravenclaws will always be found with a good book (or 5). Reading is one of the best ways to explore the world, whether it be seeing the entirety of culture in 80 days or wandering an autumn lane in the middle of winter. Through the pages of books, they not only find out all the information they need to maintain their grade average but experience a thousand other lifetimes.
A true Ravenclaw will always tell you that, whilst magic is the Hogwarts normal, books have a magic unto themselves. And then they’ll probably lend you a copy of crime and punishment – be careful not to break the spine though!
Speak their mind
Whilst Gryffindor is renown for its bravery, it’s always the Ravenclaw you’ll find formulating the new ideas and speaking them out. Sometimes, they’re ideas that aren’t immediately obvious and might seem impossible but in the end it ends up being the most efficient way to go about things. Of course the ravenclaws know that, but it can take a while for everyone else to catch up with that. But in the meantime, there is a charms exam to revise for.
Go the extra mile
Beyond the reading for class, these are the students who always go the extra mile. That stack of extra light reading has a dissertation in the making and that notebook plans for a supernova-esque potion that will solve the financial crash that’s about to hit Gringott’s. Shaping those ideas out of the foundational information is just the beginning.
If you want to know something well, as J. K. Rowling will tell you, you need to know the details that everyone else doesn’t. Sometimes what we see is only the tip of the iceberg and there is so much more going on beneath. A Ravenclaw looks for all those details and gives them gladly should you be seeking to find out more. It always makes for an interesting conversation.
Ask Big Questions
Just as they speak their minds and aren’t afraid to go looking for those extra details even if it means diving in at the deep end, Ravenclaws ask the questions that no-one else is either A. Already asking or B. Trying to answer. This is how true progress is made; by being the one eccentric enough to take faith in an idea that perhaps hasn’t reached it’s peak yet.
Asking big questions might not always feel like hard work or as complicated as it first appears. However, that said, this doesn’t make it easy. Sometimes it can be as simple as standing up for the right thing and asking others why they continue to do the wrong thing at the expense of others. Big questions and opinions alike have much power, and it takes one person standing up for it to really begin the debate and process of change.
Think outside the box
And all of these things unite into one prevailing feature: Ravenclaws think outside the box. To do this and to do it well requires a mixture of all of the above. Fusing together a love of learning with current knowledge, experience and observation means something really sepcial is happening in your brain. Thinking outside the box is something we have to train ourselves to do as much as we need to practice any other skill, from playing football to remembering exam criteria. But it is the ability to think outside the box which makes this world a better place.
