The Sorting Hat declared me a Reading Ravenclaw

In today's Telegraph: Harry Potter readers "can be split into four types". From the article:

Each type conforms closely with one of the four houses found in Harry's school Hogwarts, Professor Stephen Brown of Ulster University said.

His research found 'Hufflepuff' readers take the tales at a slow, steady and systematic pace and enjoy re-reading the books over and over.

'Gryffindor' readers are eager and energetic and will devour the latest Potter book in one sitting, but quickly move on to new things.

'Ravenclaws' are subversive and take the stories with a pinch of salt, while 'Slytherin' readers are not fussed about the books.

They prefer the films but pretend to have read the books when it suits them.

That's the start of it, anyway. What interested me in particular was this later quote, which followed some "O noes the Potterdammerung is dying!":

"Only the Hufflepuffs are totally loyal to Harry, the Gryffindors are already moving on to other things, the Slytherins never really liked him anyway and the Ravenclaws are too busy writing their own fan fiction or posting spoof videos on YouTube."

If you ask me, I think this demonstrates that both the Hufflepuff AND the Ravenclaw readers are "totally loyal to Harry." If you weren't loyal to the intent and world of a series, you wouldn't make the efforto to write fanfic about it or take the time to make spoof videos or post them to YouTube. The Hufflepuff readers, if one goes strictly by this article, are content to read the books, enjoy them, and maybe discuss them with their book clubs. The Ravenclaw readers, on the other hand, are taking the time to speculate as to what happened before, or is happening offstage during, or will happen after the events of the Potter series. They're not satisfied by what appears on the page because Rowling made it clear that the wizarding world was so deep and so rich in history both light and dark. The Ravenclaw loyalty is not just to Harry, but to his entire world and all the people in it.

I caught the notion of fear from this article, too, a fear that Harry Potter will go away forever since there are no new books and nothing to learn about what happens next. I say this is ridiculous. There's interest in plenty of books that no longer have sequels coming out, and as much as we can speculate there will simply be things about the Potterverse that no one but J.K. Rowling will ever know. Whether we write more fanfiction or go on to other books, Harry will always have a place in children's literature history. And while I'm on the topic of Hogwarts houses, I also get the impression that Stephen Brown is more a Hufflepuff reader: loyal to the text but not delving too much into it. If that were the case, he'd know that Hogwarts houses are not about what you are, but what you value. But that's a discussion for another post.

(In terms of Hogwarts houses I think I'm more a Slytherin anyway.)