The Muggle With The Mouth
Deadpool is a Hufflepuff
If you think wise-cracking, borderline invincible superheroes don’t love HP, think again. Everyone’s favorite Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool (Wade Wilson), is an avid Rowling supporter and an official member of House Hufflepuff. Best of all: as of 2015, it’s canon.
In Deadpool #7, readers are treated to a flashback scene unlike any other. We see Wade queued up outside a bookstore with a swarm of young fans, anxiously awaiting the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He’s added a bit of panache to his standard Deadpool attire for the occasion: a black and gold Hufflepuff cloak rests on his shoulders, proudly displayed for the world to see. Nick Filardi, the colorist for Deadpool #7, confirmed that Mr. Pool was intentionally shown in Hufflepuff garb. He had this to say:
“I'm the colorist for that story and originally made him a Gryffindor. We went back and forth on a couple rounds of corrections and the editors insisted Hufflepuff. That isn't a casual joke. That's deliberate Deadpool cannon.”
Yeah, that’s right! We’ve got DEADPOOL! In your face, nerds!
Monster Mash
Hufflepuff Handshake Wizarding World of Harry Potter
The Hufflepuff handshake at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is far too legit to quit. If you ever plan on attending and want to fit in with your fellow Puffs, you’ll need to know how to complete the secret handshake. Mess it up and you’ll probably be ostracized and sent to Slytherin. Here’s a step by step breakdown of how it works:
Step One: Extend fist bump to fellow Hufflepuff, palm of your hand facing down.
Step Two: Bump fists, say “Potato!”
Step Three: Maintaining fist contact with fellow Hufflepuff, rotate fist one-quarter position, as if you’re about to begin a thumb war.
Step Four: Do not begin thumb war. Instead, yell “Mashed Potatoes!”
Step Five: ‘Blow up’ the fist bump, wiggling your fingers as you move your hand away from fellow Hufflepuff’s hand. Now yell “French fries!”
Step Six: Go get snacks
Voila! That’s all there is to it. Just remember: you never get a second chance to make a first impression!
Bad Blood
Death Eaters Bellatrix in Azkaban
Some would call Hufflepuffs lame. Others would call them boring, or unintelligent, or unambitious. But no one, and we mean no one, would ever call them evil. Except someone from Slytherin, but that’s just because they’re haters. If you dig through Harry Potter lore, you’ll never find a single specific reference to a dark wizard from Hufflepuff. There may be murmurs or rumors, but you’ll never identify an actual name or instance of a Hufflepuff gone bad. It just hasn’t happened.
If you didn’t soak up every little detail of Rowling’s series, you might assume that every dark wizard has come from Slytherin. While we’d love to bash them forever and a day, they aren’t alone; Professor Quirell was a Ravenclaw before he went rogue, and Peter Pettigrew lived side by side with James Potter in Gryffindor. Try as we may and try as we might, the most dastardly deed we can recall a Hufflepuff ever committing is rocking a Potter Stinks sticker. Ernie Macmillan: Hufflepuff Gone Wild.
Diamonds Are A (Puff's) Best Friend
House Cup Hufflepuff
Remember that little thing called the House Cup? Remember that it was actually important, and that young students at Hogwarts were actually vying to win said cup by earning as many points as possible? Remember how often Snape just casually docked Gryffindor ten points? While many of us have forgotten little details (like these) that made us all fall in love with the series in the first place, it’s time to revisit the most uncelebrated competition in all of Harry Potter history: The House Cup.
During the course of any given school year, students from each of the four houses would compete to earn points from Hogwarts faculty. Students were rewarded for intelligence and hard work, and penalized for poor behavior (or being named Harry/Ron). Each house had a large container mounted in the Great Hall to track their points, and each house used a different precious gem; rubies for Gryffindor, sapphires for Ravenclaw, emeralds for Slytherin, and diamonds for Hufflepuff! It’s strange to think that Hufflepuff, the house that values glory the least, would use the glitziest stone of all.
Lions, Badgers, And Bears
Hufflepuff Bear Sigil Harry Potter
We’ve dedicated years of our lives to exploring Rowling’s franchise. Every book, movie, play, and Pottermore quiz feels perfect the way it is, and there isn’t much that any sane fan would change if given the chance. That feeling of contentment, of pure satisfaction, was officially RUINED in 2013. Before donating a rare first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to charity, Rowling revealed hand-written notes and sketches that lamented her last-minute change of Hufflepuff’s sigil from Bear to Badger. She wrote, “Perhaps Hufflepuff would have the respect it deserves from fans if I’d stuck to my original idea of a bear to represent it.” Rowling even drew the Hogwarts shield with a bear instead of a badger alongside the notes.
Take a moment to process this information. Everything you believe is a lie. Hufflepuffs were almost BEARS?! These snack-loving, hippy-dippy hobbit people were almost associated with giant, furry powerhouses? It’s just not right. A badger is the perfect sigil for Hufflepuff; they eat poisonous snakes whole without even batting an eye and will destroy your entire life if you step to their family. But you’d never know it from looking at them.