Showing Our Colors

Rowena Ravenclaw Revealed
Catriona Watson, Cheyenne Wyatt, Chryseis McSylvester, Gypsy Ardor, Rachel Bluebird

Let me ask you, readers, what you know of Rowena Ravenclaw. Before you answer that question, let me tell you that you may either end this article with a good chuckle or be filled with frustration about the aforementioned witch. Sure, Rowena was one of the four founders of Hogwarts, lived over 1,000 years ago, had one of Hogwarts’ houses named after herself, and is generally known to have been witty and intelligent. What have we known of her wit and intelligence before now, however? Recently, I have uncovered more about Rowena Ravenclaw than was ever publicly known before, particularly about her clever creation of the ever-changing floor plan at Hogwarts. Read on to find out what a truly intelligent and witty witch she truly was, as I reveal the real Rowena Ravenclaw.

While working on a biography of the Hufflepuff founder, I was able to meet with descendents of the famous Helga Hufflepuff. What came out of one of those meetings was about so much more than Helga Hufflepuff; it was mostly about Rowena Ravenclaw. How can a Hufflepuff know more about Rowena than her own Ravenclaw descendents know? It’s simple; grudges never die! It seems that Helga Hufflepuff held onto such a deep resentment for Rowena Ravenclaw, that her family members pass down the story and resentment to this very day.

Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff were at one time very close. They were overjoyed to be working together to bring some feminine energy into the creation of the wizarding school they were helping to found. Both witches supported the other in creating the best house for their students, spending as much time within one house as the other in the beginning. Helga relied on Rowena’s intelligent suggestions. When Rowena’s witty side showed itself too much, however, it created tension between the two.

Hufflepuff descendents can all recall the stories of Rowena's wit and how it caused the great Helga to become filled with rage many a time. One incident, it is said, Rowena had given Helga a jewelry box that she had created purposely as a birthday gift for her dear friend. She asked Helga to unclasp an antique Hufflepuff crest pin from her robe, so that she could show her how the jewelry box worked. Helga did this, handing over a very precious pin to her friend. Rowena placed the pin within a compartment of the wooden jewelry box, pushed some of the compartments left, right, up, and down in such a quick motion that Helga didn’t understand what was going on. "It’s a puzzle box!" Rowena is said to have exclaimed. "You can get your pendant out once you figure out the puzzle." As Helga's modern-day relatives can tell you, that box has remained closed all these years. They refuse to ask for assistance in opening it.

The puzzle box wasn't the breaking point in the relationship, however. Rowena went too far, I'm told, when she created that famous ever-changing floor plan within the Hogwarts castle. It was an intelligent, creative, and complicated project. Rowena must have spent many days, if not months, conceiving of the idea and then putting it into reality. It was never known to anyone outside the Hufflepuff house, however, that Rowena Ravenclaw created those moving floor plans as a joke on her dear friend, Helga Hufflepuff. After Helga had remarked to Rowena that the castle was so large she sometimes became confused as to where she was at any given moment, it must have sparked Rowena’s witty sense of humor. She set to work on her idea, completing the moving floor plan and not mentioning it to her friend. When Helga realized what Rowena had done, how she had taken her confusion and played a joke on her, Helga ended the friendship. She refused all of Rowena's apologies and the two never spoke again. The Hufflepuff descendents are still sore to this day about Rowena’s witty sense of humor. They also refused to allow me to hold the puzzle jewelry box, stating that it was just too clever a design for anyone to bother wasting time over trying to solve.