there’s always been a discussion about hogwarts houses, right, like there is in every fandom. let me make a case for these:
liam and zayn are a difficult pair, because they are both, gryffindor and ravenclaw. they are brave and intelligent and warmhearted and they will do well in school and they will be liked and people will fall in love with them. (only, maybe they won’t want them to, but that’s another story.)
but here’s the thing about liam. he tries hard in school, but he doesn’t have this easy way about it that zayn does and he loves to learn but it's exhausting for him sometimes, so the sorting head doesn't put him into ravenclaw. he's hardworking, yes, but the reason why he's elected prefect and head boy, later on, isn't because of that. it's because he stands up for himself and for others and he's afraid, everyone is, but he never lets his fears hold him back. he gets put in gryffindor.
so zayn is the ravenclaw. it's not that he isn't brave, he is. (in another universe he might leave his friends behind and it might not show that he's a good person but that he's incredibly brave.) but he doesn't have the kind of bravery the sorting hat is looking for, and he's quiet but it's not because he's stupid but because he chooses his battles. he's reading a lot and he paints, paints so skillfully and passionately – and the thing is, he always wants to learn more about it, there's always that hunger for knowledge and striving for perfection and that, that is what the sorting hat sees.
niall might be a hufflepuff, some might argue, he’s a happy child, bouncing around and laughing with everyone after just a few minutes of knowing them, but he does have some traits that make the sorting hat pause for a minute, make him make a choice that gets the teachers to shake their heads in disapproval and the other children to stare: slytherin.
just because niall gets along with everyone doesn’t mean he likes them. at eleven years old, he grits his teeth when teachers are mean to his classmates, at twelve years old, he tries to stand up for them, but when he’s fifteen years old niall puts the wrong ingredients into his potion so he gets the attention away from a boy who didn’t do his homework because his parents just got divorced and he was up all night crying. niall isn’t fighting face to face most of the time, but in the background. and he's not selfish, never, but he knows what he wants and he gets it.
harry, much like his namesake, is a boy who dreams of gryffindor, but the thing is, even though later in life he will become brave – sometimes, and always for others, not for himself, too little for himself – and he’s smart – so clever, but it's not his defining feature, it's something else – and sometimes he can be mean and sarcastic – only when he’s comfortable, only when he’s surrounded by people he trusts – but
at eleven years old, this is what the sorting hat sees: a boy who comes into the great hall and stares and smiles and dimples at everybody and the teachers are gonna love him and he won’t make friends easily at first, because harry at eleven is shy, but he will make them surely, and they will do everything to protect him (some say there’s a boy from slytherin that will put a hex on you if he hears you say a word against harry styles), because this boy is so so kind. he’s a hufflepuff.
so that leaves us with louis. that one’s easy, that one is a fact that nearly no one ever argues. the reason why so little people argue is this:
louis at eleven is a whirlwind, bright and happy and loud, loud, loud. the sorting hat doesn’t say hufflepuff, even though he sees louis being gentle and quiet with his younger siblings, sees him being a caring friend and the person who finds your stray pets and brings them to you. but louis is hard working only if he wants to and he can be the nicest person in the world, but only if he wants to. he doesn’t say ravenclaw because louis at eleven is smart and he could become much smarter even but he’s the boy that talks back to teachers and never pays attention long enough to focus on anything – yet – and he is brave, incredibly brave, sometimes, most often even, but it isn’t gryffindor either because there's a house that combines all these qualities and will make louis’ best ones grow. it’s slytherin. this boy, even the sorting hat knows, this boy will shine as a slytherin, because he is ambitious and a fighter, not the kind of fighter to put in gryffindor, but the devious one to put in slytherin. but he fights for his friends, always for his friends and his family, and other people, but only if they deserve it, and he fights smart and loyal and brave but most of all cunning and sharp so the sorting hat puts him into slytherin after seconds.
(but in the end, they are not the people who let their houses define them. they will always be brave, smart, kind and ambitious, and they will all look for friends in every house, not just their own, so it doesn't really matter where they end up because they will be together in one way or the other)
