I'm a Gryffindor. Deal.

Pictured: A Gryffindor, lost in thought as he contemplates his own awesomeness.

Yes. I am a Gryffindor.

I bring this up on the twentieth anniversary of Harry Potter, because mostly Facebook asked me what my house was, and I said Gryffindor.

Always. Gryffindor.

"Oh, so you're the chosen one," everyone who isn''t Gryffindor (in other words, everyone) says.

"So you have Main Character syndrome."

"Yeah. Everyone and their dog is Gryffindor."

Not true.

Everyone is everything but a Gryffindor, because they don't want to be the fantasy equivalent of a man bun.

Ravenclaws are smart and intellectual. Slytherins are badass and on the edge. Hufflepuffs are about 90 percent of the fandom, because let's face it, Harry Potter people are amazing and sweet and are very good finders.

"Everyone is a Gryffindor," everyone says, putting on their not-Gryffindor scarves.

At school, I tried to put together a Hogwarts festival. We couldn't do it. Because there were forty something Ravenclaws and me and some other kid in the Gryffindor house and all the professors refused to be our Head of House. The Hufflepuff Head of House had already designed presents for all the Hufflepuffles. Gryffindors? We were an army of two. And there was no mathematical way we were going to win the house cup.

That is to say, it was canceled on account of no Gryffindors.

I'm pretty sure there were more Gryffindors back in the day. It was cool back then. Be like the trio. But then everyone realized there were other houses and other stories and they expanded their horizons. That's fine.

But I'm a Gryffindor.

I've always been a Gryffindor.

"Are you sure though?" People will say. "What did Pottermore say?"

They all said Gryffindor.

"But you don't really know thought right?" they say. "I think you're more Hufflepuff."

My entire sense of self was thrown out of whack when at the age of fourteen, I was wrongly diagnosed as a Slytherin at Harry Potter camp.

Nope.

I'm brave to a fault. I work hard and help others and yes I like recognition for it but I do it for a moral compass, not to be a hero, and that can be misconstrued sometimes. Sometimes I fall short. Sometimes I can't see past the end of my nose. Sometimes I get wrapped up in whatever is happening in the center of the story I don't see the really cool stuff happening everywhere else. I jump into the middle of the mosh and I suffocate. That's okay.

I'm also the first person who will be there when you are crushed with life changing news. I will fight to the death next to your side, even if it's just some stupid puppy love broken heart or your puppy has pissed all over your rug or you have to face something worse, like your own personal dementors.

I know who I am. And that's a strong thing to know.

Happy twenty years, Harry Potter.

Roar.