In high school I took a lot of AP courses (which are basically advanced courses for college for anyone who might be reading this outside the US) and they often assigned light homework for summer, usually just to read a book ahead of time or something like that. But obviously that is a far cry from what might be expected of an 11-year-old to do so I too find it surprising that Harry would have homework for the first few summers. Maybe it wouldn't be so odd going in to 5th and 7th year because of exams - the narrator often describes in those years how grueling the homework was for them before exams, so I wouldn't be surprised if those summers were busy with assignments.

I'm from the U.S. so I am not a great authority on this, but the few times I have been lucky enough to visit in Europe, it seemed totally normal to have dinners this late at night. I think in general, the culture abroad is much more prone to take their time eating at meals and have them later at night than we do in the U.S., which is something I think we could learn a thing or two from. But perhaps someone out there who actually lives in Europe/the U.K. can give the most accurate information?

This was a fabulous quibble! I think so often a lot of people try to come at the Sorting Hat from personal perspectives we have on the four houses - that is to say, looking only at what the Sorting Hat songs tell us, how characters are sorted, what Pottermore has to say, personal biases (I'm guilty as charged for all of the above!). But I think you are really one of the first people to take all of that and add a solid scientific component that was both useful and really cool! I found this really interesting and the fact that as you pointed out, this theory is based on research rather than research skewed towards proving a certain theory makes it all the more interesting and valid.

I don't know much about the field of psychology, but if you find more cool theories during the reread that are applicable to HP, I would love to hear what the psych world has to say!

Author's Response: Wow, you made me blush! I'm still working on another psychology-related quibble (nature, nurture and choices in the HP world), which has unfortunately been massively delayed; my studies are draining a lot of my time right now. But once I have some time to spare again I'll get back to it. Thanks for your kind review, I'm glad you found my take on the houses and their qualities interesting.