Welcome to the beginning of a new cycle of the Hogwarts Spotlight, a feature dedicated to showcasing different students, professors and clubs throughout the school! For this piece, we had the opportunity to sit down with Talula Peony Shippe, a first year Hufflepuff whose hometown is London, by the East End!
The Hufflepuff house is known for valuing hard work, loyalty, dedication, patience and fair play, and Talula certainly exemplifies these characteristics. When asked what she feels makes her a great fit for the house of the Badgers, she’s quick to reply, “I think Hufflepuffs are really tolerant and warm, and I try to be too! Every student I meet here at Hogwarts is a possible friend for life.” When asked what if she had to be put in another house, she playfully admonishes the writer for questioning her loyalty before revealing, “I think I might make a decent Gryffindor. I like to charge into things and I think I can be super daring and brave at times.” Her response is an excellent reminder that while the hat may recognise a students more prevalent qualities, the essence of a person is defined by more than simple broad generalisations.
Although her favorite class would be a tie between Charms and Transfiguration, she acknowledges how much she enjoys DADA, “[…] I admit that I need to practice hard to understand it.” Talula is still unsure of what she would like to do in the future after graduating Hogwarts; however, she is only in her first year with plenty of time to decide!
One of Talula’s favourite things to do in the castle is spend time with her friends. She reveals with the colder weather months and snow, “I like to be out in the snow making snow cones and snow angels and stuff like that.” Beyond that, she is also a gymnast who tries to keep in shape by doing some tumbling and can be found at times practising her round off back handspring in the long gallery. Although she has only been at Hogwarts for less than four months, she already has a few fond memories. “I really had a grand time at the Halloween bash, at least I’m pretty sure I did! It’s all a little hazy, but I think us firsties who went together looked totally on fleek.” [Writer’s Note: For any students unfamiliar with muggle slang, fleek means stylish or extremely good.]
For the rapid fire questioning part of the interview, Talula expresses how she does not have a favourite ice cream flavor from Fortescues simply because she is not a fan of ice cream, “Butterbeer though, hook a badger up!” For her favourite sweet from Honeydukes, she is partial to chocolate frogs because of the cards, as she loves playing Wizarding Snap. Being only recently introduced to the wizarding world, she does not have a favourite professional Quidditch team at the moment and was surprised to learn there were teams other than the ones at school.
Friendly, outgoing and kind with a side of daring, be sure to say hi to Talula next time you see her. Tune in next week, when we shine the Hogwarts Spotlight on a Gryffindor!
Written by Rylan Worthington
Photograph by Talula “Tal” Shippe
About the author
Persephone Vitrac is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She is currently a 6th Year Slytherin, Quidditch Captain, Prefect and Editor of the Owl Post.
Meh girl