• Their common room is always clean and quiet, a perfect study environment. All the Hogwarts commons and dorms are set up more or less the same way; big common room in a central location with a smaller “quiet study” room off to the side. In Ravenclaw, the smaller room is their “noisy/social” room and the bigger room is their “study room”, except on Friday and Saturday nights when they switch. Both rooms are always impeccably tidy thanks to the handy chore chart they adhere to strictly.
• They are the only house whose student body elects their prefects. This tradition was started in the time of Ravenclaw herself, who strongly favored a democratic style of decision-making for her students since they tended to be independent thinkers who wanted their own say in everything. The Head of House and Headmaster both have the right to interfere with the student decisions for prefects, but they have not done so in over a century. Unlike the other houses, being elected your fifth year does not mean you are guaranteed the job for your sixth and seventh years; you have to be re-elected.
• They are also the only house to hold open strategy meetings for their Quidditch team. Anyone, whether they are on the team or not, is allowed to attend and make suggestions. The Ravenclaw captains have found that outside perspectives on the games to be particularly insightful. Ravenclaw takes Quidditch very seriously - their track record with cup wins is almost as good as Slytherin’s. Ravenclaw students also are notorious for hosting underground betting competitions on both the Hogwarts Cup and the National and Worldwide leagues.
• If you averaged out their grades, the average wouldn’t be higher than the averages of other houses. Even though it’s true that Ravenclaw has more “straight-A” students than the other houses, they also have more than their fair share of “brilliant but lazy” students who tend to not get stellar grades despite their natural talents. They also have plenty of students who are average academics but are extraordinarily clever and open-minded in their own ways, like Luna Lovegood.
• The only reason that Ravenclaw doesn’t win the House Cup more often is that its prefects deduct more points from their own house than any other prefects do. Deducting points from their own houses is the only authoritative power prefects have on the points system; understandably, most don’t invoke it often. Ravenclaws, however, are big on upholding rules and standards, and their prefects tend to deduct points for even minor infractions, which often leaves them lagging behind a hundred points or more in the House Cup.
• It’s not uncommon for casual discussions to snowball into entire debates, with the majority of the house either getting involved or just watching and casually piping in. These discussions can range from casual verbal jousting during meals in the Great Hall or heated debates fiercely whispered back and forth in the library.
• Expanding on the prior chalkboard idea, the boards are used as a place to post questions/speculation about anything and everything. They are never erased, but the board is charmed so that questions older than one week will slowly begin to fade and be gone by two weeks. Answers are rarely signed because most students will eventually learn which writing belongs to which housemate.This is usually not hard, considering that the Ravenclaw house is known for quirkiness, and every Ravenclaw’s penmanship is fairly unique.
• Ravenclaws, more so than the other houses, tend to have odd taste in food combinations and condiments, such as putting grape jelly on their gravy & biscuits or ketchup on their pancakes. Maybe even fish fingers and custard like the Eleventh Doctor. The house elves are surprisingly supportive of such endeavors.
• Ravenclaws have the highest number of students with unusual diets at Hogwarts. Vegetarians of all sorts, as well as those who only eat raw food are more common at Ravenclaw than elsewhere.
• There was once a point in time where a small group of students wanted to investigate the movement charms placed on Chocolate Frogs, and as such released nearly a hundred into the common room simultaneously. Things quickly got out of hand and the entire tower smelled like melted chocolate for a week.
• The common room is always relatively quiet, but never silent. Many times a student will be found playing a musical instrument softly, since studies have shown that background music (classical in particular) helps to improve focus.
• It wasn’t uncommon for students to teach each other how to play instruments as well. An example of this were those who happened to play string-bound selections such as violins and guitars.
• Occasionally, some of the more bold, musically-inclined students will have an impromptu jam session. Once, a Muggle-born student snuck in an electric guitar. It sort of exploded.
• In the back corner of the common room is a bookshelf filled with all the personally owned books of the Ravenclaw students. The unspoken rule is that you’re allowed to borrow whatever you want as long as it doesn’t leave the common room. And that you don’t mark it, but every good Ravenclaw knows that.
• Once a Ravenclaw leaves Hogwarts, they have to leave behind one book in this bookshelf, with a very small note about who it is from and why this book means so much to them. If you look hard enough, you can find books dating back to Rowena’s very first class.
• All the books belonging to a Ravenclaw and in the bookshelf, are equipped with anti-breaking spells, so they never rip or tear or fall apart, they stay in pristine condition forever.
• Some of the books on the shelf are, unsurprisingly, written by muggle authors. These books range from (laughable) tales about witches and warlocks to self-help and medical journals.
• The medical journals, in particular the descriptions of stitches, are of a morbid fascination to those Ravenclaws who have grown up with Healers.
• Ravenclaws are not content to learn only the subjects taught at Hogwarts so one section contains textbooks for other subjects including geography, psychology and calculus. When free time abounds older students lead study groups with varying degrees of success.
• As the only house in the school without a fireplace, Ravenclaws have always made a habit out of charming the furniture (along with the previously-mentioned blankets and pillows) in their common room to warm themselves in the winter. Counter-intuitively, the windows are nearly always kept at least partially open unless precipitation or sheer cold forces them to be shut. This traces back to the house’s historic association with the elements of air and wind.
• However, no open fire is allowed due to the sheer amount of paper contained in the tower. This was the original reason Rowena did not allow a fireplace, but to the confusion of her colleagues. (Particularly Gryffindor, who remarked exactly how drafty the upper towers could be)
• A lightning rod was placed by a Ravenclaw on the very tip of the tower after another student was struck by lightning during a Quidditch match. While it was a kind thought several hundred years ago, the rod is now mostly used for experiments with electricity and sometimes, muggle electric devices. Those never last long due to the habit of muggle technology to downright explode on Hogwarts property.
• Unlike the other houses, the initial question asked by first years regarding the giant squid isn’t “Is it friendly / Are there more?” (Hufflepuff) or “Has it ever eaten anyone?” (Griffindor and Slytherin). It’s usually “But what does it eat?”. Squids are known for being very aggressive hunters and, at first glance, there doesn’t appear to be any life large enough that would sustain the squid for any length of time. Many generations of Ravenclaw have attempted to answer this question, with mixed results. At present, it appears that it will consistently eat toast, fried fish, raw fish, deer carcasses, rock cakes, and Licorice Wands. Slytherin students have found out about the ongoing mystery and continually taunt the Ravenclaws about it, saying that they see the squid every day from their window, know exactly what it eats, and can even talk to it. Their claims remain unconfirmed.
• During Harry’s time at Hogwarts, there would always be a board filled with what was going on at the school, connecting events like the troll and the third floor corridor being off limits; strangled roosters and writing in blood; etc. They would eventually work out a consensus on the top three most likely explanations. The actual answer was almost always in the top three, even though they didn’t have access to a lot of the information the Trio had (the chances of it being the top answer increased as Luna went through school). In Harry’s fifth year and seventh year, this was done in Ancient Runes, posing as homework.
• Though all Ravenclaws know that to mark in or damage a book is a Very Bad Thing, there are designated copies of some texts that are known as “annotated versions,” where people may mark in them to their hearts’ content. Spells for searching, connecting passages, etc. are located in the front.
• In fact, such books have been charmed to self-monitor such graffiti for the quality of content. Notes that are helpful, insightful, witty, and worthwhile remain on the pages. Even sketches in the book’s pages are retained if they are interesting or somehow illustrate the book’s contents. However, obscenity, ignorant remarks, and anything that obscures the book’s original words simply fade from the pages the moment it is written.
• Many Ravenclaws think more clearly in strange environs: hanging upside down from a tree branch, cross-legged in a sixth story window, with their feet in the lake, while eating, while walking etc. Because students of other houses encounter Ravenclaws in almost every part of the school, still reading/researching/working, they assume that that’s all we do.
• There was once a question so hard to answer to get into the Ravenclaw common room that Dumbledore eventually had to get involved. Needless to say, the eagle knocker got a talking to and has not since asked a near-impossible question.
• Although they do their fair share of studying, Ravenclaws tend to have more free time because they tend to understand things more quickly and as such need to study less. However, because of their inquisitive natures, this free time is often spent researching topics of interest. That is why people assume Ravenclaws are always studying - even when they technically aren’t!
• It’s no secret that Ravenclaws love their literature. They are the bookworms of Hogwarts, a title they have proudly adopted. Thanks to their well known love of the written word, most students from other houses are under the impression that when they borrow a book from a Ravenclaw friend, they had better keep it in mint condition or else deal with the berating that is sure to follow. In reality, it’s quite the contrary! To them, a well loved book is a good book. The bookshelves in the Ravenclaw common room are full of books crammed with marginalia: grammatical corrections, personal thoughts and even the occasional illustration abound. These heavily annotated books contain so much fascinating history and unique Ravenclaw cleverness that they are thought of as something of a house treasure.
• With each new first year sorted into Ravenclaw, the table erupts in cheers. The new students will either sit quietly at first and absorb their new environment or immediately burst into questions. Of course, the question and answer portion occurs in between sampling different food combinations that the older kids have figured out. They’ve had more years to experiment after all. “The ceiling, how—did you really just put pudding with that?” The first years will likely find that the older students are more welcoming to answering questions than they thought. That’s probably because they were just like them once upon a time. Their answers, however, aren’t the most specific each time. Sometimes, they refer them to certain books or even ghosts to speak to because they think that nudging toward the path of discovery is more exciting than plain answers at the end of the road. They know that showing them the way will only open up more paths that they can take, allowing them to explore more freely. The first years may, for a second, find it frustrating that they can’t just get straight answers sometimes but later find the value in seeking it out themselves. ie. actually putting together this and that as well as adding a few things they passed while getting the pudding (which they wouldn’t have if the older student just put some on his/her plate). The Grey Lady pays them a visit and walks alongside them up the moving staircases. First years find her incredibly helpful when they get lost. After all, her mother had something to do with the staircases, though not a great many people know that.
• With regards to the staircases, Ravenclaws will likely be the first to get used to them. For one, they’ll probably receive tips from Prefects and ghosts but some of them watch the staircases move from the bottom floor and observe a pattern of some kind that they may follow. First years often ask the portraits about their histories and well-being, even, instead of how the portraits move because that’s something they’d rather work out on with their fellow house-mates. When they’ve got a few theories, they approach the portraits and have a go at it. Whoever’s the closest wins, while those who lose may have to perform a dare or two (whoever said Ravenclaws couldn’t take a dare, hmm?).
• They likely won’t get much sleep on their first night there as it’s spent theorizing, meeting their room-mates, looking out windows and marveling at their Common Room. Many don’t even fall asleep in their own dorms or beds. Some fall asleep on the couches, on the window seats, large pillows that have been arranged on the floor, etc. It’s the Prefects who shake them awake after suppressing a chuckle at the scene: ink stains on cheeks, some piles of candy (gathered together as neatly as possible) and an overall messier Common Room than usual. They rise a little earlier to tidy up together, while still chatting about the night before and their expectations of the day ahead.
• Starting two months prior to exams, it is not unheard of for engaging study sessions to happen on a weekly or biweekly basis. These study sessions tend to be similar to parties, however, they are quieter and slightly more study oriented than most. At the end of exams, students are often seen relaxing and taking their minds off of things through various games that are both engaging and fun.
• Any Ravenclaw can find a calendar of these study sessions posted on the big board in the common room, as well as small reminders of other events such as Quidditch matches, Hogsmeade trips, and (though not entirely necessary) dates of the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. While most Ravenclaws are very organized, these reminders can be helpful when students are submersed in their studies or subjects of personal interest.
• The reason Ravenclaws are often considered beautiful is because they’re good enough to create potions to remove most physical flaws, and creative enough to create spells that help improve their appearance.
• Where other students may blissfully accept that their common rooms appear to magically tidy themselves at night, or that they feast daily on meals prepared by invisible hands, first year Ravenclaws are always immediately suspicious of this phenomenon and quickly seek out the source. As such, Ravenclaws are well aware of the house elf situation at Hogwarts, and it is one of many topics of debate among them.
• The questioning attitude of many Ravenclaws drives even some of those who were raised with house elves to wonder about the moral implications of a slave race. Though unlike Hermione’s S.P.E.W., these conversations tend to be very philosophical in nature. Considering, for example, whether an unemployed house elf could still be called a house elf, or whether being freed so completely changes its nature that it should be considered an entirely different species. As such, Ravenclaws remain largely divided on the issue, with students viewing them as anything from intelligent work animals to an oppressed class, and so little united effort has been made on behalf of the house elves.
• House elves are equally divided on how they feel about Ravenclaws, given that some students pester them with offers of clothing while others treat them as objects of study or test subjects, much like a toad. However, many Ravenclaws find pleasure in simply talking to the house elves, learning how their magic works, and all about what goes on behind the scenes of Hogwarts. Many house elves enjoy these sorts of students so much that they will make no effort to hide themselves when cleaning the common room.

First five from here