Changes: House points

Revision as of 19:18, 28 March 2015

House points hourglass — The hourglasses tallying the house points for Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

"Your triumphs will earn you points, any rule-breaking and you will lose points."

House points are awarded to students at Hogwarts that do good deeds, correctly answer a question in class, or win a Quidditch Match. They can also be taken away for rule-breaking. The points are stored in House point hourglasses that show the point totals at the bottom with stones the main colour of their house (rubies for Gryffindor, sapphires for Ravenclaw, emeralds for Slytherin, and yellow diamonds for Hufflepuff). Each student earns points for his or her House, and at the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup. Teachers, as well as librarians^[1] have the power to award or deduct points from students. Prefects, the Head Boy, and the Head Girl can deduct points as well, but not from other Prefects. During the 1995–1996 school year however, members of the newly-formed Inquisitorial Squad were permitted to do so. The squad was stopped after Dolores Umbridge's departure from Hogwarts.

Notable point gains/losses

1991-1992 school year

Student	House	Authority	Points gained/lost	Date	Reason
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	1 point deducted	6 September, 1991	Cheekiness
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	1 point deducted	6 September, 1991	Not correcting a mistake of Neville Longbottom's in Potions
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Minerva McGonagall	Several points awarded		Knowing about Switching Spells in Transfiguration
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Minerva McGonagall	5 points deducted	31 October, 1991	Hermione claimed to have gone looking for the troll
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Minerva McGonagall	5 points awarded each	31 October, 1991	For saving Hermione from the troll
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	5 points deducted		Taking the library's copy of Quidditch Through the Ages outside of the castle
Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	5 points deducted		Attacking Draco Malfoy
Draco Malfoy	Minerva McGonagall	Slytherin	20 points deducted		Wandering the corridors at night
Hermione Granger Neville Longbottom Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Minerva McGonagall	50 points deducted each		Wandering the corridors at night
Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Albus Dumbledore	50 points awarded		For winning McGonagall's chess game in the underground chambers
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Albus Dumbledore	50 points awarded		For correctly solving Snape's potion riddle
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Albus Dumbledore	60 points awarded		For defeating Quirrell
Neville Longbottom	Gryffindor	Albus Dumbledore	10 points awarded		For standing up to Harry, Ron and Hermione

1992-1993 school year

Student	House	Authority	Points gained/lost	Date	Reason
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Pomona Sprout	10 points awarded	1 September, 1992	Correctly listing the properties of Mandrakes
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Pomona Sprout	10 points awarded	1 September, 1992	Correctly identifying the danger of handling Mandrakes
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Gilderoy Lockhart	10 points awarded	1 September, 1992	Getting full marks on Lockhart's quiz
Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Percy Weasley	5 points deducted		Accusing Percy of ranking Head Boyship above their sister
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Albus Dumbledore	200 points awarded each		For saving Ginny Weasley, slaying the Serpent of Slytherin and defeating Tom Riddle

1993-1994 school year

Student	House	Authority	Points gained/lost	Reason
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	5 points deducted	For helping Neville Longbottom with his Shrinking Solution
Kellah Lavender Brown Fay Dunbar Seamus Finnigan Neville Longbottom Parvati Patil Dean Thomas Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Remus Lupin	5 points awarded to each (10 for Neville)	For combating a Boggart
Hermione Granger and Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Remus Lupin	5 points awarded to each	For answering Lupin's questions in class
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	10 points deducted	Arriving late to Defence Against the Dark Arts
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	5 points deducted	Not sitting down when asked
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	5 points deducted	"Being an insufferable know-it-all"
Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	50 points deducted	For throwing a crocodile heart at Draco Malfoy
Vincent Crabbe Marcus Flint Gregory Goyle Draco Malfoy	Slytherin	Minerva McGonagall	50 points deducted	For dressing up as Dementors to sabotage a Quidditch match

1994-1995 school year

Student	House	Authority	Points gained/lost	Reason
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	50 points deducted	Shouting at Snape after he remarked that he saw no difference to Hermione after Densaugeo was used on her
S. Fawcett	Ravenclaw	Severus Snape	10 points deducted	Being caught in the rose bushes with Stebbins
Stebbins	Hufflepuff	Severus Snape	10 points deducted	Being caught in the rose bushes with S. Fawcett
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	10 points deducted	Discussing topics unrelated to Potions in class
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	10 points deducted	Reading Witch Weekly in class

1995-1996 school year

Student	House	Authority	Points gained/lost	Reason
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Dolores Umbridge	10 points deducted	Declaring that Voldemort had returned
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank	5 points awarded	Identifying Bowtruckles
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank	5 points awarded	Having knowledge of a Bowtruckle's diet
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Dolores Umbridge	5 points deducted	Expressing views contrary to those of Wilbert Slinkhard
Angelina Johnson	Gryffindor	Minerva McGonagall	5 points deducted	Shouting at Harry in the Great Hall for getting himself detention
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Minerva McGonagall	5 points deducted	For losing his temper with Umbridge despite McGonagall's warning
Neville Longbottom Harry Potter Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	10 points deducted	Fighting (although, in reality, Harry and Ron were holding Neville back)
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Rubeus Hagrid	10 points awarded	Explaining why Thestrals are invisible to some
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Dolores Umbridge	50 points deducted	Having an interview with Rita Skeeter published in The Quibbler
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Pomona Sprout	20 points awarded	Handing her a watering can; a way for her to express her feelings towards his interview
Draco Malfoy	Slytherin	Dolores Umbridge	50 points awarded	Using a Trip Jinx to apprehend Harry after exposing Dumbledore's Army
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Draco Malfoy	5 points deducted	Insulting Umbridge
Ernie Macmillan	Hufflepuff	Draco Malfoy	5 points deducted	For contradicting Malfoy
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Draco Malfoy	5 points deducted	Because Malfoy disliked him
Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Draco Malfoy	5 points deducted	Having his shirt untucked
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Draco Malfoy	10 points deducted	Being Muggle-born
Hermione Granger Neville Longbottom Harry Potter Ginny Weasley Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Minerva McGonagall	50 points awarded to each (a total of 250)	For their actions in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries
Luna Lovegood	Ravenclaw	Minerva McGonagall	50 points awarded	For her actions during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Minerva McGonagall (on Severus Snape's behalf)	10 points deducted	For threatening to curse Draco Malfoy (Snape attempted to remove the points before realising that Gryffindor had no points left)

1996-1997 school year

Student	House	Authority	Points gained/lost	Date	Reason
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	50 points deducted	31 August, 1996	Arriving late to the Start-of-Term Feast
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	20 points deducted	31 August, 1996	Wearing Muggle attire to the Start-of-Term Feast
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Horace Slughorn	20 points awarded		For her knowledge of Amortentia
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Horace Slughorn	10 points awarded		For her knowledge of Felix Felicis
Hermione Granger	Gryffindor	Horace Slughorn	10 points awarded		Explaining Golpalott's Third Law
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Horace Slughorn	10 points awarded		For presenting a bezoar as an answer to an activity involving antidotes
Harry Potter	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	10 points deducted		Arriving late to Defence Against the Dark Arts
Ron Weasley	Gryffindor	Severus Snape	10 points deducted		Being sarcastic and disrespectful towards Snape

Behind the scenes

House Points — Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

It is stated that prefects are allowed to dock points from students in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. However, this idea is diminished in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when it is stated that prefects are in fact not allowed to do so. In later editions, however, it seems that, with the exception of the Inquisitorial Squad, prefects can dock points only from their own house.
Exactly how points are tabulated and recorded is not explained in detail. It is implied in several books that simply stating the addition or subtraction of points magically adjusts the score accordingly. It's not certain if this occurs in all cases, such as when Dumbledore adjusts the scores at the end of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The four giant hourglasses, however, seemingly adjusts their contents accordingly to the house points granted or retracted by the teachers' wordings.
In the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Severus Snape takes 70 points from Gryffindor before term starts, saying that Gryffindor would have negative 70 points, but in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Snape was unable to take points from Gryffindor when they had no points left. It is possible, however, that Snape's next words after "In that case, Potter, we will simply have to..." would have been to send to Gryffindor into negative points, but he was unable to get them out before being interrupted by Professor McGonagall. It can also be assumed he was being sarcastic or joking cruelly about the situation.
In the films and video games from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the house points are earned and counted in the Great Hall to the right of the staff table. However in the first video games, they are also counted in the Great Hall, despite the hourglasses being located in the Entrance Hall.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Severus Snape deducts one point from Gryffindor for Harry's statement that Hermione could answer his questions and suggestion that he ask her. This, and the point that he takes for Harry's supposedly setting Neville Longbottom up for failure, are the only instances shown in the books of a single point being deducted for a transgression. They are normally deducted at either 5 or 10 points for small infractions, and multiples of these numbers for greater ones, though in the earliest Harry Potter video game, certain individuals, such as a particular Hufflepuff prefect, deducted them in unusual amounts, such as 6.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game), Hermione awards Harry between 5 and 50 house points for learning the Unlocking Charm.

Appearances

Notes and references

↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)

[1] Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)

[1]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 '''House points''' are awarded to students at [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry|Hogwarts]] that do good deeds, correctly answer a question in class, or win a [[Quidditch]] Match. They can also be taken away for rule-breaking. The points are stored in [[House point hourglasses]] that show the point totals at the bottom with stones the main colour of their house ([[ruby|rubies]] for [[Gryffindor]], [[sapphire]]s for [[Ravenclaw]], [[emerald]]s for [[Slytherin]], and yellow [[diamond]]s for [[Hufflepuff]]). Each student earns points for his or her [[Hogwarts Houses|House]], and at the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the [[House Cup]]. Teachers, as well as librarians<ref>Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)</ref> have the power to award or deduct points from students. [[Prefect]]s, the [[Head Boy]], and the [[Head Boy|Head Girl]] can deduct points as well, but not from other Prefects. During the [[1995–1996 school year]] however, members of the newly-formed [[Inquisitorial Squad]] were permitted to do so. The squad was stopped after [[Dolores Umbridge]]'s departure from [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry|Hogwarts]].
-==Significant point gains/losses==
+==Notable point gains/losses==
-*In the [[1991–1992 school year]], [[Harry Potter]], [[Hermione Granger]], and [[Neville Longbottom]] get fifty points deducted from each of them for being outside of their [[common room]]s at night. Despite being involved in the same incident, [[Draco Malfoy]] is only docked twenty points.<ref>''[[Pottermore]]'' - [http://www.pottermore.com/go/harry-potter From the Story: Harry Potter]</ref>
-*In the [[1991–1992 school year]], [[Ronald Weasley|Ron Weasley]] and [[Hermione Granger]] each won fifty points and [[Harry Potter]] won sixty points for their performance in the [[Philosopher's Stone Chambers]] from [[Albus Dumbledore]], which tied them with [[Slytherin]] for the [[House Cup]]. [[Neville Longbottom]] won ten points for standing up to his friends, when he tried to stop them from leaving the Gryffindor common room after hours. These ten points broke their tie with Slytherin, so [[Gryffindor]] won the [[House Cup]] for the first time in over seven years.
-*In the [[1992-1993 school year]], [[Harry Potter]] and [[Ronald Weasley|Ron Weasley]] were awarded two-hundred points each by [[Albus Dumbledore]] for saving the school from the [[Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk|Basilisk]], which won the [[House Cup]] for [[Gryffindor]] for the second year in a row.
-*In the [[1995–1996 school year]], [[Gryffindor]] house was quickly stripped of all points following the introduction of the [[Inquisitorial Squad]].
-*In the [[1995–1996 school year]], [[Harry Potter]], [[Ronald Weasley|Ron Weasley]], [[Ginevra Weasley|Ginny Weasley]], [[Hermione Granger]], [[Neville Longbottom]], and [[Luna Lovegood]] received fifty points each for their participation in the [[Battle of the Department of Mysteries]]. Prior to this, the [[Gryffindor]] hourglass had been empty.
 ====1991-1992 school year====
 {|width="100%" border="1" class="wikitable"
@@ Line 24: / Line 19: @@
 |[[Severus Snape]]
 |1 point deducted
-|[[1 September]], [[1991]]
+|[[6 September]], [[1991]]
 |Cheekiness
 |-
@@ Line 31: / Line 26: @@
 |[[Severus Snape]]
 |1 point deducted
-|[[1 September]], [[1991]]
+|[[6 September]], [[1991]]
 |Not correcting a mistake of [[Neville Longbottom]]'s in [[Potions (class)|Potions]]
 |-
@@ Line 471: / Line 466: @@
 |
 |For her knowledge of [[Felix Felicis]]
+|-
+|[[Hermione Granger]]
+|[[Gryffindor]]
+|[[Horace Slughorn]]
+|10 points awarded
+|
+|Explaining [[Golpalott's Third Law]]
+|-
+|[[Harry Potter]]
+|[[Gryffindor]]
+|[[Horace Slughorn]]
+|10 points awarded
+|
+|For presenting a [[bezoar]] as an answer to an activity involving antidotes
+|-
+|[[Harry Potter]]
+|[[Gryffindor]]
+|[[Severus Snape]]
+|10 points deducted
+|
+|Arriving late to [[Defence Against the Dark Arts]]
+|-
+|[[Ronald Weasley|Ron Weasley]]
+|[[Gryffindor]]
+|[[Severus Snape]]
+|10 points deducted
+|
+|Being sarcastic and disrespectful towards Snape
 |}
@@ Line 480: / Line 503: @@
 *In the films and video games from ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'', the house points are earned and counted in the [[Great Hall]] to the right of the staff table. However in the first video games, they are also counted in the Great Hall, despite the hourglasses being located in the [[Entrance Hall]].
 *In ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]'', Severus Snape deducts one point from Gryffindor for Harry's statement that Hermione could answer his questions and suggestion that he ask her. This, and the point that he takes for Harry's supposedly setting Neville Longbottom up for failure, are the only instances shown in the books of a single point being deducted for a transgression. They are normally deducted at either 5 or 10 points for small infractions, and multiples of these numbers for greater ones, though in the earliest [[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)|''Harry Potter'' video game]], certain individuals, such as a particular [[Girl whose quill was taken by Cedric|Hufflepuff prefect]], deducted them in unusual amounts, such as 6.
-*In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game), Hermione Granger, a first year at this point, awards Harry Potter 5 - 50 house points for learning the Alohomora unlocking charm.
+*In ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)]]'', Hermione awards Harry between 5 and 50 house points for learning the [[Unlocking Charm]].
 ==Appearances==