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Punishments:
House Points
EDITOR: Amy Z.
"While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points,
while any rulebreaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the
House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope
each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours."
-- Minerva McGonagall
Points are given or taken away to reward or punish the behavior of students. Points are accumulated over the course of the school year, at the end of which a House Cup is awarded to the house with the most. Giant hourglasses set in niches along one wall in a corner of the entrance hall record the points for all to see; Gryffindor's is filled with rubies, Ravenclaw's with sapphires, and Slytherin's with emeralds. As a teacher or other authorized party speaks the words awarding or deducting points, the appropriate hourglass or hourglasses are automatically updated (PS15, OP28, OP38).
Prefects are allowed to take points for infractions, but not from fellow
Prefects (OP28).
NOTE: In the original version of OP, this was very confusing. It seemed
from the text that Prefects were NOT allowed to take points, although Percy
had clearly done so in book two. Rowling partially answered the question on
her website, but it wasn't until the revision to the text (summer 2004) that
the matter was resolved. Here are the original incorrect version and the
updated, corrected version of the passage:
Old version:
'Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff,' he drawled.New version:
'It's only teachers who can dock points from houses, Malfoy,' said Ernie at once.
'Yeah, we're prefects, too, remember?' snarled Ron.
'I know prefects can't dock points, Weasel King,' sneered Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle sniggered. 'But members of the Inquisitorial Squad -'
'Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff,' he drawled.
'You can't take points from fellow prefects, Malfoy,' said Ernie at once.
'I know prefects can't dock points from each other,' sneered Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle sniggered. 'But members of the Inquisitorial Squad -'
house point tallies
1991-1992 school year
1992-1993 school year
1993-1994 school year
1994-1995 school year
1995-1996 school year
1996-1997 school year
