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House points

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At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. Spoilers will be present within the article.

"While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour."
— Minerva McGonagall to first years in 1991[src]

The hourglasses tallying the house points for Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff

House points were awarded to students at Hogwarts[1] and Ilvermorny[2] that did good deeds, correctly answered a question in class, or won an inter-house Quidditch match. They could also be taken away for rule-breaking.[1] The points were stored in House point hourglasses that showed the point totals at the bottom with stones the main colour of their house (rubies for Gryffindor,[3] sapphires for Ravenclaw,[3] emeralds for Slytherin,[4] and yellow diamonds for Hufflepuff).[5] Each student earned points for his or her House, and at the end of the year, the House with the most points would be awarded the House Cup.[1] Teachers, as well as librarians, matrons, and caretakers could award or deduct points from students.[1][6] Prefects, the Head Boy, and the Head Girl could deduct points as well, but not from other Prefects. During the 1995–1996 school year however, members of the rather short-lived Inquisitorial Squad were permitted to do so.[4] The squad was disbanded after Dolores Umbridge's departure from Hogwarts.[3]

Notable point gains/losses

1910

Student House Authority Points gained/lost Date Reason
Leta Lestrange Slytherin Minerva McGonagall 100 points deducted[7] 1910 Using the dark charm Oscausi on a classmate.[7]
Leta Lestrange Slytherin Minerva McGonagall 100 points deducted[7] 1910 Running away from Professor McGonagall.[7]

1980s

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 "Engorgio!"

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Student House Authority Points gained/lost Date Reason
Jacob's sibling (possibly)[6] Unknown Severus Snape or Minerva McGonagall[6] 40 points deducted[6] 1985 Lying about sneaking into the Gryffindor or Slytherin Common room[6]

1991–1992 school year

Student House Authority Points gained/lost Date Reason
Harry Potter Gryffindor Severus Snape 1 point deducted 6 September, 1991 Cheekiness[8]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Severus Snape 1 point deducted[8] 6 September, 1991 Not correcting a mistake of Neville Longbottom's in Potions[8]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Minerva McGonagall Several points awarded[8] Knowing about Switching Spells in Transfiguration[8]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Minerva McGonagall 5 points deducted[9] 31 October, 1991 Hermione claimed to have gone looking for the troll[9]
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley Gryffindor Minerva McGonagall 5 points awarded each[9] 31 October, 1991 For saving Hermione from the troll[9]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Severus Snape 5 points deducted[10] Taking the library's copy of Quidditch Through the Ages outside of the castle[10]
Ron Weasley Gryffindor Severus Snape 5 points deducted[11] Attacking Draco Malfoy[11]
Draco Malfoy Slytherin Minerva McGonagall 20 points deducted[12] Wandering the corridors at night[12]
Gryffindor Minerva McGonagall 50 points deducted each[13] Wandering the corridors at night[13]
Ron Weasley Gryffindor Albus Dumbledore 50 points awarded[14] For winning McGonagall's chess game in the Underground Chambers[14]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Albus Dumbledore 50 points awarded[14] For correctly solving Snape's potion riddle[14]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Albus Dumbledore 60 points awarded[14] For defeating Quirrell[14]
Neville Longbottom Gryffindor Albus Dumbledore 10 points awarded[14] For standing up to Harry, Ron and Hermione[14]

1992–1993 school year

Student House Authority Points gained/lost Date Reason
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Pomona Sprout 10 points awarded[15] 2 September, 1992 Correctly listing the properties of Mandrakes[15]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Pomona Sprout 10 points awarded[15] 2 September, 1992 Correctly identifying the danger of handling Mandrakes[15]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Gilderoy Lockhart 10 points awarded[15] 2 September, 1992 Getting full marks on Lockhart's quiz[15]
Ron Weasley Gryffindor Percy Weasley 5 points deducted[16] Using a girls' bathroom[16]
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley Gryffindor Albus Dumbledore 200 points awarded each[17] For saving Ginny Weasley, slaying the Serpent of Slytherin and defeating Tom Riddle's soul in the Chamber of Secrets[17]

1993–1994 school year

Student House Authority Points gained/lost Date Reason
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Severus Snape 5 points deducted[18] For helping Neville Longbottom with his Shrinking Solution[18]
Gryffindor Remus Lupin 5 points awarded to each (10 for Neville)[18] For combating a Boggart[18]
Hermione Granger and Harry Potter Gryffindor Remus Lupin 5 points awarded to each[18] For answering Lupin's questions in class[18]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Severus Snape 10 points deducted[19] Arriving late to Defence Against the Dark Arts[19]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Severus Snape 5 points deducted[19] Not sitting down when asked[19]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Severus Snape 5 points deducted[19] "Being an insufferable know-it-all"[19]
Ron Weasley Gryffindor Severus Snape 50 points deducted[20] For throwing a crocodile heart at Draco Malfoy[20]
Slytherin Minerva McGonagall 50 points deducted[21] For dressing up as Dementors to sabotage Harry Potter during a Quidditch match[21]

1994–1995 school year

Student House Authority Points gained/lost Date Reason
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley Gryffindor Severus Snape 50 points deducted[22] Shouting at Snape after he remarked that he saw no difference to Hermione after Densaugeo was used on her[22]
S. Fawcett Ravenclaw Severus Snape 10 points deducted[23] Being caught in the rose bushes with Stebbins[23]
Stebbins Hufflepuff Severus Snape 10 points deducted[23] Being caught in the rose bushes with S. Fawcett[23]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Severus Snape 10 points deducted[24] Discussing topics unrelated to Potions in class[24]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Severus Snape 10 points deducted[24] Reading Witch Weekly in class[24]

1995–1996 school year

Student House Authority Points gained/lost Date Reason
Harry Potter Gryffindor Dolores Umbridge 10 points deducted[25] Declaring that Voldemort had returned[25]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank 5 points awarded[26] Identifying Bowtruckles[26]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank 5 points awarded[26] Having knowledge of a Bowtruckle's diet[26]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Dolores Umbridge 5 points deducted[27] Expressing views contrary to those of Wilbert Slinkhard[27]
Angelina Johnson Gryffindor Minerva McGonagall 5 points deducted[27] Shouting at Harry in the Great Hall for getting himself detention[27]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Minerva McGonagall 5 points deducted[27] For losing his temper with Umbridge despite McGonagall's warning[27]
Gryffindor Severus Snape 10 points deducted[28] Fighting (although, in reality, Harry and Ron were holding Neville back)[28]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Rubeus Hagrid 10 points awarded[29] Explaining why Thestrals are invisible to some[29]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Dolores Umbridge 50 points deducted[30] Having an interview with Rita Skeeter published in The Quibbler[30]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Pomona Sprout 20 points awarded[30] Handing her a watering can; a way for her to express her feelings towards his interview[30]
Draco Malfoy Slytherin Dolores Umbridge 50 points awarded[31] Using a Trip Jinx to apprehend Harry after exposing Dumbledore's Army[31]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Draco Malfoy 5 points deducted[4] Insulting Umbridge[4]
Ernie Macmillan Hufflepuff Draco Malfoy 5 points deducted[4] For contradicting Malfoy[4]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Draco Malfoy 5 points deducted[4] Because Malfoy disliked him[4]
Ron Weasley Gryffindor Draco Malfoy 5 points deducted[4] Having his shirt untucked[4]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Draco Malfoy 10 points deducted[4] Being Muggle-born[4]
Gryffindor Minerva McGonagall 50 points awarded to each (a total of 250)[3] For their actions in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries[3]
Luna Lovegood Ravenclaw Minerva McGonagall 50 points awarded[3] For her actions during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries[3]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Minerva McGonagall (on Severus Snape's behalf) 10 points deducted[3] For threatening to curse Draco Malfoy (Snape attempted to remove the points before realising that Gryffindor had no points left)[3]

1996–1997 school year

Student House Authority Points gained/lost Date Reason
Harry Potter Gryffindor Severus Snape 50 points deducted[32] 1 September, 1996 Arriving late to the Start-of-Term Feast[32]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Severus Snape 20 points deducted[32] 1 September, 1996 Wearing Muggle attire to the Start-of-Term Feast[32]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Horace Slughorn 20 points awarded[33] For her knowledge of Amortentia[33]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Horace Slughorn 10 points awarded[33] For her knowledge of Felix Felicis[33]
Hermione Granger Gryffindor Horace Slughorn 10 points awarded[34] Explaining Golpalott's Third Law[34]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Horace Slughorn 10 points awarded[34] For presenting a bezoar as an answer to an activity involving antidotes[34]
Harry Potter Gryffindor Severus Snape 10 points deducted[35] Arriving late to Defence Against the Dark Arts[35]
Ron Weasley Gryffindor Severus Snape 10 points deducted[35] Being sarcastic and disrespectful towards Snape[35]

Behind the scenes

  • 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 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when Minerva McGonagall was about to determine punishment for Harry Potter and Ron Weasley for crashing the Flying Ford Anglia into the Whomping Willow, Harry advised her that Gryffindor should not lose any house points as this misdemeanour occurred before term started, which she accepted (though she gave them detention).
  • In 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. Also, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Minerva did not take any points from Gryffindor when Harry and Ron took the Flying Ford Anglia, since it was before term started, which shows Snape's deduction of 70 points 4 years later as unorthodox.
  • 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. In the extended cut of the Film, this is a straight 5 points. In the original version of the Film, it's omitted entirely. 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 PC version of the Philosopher's Stone video game, Hermione non-canonically awards Harry between 5 and 50 house points for learning the Unlocking Charm, although she was only a first year at this point. Her reasoning being that is what Professor Flitwick would have done had he seen Harry learn the spell.
  • In the films, the role of house points is almost exclusively limited to the first film. The other 7 films make almost no mention of them outside of Pomona Sprout awarding Hermione 10 points for identifying both the properties and dangers of the Mandrake Root (as opposed to 20 for both in the books) in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Professor Snape deducting 5 points from Hermione being an "insufferable know-it-all" during Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and a deleted scene of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire during the Yule Ball when Snape deducts 10 points each from Fawcett and Stebbins when they were caught in a Hogwarts carriage. The films make no mention of the House Cup or point totals is mentioned in any film outside of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
  • In the GBA version, Professor McGonagall, instead of awarding 10 points to Harry and Ron and deducing 5 from Hermione, awards 50 points to Gryffindor for saving Hermione.

Appearances

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 7 (The Sorting Hat)
  2. ↑ Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" at Wizarding World
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 38 (The Second War Begins)
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 28 (Snape's Worst Memory)
  5. ↑ Twitter conversation with J.K. Rowling (Official) where she confirms what gem is in the Hufflepuff Hourglass.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 8 (The Potions Master)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 10 (Hallowe'en)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 11 (Quidditch)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 12 (The Mirror of Erised)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 14 (Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback)
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 15 (The Forbidden Forest)
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 17 (The Man with Two Faces)
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 6 (Gilderoy Lockhart)
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 9 (The Writing on the Wall)
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 18 (Dobby's Reward)
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 7 (The Boggart in the Wardrobe)
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 9 (Grim Defeat)
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 10 (The Marauder's Map)
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 15 (The Quidditch Final)
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 18 (The Weighing of the Wands)
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 23 (The Yule Ball)
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 27 (Padfoot Returns)
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 12 (Professor Umbridge)
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 13 (Detention with Dolores)
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 15 (The Hogwarts High Inquisitor)
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 17 (Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four)
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 21 (The Eye of the Snake)
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 26 (Seen and Unforeseen)
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 27 (The Centaur and the Sneak)
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 8 (Snape Victorious)
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 9 (The Half-Blood Prince)
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 18 (Birthday Surprises)
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 21 (The Unknowable Room)
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