Entire House Points

House points were awarded to students at Hogwarts and Ilvermorny 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. 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, sapphires for Ravenclaw, emeralds for Slytherin, and yellow diamonds for Hufflepuff).Twitter conversation with J.K. Rowling (Official) where she confirms what gem is in the Hufflepuff Hourglass. 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. Teachers, as well as librarians, matrons, and caretakers could award or deduct points from students. 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. The squad was disbanded after Dolores Umbridge's departure from Hogwarts.
==Known 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
Draco Malfoy 	Slytherin 	Minerva McGonagall	20 points deducted 	 	Wandering the corridors at night
* Hermione Granger
* Ron Weasley
*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 Devil's snare details
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 	2 September, 1992	Correctly listing the properties of Mandrakes
Hermione Granger 	Gryffindor	Pomona Sprout 	10 points awarded 	2 September, 1992	Correctly identifying the danger of handling Mandrakes
Hermione Granger 	Gryffindor	Gilderoy Lockhart	10 points awarded 	2 September, 1992	Getting full marks on Lockhart's quiz
Ron Weasley 	Gryffindor	Percy Weasley 	5 points deducted 	 	Using a girls' bathroom
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's soul in the Chamber of Secrets
==Behind the scenes==
*It is stated that prefects are allowed to dock points from students in . However, this idea is diminished in 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, but not from fellow prefects.
*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 is not certain if this occurs in all cases, such as when Dumbledore adjusts the scores at the end of . The four giant hourglasses, however, seemingly adjusts their contents accordingly to the house points granted or retracted by the teachers' wordings.
*In , 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 , Severus Snape takes seventy points from Gryffindor before term starts, saying that Gryffindor would have negative 70 points, but in , 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 , 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 seventy points four years later as unorthodox.
*In the films and video games from , 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 , 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 eitherf five or ten 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 seven 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 ten 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.
*In a trailer for , Professor Dumbledore gave Newton Scamander three points to Hufflepuff. It was likely he did it to be funny because Newt was an adult and had been expelled over ten years earlier.
==Appearances==
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==Notes and references==
Category:An House Cup