Inter-House Quidditch Cup

The **Inter-House Quidditch Cup** is an event in *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* to *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*. It is a sports championship that takes place every year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each House competes in league against each other once a year. If they win a game, they are awarded points and the one with the highest at the end of the year is given the Quidditch Cup.

## About

The Inter-House Championship is a mini-league of four House teams who compete in games against each other throughout the school year. Each team play three games, one against each House. The games takes place on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. The first game of the year is supposed to be Gryffindor versus Slytherin in the autumn. The winner of the Quidditch Cup is determined in the Spring and is judged by the number of points they have won, not by the number of victories for each team.

The Cup is a silver trophy that has four handles. The handles are in the shape of the four animals of each house. The Cup is kept in the office of the Head of House of the last champions. The referee of the game is the Flying instructor. A student is the commentator. It is an important part of school life and encouraged House support. The games are attended by the whole school including the teachers, who have to stay composed and neutral.

The Head of House chooses the Captain of their teams. In the second week of September, each House Captain holds Quidditch trials to decide who is going to be on their team that school year. Student have to contact the Flying instructor to sign up. It's unknown how but the Quidditch Cup contributes towards the House Championship.

### Game schedule

The game schedule normally take place in the same order unless it needs to be changed in special situations. One year, the Slytherin Seeker feigned a painful arm injury so Gryffindor had to play against Hufflepuff first instead. A year later, the Quidditch Cup is cancelled for the Triwizard Tournament instead. Each team has Quidditch practice every week and the Captain determines how many times by booking the pitch.

### Commentary

Each game has a commentator who keeps note of the score and provides direction for the spectators about what is happening in the game. Lee Jordan was the commentator for a few years. Lee had a problem staying impartial and kept sharing his personal thoughts and opinions about the players, teams and the game. He was shouted at many times by teachers, mainly Professor McGonagall. When he graduated, Luna Lovegood took over.

## History

In 1691, Gryffindor was heavily defeated in a game and it would take another 300 years for them to suffer an even heavier defeat. In between 1972 and 1979, James Potter was a Chaser for Gryffindor and won the House Cup at least once.

In the 1984-1985 school year, Gryffindor was higher in the Championship rankings than Slytherin but would fail to be so again for seven years. Charlie Weasley was the Seeker between 1986 and 1990 and won the House Cup at least once. In the 1990-1991 school year, Slytherin flattened Gryffindor in their game.

### 1991 - 1992 school year

Harry Potter was selected by Professor McGonagall to be their new Seeker. He was the youngest Seeker for a team in a century. Oliver Wood was the Gryffindor Captain and he trained Harry. Their opening game against Slytherin was played on a cold day. Angelina Johnson opened the scoring first. Gryffindor needed to win if they wanted to be second in the House Championship. Harry caught the Golden Snitch and won.

In February 1992, they needed to beat Hufflepuff if they wanted to go higher than Slytherin in the House Championship rankings for the first time in seven years, and they won the game. However, they were defeated in their last game against Ravenclaw, who "steamrolled" them because Harry was in the Hospital Wing.

### 1992 - 1993 school year

Marcus Flint added a new Seeker to Slytherin's team, Draco when Lucius bribed him using Nimbus 2001s. In the first game of the year against Gryffindor, Harry Potter was chased by a rogue Bludger. He broke an arm but managed to trick Draco and catch the Golden Snitch. In April, the whole tournament was cancelled on the day of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff game because a couple of students had been Petrified.

### 1993 - 1994 school year

Gryffindor usually played Slytherin first, but the Slytherin Seeker, Draco was attacked by a Hippogriff and was feigning an injury due to the bad weather. It was decided to put Gryffindor against Hufflepuff first. Cedric Diggory was their new Seeker and Captain. Gryffindor Captain Oliver Wood was determined to win the tournament that year because he was graduating.

In their game, Gryffindor were winning by fifty points when Cedric and Harry were pursuing the Golden Snitch. Dementors stormed the pitch and gave Harry a Dementor's Kiss and he collapsed, so Cedric caught the Golden Snitch. Cedric turned round and saw what was happening, and wanted a replay because he thought Hufflepuff had won unfairly. Wood declined the offer because he had in fact deserved to win.

Slytherin narrowly defeated Ravenclaw in their first game. Hufflepuff lost to Ravenclaw by a high margin. Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw by at least two hundred points.. Slytherin beat Hufflepuff and were top of the league by 210 points. Gryffindor needed to beat Slytherin by at least 220 points to win. Slytherin switched their players based on size rather than skill, so that they could bully the other side and play dirty to try and win. They lost because Harry caught the Snitch anyway.

In an unknown game, Sirius Black snuck up to the school in Animagus disguise to watch Harry and thought he was very good, like James Potter.

## Trivia

* The spectators often bring binoculars to view the game better.
* The known House team robe colours are scarlet for Gryffindor, green for Slytherin and canary-yellow for Hufflepuff.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 11
2. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 7
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 9
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 13
5. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 9
6. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 17
7. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 10
8. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 14
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 12
10. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 13
11. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 15
12. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 19