Hogwarts House-Point Hourglasses

> At first, Gryffindors passing the giant hourglasses that recorded the House points the next day thought there’d been a mistake. How could they suddenly have a hundred and fifty points fewer than yesterday? And then the story started to spread: Harry Potter, the famous Harry Potter, their hero of two Quidditch matches, had lost them all those points, him and a couple of other stupid first years.
>
> Gryffindor house having lost 150 points in 1992 due to Harry Potter and his friends, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

The **House point hourglasses** were four giant hourglasses located in the Entrance Hall used to record the number of house points that had been awarded or deducted.

## Description

There was one hourglass for each of the Hogwarts Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. When points were earned, some gems (depending on house colours) would fall from the upper bulb into the lower. When points were deducted, they did the opposite, retreating into the upper bulb. For example, when ten points were taken from Gryffindor, ten red gems would ascend back into the upper half of the hourglass. The Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin hourglasses contained rubies, diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds, respectively.

## History

#### 1991–1992 school year

In 1992, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy were caught out of bed by Minerva McGonagall, and each individual had fifty house points taken from their houses as punishment. This meant Gryffindor lost 150 points, which shocked and angered other Gryffindors when they saw the deducted points taken from the Gryffindor house glass, along with Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, as Gryffindor was beating Slytherin before then. However, Slytherins were pleased that Gryffindor had lost so many points (despite Malfoy costing them fifty of their own points).

## Behind the scenes

* When Severus Snape takes points from Harry after meeting him at the Hogwarts gates, he remarks that Gryffindor would be starting out in negative points. However, previously, Snape was unable to take any more points from Gryffindor when they had none left. McGonagall had to add points before any more could be removed.
* In the video game adaptations of *Philosopher's Stone*, *Chamber of Secrets* and ***Prisoner of Azkaban***, they are roughly ten feet tall, and located in the Entrance Hall on either side of the door leading to the grounds, as described in the books.
* In all of the *Harry Potter* films as well as the video games of *Order of the Phoenix* and *Half-Blood Prince*, the Hourglasses are located in the Great Hall to the right of the staff table.
* In the films, the "jewels" inside the hourglasses were actually coloured beads. Due to the large quantity of beads that were ordered for the films, a national shortage occured.
* There is possible symbolism in that when Albus Dumbledore died in *Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince* (film), the Gryffindor hourglass was smashed (spilling blood-red rubies everywhere) and likewise, when Lord Voldemort was defeated in *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film), it was the Slytherin hourglass that was shattered.*
* The hourglasses are also featured at the entrance in the Hogwarts castle in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. They show that Gryffindor is in the lead, Slytherin second, Hufflepuff third, and Ravenclaw last in achieving house points. Ironically, Ravenclaw students are famous because of their wisdom, creativity, and intelligence, some of the factors that apply to earning house points.

## Appearances

* *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) (First Entire Appearance)
* *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
* *Harry Potter and The Order-Of-The Phoenix* (film)
* *Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince* (film)
* *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film)*

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) - Chapter 11 (*Welcome To Hogwarts*)
2. ↑ J.K. Rowling reveals diamonds in Hufflepuff House hourglass, BBC guest edit reminder at SnitchSeeker.com
3. ↑ Pottermore (screenshot available [1])
4. ↑ *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) - Chapter 24 (*Norbert*)
5. ↑ *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) - Chapter 33 (*The House Cup*)