House points and Dumbledore

[Grey Wolf <greywolf1@jazzfree.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51106

Melpomene wrote:
> But they DID win it. Regardless of how, we don't know that. It's safe 
> to assume that there were points awarded to Slyths by professors, 
> staff and prefects who were NOT Snape. The fact is, they walked into 
> the hall having WON THE CUP by THE SCHOOL RULES. Whether they'd won 
> before and it was "someone else's turn" is MOOT.

That is false. Absolutely. You might as well said that the first house 
to win points at the start of the year are the winners. The fact is 
that the school year hadn't ended yet, and thus there was still time 
for last minute points. If a troll had suddenly irrupted into the Hall, 
and the students of one house had blasted it with curses, they would've 
been awarded points, maybe enough to win themselves. The situation is 
not different.

> If DD was going to 
> award extra points (as has been said here countless times already) 
> and change the tally he had AMPLE time to do it before the 
> decorations went up.

And yet there is one very good reason for giving the points during the 
feast: it was the very first time Harry had been conscious. It is 
obvious from the books that whenever points are awarded or substracted, 
the student involved *has* to be present. Unless I am missing 
something, there hasn't been a single ocasion where points were awarded 
or substracted behind the student's back.

Then again, Dumbledore is not only giving the Gryffindors the house 
cup, he is making a point: that defeating Voldemort is something 
everyone should be ready to do, and that is something that Dumbledore 
will approve, and reward.

Finally, there is one last circumstance no-one has pointed out before. 
You all mention Dumbledore's favoritism as something horrible because 
it was done publicly, while this in fact the way it should be done. 
Let's say Dumbledore had awarded the 170 points (or better yet, the 500 
points *I* would've awarded them for what they did) sometime while 
Harry was unconscious. Gryffindor suddenly has passed from last place 
to first in a night, during the week after the exams when all the 
students are bidding their time while teachers correct exams, and there 
is no Quidditch matches. At that point, *everyone* would've assumed 
that there had to have been favoritism, and in fact it would seem that 
it had been done just so that Slytherin didn't win for the 7th time in 
a row.

> His behaviour was deplorable. It embarrassed 
> Snape (no surprise there, we soon learn that's a favored hobby of 
> his), ticked off the Slytherins 

Do you really think the Slytherins would've been less ticked off if 
they had lost the House Cup two days before, when Gryffindor suddenly 
found itself one moning with 170 extra, unspecified points? If you 
don't mind me saying so, that would've ticked them off exactly the same 
way, if not more.

> and must have been a terrible blow to 
> the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs as well. 
>
> Melpomene

Excuse me? Yellow flag [Canon violation] for you, Melpomene. Both 
Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were as happy as Gryffindor with the victory, 
and indeed they celebrated the defeat of Slytherin as much as 
Gryffindor celebrated its victory. They certainly didn't seem to have 
received any sort of blow (except a positive one) when they were 
clapping and shouting.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf