House points and Dumbledore

[firekat482 <firekat482@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51108

Kathryn wrotte:

I think Dumbledore was right giving them those points.
HRH did something that proved their knowledge and ability, as well as 
their character.  They did something for the good of the WW as a 
whole even when they had been told, by Hagrid and McGonagall, that 
they shouldn't bother with it.

bboy_mn:

Sorry, but you will never convince me that evil Dumbledore snatch an 
undeserved victory from the hands of the poor hard working deserving 
Slytherins and gave it to Gryffindor. They deserves three times the 
point that he awarded them, but he chose to be very modest about it.

That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Now me:

If I'm reading this correctly, I believe that both of you are arguing 
the same thing: that the Trio (and Neville) deserved the points they 
were awarded. It seems to me (and this is going to be a 
generalization, so if anyone disagrees feel free to say) that no one 
here is arguing that those points weren't deserved. I'm a bit of a 
Slytherin sympathizer myself, but I firmly believe that the 
Gryffindors earned those points. 

The problem I have is with the way Dumbledore awarded them, and why 
has already been explained a great deal by Elkins.

She writes:

Rather, the objection is usually that the Trio and Neville earned  
those points long in advance of the Leaving Feast.  This meant that 
Dumbledore had ample time to award them *before* the very last 
minute.  Instead, however, by allowing Slytherin colors to be 
displayed in the hall, he chose to convey the impression that the 
contest was already closed and that House Slytherin was in possession 
of the Cup, before pulling what I must say has always come across to 
me as a rather childish and unwarranted "nanny-nanny-boo-boo" on a 
group of students whose House already has a long-standing enmity to 
Dumbledore's own, and who therefore already likely had strong reason 
to suspect their Headmaster of bias against them.

Now me again:

I could not agree with this more. This awful, obvious show of 
favoritism really grates on my nerves. By awarding the points this 
way Dumbledore shows a total lack of respect for the Slytherin house 
and Snape as well. I would imagine that it was a few weeks before 
Snape felt like talking to the Headmaster again. 

What Dumbledore should have done IMHO (as the impartial Headmaster 
that he is supposed to be) was award those points as soon he became 
aware of what the Trio had done. By waiting until the last second the 
only thing he accomplished was the further alienation of the 
Slytherin house. And these are the people he cannot afford to 
estrange.

I'm not really sure if I've added anything new to the discussion 
here. I just had to get my 2 knuts in, I guess. That scene at the end 
of PS/SS has been bothering me for a while now, and when a thread 
popped up about it I found it hard to keep my mouth shut, even when 
people are describing my POV better than I ever could.

~Jean

Although I can accept talking scarecrows, lions, and great wizards of 
emerald cities, I find it hard to believe that there is no paperwork 
involved when your house lands on a witch. ~Dave James