House points and Dumbledore

[heiditandy <heidit@netbox.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51253

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "errolowl 
<nithya_rachel at h...>" <nithya_rachel at h...> wrote:
> 
> However, they 
> had not yet WON the cup this year. They were merely leading (yes, 
by 
> the school rules) the points race. It so happened that the trio 
won 
> more points for their house before the winner of the cup was 
> definitively announced. I agree that the timing of the 
announcement 
> was lousy. But it was lousy because the room was already decorated 
> and the Slytherins had prematurely congratulated themselves. My 
> question here is  -- Who decorates the hall for the feast? Did the 
> Slytherins put up the house colors anticipating the victory? If 
so, 
> it wasn't in the best taste to do it before the cup was
> announced. I get the idea that traditionally the hall would be 
> instantly decorated with the winning house's colors the minute the 
> winner is announced. If the slyths jumped the gun, then they just 
> compounded their disappointment. They assumed they had an 
> insurmountable lead and started celebrating too early.
> 

Where do you "get the idea"? Where's the canon? 

I think that canon actually supports a conclusion that Slytherin 
*had* won the house cup, as in the end of GoF, in the Leaving Feast 
scene, Harry entered the Great Hall noting that instead of the house 
colours that usually filled the hall for the Leaving Feast, there 
were black banners, in Cedric's memory. 

In fact GoF says that the Hall was "usually decorated" with such 
colours for the leaving feast - which to my mind cannot mean 
anything but a conclusion that upon entering the Hall for a Leaving 
Feast, the victorious house's colours were hanging.

Yes, it's vague as to whether the house hangs the colours itself, 
but it's certainly not vague as to whether the colours should be 
hanging at least upon everyone's entrance to the Great Hall. 

So any allegation that the Slytherins were somehow jumping the gun, 
upon my read of the book, cannot be considered based in canon.



Heidi