[HPforGrownups] Re: First meetings; Poor poor Slytherin at the House Cup

[Kathryn Cawte]

No: HPFGUIDX 71400

 

 -Corinth 
Just out of curiosity, where is your evidence for this humiliation? I
don't have my books with me, so I could be forgetting something, and
if so, please correct me. But from what I remember the Slytherins
were furious, yes, but not humiliated. Humiliation would result if
Dumbledore had singled out the lack of action anyone in Slytherin had
taken, or insulted them in some other way. But I don't think the
anger at losing would be any different if the members of Slytherin had
walked by the hourglass on their way to the final feast and seen that
Gryffindor had suddenly gained a boatload of points, and jumped ahead
of Slytherin to win the House Championship. Actually, I would expect
them to be more insulted if this occurred, because they wouldn't know
the reasons behind the sudden change.
 
K -

The hall was decorated in their colours, they enetered the feast knowing
they had one. Albus stood up and announced the points. It was clear to
everyone in the hall that the Slytherins had won and then he added more
points, changed the decor and awarded the cup to the gryffindors.

Had Albus awarded the points in private I could see the Slytherins being
annoyed that the Gryffindors seeme to have suddenly won at the last minute.
Doing it in the manner he did as they were celebrating was cruel and
humiliating.

There has been some debate about who decorated the hall. Canon gives us no
definitive answer but no one seems surprised that the hall is decorated in
the colours of the victorious house, which I imagine they would be if the
students had taken it upon themselves to do so. rather it is treated as
normal - I would assume that the end of term feast always takes place under
the decorations of the victorious house. Also when we see the hall being
decorated at christmas it  is the faculty and (I think) the house elves that
are responsible for it.

The cup was metaphorically and *publically* snatched away from them and
given to someone else. It is the fact that it was done so publically that
makes it humiliating

K

K