House points and prefects

[ampaes at etsii.upv.es]

No: HPFGUIDX 53053


I know there have been discussions on the list about the points system 
and how the school keeps with them. I had always assumed that: It´s 
magic! was the most obvious explication :D, but the other day having a 
conversation with a friend, she mentioned that prefects use their 
badges to take points or award them(if they can do that, because I 
don´t think we´ve seen anyone doing it in canon) and she gave me this 
piece of canon to support her reading:

CoS Page 119 UK Edition

'*You* don´t care about Ginny,' said Ron, whose ears where reddening 
now. '*You´re* just worried I´m going to mess up your chances of being 
Head  Boy.'
'Five points from Gryffindor!' Percy said tersely, FINGERING HIS 
PREFECT BADGE. 'And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more 
*detective work*, or I´ll write to Mum!'
<EMPHASIS MINE>

She believes (and I do too now) that Percy touched his prefect badge 
to deduct the five points he had taken from Gryffindor to the total 
points of the House. AFAICR we haven´t seen any other prefect taking 
points in canon, so this is not a very strong piece of evidence, but there 
isn´t anything that disproves the theory either.

Opinions? And if this has been brought up before I apologize.

Alsh