The house points hour-glasses

[lifeavantgarde]

No: HPFGUIDX 111019

>>>>Nettie wrote:
The points awarded to Griffindor and Ravenclaw are represented by 
rubies and sapphires. ( OOTP, UK hardback p. 751)My guess is that he 
Slytherin hourglass contains emeralds but what precious stones do 
Hufflepuffs collect? They should be yellow or black, in keeping with 
the house colours, any guesses?<<<<

>>>Earendil:
Just wanted to point out that emeralds for Slytherin hourglass isn't 
speculation, it's correct and mentioned once in OotP. I'm at work at 
the moment so I can't give any page number, but I'm quite certain of 
it since I came across it a couple of days ago during a reread.<<<

Stefanie:
Quite right, Earendil:
"Even as they watched, stones flew upwards, reducing the amounts in 
the lower bulbs. In fact, the only glass that seemed unchanged was 
the emerald-filled one of Slytherin." 
(OotP 28 [Apologies for not having a page number...I'm looking at a 
PDF of the book. It's right at the beginning])

Also, this thread spurred me to look a bit into the folklore of the 
stones used. The lore on gemstones out there is muddled, but I've 
seen Topaz associated on more than one site with fidelity as well as 
giving the wearer the ability to become invisible in an emergency.

Emeralds are associated with providing the wearer with success as 
well as endowing certain clairvoyant properties. It is allso 
associated with rebirth.

Sapphires seem to be prized by priests and monks and the like as 
they are fabled to encourage clarity of mind.

Ruby legend states that the gem can be used to warn the wearer of 
danger (if the stone darkens, the wearer's life is rumored to be 
threatened)

Now, of all the legends, Sapphires seemed to be most congruent with 
the house it is assigned to. If Hufflepuff is in fact topaz, the 
attribute of symbolizing fidelity carries strains of the house's 
reputation for loyalty. What of emeralds and rubies? Could the 
rubies in Gryffindor's Sword carry these mystical powers (perhaps 
aiding Harry later on?) Will a Slytherin show a penchant for true 
Seerdom? Is all of this mythical hogwash? Any one else have any 
other legends to add to the mix?

Stefanie
Who had the mad desire to become a gemologist when she was an ickle 
Kindergartener