last minute points was Re: First potions lesson/Harry getting special treatment

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 145973

> >>Pippin:
> <snip>
> There is no murmur of astonishment when Dumbledore announces that 
> last minute points will be awarded. There is nothing to show that 
> this is not a fine old Hogwarts tradition, very much in keeping   
> with the wizards' love of drama, except for Ron's statement a few 
> days before that the points are all in and Slytherin has won.
> <snip>

> >>Finwitch:
> It may be that in the Welcoming Feast all Houses are presented in 
> the decoration, and in case of death (Cedric Diggory) the         
> decoration is black - otherwise the colours of the leading house   
> are shown in decoration. They *always* know the leading house,     
> don't they?
> Slytherin was leading until the points Dumbledore awarded.        
> Therefore the decoration was in their colour.

Betsy Hp:
I would have loved it if either of those explanations were true.  
But, unfortunately, canon tells us otherwise.

"[The Great Hall] was decked out in the Slytherin colors of green 
and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning of the house cup for the 
seventh year in a row." (SS scholastic paperback ed. p.304)

"The Great Hall was normally decorated with the winning House's 
colors for the Leaving Feast." (GoF scholastic hardback ed p.720)

In both PS/SS and GoF JKR clearly tells us that the *winning* House 
determines the color scheme of the Leaving Feast.  Slytherin went 
into the Feast sure that they had won.  And Dumbledore snatched it 
away from them.  Not kind.  Not kind at all.

It's certainly dramatic, and JKR may have chosen to do things this 
way for that reason.  And it could be, as Potioncat suggested, an 
out of character moment for Dumbledore.  But I cannot  write this 
off as a JKR moment rather than a Dumbledore one, otherwise I'd be 
free to right off any behavior I disliked seeing in a particular 
character.  (e.g. Draco could care less about blood purity, but JKR 
*needed* someone to spout that rhetoric... etc, etc.) So why does 
Dumbledore make such a colossal mistake? (Assuming the Sorting Hat 
is correct.)

> >>Valky:
> <snip>
> It looked as though Dumbledore was punishing Slytherin House,
> because he *was*, in a sense. 
> <snip>
> Basically I think the point is that Harry and Co had done them all 
> (DD and Hogwarts including Slytherin) a favour because his actions 
> had enabled Dumbledore the means to demonstrate the true meaning   
> of House virtue to the school.

Betsy Hp:
Oh, ick!  I really, really, hope not.  Because if this were the case 
(and I agree with Magpie that you're building off of a lot of 
assumptions here, Valky) I'd have to agree with Lupinlore, 
Dumbledore should never be allowed authority over children.  This 
kind of passive-aggressive, psychological cruelty is *not* the 
proper way to punish children for wrong doing.  Telling Slytherin 
that cheating to gain house points is wrong, and then taking those 
points away from them would be the proper and educational way of 
facing that problem.  If it even exists.  (How does one cheat a 
professor into giving unearned points?)

So no, this explanation definitely doesn't work for me.  The only 
one that *does* work for me is the idea that Dumbledore is so darn 
proud of Harry, and feels so darn guilty over the points lost with 
the Norbert incident, he behaves rather foolishly and manages to 
strengthen the House divisions at a time when he should be working 
his ass off to bring the Houses together.  (Frankly, I think this is 
a place where Dumbledore is notoriously weak.  He just does not know 
how to bring rivals together.  Canon is full of his failures.)

Again, I'm not arguing the points.  The trio and Neville were very 
brave and I think they did deserve their points. (Though I'll again 
remind everyone that Harry did *not* defeat Voldemort, or Quirrell 
for that matter.  Dumbledore did both, saving Harry's life in the 
process.)  I do, however, have a huge problem with how, where and 
when the points were delivered.

Betsy Hp