Hogwarts Point SystemHave you noticed...?As students get older and move on to higher grades, the numbers of points that teachers let students "gamble" changes. By "gambling" points, I mean the number of points that students can win or lose for their respective houses.When Harry and company are first years, teachers dock single points for offenses. Even Snape begins by docking Harry single point by single point. When Harry and Ron save Hermione from the troll --- when they save her life --- McGonagall only gives them five points each. As the series goes on, Harry and his classmates no longer change their house point values by single points. Now, they affect their house by at least five points at a time. Is there any significance to this? Yes, some. It means that Hogwarts makes sure that younger students have time to adjust to the point system. Going from single point gambles to five point gambles is not such a large difference for an individual, but collectively this change gives older students more power to win or lose the House Cup. The only exceptions to this are when Harry, Neville and Hermione were found out of bed in the middle of the night and when Harry, Hermione, and Ron saved the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone. The latter situation makes perfect sense: Harry has just saved the world from Voldemort, at least for a few years. He deserves a reward. And the first situation? McGonagall takes 50 points apiece for every first year student out of bed. This makes sense, too. It is a blatant breaking of the rules and McGonagall wants to leave them a deep impression. I want you to notice, that is all. At first I thought it was just JK Rowling changing numbers, but now I think it may have a reason. Page created June 2005 |
