The House Cup

• Type: Hogwarts Award, Annual Competition
• Owners: The winning Hogwarts House for the duration of the following school year.
• Maker: Unknown; presumably established by the Founders of Hogwarts.

The House Cup is the prize for an annual competition at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The competition's progress is tracked by four giant, enchanted hourglasses located in the Entrance Hall. Each hourglass represents one of the four houses—Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin—and is filled with thousands of magical jewels corresponding to its house's colors.

• Gryffindor: Rubies
• Slytherin: Emeralds
• Ravenclaw: Sapphires (Pottermore)
• Hufflepuff: Diamonds (Pottermore)

These hourglasses serve as a public scoreboard. For every point a student earns, a corresponding jewel magically falls from the top bulb to the bottom. Conversely, when a point is lost, a jewel returns to the top. The physical trophy, the House Cup itself, is a large, ornate cup that is displayed in the Great Hall during the end-of-year feast.

The House Cup competition is a core element of student life at Hogwarts, designed to reward students for academic excellence, good behavior, and notable achievements, while fostering house pride and a healthy rivalry.

• Earning and Losing Points: House Points are awarded or deducted by Hogwarts staff, including professors and the headmaster, as well as by student leaders like Prefects, the Head Boy, and the Head Girl. Points are typically given for correctly answering questions in class, acts of bravery, or exceptional magical performance. Points are lost for breaking school rules, disrespect, or poor behavior. Certain professors, most notably Severus Snape, were known for their biased distribution of points.
• The Inquisitorial Squad: During the 1995-1996 school year, Dolores Umbridge granted her Inquisitorial Squad the power to deduct points, a privilege they used to punish students who opposed her.
• Winning the Cup: At the end of the school year, the house with the most points is declared the winner. The primary reward is the honor of the victory. During the end-of-year feast, the Great Hall is magically decorated with the winning house's colors and banners to celebrate their achievement.

The House Cup competition is a long-standing tradition at Hogwarts. Prior to Harry Potter's arrival, Slytherin house had won the cup for seven consecutive years. The outcome of the competition during Harry's years at the school was as follows:

1. 1991-1992: Gryffindor won. Slytherin was set to win until Albus Dumbledore awarded last-minute points at the end-of-year feast to Harry Potter (60 points), Ron Weasley (50 points), Hermione Granger (50 points), and Neville Longbottom (10 points).
2. 1992-1993: Gryffindor won for a second consecutive year after Albus Dumbledore awarded both Harry and Ron 200 points for their services to the school in defeating the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets.
3. 1993-1994: Gryffindor won for the third year in a row, an achievement aided significantly by their victory in the Quidditch Cup.
4. 1994-1995: The winner was not announced. Due to the tragic events of the Triwizard Tournament and the death of Cedric Diggory, Albus Dumbledore stated that the inter-house competition was trivial.
5. 1995-1996: The winner is not mentioned. The point system was severely disrupted by Dolores Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad.
6. 1996-1997: Gryffindor won. Though Slytherin had been in the lead, Gryffindor's victory in the Quidditch Cup pushed them to the top.
7. 1997-1998: The competition was effectively meaningless, as Hogwarts was under the control of Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters, led by Headmaster Severus Snape and the Carrows.

The House Cup is a crucial element in the early books, establishing the vibrant school atmosphere and the deep-seated rivalry between the Hogwarts houses, particularly Gryffindor and Slytherin. It functions as a narrative framework, raising the stakes of everyday school life and providing a measure of success or failure for the students. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the Gryffindor victory is a climactic moment that rewards the trio's bravery and reinforces the series' core themes of courage and friendship over ambition. As the narrative darkens and the threat of the Second Wizarding War looms, the importance of the House Cup diminishes, reflecting the characters' shift in focus from school-based rivalries to the larger battle against Lord Voldemort.

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the scene where the Great Hall banners magically change from Slytherin's green and silver to Gryffindor's scarlet and gold is a memorable visual representation of the dramatic last-minute victory. (film)
• The official Wizarding World website (formerly Pottermore) features an ongoing interactive House Cup, where registered users sorted into houses can earn points through various activities on the site. (Pottermore)