Dumbledore’s Secret Reason for Giving Neville House Points in Harry Potter

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While Dumbledore’s reasons for giving Neville Longbottom House points in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone seem straightforward, his motivations may have had a deeper meaning. WhileHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and2 gave viewers some insight into Dumbledore’s past, the Fantastic Beasts film series has been showing his early life firsthand. A prequel to the Harry Potter movies, Fantastic Beasts features Dumbledore as a young man, forced to confront the first Dark Wizard and his old friend, Gellert Grindelwald. Due to this, the movies have helped explain some of Dumbledore’s actions later in life—including the future Hogwarts headmaster awarding extra House points to Neville.

In Harry Potter, the House Cup was an award presented to a Hogwarts House at the end of each school year based on their number of House points, which were given based on students’ behavior and performance. At the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Gryffindor was in last place with Slytherin set to take home the Cup. However, Dumbledore began giving Gryffindor students more points during the end of term ceremonies, focusing on Harry, Ron, and Hermione's victory over Voldemort, until Gryffindor tied with Slytherin. To make Gryffindor win the House Cup, Dumbledore finally awarded Neville 10 points, explaining that he was brave for standing up to both his enemies and his friends.

Related: Harry Potter: Why Neville's Remembrall Turned Red

While the House Cup was unimportant in later Harry Potter films, Gryffindor’s win marked a triumphant ending for the original Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and made Neville a hero in the process. Initially, rewarding Gryffindor and Neville for his actions seems to be Dumbledore’s sole