Hogwarts Info

[Kieran]

HOUSES

GRYFFINDOR

Head of House: prof. Minerva McGonigall (also Transfigurations and Deputy Headmaster)
Ghost: Nearly-Headless Nick
Animal: Lion
Colours: Red and Gold
Common Room: round room at the bottom level of a tower.
(This tower is near the North Tower where Divination classes are held.)
Entrance at the end of a side hallway on the seventh floor, by giving the password of the day to the portrait of Fat Lady which will move aside if the password was correct.

Dormitories; two spiral stairways up from two sides of the Common Room. On seven floors, the First Year students' dormitories are on the top floor.
Note! On the staircase leading up to the girls' dormitories there's a charm; if a boy steps on them and takes a few steps, they turn into flat stone and quickly carry the boy back down. The boys' staircase doesn't have anything like that as the Founders thought girls to be more trustworthy than boys.


SLYTHERIN

Head of House: prof. Severus Snape (also Potions)
Ghost: Bloody Baron
Animal: Snake
Colours: Green and Silver
Common Room: on the dungeon level, in a dungeon-like low-ceiling room. Windows, greenish lamps, soft armchairs, tables and an open fireplace making it almost as cosy as any other Common Room but the atmosphere is much creepier because of the greenish lighting and the skull decoration on the fireplace.
Entrance; hidden in the dungeons and requires a password that changes daily.

Dormitories; The same way as in the Gryffindot and Ravenclaw Houses. Including the charm on the girls' staircase.


HUFFLEPUFF

Head of House: prof. Pomona Sprout (also Herbology)
Ghost: The Fat Monk[/li]
Animal: Badger/li]
Colours: Yellow and Black[/li]
Common Room: in the entrance hall to the right of the main staircase is a door leading to the hallway where the kitchens are, and there take the staircase down to the dungeons level.

---> Round room and though on the dungeons level, is not in a dungeon but as cosy as any of the ones in the towers. Unlike in any other Common Room this one has round windows. They're on the ground level, bringing in a lot of natural light.

Entrance. In a shadowy spot next to a pile of barrels starts a sloping hallway upwards. At the end there's a round door which opens by giving a password that changes every day.

Dormitories; from the Common Room there's numerous underground tunnels leading to them, and their doors are perfectly round. The same way as in the Gryffindor tower. Including the charm in the girls' staircase


RAVENCLAW

Head of House: prof. Filius Flitwick (also Charms)
Ghost: The Gray Lady
Animals: Eagle
Colours: Blue and Bronze
Common Room: at the bottom level of a tower on the west side of the castle.
(Near the West Tower where the Owlery is located.)

--> Round, very spacious room which roof has been painted to resemble a starry night sky . The view is the most breath-taking in the entire castle, facing the mountains surrounding the grounds. The archway opposite to the entrance leads to a room that is a small library but has surprisingly wide range of books. Next to it is a life-sized white marble of the House's founder Rowena Ravenclaw wearing her diadem.

Entrance at the end of a side hallway on the fifth floor, a spiral staircase leading up to a door without a handle or keyhole. There's an eagle shaped bronze doorknocker...Use it and it will present you with a riddle, which can be very challenging. If you get it right, the door opens. The riddle changes randomly, sometimes every knock results in a different one but sometimes it can be the same all day. It's always something about magic or the magical world. The knocker doesn't know if the user is a Ravenclaw or not so anyone who can answer the riddle correctly, can get inside.

~ Examples:

"Which one came first; the phoenix or the flame?"
Correct answer: A circle has no beginning.

"Where do vanished objects go?"
Correct answer: Into nothingness, which is to say, into everything.

---> If the riddle has changes since your last entrance and is too challenging for you but you're in a hurry, you better hope that someone happens to be in the Common Room and can open the door for you or someone else who knows the answer happens to come by.

Dormitories; The same way as in the Gryffindor tower. Including the charm in the girls' staircase

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THE CASTLE GROUNDS

From the gates go around the lake to the right, and on the other side about 100 meters from the shore is the castle. Going around the lake the distance is about one kilometre, takes about ten minutes to walk. The castle lies sideways when looked at from the gates, as in the front doors face the same direction as the gates. You can see the rear yard and side of the castle from the gates, not the front.

A large Forbidden Forest lies a few hundred meters away opposite to the front doors, this forest is out of limits to any students. They're allowed to step in only when accompanied by an adult staff member. As it is home to many sensitive and even dangerous magical creatures. The groundskeeper Hagrid's hut is located near the edge of the forest, the Care of Magical Creatures classes are held there.

Facing the front on the left are the vegetable fields, and on the rear yard the greenhouses where Herbology classes are held.

In between the Forest and vegetable fields, down a sloping grass hill stands a Whooping Willow. Beneath it starts a long secret tunnel that goes around the lake, along the borders of the school grounds towards the Hogsmeade village ending at the border of the village, into a small cottage nicknamed the ”Shrieking Shack”. That tunnel is known only the adult staff members and a few select students.

A few hundred meters behind the Whooping Willow lies the Quidditch Field and auditorium. There's also the broom storage.

Hogsmeade village is a little bit over two kilometres from the front gates, around the lake to the left. About 20 minutes walk, or 10 minutes by a carriage. (Plus the 10 minutes from the castle to the gates.) So, a trip to Hogsmeade usually takes about half an hour one-way.

---> [IMAGE]

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INSIDE THE CASTLE

The castle has 7 floors + underground floor, 142 staircases; wide and stable, narrow and unstable, and one hidden a little that is a shortcut between the second and fourth floors and has a fake step in the middle. Some of the main staircases move randomly, changing places occasionally. A staircase that on Monday let to one place could the next lead to a completely different part of the floor. They may even start moving while you're on them.

There's also doors that won't open unless you ask them nicely, or tickle them at just the right spot. Some aren't even really doors but just walls pretending to have a door.

It's easy to get lost because many things move around, such as the staircases, paintings, and even the armour may walk at night. But you get a map at the beginning of your first year, so it's not all that bad.

There are rooms and chambers that aren't in use and may include long forgotten stuff.

Toilets are on every other floor, (Ground floor, 2nd, 4th and 6th floors.)

- The second floor girls' toilet has been abandoned because of the ghost Moaning Myrtle hanging around there.

- The sixth floor toilets are in connection to the bathrooms.

- In addition, on the fifth floor there's a luxurious bathroom for prefects and other such title students, and on the ground floor the same for the staff members.

---> Detailed insides, floor by floor