Hogwarts Castle

The Hogwarts Castle is a vast castle with large grounds and home to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The castle contains 142 known staircases. =Floorplan=

Chamber of Secrets
Deep under the dungeons of Hogwarts is the Chamber of Secrets, A chamber with many statues of snakes and one massive statue of its creator: Salazar Slytherin who built it during the Middle Ages. The entrance is hidden in a bathroom on the second floor of the castle.

Potions Classrooms
One dungeon is large enough to accommodate a double class. It is colder in the dungeons than in the main castle. Dungeon Five is another Potions classroom.

Slytherin Head's Office
Adjacent to the aforementioned classroom. Severus Snape worked from here for many years. This room is filled with bizarre creatures in jars and a private stock of potion ingredients. Hermione Granger, Dobby and Barty Crouch Jr have broken into this office.

Slytherin Common Room
The entrance to the common room is a blank stone wall. To enter, one must give a password. It has a low ceiling and greenish torchlight. The common room is located partially under the lake. The password was 'Pure Blood' in Harry Potter's second year.

Hufflepuff Common Room
The Hufflepuff Common Room is a room similar to a cellar, but not at all like a dungeon. It is a very cosy and welcoming place with yellow and black hangings, fat armchairs, and little underground tunnels leading to the dormitories, all of which have round doors like barrel-tops.

Kitchens
Located directly under the Great Hall, down the same staircase that leads to the Hufflepuff Common Room. It contains tables identical to those in the Great Hall; food must simply be placed on the tables in the kitchens, and it magically appears in the Great Hall. The kitchens are staffed by over 100 house-elves including Dobby, Winky and Kreacher. To gain access to the Kitchens, one must tickle the pear on a fruit portrait.



Entrance Hall
Double oak doors which face west lead into the Entrance Hall. A wide marble staircase is opposite the front door. There is a broom closet in this hall. Two other staircases are in the hall - one leading to Hufflepuff Common Room and the Kitchens, while the other leads to the Dungeons. Also contained in the Entrance Hall are the four hourglasses which show current state of House Points.

Receiving Room
Off of the Entrance Hall is a small receiving room where guests presumably collect themselves after travelling to the castle. This is where the Deputy Headmaster convenes with first-year students before their Sorting.

Great Hall
The Great Hall is a large hall that contains a Staff table and four student dining tables: One for each House. The ceiling is enchanted such that it imitates the current weather or mood of the community. This area is used for communal eating, Apparition training, and some exams.

Staff room
A long, panelled room with mismatched, dark wooden chairs. There is a wardrobe which can become infested with magical creatures. (Usually Boggarts when Remus Lupin was teaching)

Caretaker's Office
An office containing files of student records and confiscated contraband. Argus Filch worked here for many years. Fred and George Weasley, Sirius Black and James Potter have entire drawers for their files on misbehaviour. The office contains well-oiled chains which were, at a time, used to punish students.

Classroom Eleven
In Classroom Eleven, the centaur Firenze taught Divination.

History of Magic classroom
This room contains a blackboard, through which Professor Binns, a ghost, enters at the start of class. Remus Lupin used this room when he taught Harry his Anti-Dementor lessons.

Temporary Defence Against The Dark Arts Classroom
This classroom was used by Professor Quirrell between the years 1991 and 1992 while the third floor corridor was out of bounds.

Gryffindor Head's Office
Up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and down a hallway. This office was occupied by Professor McGonagall for many years.

Charms Classroom
Filius Flitwick used this classroom for many years and was considered as a classroom of great activity.

Girl's Lavatory - Out of Order
Moaning Myrtle haunts this bathroom, which is also where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is hidden.

Entrance to Headmaster's Office
A doorway leading to the spiral staircase that goes up to the office. A password must be spoken to gain entrance. The entrance is guarded by stone gargoyles.

Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor's Office
When Gilderoy Lockhart was the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, this room was filled with pictures of himself. Under Remus Lupin, it contained creatures that were to be used in class. Alastor Moody, who was actually an imposter at the time, filled it with Dark Detectors and Foe-Glass. Dolores Umbridge had pink frilly doilies and china plates painted with gambolling kittens. It is unknown if Snape used it as his office.

One-Eyed Witch Passage
Leads from Hogwarts to Honeydukes in Hogsmeade, and is opened by the use of the Dissendium spell.

Trophy Room and Armour Gallery
Housing awards, trophies, cups, plates, shields, statues, and medals, which are kept in a crystal glass display. This room also contains a list of Head Boys and Head Girls.

Prominently displayed are Hogwarts Awards for Services to the School, with known recipients being Tom Marvolo Riddle (For supposedly catching the opener of the Chamber of Secrets but it was most likley removed after Harry saved Ginny ), Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley (For removing the threat of the Chamber of Secrets and the rescue of Ginny Weasley).

Third Floor Corridor - Off Limits/ Main Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom
This corridor was off limits during the 1991-1992 school year because it was the entrance to the hiding place for the Philosopher's Stone. This was later made the main Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom after the Philosopher's Stone was destroyed.

Hospital Wing
The hospital wing contains several beds and the Nurse's Office.

Library
Containing tens of thousands of books. The Restricted Section has books with information deemed dangerous for common knowledge. Students must gain permission from a professor to browse this section. No information about Horcruxes will be found here what so ever. Food is not permitted in the Library.

Storage Room (Mirror of Erised Room)
This room is where the Mirror of Erised was kept from September to December 1991.

Bathroom
This is the bathroom where Montague Appeared after entering the Vanishing Cabinet in 1995.

Fifth Floor
There is an entrance to Ravenclaw Tower on this floor.

Prefects' bathroom Hidden in the fifth door to the left of a statue of Boris the Bewildered. The door opens when given the correct password. There is large pool-like bath and many taps for different types of bubble baths and lotions.

Boy's Lavatory
There is a passage leading from this bathroom to the seventh floor.

Seventh Floor
There are entrances to Gryffindor Tower and the North Tower on this floor.

Ravenclaw Head's Office
Thirteenth window from the right of the west tower.

Room of Requirement
The Room of Requirement can only be found by someone in desperate need. One must walk around the corridor three times, passing a portrait of Barnabas the Barmy, all the while concentrating on what he or she needs the most. When the room reveals itself, it will contain the solution to that need. Albus Dumbledore found the room filled with chamber pots while searching for a bathroom.Dumbledore's Army used this place to practice deffensive spell when not permitted by the ministry in Harry's 5th year of 1995.

North Tower
The North Tower is one of the many towers in the castle. The tower is the location for Divination classes and The Divination Teacher's Office. The entrance consists of a ladder leading through a trap door.

Headmaster's Tower
The Headmaster's office is inside this tower. The entrance, as previously mentioned, is located on the second floor. This office is a round room with windows, decorated with portraits of previous Headmasters including Dilys Derwent and Phineas Nigellus Black. Many magical instruments are kept here, such as the Sorting Hat and the Pensieve.

Gryffindor Tower
One may gain entrance through the Fat Lady's portrait by giving the correct password. This is the location of the Gryffindor Common Room and dormitories. The common room has a fireplace and armchairs. There are separate dormitories for girls and boys, which are subdivided by year. Girls are permitted to enter the boys' dormitories, but boys cannot visit the girls', because the founders of Hogwarts felt that boys were less trustworthy than girls. Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley learned this when Ron ran up the stairs leading to the girl's dormitory to get Hermione Granger, and the stairs turned into a flat slide, causing him to fall all the way down.

West Tower
The Owlery is at the top of West Tower.

Ravenclaw Tower
Located at the west side of the castle. This is home to the Ravenclaw Common Room and dormitories. There is a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw with a diadem on her head. To enter the common room one must answer a riddle posed by the eagle-shaped door knocker.

Clock Tower
The Clock Tower provides access to higher floors in the school and also has bells to signal the hours and class times.

=The Grounds=

Gamekeeper's Hut
On the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Rubeus Hagrid lived here for many years.

The Forbidden Forest


Forbidden to students, as it home to a many dangerous and foreign creatures. Detentions are often held here. The Gamekeeper will frequent this area for various reasons.

Greenhouses and Gardens
There are at least three greenhouses where Herbology classes occur. Greenhouse three is restricted to first years as it houses Venomous Tentaculas, Mandrakes, and other dangerous plants.

The Lake
Located on the south side of the castle. Magical creatures inhabit the lake, including a giant squid, a colony of Merpeople, and grindylows. First-year students sail across the lake towards Hogwarts with the gamekeeper in small boats. If anyone falls out of a boat, the giant squid will put them back in. It was the place where the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was held in 1994.

Quidditch Pitch
The school has its own pitch where Quidditch teams practice and play games against each other.

=See Also=
 * Covered Bridge
 * Viaduct

Notes and references

 * Floorplan based based on a list created by the Harry Potter Lexicon.