Hogwarts Castle

"The castle is a stronghold of ancient magic."

- Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter

Hogwarts Castle is a wondrous, magical building with many towers and turrets. It is home to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If Muggles approach the castle, all they will see is a mouldering ruin with a sign warning them to keep out, that it's unsafe. Hogwarts is built in a forested area, directly next to a fairly large lake, in the highlands of Scotland.

=Floorplan=

Chamber of Secrets
The Chamber of Secrets was allegedly created under the dungeons of Hogwarts Castle during Medieval times by Salazar Slytherin, who disagreed with the other Hogwarts Founders on the merits of blood purity. The Chamber of Secrets was home to an ancient Basilisk, which, according to legend, was intended to be used to purge the school of Muggle-born students. The Chamber is lined with statues of snakes, and a large statue of Salazar Slytherin is at the centre.

Potions Classrooms
The Potions Classroom is where Potions class is taught. The classroom used to be squared-sized, very large, with large tables and windows. From 1992-onwards, the classroom was of an oval shape and relatively smaller, with small work tables. In 1996, the classroom was extended, adding space for more work tables.

Head of Slytherin's Office
The office used by Severus Snape during his long tenure as Potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a gloomy and dimly-lit room found in the school dungeons. The shadowy walls were lined with shelves of large glass jars filled with slimy, revolting things, such as bits of animals and plants, floating in potions of varying colours. Snape's collection grew over time - in 1994 Harry Potter noted there were more jars than in 1992, and by 1996, there were hundreds of them. The office had a fireplace. In a corner, there was a cupboard containing Snape's private stock of Potions ingredients. In 1997, the office also contained a table, but it is unknown if it had been there before.The office is sealed with a spell only wizards can break.

Slytherin Common Room
The Slytherin Dungeon is located behind a wall in the cellars of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A password spoken to the wall is required to enter it; whereupon a passage is revealed leading to the common room -- a low-ceilinged, dungeon-like room with greenish lamps and chairs. This dungeon extends partway under the lake (which is why it has green-coloured lamps). The common room has lots of low backed black and dark green leather sofas with buttons, skulls, and dark wood cupboards. It has quite a grand atmosphere, but also quite a spooky, cold one.

Hufflepuff Common Room
"It is a very cosy and welcoming place, as dissimilar as possible from Snape’s dungeon. Lots of yellow hangings, and fat armchairs, and little underground tunnels leading to the dormitories, all of which have perfectly round doors, like barrel tops"

- J.K. Rowling in an webchat

The Hufflepuff Basement is the common room for Hufflepuff students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The entrance to the Hufflepuff Basement is hidden behind a still-life painting near the kitchens.

The cellar is decorated with yellow hangings and filled with fat armchairs. Underground tunnels lead off to the students' dormitories and all the doors are perfectly circular. This is the only common room Harry Potter does not enter at some point.

Kitchens


The Hogwarts kitchen is 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 and are directly below them; food must simply 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 (since Harry Potter inherited him and ordered him there). Helga Hufflepuff brought the House-elves to work in the kitchens as a way of ensuring they could work and not be abused. To gain access to the Kitchens, one must tickle the pear on a fruit portrait, which turns into a door knob

Entrance Hall
The Hogwarts Entrance Hall is located on the ground floor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with a wide marble staircase opposite the oak doors. Double doors to the right lead into the Great Hall. The Hufflepuff common room, the kitchens, the dungeons, and the Grand Staircase can also be accessed via the Entrance Hall. There is also an annex off the hall where Professor McGonagall speaks to first years before the Sorting ceremony at the beginning of each school year. The Goblet of Fire was placed in the Entrance Hall during the Triwizard Tournament. It is mentioned during the Battle of Hogwarts that there is a balcony above the Entrance Hall.

Entrance Hall Antechamber
The Entrance Hall Antechamber is a little building before the Entrance Hall where Professor Minerva McGonagall makes the first year students wait before the Sorting ceremony and the Welcoming Feast. This building became the Entrance Courtyard. The Entrance Hall Antechamber used to be one of the main entrances to the castle, the others being the Stone Circle and the Training Grounds.

Entrance Courtyard
The Entrance Courtyard is located in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Most students witnessed the departure of Fred and George Weasley here.

Great Hall


The Great Hall in Hogwarts is the main gathering area in the school. Students eat their meals, receive daily owl posts, and have certain special events. The Great Hall is a large hall that can easily hold all of the schools students, staff and guests. It has tall walls that reach up to the ceiling, which is enchanted to look like the sky above.

Staffroom
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)

The entrance to this room is guarded by two stone gargoyles that can talk. Those gargoyles were partially destroyed during the Battle of Hogwarts

Caretaker's Office
The caretaker's office is the room where Argus Filch lives in Hogwarts Castle. It is connected to the Entrance Hall, in the Ground Floor of Hogwarts Castle. It's a small, simple room with a single oil lamping in the ceiling. It smells vaguely of fried fish. There are filing cabinets in it with details of the misdeeds of Hogwarts Students. Fred Weasley and George Weasley have an entire drawer to their own misdeeds. One of those cabinets are full of confiscated magic items marked "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous", in which Fred and George Weasley found the Marauder's Map. Harry found a Kwikspell letter in this office finding out Filch was a Squib. Mr. Filch keeps his chains and manacles (which are kept polished just in case) in this office.

Transfiguration Classroom
The Transfiguration Classroom is where Transfiguration class is taught.

The teacher is Professor Minerva McGonagall. The class often copy complex notes and notions and they often practice new transfigurations and untransfigurations. They've turned a match into a needle, a beetle into a button, a mouse into a snuffbox, an animal into a water goblet, a statue into a dragon, a statue into a bird, a statue into a rabbit, a book into a mouse, white rabbits into slippers, a teapot into a tortoise, a hedgehog into a pincushion, a rock into a Labrador, guinea fowl into guinea pigs, an owl into a pair of opera glasses, etc. The students also practise Switching Spells, Vanishing Spells (on vertebrates and invertebrates), and Conjuring Spells.

Classroom Eleven
Classroom Eleven is a classroom on the ground floor of Hogwarts Castle. It was used by the Centaur Firenze, who taught the subject of Divination. Albus Dumbledore changed the room to look like the forest, Firenze's home.

History of Magic classroom
The History of Magic Classroom is where History of Magics classes are taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The subject is taught by Professor Cuthbert Binns, widely regarded by almost all Hogwarts students as the most monotonous and boring teacher in existence. He is a ghost.

Temporary Defence Against The Dark Arts Classroom
The Temporary Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom was used by Professor Quirrell between the years 1991 and 1992 while the third floor corridor was out of bounds. It has four pillars and in the middle a pedestal for the teacher. The classroom entrance is around the Transfiguration Courtyard.In the 1991/1992 School Term, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was Professor Quirinus Quirrell. He used a different classroom because the third floor corridor was forbidden. It was located on the first floor. The classroom smelled strongly of garlic, said to be protection against a vampire he'd met in Romania and feared was coming back to get him. They have covered the Curse of the Bogies and how to treat werewolf bites.

Gryffindor Head's Office
The Gryffindor Head Office is positioned on a corridor which may be accesed by climbing the large staircase in Hogwarts' Entrance Hall. This office was occupied by Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house, for many years.

Charms Classroom
The Charms Classroom is where Charms classes are taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and it is located on the second floor.

The Charms Professor is Filius Flitwick. The Charms classroom also happens to be where Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger learnt one of their first spells, Wingardium Leviosa.

This class has quite a few lessons centred around theory, but there are still many lessons focusing on practical application. These lessons allow the students to actually use the charms they are being taught. The Hover Charm, cheering charms, summoning charms, Banishing Charms, silencing charms, drought charms are just a few of the charms taught to students throughout this course. They have also learned to use charms to make a pineapple dance across the desk and how to create teacups with legs.

Girl's Lavatory - Out of Order
This girls' lavatory (also known as Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom) is situated on the second floor of Hogwarts Castle. It has been out of order ever since a student named Myrtle was killed there. Myrtle has haunted the bathroom ever since, leading it to be a place most students do not want to enter. This bathroom holds the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. To get in the Chamber, a person needs to say "open" in Parseltongue. This will cause the tap with a snake on the side (a tap which incidentally, never worked) to move into the floor, revealing a tunnel which leads downwards into the Chamber.

Entrance to Headmaster's Office (prior to 1995)
The doorway to the entrance's staircase is guarded by a gargoyle, and can only be accessed by using the correct password. Once the password has been spoken, the gargoyle rises up, revealing a spiral staircase. Upon reaching the top of the staircase, one will find themselves at the main door to the Headmaster's office. The passwords created by Dumbledore were always the name of of his ever-changing favourite sweet.

Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor's Office
The office used by the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is located on the first floor off the ground of the castle that holds Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is connected to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom by two staircases

One-Eyed Witch Passage
The One-Eyed Witch Passage is a secret tunnel that leads from Hogwarts to the cellar of Honeydukes Sweetshop in Hogsmeade. Harry Potter first learned of it from Fred and George Weasley when they gave him the Marauder's Map in 1993.

The passage's entrance is hidden in a statue of Gunhilda of Gorsemoor. To gain entrance to the passage, one must give the password; Dissendium. Once the password is given, the hump on the witch's staute opens to reveal a short slide into a tunnel which leads under the school and takes about an hour on foot to get to Hogsmeade.

Fred and George Weasley had used the passage to sneak supplies from Hogsmeade on many occasions. When they handed on the map to Harry, Harry used it to sneak into Hogsmeade on two occasions, until he was seen in Hogsmeade by Draco Malfoy when his invisibility cloak slipped and he narrowly missed being expelled. After that he did not use the passage again.

Trophy Room and Armour Gallery
The Trophy Room is a room on the Third Floor of the Hogwarts Castle. Awards, trophies, cups, plates, shields, statues, and medals are kept in crystal glass displays in this room. 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, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Probably, in 1995, the Triwizard Cup was placed here as well. The Trophy Room is connected to an Armour Gallery.

Third Floor Corridor
The Third Floor Corridor on the left hand side was out of bounds during the 1991 - 1992 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry because it was the access point to the Chambers where the Philosopher's Stone was being hidden. Fluffy, a three-headed dog owned by Rubeus Hagrid, guarded a trap door that led into the Chambers. Towards the end of the school term, Professor Quirrell gained access to the trap door by enchanting a harp to play music which lulled Fluffy into a state of sleep.

Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom
The Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom is where Defence Against the Dark Arts class is taught. It is located on the third floor. In 1991, Professor Quirinus Quirrell taught in a different classroom because the third floor was out of bounds. An iron chandeleir hung from the ceiling, as well as a dragon's skeleton. On one end of the classroom stands a projector that is activated by magic. Several desks and tables can be found in the classroom as well as some sets of large windows. The classroom decoration had several changes over the years, spanning from lots of pictures of Gilderoy Lockhart to tons of skeletons and Shrunken Heads.

Hospital Wing
The Hospital wing at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is run by Madam Poppy Pomfrey. Students who suffer mishaps during the school year are sent or brought to the hospital wing for treatment. The hospital wing is well equipped to deal with all manner of magical and mundane injuries, from broken limbs to regrowing lost bones. Only in the most severe cases are students sent to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries for further treatment, such as when Katie Bell touched a cursed Opal necklace in 1996.

Library
The Hogwarts Library is located at the fourth floor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and contains tens of thousands of books on thousands of shelves. Overseen by Madam Irma Pince, the library is where students can go to peruse or borrow books to supplement their studies (or for personal enjoyment). The library closes at 8 pm.

Storage Room
This room is where the Mirror of Erised was kept from September to December 1991 and where Harry saw the image of himself and his deceased parents. After this it was moved under orders from Dumbledore in the hope that Harry would not go in search of it again.

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

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. In one side of the room there are the stalls with toilets inside. Opposite of the toilets there is a large, swimming pool-like tub with faucets surrounding it. The faucets all run differently-coloured water, bubbles, and foam. Looking at the tub, one would imagine it would take quite some time to fill, but it actually fills remarkably fast, considering its size.

Muggle Studies Classroom
The Muggle Studies Classroom is where Muggle Studies classes are taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

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

Study of Ancient Runes Classroom
The Study of Ancient Runes Classroom is where Study of Ancient Runes classes are taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is located on the sixth floor of Hogwarts Castle. It includes some desks, a bookcase and a podium for the professor.

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

Ravenclaw Head's Office
The Ravenclaw Head's office is the thirteenth window from the right of the west tower. This was where Sirius Black was held captive, awaiting the Dementor's Kiss in 1993. He was rescued by Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, and escaped on Buckbeak the Hippogriff.

Entrance to Headmaster's Office (1996 and after)
The doorway to the entrance's staircase is guarded by a gargoyle, and can only be accessed by using the correct password. Once the password has been spoken, the gargoyle rises up, revealing a spiral staircase. Upon reaching the top of the staircase, one will find themselves at the main door to the Headmaster's office. The passwords created by Dumbledore were always the name of of his ever-changing favourite sweet.

Room of Requirement
The Room of Requirement is a secret room in Hogwarts that only appears when a person is in great need of it. The room then transforms itself into whatever the witch or wizard needs it to be at that moment. It is believed that the room is Unplottable, as it does not appear on the Marauder's Map, nor do its occupants, although this could simply be because James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew never found the room.

Arithmancy classroom
The Arithmancy Classroom is where Arithmancy classes are taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's located on the seventh floor of Hogwarts Castle It includes number charts, a blackboard and large rows of tables for students to sit in.

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 located within this tower. Prior to 1995, the entrance was located on the Second Floor. However, this changed to the Seventh Floor sometime before the 1996-1997 school year. The office is a circular 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
Gryffindor Tower is located behind the portrait of the Fat Lady on the Seventh Floor of Hogwarts Castle. A password is required to enter it, which is spoken to the portrait. A circular hole is behind the painting, leading to the common room, which is a circular room where Gryffindor students can relax after a long day of studying. The common room is full of squashy armchairs, tables, and a bulletin board where school notices, ads, lost posters, etc. can be posted. A window looks out onto the grounds of the school, and a large fireplace dominates one wall.

The common room is usually where celebration parties are held after Gryffindor Quidditch victories, or when Harry Potter completed a task for the Triwizard Tournament. It was also the location for Harry and Ginny Weasley's first kiss following Gryffindor's Quidditch Cup victory in 1997. The common room fireplace was used on several occasions by Sirius Black to contact Harry while he was on the run from the Ministry of Magic.

The Gryffindor dormitories are also located in the Tower, with two doors leading off from the common room that open to spiral staircases. One of them leads to the girls dormitory, the other to the boys. The stairs to the girls dormitories are enchanted to become a slide if any boy attempts to climb them, but not vice versa, since it was deemed that girls were more trustworthy than boys.

West Tower
The West Tower is one of the many towers in the castle. The Owlery is at the top of West Tower.

Ravenclaw Tower
Ravenclaw Tower is located on the west side of Hogwarts, the staircase leading up to the common room is presumably located on the fifth floor, and is the location of the Ravenclaw common room and dormitories. The entrance to the room is at the top of a spiral staircase, and is a door without doorknob or keyhole but a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. In order to enter the room, you must answer a question asked by the eagle knocker; if you answer wrong, you must wait for someone who gets it right.

Astronomy Tower
The Astronomy Tower is the tallest tower of the castle and is above the main entrance. It's where the students gather to study Astronomy with Professor Sinistra. There are telescopes and other astronomical tools located at the top.

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 Tower does not begin at the Ground Floor level, instead at Third Floor level due to the fact that the tower is located on a hill. Upon entering the Tower, one will find oneself in a very large space, not unlike an entrance hall. Flights of wooden stairs are situated on both the right and left sides. The first landing in the tower is at the Fourth Floor level. It is at this landing that the clock's mechanism and face can be accessed. On this landing there is also long corridor with an entrance to the Hospital wing. This same corridor connects the Tower to the remainder of the castle. After ascending another flight of wooden stairs, one will reach another landing, this time at the Fifth Floor level. At this level one will find the clock's massive gold and copper bells and the start of the giant pendulum.

=The Grounds=

Gamekeeper's Hut


The gamekeeper's hut is located on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper during Harry's time at Hogwarts, lived here for many years. This hut is more commonly referred to as 'Hagrid's hut,' although many of Hagrid's predecessors have lived in the hut too.

The Forbidden Forest


This forest is forbidden to all students, as it home to many types of dangerous and foreign creatures, such as centaurs, Thestrals, unicorns, Hippogriffs and Acromantula. Hagrid once hid his half-brother, Grawp within the trees of this forest. Students serving detention sentences with Hagrid with often find themselves in the forest. Harry, Ron and Hermione paid many visits into the forest for various reasons, sometimes accompanied by Hagrid and Fang, other time alone.

Greenhouses and Gardens
There are at least three greenhouses in which Herbology classes are held, under Professor Sprout's supervision. Greenhouse three is restricted to students as it houses dangerous plants such as Venomous Tentaculas, Mandrakes, and others.

The Lake


The Hogwarts Lake is a large body of water located to the south of the castle. It is about half a mile in diameter and the Hogwarts plumbing network drains into it. It is home to a giant squid and a colony of Merpeople. The lake was also used as the site of the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament.

Quidditch Pitch


The school has its own pitch where each house's Quidditch teams practice and play games against each other. Each year will see a total of six inter-house matches, along with numerous training sessions by each house team.

Entrance Gates
The Entrance Gates to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were located on the edge of the Hogwarts Expresses stop point, the gates would be opened on the first day of term and beyond the gates there is a long path up to Hogwarts Castle, ususally lined up with Carridges pulled by Thestrals to take students to the castle. In the event that a student is late that Thestrals and carridges are now gone and the student would have to walk. Once all students have been checked of a list by Flitwick as they pass through the gates he will magically seal the gates locked until the last day of term (only opening them to allow students to leave during the holidays).

=See Also=
 * Covered Bridge
 * Viaduct

Notes and references

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