Hufflepuff Basement

Hufflepuff Basement
Location information
Location	Basement, Hogwarts Castle, Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain
Owner(s)	Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Permanent residents	Current Hufflepuff students
Affiliation	Hufflepuff

"It is round and earthy and low-ceilinged; it always feels sunny, and its circular windows have a view of rippling grass and dandelions. There is a lot of burnished copper about the place, and many plants, which either hang from the ceiling or sit on the windowsills. Our Head of house, Professor Pomona Sprout, is Head of Herbology, and she brings the most interesting plant specimens (some of which dance and talk) to decorate our room — one reason why Hufflepuffs are often very good at Herbology. Our overstuffed sofas and chairs are upholstered in yellow and black, and our dormitories are reached through round doors in the walls of the common room. Copper lamps cast a warm light over our four-posters, all of which are covered in patchwork quilts, and copper bed warmers hang on the walls, should you have cold feet."

— Description of the basement

Hufflepuff Basement was a basement in Hogwarts Castle that served as the common room and dormitories for the students of Hufflepuff House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In general, it sported several motifs, such as circles, nature, copper and the colours yellow and black (all associated with the house). It also emphasised comfort, said to have "the cosiest common room of them all".

It was at one floor below the ground and was very sheltered from the elements, generally allowing students to sleep easier than those in the towers (like Gryffindor and Ravenclaw).

Entrance

The barrel entrance to the Hufflepuff common room

The entrance to the common room was located "in a nook on the right hand side of the kitchen corridor", concealed behind a stack of barrels. In order to reveal the entrance, no password was required. Instead, one must tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of "Hel-ga Huff-le-puff", which would make the lid swing open.

However, if the wrong lid was tapped or the wrong rhythm was used, the intruder would be doused in vinegar, sprayed from the mouths of the goblin face figureheads that decorate the barrel, and barred access.

Common room

The actual basement itself was round, earthy, low-ceilinged, welcoming, warm, and sunny. There were lots of yellow hangings, burnished copper, and overstuffed sofas and armchairs upholstered in yellow and black, and circular windows that provided a vista of "rippling grass and dandelions". There was also a large, honey coloured, wooden mantelpiece with carvings of badgers on it. This was located underneath a portrait of the house's founder, Helga Hufflepuff.

The Head of House, Pomona Sprout, also taught Herbology and as such brought many interesting plants in to decorate the common room (some of which danced and talked), placing them on the windowsills or having them hung from the ceiling, encouraging interest in Herbology (and hence part of why Hufflepuffs tended to be good at it).

Dormitories

The Hufflepuff dormitories were also located in the cellar and had perfectly circular doors. The dorms surrounded a circular secondary area of the common room. The girls' dormitory was located upstairs, while the boys' dormitory was downstairs. There was a number plaque next to each door, designating which year that dormitory was for. From left to right, they are designated for first-years, third-years, fifth-years, seventh-years, sixth-years, fourth-years, and second-years. There was also a hallway between the door and the dormitory. The hallways in the boys' dormitories were longer, whereas the girls had the upstairs balcony above the boys' hallways.

In each dormitory, four-poster beds were covered in patchwork quilts. The dormitories were illuminated by warm copper lamps, and copper bed-warmers hung on the wall, in case of cold feet.

Behind the scenes

• The Hufflepuff Basement was the only common room that Harry Potter did not enter at some point.
• Indeed, according to Gabriel Truman, the Hufflepuff Basement is the only common room that has not been seen by non-Hufflepuffs for over a thousand years at least, making it the most secure of them all. However, it is possible that Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, or James Potter infiltrated the Hufflepuff Basement in order to add it to the Marauder's Map.
• J. K. Rowling had previously described the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room as being close to the kitchens, the entrance of which is behind a still life painting. This is consistent with LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, where it is shown to be a painting of a fruitbowl similar to the kitchens' entrance. Pottermore states that the barrel reveals a passageway — through which one must crawl to the common room.
• On Pottermore, if a player gets sorted into Hufflepuff, a new chapter, written by J. K. Rowling, will be unlocked and enabled to read, describing the common room in full detail. However, as part of the redesign in August of 2013, the information on the Hufflepuff common room became freely accessible to all members (though, due to what was presumably a glitch in the system, the content could be read by any member beforehand by directly navigating to the proper URL).
• Hufflepuff is the only house that also employs a repelling device against intruders (they are doused in vinegar should the pass-rythm be wrong) as opposed to simply barring access.
• The Hufflepuff Basement is the only common room that is decorated with vegetation.
• In its entry for the Fat Friar, the glossary on the Scholastic official website mistakenly refers to the Hufflepuff common room as Hufflepuff Tower. A similar error is made with the Slytherin Dungeon.
• Hufflepuff is the only house that has a Portrait of its founder hung in the common room.
• In Hogwarts Legacy, the entrance to the common room is a giant barrel to the left of the smaller ones.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First mentioned)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (First appearance)
• Pottermore (First described)
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
• Hogwarts Legacy

See also

• Gryffindor Tower
• Ravenclaw Tower
• Slytherin Dungeon