Friday, July 31, 2009
Hogwarts appears to be the only major school of magical arts in Britain, training people with magical abilities to become fully qualified witches and wizards. Its status is not discussed in great detail in the Harry Potter novels, but it is known to be a co-educational secondary boarding school taking children from ages 11 to 18. Examinations are taken at the end of every year, though those taken at end of the fifth and seventh years (Ordinary Wizarding Levels, or O.W.L.s, and Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, or N.E.W.T.s, respectively) affect a student's future more. There are around 1000 students at Hogwarts.
There are several other schools of magic mentioned by name in the Harry Potter novels: one, Beauxbatons, is located in France, while Durmstrang is probably based in the far north of Central or Eastern Europe. The name of another school, Salem Witches' Institute, suggests that it may be found in North America. It is important to note, however, that this organisation is not officially recognised as a school canonically in the Harry Potter series � it is in fact only mentioned in relation to a number of middle-aged witches in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. J.K. Rowling however, confirms that Salem Witches' Institute is indeed a school of magic in the United States. The Goblet of Fire also mentions an unnamed school in Brazil. It is also possible to study magic by distance learning, a method used by at least one member of the ancillary staff at Hogwarts.
Management of the school is undertaken by the Headmaster (or Headmistress), assisted by a Deputy Headmaster (or Headmistress). The Head is answerable to the 12-member Board of Governors.
It is unclear how Hogwarts is funded, or what its fee structure is. In the sixth book of the series a special fund for books or equipment for needy students is mentioned.
Location and ground
Hogwarts is an ancient fictional castle located in a mountainous and secluded region in Scotland near a fictional village called Hogsmeade. [2]
Hogwarts Castle, as it appears in the Harry Potter films
The castle has extensive grounds, including a loch (mountain lake), a large and dense forest, called the Forbidden Forest because of the dangerous creatures living there, a number of greenhouses and other outbuildings, a graveyard, and a full-size Quidditch pitch. The castle is surrounded by mountains.
The village of Hogsmeade is used as a transit hub and lodging for visitors to the school, and is the location of the nearest railway station. Hogsmeade is a magical village, and is famous for the Honeydukes sweet shop, several well known magical joke shops and pubs, and is popular with Hogwarts students, who visit while on breaks from school. Hogsmeade station is reached by a dedicated train service called the Hogwarts Express, which departs from London's King's Cross railway station. On a map drawn by J.K. Rowling for the movie crew, the station appears to be south-east of the school, while Hogsmeade Village appears to be north-west.
Since apparition is not possible on the school grounds, due to magical security charms, Hogwarts Express is the primary means of transportation to and from Hogwarts. It is possible to arrive by means other than the school train however; by using broomsticks, apparating to a nearby location and walking in (as demonstrated in book six), or using other magical means of traveling such as Floo powder, and portkeys (book four). All of these methods of entry still require the breaching of the school's network of protective charms and magical barriers, however. The school also owns a number of carriages, drawn by Thestrals, which bring students from Hogsmeade station to the school. First-year students, after arriving at the Hogsmeade station by the Hogwarts Express, traditionally cross the lake by boat to reach the castle, while the rest of the students are taken by the Thestral-drawn carriages. The carriages pass through enormous gates flanked by winged boars, and then ramble up a curving drive to the main entrance of the castle, passing the loch on their way. After the students have entered the campus, the gates are locked and stringent security measures are reinstalled, as Harry found when he arrived late in The Half Blood Prince.
The school is enchanted to repel Muggles (non-magical people), to whom Hogwarts appears to be an old ruin with a sign reading 'Keep Out'. Electronic devices do not work in the grounds of Hogwarts.
The Hogwarts Quidditch stadium, as it appears in the Harry Potter films
Staffing and curriculum
Hogwarts has a number of teachers, all granted the title of professor on appointment, each specializing in a single subject. Other staff positions at the school include that of school nurse, caretaker, librarian, and gamekeeper/groundskeeper. About a hundred house-elves work in the kitchen and take on the housekeeping duties of the castle.
Students are taught a range of subjects all based around the magical arts. Aside from Astronomy class, none of the standard academic disciplines taught in Muggle institutions appear to be on the syllabus.
For a complete list of subjects, see Hogwarts subjects.
The syllabus appears to be modeled on the standard secondary school system in England and Wales, with exams in the fifth and seventh (final) years. The seven Core subjects (Potions, History of Magic, Transfiguration, Charms, Astronomy, Herbology and Defence Against the Dark Arts) are taken for at least the first five years. Once they reach their third year, students have a choice of certain subjects such as Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies and Arithmancy while still keeping their original subjects. All these subjects are assessed in the fifth-year (O.W.L.s). Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, for instance, took nine O.W.L.s exams apiece. Students are also expected to attend a careers advice meeting with their Head of House during the fifth year right before O.W.L.s examinations to arrange future classes and determine a career path.
Depending on a successful outcome, students then choose to proceed with the study of a reduced number of subjects to N.E.W.T. level. Although they are now studying fewer subjects, they are studying them in greater depth and their classes are much more difficult and the work is extremely demanding. Students failing to achieve the required grade (typically a high level pass) for a particular subject will not be permitted to continue with it. Students unfortunate enough to fail all their tests must have further consultations with their Head of House. Students take N.E.W.T.s on the subjects they have continued during the 7th year. Eligibility for many wizarding careers seems to be based on the number, grades, and subject of N.E.W.T. and O.W.L. exams passed.
The logistics of timetabling at the school seems fairly remarkable. Each professor teaches one subject to either five or seven year groups. There are at least two lessons a week for each year from the first to the fifth for core subjects, and third year through to the fifth for the others. Houses occasionally attend classes together � for instance, in Harry's own year, Gryffindor are routinely paired with Hufflepuff for Herbology and with Slytherin for Potions.
N.E.W.T.-level classes in the sixth and seventh years, however, are not divided into multiple sections. Classes are on more than one occasion described as lasting an hour and a half. If all classes are this length, the professors of core subjects teach anywhere from 36 hours a week if each class meets twice a week, and up to 90 hours if classes meet five times, which seems unlikely. Professors of non-core subjects would teach between 24 and 60 hours a week. These timetable arrangements suggest that Hogwarts has a particularly stringent work ethic and admirably dedicated students and staff. It seems probable that there are numerous members of the teaching staff who are not mentioned in the novels, and this is supported by evidence in the Harry Potter movies, in which a number of extras are indeed seen as additional members of the school staff.
Apparition lessons are offered to students in the sixth year, as students can take their Apparition examinations after their seventeenth birthday.
During their fifth year, two fifth-year students from each House are picked to be Prefects, which grants them extra privileges and disciplinary responsibilities. There are six prefects per house, all from the fifth, sixth, and seventh year students. The leaders of the student body, the Head Boy and Head Girl, are drawn from the seventh year students, and are usually former prefects.
Grading and assessment
During their first four years, students need only to pass each of their subjects before advancing to the next level the following year. Regular exams and lessons usually seem to be graded on a numerical scale from 0 (bottom marks) to 100 (full marks) although some students routinely get higher than perfect scores.
To qualify as a registered practitioner of magic, students must take the compulsory O.W.L.s examinations in their fifth year, and may proceed to the N.E.W.T. level, a more advanced exam regimen covering fewer subjects but in more depth, in the seventh year.
Subjects are graded on the following scale:
Passing Grades
O = Outstanding
E = Exceeds Expectations
A = Acceptable
Failing Grades
P = Poor
D = Dreadful
T = Troll (At first this grade was thought to have been a joke by Fred and George Weasley, but it later turns out to be a real grade).
The O.W.L.s roughly corresponds to the O-Level (now replaced by GCSE), and the NEWT to the A-level examinations used in the English state school system. In order to proceed to NEWT, a student usually needs to have achieved at least an E in their O.W.L.s of the same subject, although some professors (e.g. Severus Snape) insist upon a grade of O. Students who fail their exams or don't make high enough grades continue to take O.W.L.s -level classes in their sixth and seventh years.
School motto and houses
The motto of Hogwarts is "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus," which in Latin means "A sleeping dragon [is] never to be tickled/poked." Creator J.K. Rowling said she wanted a practical motto for Hogwarts, since so many schools have vague ones such as "Reach for the stars" � approximately "Continge astris" in Latin.
Students at Hogwarts are divided into four houses, each bearing the name of one of the school's original founders. Students are assigned to a house based on their particular academic and personal strengths and weaknesses. The houses are:
� Gryffindor, characterised by valour and courage, founded by Godric Gryffindor;
� Hufflepuff, characterised by loyalty and a hard work ethic, founded by Helga Hufflepuff;
� Ravenclaw, characterised by wit and intellect, founded by Rowena Ravenclaw; and
� Slytherin, characterised by ambition and cunning, founded by Salazar Slytherin.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Each of the school Houses has a Head of House who is a member of the senior teaching staff and exercises additional pastoral and disciplinary responsibilities over his or her House. At the beginning of the series, the Heads of House are Severus Snape (Potions in books 1�5, Defence Against the Dark Arts in book 6) for Slytherin (replaced at the conclusion of book six by Horace Slughorn), Minerva McGonagall (Transfiguration) for Gryffindor (presumably replaced at the conclusion of book six by Rubeus Hagrid), Filius Flitwick (Charms) for Ravenclaw, and Pomona Sprout (Herbology) for Hufflepuff.
The Houses of Hogwarts compete to earn 'house points'. As a form of incentive or group punishment, the achievements or failures of each student � academic or disciplinary � cause their respective house to gain or lose points. In book one, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom find themselves shunned by other Gryffindor students after they are responsible for losing a significant number of house points.
There appear to be no fixed numbers of points attached to specific actions; this number is decided by a teacher on the spot and may vary greatly. For example in book one, Hermione is punished by only 5 points for (as she claimed) risking her life by getting into a fight with a troll, while later Harry, Hermione, and Neville (and Ron in the first Harry Potter movie, taking Neville's postion from the book) are punished by 50 points each for simply being out of the dormitory at night. Draco is also punished for the same offense by the same professor, Professor McGonagall, but he only lost 20 points. Similarly, in book one, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville earn a total of 170 points for the remarkable feat of recovering the Philosopher's Stone and defeating Voldemort, while by book six, 30 house points are awarded in the space of five minutes in a single lesson of Potions. Houses also receive points based on their performances in Quidditch, such as in Harry's third year.
Points are recorded in four enchanted hourglasses located in the School's Entrance Hall. The award or docking of points is automatically detected by magical means, and adjustments are made to the display in the relevant hourglass. It would appear that for an authority figure to deduct points, they must announce the deduction aloud, otherwise no points are removed. For example, when Slytherin Prefect Montague tried to dock points from Fred and George Weasley, before he could say the words, they managed to lock him inside a cabinet, and the points were not deducted. For each point or penalty a student earns, a jewel matching the colour of the house (red rubies for Gryffindor, yellow topaz for Hufflepuff, blue sapphires for Ravenclaw, and green emeralds for Slytherin) will rise or fall inside the relevant hourglass. At the end of each school year, the points are added up, and the house with the most points wins the House Cup.
Discipline
Apart from losing points from a house, serious misdeeds at Hogwarts are punishable by detention.
According to the school caretaker, Argus Filch, detention meant subjection to various forms of torture until relatively recently, but in present times usually involves assisting staff or faculty with tedious or perilous tasks. Ironically, when in book one, students are caught wandering around the castle at night, for their "detention" they are sent, also at night, to the even more dangerous Forbidden Forest.
For even more serious offences, students may be suspended or expelled from Hogwarts. Harry Potter comes under threat of expulsion by the Ministry of Magic at the beginning of his fifth year at Hogwarts after he is detected using magic in the presence of Muggles, a serious offence among the wizarding community. The Headmaster Albus Dumbledore argues in Harry's defence, stating that the Ministry has no authority to expel students � such powers are invested in the Headmaster and the Board of Governors.
Professors seem to be able to punish students with relative impunity and can hand out detention, even for unsatisfactory grades. Enforcement of rules outside of class mainly falls to the caretaker, with the assistance of the Prefects. A student's Head of House usually has the final say in disciplinary matters.
There is some ambiguity in whether prefects can reward or punish fellow students using the point system. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, prefect Percy Weasley takes house points from Gryffindor. However, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, reference is made to the prefects' lack of this particular power when several Slytherin students are promoted to the Inquisatorial Squad, thereby receiving and broadly abusing the right to dock points. This discrepancy appeared to be a simple mistake on J.K. Rowling's part, although there are a few other theories, including that Percy was bluffing the younger students, or that prefects may take points from their own house only. Complicating the issue, the paperback editions of the later book were revised to imply that prefects are barred from taking points only from other prefects or possibly only other houses.
The school year and daily life
Enrollment and arrival
A letter is sent to the magical children in Britain during the summer of their eleventh year. If, for any reason, this letter does not reach its intended recipient, owls will continue to deliver letters until one reaches its intended recipient. Acceptance or rejection of a seat at Hogwarts must be mailed by July 31st.
The letter also contains a list of supplies, including spell books and cauldrons. The prospective student is expected to buy all the necessary materials, normally from shops in Diagon Alley, a street in a wizarding neighborhood near Charing Cross in London. However, some students appear to be given finanical aid if they don't have the any/enough wizarding currency, as was the case with young Tom Riddle. Letters to Muggle-born wizards, who may not be aware of their powers or are unfamiliar with the concealed society of witches and wizards, are delivered by special messengers who can explain the wizarding world to them.
The term begins on 1 September. Students travel to King's Cross station in London to board the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9�, arriving at Hogsmeade Station. First-year students are accompanied by the groundskeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher, currently Professor Rubeus Hagrid, to small boats, which magically sail across the Hogwarts lake. The older students travel up to the castle in carriages pulled by thestrals, magical beasts that are visible only to those who have witnessed, and come to terms with, death.
All students are to have all their required materials (such as their uniform, wand, etc.) and each student is allowed to bring one toad, cat, or owl as suggested by the supplies list. Most people bring owls because they deliver the post.
Returning students gather in the Great Hall with the Headmaster and professors to await the entrance of the first years. These new arrivals are greeted by the deputy headmaster/headmistress, who briefly explains their first encounter with magic inside the school, the Sorting. They are ushered into the Hall and undergo this ritual by donning a piece of sentient headgear called the Sorting Hat. This hat, which traditionally sings a self-composed song at each annual ceremony, examines the students (conceivably using a form of hat-initiated Legilimency) and announces to which House they are assigned. The student then seats himself/herself at one of the four House tables, and another first year puts on the Hat. Once the Sorting is complete, and the Headmaster has said a few words (in Harry's first year, these words were "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!", though they usually have more substance), the students and staff enjoy a start-of-term feast.
After dinner, the first years are led by their house's prefects to their common room, and given the password that grants access. They spend the first evening settling into their dormitories (the house elves bring up their luggage while the students are at dinner) and perhaps acquainting themselves with their dorm mates and classmates. The next day, classes begin. Timetables are handed out for each class at breakfast the next morning, and after breakfast in the Great Hall students depart for lessons.
Trials for House Quidditch teams are held shortly afterwards. First years are rarely selected to the Quidditch teams, though exceptions have been made in some cases (notably Harry Potter himself, who was appointed Seeker during his first year). First years who don't make the team, nearly all, receive flying lessons from Madam Hooch as part of their curriculum.
Terms and holidays
The school year is structured in a similar way to other, Muggle schools and colleges in the UK, with a three-term year punctuated by holidays at Christmas and Easter and bounded by the long summer vacation.
Students may go home for the Christmas holidays. The students who choose to remain do not have any classes and are present at the Christmas feast which teachers attend as well. Feasts such as this are held at the start of term, end of term, and for holidays in between, such as Halloween. The Great Hall is decorated in lavish style for Christmas, as indeed for other festivals and holidays throughout the year, such as Halloween in October. Traditionally, in the event of a Triwizard Tournament, the home school hosts a Yule Ball on Christmas Eve and in Harry's fourth year, the Tournament having been revived, Hogwarts held such a ball which was attended by a large number of students from all three competing magical academies.
In Harry's second year, Defence Against the Dark Arts tutor Gilderoy Lockhart organized a Valentine's Day celebration during the spring term. The Easter holidays are not as enjoyable as the Christmas ones, as students are overloaded with homework to prepare them for their exams, which are taken at the end of the year. Students are not allowed to use magic over the summer holidays until they turn seventeen.
Student life
The day begins at Hogwarts with breakfast in the Great Hall. There are four House tables, each with seventy students or so. At the head table, at the far end of the hall, the headmaster breakfasts with the professors. During breakfast, owls bring in mail for the students; this could be the morning issue of The Daily Prophet, letters from friends or parents, sweets from home or anything else. A bell signals the start of the first class of the morning at 9 a.m.
There are two long morning classes with a short ten minute break in between them for students to get to their next class (the castle is enormous and it is common for students, especially first years, to get lost or be late). After lunch classes resume at 1 p.m., and there is a break around teatime. First year students sometimes get Friday afternoon off. In the evening students eat their dinner in the Great Hall, after which students are expected to be in their common rooms for studying and socializing.
The food served at Hogwarts is widely considered by the student body to be extremely good. The house elves at Hogwarts are skilled chefs, and cook a wide variety of dishes for every meal, including delicious cakes, pies and �clairs (although there is some magic involved certainly, especially when cooking such large quantities). The food served at the school is fresh and grown locally � the school has vegetable patches by the greenhouses. The meats and other condiments are probably bought in Hogsmeade village, and the various dishes are prepared in the kitchens directly below the Great Hall and, at meal times, magically transported up so that they appear on gleaming platters before the students. Hogwarts food is typically British, although the school sometimes makes exceptions (during the Triwizard Tournament, foreign dishes were served in honor of the visiting schools). During formal dances such as the Yule Ball, the House tables are replaced with smaller, round tables seating about a dozen each. Beside each place setting is a small menu. To place an order, a person clearly enunciates a dish (e.g. "pork chops") to his or her plate, and the dish appears (courtesy of the house elves below). At normal meals, the usual beverages (apart from water) are tea, coffee, and pumpkin juice. Most students appear to be very fond of a drink called Butterbeer which is served in the village pubs and restaurants but not at the school. Butterbeer is sold for around two Sickles a bottle and has a negligible amount of alcohol in it, so it has no effect on students except to warm them from the inside. House elves, however, can get drunk on Butterbeer. It is generally either served cold in bottles or steaming hot in mugs ("foaming tankards of hot Butterbeer").
There is also a tower which leads to the owlery, a big circular room at the top of one of Hogwarts' many towers which houses the owls � both those belonging to the school and those belonging to students. Whenever anyone wishes to send letters or packages, they ascend to the owlery to choose an owl. Students with their own owls � which are trophies in many ways, as owls are expensive as well as useful � invariably use their own pets, and those students who do not have their own can use the ones belonging to the school.
On certain weekends, 3rd through 7th year Hogwarts students are permitted to walk to Hogsmeade village, where they can relax at the many pubs, restaurants and shops. There appears to be a good relationship between the school and the village, and the students get along well with the locals. Favorite places in Hogsmeade include Honeydukes Sweetshop, Zonko's Joke Shop (now closed), clothing stores such as Gladrags Wizardwear, a major tourist attraction called The Shrieking Shack (which is rumoured to be haunted) and the pub The Three Broomsticks. Although students under seventeen cannot take alcohol, it is possible to find places in the village to sneak a drink (most notably the Hog's Head Pub).
The students stay in their House dormitories while school is in session. In Harry's year, there are ten students from each of the four Houses, making forty students. There are five students in each dormitory; in Gryffindor House for example, the students are housed in a tower, and the dormitories are circular rooms. The large common room is on the ground floor, and has two staircases leading from it: one for the girls' dormitories and one for the boys' dormitories (indicating that the Gryffindor Tower is either magically enhanced in some way or must have a massive circumference indeed). The structure of dormitories vary from House to House, but are all very comfortable. Each student sleeps in a large four poster bed with bedcovers and heavy curtains in the House colours, and thick white pillows. There is a bedside table for each bed, and each dormitory has a jug of cool water and glasses on a tray.
In the common rooms are comfortable armchairs and sofas for the pupils, and common rooms in the towers also have window seats. There are fireplaces to keep the rooms warm, and students relax here in the evenings, or else sit at desks studying. There are notice boards in each common room too, as well as at other strategic points throughout the school. Each common room is protected by a password to keep students from other houses from entering, but mainly to protect the students from any kind of danger.
When they are not studying or visiting the village, the students usually spend their time out of doors. A favorite spot is by the lake, where groups of students can be seen relaxing under the trees or sunning themselves and chatting on the smooth green lawns. Students can also be seen lounging in the various courtyards and even on the main entrance steps. Quidditch buffs play on their brooms or practice in the stadium, and some kids spend time in the library either studying or reading.
It is also possible to obtain snacks from the kitchens. Stairs leading down from the entrance hall stop at a corridor which leads to a painting of a bowl of fruit. By tickling the pear until it giggles and turns into a door handle, one can access the kitchens. Since the kitchen is staffed by over a hundred house elves who are more than willing to provide the students with anything they would like, it is relatively easy to emerge with trays of cakes, apple pies, �clairs, scones, ice cream, doughnuts, tarts, jelly, marshmallows or just about anything else. Students often fetch food from the kitchens in the evening when a party is being thrown in their common room � parties are often held when a House team wins an Inter-House Quidditch match, and on these occasions the parties can continue till far past midnight.
Uniform
In the books, the Hogwarts uniform consists of a plain black work robe, a plain black pointed hat (which is rarely worn though), and a winter cloak with silver fastenings. In the films adaptations, beneath their open-fronted black robes with a house insignia on the chest, students typically wear school uniforms similar to those of UK public schools. This consists of a grey sweater, white collared shirt, and ties in the colours of their House. Boys wear long, dark trousers, and girls wear dark pleated skirts and knee socks. They also have scarves in house colors for winter time and quidditch matches.
History
Early history
Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by two wizards and two witches: Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. These four were among the most celebrated European wizards and witches of the age, and they personally trained all their students. As time went on Hogwarts grew in size as more and more students enrolled.
Slowly, cracks began to appear among the four professors. Salazar Slytherin wanted to admit only pure-blood students, but the other three founders disagreed. Slytherin distrusted half-bloods and Muggle-borns because of the widespread persecution of magic users at the time. Arguments broke out among the founders. Then Slytherin left the school, but not before secretly building the Chamber of Secrets. When an eventual successor, the Heir of Slytherin, returned to the school, he or she would be able to open the Chamber, unleash a horrible Basilisk, and purge the school of all non-pureblood students.
Slytherin's most famous descendant is the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort. He is also probably the only descendant of Slytherin's who succeeded in discovering The Chamber of Secrets.
Note: It may be assumed that when Hogwarts was first officially "opened", the number of students that attended may have differed slightly from "today's standards". No Houses had yet been formed in Hogwarts early days, but when they were, there would typically be 40 students in each year (5 girls and 5 boys per year in each House).
Middle history
Little information is given in the Harry Potter novels about the history of Hogwarts after its foundation, at least prior to the 1940s.
About three hundred years after the school was founded, the Triwizard Tournament began between the three most prestigious Magical schools in Europe: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. This Tournament was considered the best way for wizards of different nationalities to meet and socialize. The Tournament continued for six centuries, until the death toll became too high, and the Tournament was discontinued until 1994.
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Recent history
The existence of the school was threatened twice when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. The first time it opened was in 1942, when Tom Riddle, the Heir of Slytherin and the future Lord Voldemort, opened the Chamber in his fifth year. When a girl named Myrtle was killed, the Ministry of Magic threatened to close the school. As Riddle spent his time away from Hogwarts in a Muggle orphanage, he did not want the school closed, so he framed Rubeus Hagrid for the deed.
In 1992, the Chamber was opened by Ginny Weasley, under the influence of a diary written by Riddle (one of Lord Voldemort's horcruxes). The diary allowed Riddle's memory to possess Ginny, enabling him to act through her to open the Chamber a second time. Lucius Malfoy had secretly planted the diary in her schoolbooks, with the hope that she would be caught and held responsible, thus bringing an end to Arthur Weasley's Muggle Protection Act, as well as purging Hogwarts of non-pureblood witches and wizards. However, Harry Potter discovered the truth, destroyed the diary, and killed the basilisk that was living in the Chamber.
In 1994, the Triwizard Tournament began once more, though with several safety measures in place. However, Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Professor Alastor Moody, cunningly entered Harry Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire under the name of a nonexistent fourth school, ensuring that he would be chosen by the Goblet. He used a Confundus Charm to trick the Goblet into forgetting that only three schools could compete in the tournament. Consequently, Harry became a fourth champion, to the great disgust of the representatives for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, as well as many Hogwarts students. Crouch made sure that Harry won the Tournament, by helping Harry understand the clues given to the champions. In the last Task of the Tournament, Crouch guaranteed that Harry would reach the Cup first, by enchanting the various creatures in the maze, as well as other people. Prior to the task, Crouch had turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey, which carried Harry straight into the hands of Lord Voldemort. Harry escaped, but Voldemort succeeded in using Harry's blood in a complex spell, which allowed him to attain a bodily form and defeat some of Harry's magical protections.
Hogwarts was also threatened when the Ministry of Magic began implementing "Educational Decrees" in 1995, as part of a conspiracy to discredit Albus Dumbledore. Dolores Umbridge, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, was the centre of this plan. With the Educational Decrees, she slowly took control of Hogwarts, and eventually replaced Albus Dumbledore as headmaster. After she was attacked by Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was forced to accept that Voldemort had returned, Umbridge was removed from the school.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Albus Dumbledore was the most recent Head of Hogwarts, an elderly (he is more than 150 years old at the time of his death), white-haired gentleman and a famous wizard with a keen sense of humour and twinkling eyes. He always knew what was going on at the school and took a special interest in Harry. He carried no course load, but formerly taught Transfiguration. Dumbledore was the only wizard whom Lord Voldemort ever feared. This made the school a safe haven during Voldemort's revival. There are twelve school governors who have the power to suspend the headmaster; Lucius Malfoy was a governor until he was dismissed after blackmailing the other governors into agreeing to suspend Dumbledore.
The headmistress of Hogwarts as of the end of the sixth novel is Minerva McGonagall, in an acting capacity following the death of Dumbledore. Since Dumbledore's death in 1997, the closure of the school during the crisis has been discussed with many of the faculty adamant that it should remain open. However, the faculty agreed to follow "established procedures" and the school governors will have the final say. Readers await the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series to discover the fate of Hogwarts School.
In a 1999 interview, however, Rowling said that one of Harry's classmates would eventually become a teacher at Hogwarts ([1]); this implies that Hogwarts will remain open, or close and then reopen.
Spoilers end here.
Coat of arms
Blazon Shield renaissance, Quarterly, I gules a lion salient to sinister Or, II vert a serpent argent, III Or a badger reguardant proper, IV azure an eagle displayed Or, in fesse couped Or scroll with letter H sable, top riband for the name Hogwarts, base riband for the motto "draco dormiens nunquam titillandus".
The Hogwarts motto � Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus � means, "A Sleeping Dragon Must Never be Tickled"
Layout
Main article: Hogwarts layout
Hogwarts is an enormous castle consisting of seven main floors and six towers, in addition to courtyards, expansive dungeons and many secret rooms and passages. Besides education, it provides all the necessary facilities for food, drink, leisure, and lodging for the students, staff, and entities that reside there throughout most of the year. As the school is a focal point of ancient magical energies, and has centuries of history within it, it holds a countless variety of surprises and resources. The stories often include elements of the castle's inherent unpredictability and the many secrets hidden within it.
Hagrid's hut
Rubeus Hagrid is the groundskeeper, gamekeeper and Professor of the Care of Magical Creatures, the only teacher not to live in the castle. He lives in a small hut on the grounds, on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, with his very large black dog, Fang, who, belying his appearance, is a coward.
The Forbidden Forest
The Forbidden Forest is the forest on the ground of Hogwarts school. Though rarely referred to as the Forbidden Forest directly by any character in the books, it is referred to by this name in a chapter title in the first book in the series. In the movies it is referred to on more than one occasion as The Dark Forest. When it is discussed in the books it is usually called "the forest on the school grounds" which is "forbidden to students" owing to a variety of dangerous creatures which reside within.
Hagrid frequently travels into the forest for various reasons.
The following is an (incomplete) list of beings that inhabit the forest [3]:
Centaurs
Werewolves, according to Draco Malfoy and Argus Filch
A colony of Acromantulas, the late Aragog and his family
Grawp, (a 'small' giant, brought there by Rubeus Hagrid)
Trolls
Unicorns
Thestrals (bred by Rubeus Hagrid)
Fluffy, a three-headed dog who was released into the forest after the events of book one.
A beat-up Ford Anglia formerly owned by Arthur Weasley that had been bewitched with the ability to fly, but took on a mind of its own after Ron and Harry crashed it into the Whomping Willow. It fled into the forest, never to be seen again except on one occasion in which it helped Ron and Harry escape from a hungry bunch of giant spiders.
Greenhouses
There are at least three greenhouses where Herbology classes are held by Professor Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff house.
The Whomping Willow
The Whomping Willow is a magical tree on the Hogwarts grounds. The tree is violent, striking with its branches at those who dare approach it.
The tree was planted the year Remus Lupin (a werewolf) arrived at the school (c. 1971). Headmaster Albus Dumbledore planted the Willow to guard a secret passageway to the Shrieking Shack, a building in Hogsmeade. Lupin was smuggled to the house each month at the full moon, where he could transform into his wolf form without risking harm to others. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry and his best friend Ron Weasley flew an enchanted Ford Anglia to Hogwarts, and accidentally crashed into the Whomping Willow, causing minor damage to the tree but more significant harm to the car.
The Lake
The Lake is a lake located on the south side of the castle. The Hogwarts plumbing network drains into it. A number of magical creatures inhabit the lake, including a giant squid, often seen near the surface, a colony of Merpeople inhabiting the bottom, and a population of grindylows. It was also the temporary home of the Durmstrang ship.
The Quidditch pitch
The Quidditch pitch is where Quidditch games are held, and where teams practice. There are three golden hoops, about 50 feet high, at each end used for scoring, and stands surrounding it, providing seating for spectators. It houses the changing rooms for the four House teams and the offices of the four team captains. The referee is often Madam Hooch, the flying teacher and Quidditch coach, but Severus Snape refereed once in Harry's first year, to protect Harry from further curses by Professor Quirrell. In the fourth book it was the site of the third Triwizard Tournament task.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The White Tomb
The White Tomb is where Albus Dumbledore is buried. It lies beside the Lake, in a serene and calm inlet on a hill. It is the only location in the whole of the Hogwarts grounds where a Head is buried, giving Albus Dumbledore special distinction as, perhaps, the greatest Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Possible influences
In interviews [2] [3], Rowling has suggested that the name 'Hogwarts' derives from the hogwort plant (Croton capitatus), which she had seen at Kew Gardens some time before writing the Harry Potter books.
Rowling probably settled upon this name for its comic potential, as a rearrangement of the word warthog. She may also have been influenced by the structure of the place name Oxford (Ox-ford; Hog-warts). Rowling sought a place at Oxford University, but was rejected, in her eyes on prejudicial grounds similar to those espoused by "pure-blood" advocates at Hogwarts. Harry Potter's discovery that he is a special child, destined for a magical school, can be read as a fulfillment-in-fiction of Rowling's thwarted academic objective (it should be noted that Harry and his creator share the same birthday).
By coincidence, the name Hogwarts also features in the Molesworth books. The Hogwarts is the title of one of Molesworth's imitation Latin plays, and Hoggwart is also the name of the headmaster of Porridge Court, a rival of St. Custard's, Molesworth's terrible prep school.
It has also been suggested that Rowling may have found some inspiration from Atlantic College, a real co-educational boarding school in Britain, which is based in the medieval St Donat's Castle.
Trivia
The dinosaur Dracorex hogwartsia ("dragon king of Hogwarts"), first discovered in 2004 and officially named in 2006, was named such by young visitors to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis in reference to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
There are several other schools of magic mentioned by name in the Harry Potter novels: one, Beauxbatons, is located in France, while Durmstrang is probably based in the far north of Central or Eastern Europe. The name of another school, Salem Witches' Institute, suggests that it may be found in North America. It is important to note, however, that this organisation is not officially recognised as a school canonically in the Harry Potter series � it is in fact only mentioned in relation to a number of middle-aged witches in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. J.K. Rowling however, confirms that Salem Witches' Institute is indeed a school of magic in the United States. The Goblet of Fire also mentions an unnamed school in Brazil. It is also possible to study magic by distance learning, a method used by at least one member of the ancillary staff at Hogwarts.
Management of the school is undertaken by the Headmaster (or Headmistress), assisted by a Deputy Headmaster (or Headmistress). The Head is answerable to the 12-member Board of Governors.
It is unclear how Hogwarts is funded, or what its fee structure is. In the sixth book of the series a special fund for books or equipment for needy students is mentioned.
Location and ground
Hogwarts is an ancient fictional castle located in a mountainous and secluded region in Scotland near a fictional village called Hogsmeade. [2]
Hogwarts Castle, as it appears in the Harry Potter films
The castle has extensive grounds, including a loch (mountain lake), a large and dense forest, called the Forbidden Forest because of the dangerous creatures living there, a number of greenhouses and other outbuildings, a graveyard, and a full-size Quidditch pitch. The castle is surrounded by mountains.
The village of Hogsmeade is used as a transit hub and lodging for visitors to the school, and is the location of the nearest railway station. Hogsmeade is a magical village, and is famous for the Honeydukes sweet shop, several well known magical joke shops and pubs, and is popular with Hogwarts students, who visit while on breaks from school. Hogsmeade station is reached by a dedicated train service called the Hogwarts Express, which departs from London's King's Cross railway station. On a map drawn by J.K. Rowling for the movie crew, the station appears to be south-east of the school, while Hogsmeade Village appears to be north-west.
Since apparition is not possible on the school grounds, due to magical security charms, Hogwarts Express is the primary means of transportation to and from Hogwarts. It is possible to arrive by means other than the school train however; by using broomsticks, apparating to a nearby location and walking in (as demonstrated in book six), or using other magical means of traveling such as Floo powder, and portkeys (book four). All of these methods of entry still require the breaching of the school's network of protective charms and magical barriers, however. The school also owns a number of carriages, drawn by Thestrals, which bring students from Hogsmeade station to the school. First-year students, after arriving at the Hogsmeade station by the Hogwarts Express, traditionally cross the lake by boat to reach the castle, while the rest of the students are taken by the Thestral-drawn carriages. The carriages pass through enormous gates flanked by winged boars, and then ramble up a curving drive to the main entrance of the castle, passing the loch on their way. After the students have entered the campus, the gates are locked and stringent security measures are reinstalled, as Harry found when he arrived late in The Half Blood Prince.
The school is enchanted to repel Muggles (non-magical people), to whom Hogwarts appears to be an old ruin with a sign reading 'Keep Out'. Electronic devices do not work in the grounds of Hogwarts.
The Hogwarts Quidditch stadium, as it appears in the Harry Potter films
Staffing and curriculum
Hogwarts has a number of teachers, all granted the title of professor on appointment, each specializing in a single subject. Other staff positions at the school include that of school nurse, caretaker, librarian, and gamekeeper/groundskeeper. About a hundred house-elves work in the kitchen and take on the housekeeping duties of the castle.
Students are taught a range of subjects all based around the magical arts. Aside from Astronomy class, none of the standard academic disciplines taught in Muggle institutions appear to be on the syllabus.
For a complete list of subjects, see Hogwarts subjects.
The syllabus appears to be modeled on the standard secondary school system in England and Wales, with exams in the fifth and seventh (final) years. The seven Core subjects (Potions, History of Magic, Transfiguration, Charms, Astronomy, Herbology and Defence Against the Dark Arts) are taken for at least the first five years. Once they reach their third year, students have a choice of certain subjects such as Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies and Arithmancy while still keeping their original subjects. All these subjects are assessed in the fifth-year (O.W.L.s). Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, for instance, took nine O.W.L.s exams apiece. Students are also expected to attend a careers advice meeting with their Head of House during the fifth year right before O.W.L.s examinations to arrange future classes and determine a career path.
Depending on a successful outcome, students then choose to proceed with the study of a reduced number of subjects to N.E.W.T. level. Although they are now studying fewer subjects, they are studying them in greater depth and their classes are much more difficult and the work is extremely demanding. Students failing to achieve the required grade (typically a high level pass) for a particular subject will not be permitted to continue with it. Students unfortunate enough to fail all their tests must have further consultations with their Head of House. Students take N.E.W.T.s on the subjects they have continued during the 7th year. Eligibility for many wizarding careers seems to be based on the number, grades, and subject of N.E.W.T. and O.W.L. exams passed.
The logistics of timetabling at the school seems fairly remarkable. Each professor teaches one subject to either five or seven year groups. There are at least two lessons a week for each year from the first to the fifth for core subjects, and third year through to the fifth for the others. Houses occasionally attend classes together � for instance, in Harry's own year, Gryffindor are routinely paired with Hufflepuff for Herbology and with Slytherin for Potions.
N.E.W.T.-level classes in the sixth and seventh years, however, are not divided into multiple sections. Classes are on more than one occasion described as lasting an hour and a half. If all classes are this length, the professors of core subjects teach anywhere from 36 hours a week if each class meets twice a week, and up to 90 hours if classes meet five times, which seems unlikely. Professors of non-core subjects would teach between 24 and 60 hours a week. These timetable arrangements suggest that Hogwarts has a particularly stringent work ethic and admirably dedicated students and staff. It seems probable that there are numerous members of the teaching staff who are not mentioned in the novels, and this is supported by evidence in the Harry Potter movies, in which a number of extras are indeed seen as additional members of the school staff.
Apparition lessons are offered to students in the sixth year, as students can take their Apparition examinations after their seventeenth birthday.
During their fifth year, two fifth-year students from each House are picked to be Prefects, which grants them extra privileges and disciplinary responsibilities. There are six prefects per house, all from the fifth, sixth, and seventh year students. The leaders of the student body, the Head Boy and Head Girl, are drawn from the seventh year students, and are usually former prefects.
Grading and assessment
During their first four years, students need only to pass each of their subjects before advancing to the next level the following year. Regular exams and lessons usually seem to be graded on a numerical scale from 0 (bottom marks) to 100 (full marks) although some students routinely get higher than perfect scores.
To qualify as a registered practitioner of magic, students must take the compulsory O.W.L.s examinations in their fifth year, and may proceed to the N.E.W.T. level, a more advanced exam regimen covering fewer subjects but in more depth, in the seventh year.
Subjects are graded on the following scale:
Passing Grades
O = Outstanding
E = Exceeds Expectations
A = Acceptable
Failing Grades
P = Poor
D = Dreadful
T = Troll (At first this grade was thought to have been a joke by Fred and George Weasley, but it later turns out to be a real grade).
The O.W.L.s roughly corresponds to the O-Level (now replaced by GCSE), and the NEWT to the A-level examinations used in the English state school system. In order to proceed to NEWT, a student usually needs to have achieved at least an E in their O.W.L.s of the same subject, although some professors (e.g. Severus Snape) insist upon a grade of O. Students who fail their exams or don't make high enough grades continue to take O.W.L.s -level classes in their sixth and seventh years.
School motto and houses
The motto of Hogwarts is "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus," which in Latin means "A sleeping dragon [is] never to be tickled/poked." Creator J.K. Rowling said she wanted a practical motto for Hogwarts, since so many schools have vague ones such as "Reach for the stars" � approximately "Continge astris" in Latin.
Students at Hogwarts are divided into four houses, each bearing the name of one of the school's original founders. Students are assigned to a house based on their particular academic and personal strengths and weaknesses. The houses are:
� Gryffindor, characterised by valour and courage, founded by Godric Gryffindor;
� Hufflepuff, characterised by loyalty and a hard work ethic, founded by Helga Hufflepuff;
� Ravenclaw, characterised by wit and intellect, founded by Rowena Ravenclaw; and
� Slytherin, characterised by ambition and cunning, founded by Salazar Slytherin.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Each of the school Houses has a Head of House who is a member of the senior teaching staff and exercises additional pastoral and disciplinary responsibilities over his or her House. At the beginning of the series, the Heads of House are Severus Snape (Potions in books 1�5, Defence Against the Dark Arts in book 6) for Slytherin (replaced at the conclusion of book six by Horace Slughorn), Minerva McGonagall (Transfiguration) for Gryffindor (presumably replaced at the conclusion of book six by Rubeus Hagrid), Filius Flitwick (Charms) for Ravenclaw, and Pomona Sprout (Herbology) for Hufflepuff.
The Houses of Hogwarts compete to earn 'house points'. As a form of incentive or group punishment, the achievements or failures of each student � academic or disciplinary � cause their respective house to gain or lose points. In book one, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom find themselves shunned by other Gryffindor students after they are responsible for losing a significant number of house points.
There appear to be no fixed numbers of points attached to specific actions; this number is decided by a teacher on the spot and may vary greatly. For example in book one, Hermione is punished by only 5 points for (as she claimed) risking her life by getting into a fight with a troll, while later Harry, Hermione, and Neville (and Ron in the first Harry Potter movie, taking Neville's postion from the book) are punished by 50 points each for simply being out of the dormitory at night. Draco is also punished for the same offense by the same professor, Professor McGonagall, but he only lost 20 points. Similarly, in book one, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville earn a total of 170 points for the remarkable feat of recovering the Philosopher's Stone and defeating Voldemort, while by book six, 30 house points are awarded in the space of five minutes in a single lesson of Potions. Houses also receive points based on their performances in Quidditch, such as in Harry's third year.
Points are recorded in four enchanted hourglasses located in the School's Entrance Hall. The award or docking of points is automatically detected by magical means, and adjustments are made to the display in the relevant hourglass. It would appear that for an authority figure to deduct points, they must announce the deduction aloud, otherwise no points are removed. For example, when Slytherin Prefect Montague tried to dock points from Fred and George Weasley, before he could say the words, they managed to lock him inside a cabinet, and the points were not deducted. For each point or penalty a student earns, a jewel matching the colour of the house (red rubies for Gryffindor, yellow topaz for Hufflepuff, blue sapphires for Ravenclaw, and green emeralds for Slytherin) will rise or fall inside the relevant hourglass. At the end of each school year, the points are added up, and the house with the most points wins the House Cup.
Discipline
Apart from losing points from a house, serious misdeeds at Hogwarts are punishable by detention.
According to the school caretaker, Argus Filch, detention meant subjection to various forms of torture until relatively recently, but in present times usually involves assisting staff or faculty with tedious or perilous tasks. Ironically, when in book one, students are caught wandering around the castle at night, for their "detention" they are sent, also at night, to the even more dangerous Forbidden Forest.
For even more serious offences, students may be suspended or expelled from Hogwarts. Harry Potter comes under threat of expulsion by the Ministry of Magic at the beginning of his fifth year at Hogwarts after he is detected using magic in the presence of Muggles, a serious offence among the wizarding community. The Headmaster Albus Dumbledore argues in Harry's defence, stating that the Ministry has no authority to expel students � such powers are invested in the Headmaster and the Board of Governors.
Professors seem to be able to punish students with relative impunity and can hand out detention, even for unsatisfactory grades. Enforcement of rules outside of class mainly falls to the caretaker, with the assistance of the Prefects. A student's Head of House usually has the final say in disciplinary matters.
There is some ambiguity in whether prefects can reward or punish fellow students using the point system. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, prefect Percy Weasley takes house points from Gryffindor. However, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, reference is made to the prefects' lack of this particular power when several Slytherin students are promoted to the Inquisatorial Squad, thereby receiving and broadly abusing the right to dock points. This discrepancy appeared to be a simple mistake on J.K. Rowling's part, although there are a few other theories, including that Percy was bluffing the younger students, or that prefects may take points from their own house only. Complicating the issue, the paperback editions of the later book were revised to imply that prefects are barred from taking points only from other prefects or possibly only other houses.
The school year and daily life
Enrollment and arrival
A letter is sent to the magical children in Britain during the summer of their eleventh year. If, for any reason, this letter does not reach its intended recipient, owls will continue to deliver letters until one reaches its intended recipient. Acceptance or rejection of a seat at Hogwarts must be mailed by July 31st.
The letter also contains a list of supplies, including spell books and cauldrons. The prospective student is expected to buy all the necessary materials, normally from shops in Diagon Alley, a street in a wizarding neighborhood near Charing Cross in London. However, some students appear to be given finanical aid if they don't have the any/enough wizarding currency, as was the case with young Tom Riddle. Letters to Muggle-born wizards, who may not be aware of their powers or are unfamiliar with the concealed society of witches and wizards, are delivered by special messengers who can explain the wizarding world to them.
The term begins on 1 September. Students travel to King's Cross station in London to board the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9�, arriving at Hogsmeade Station. First-year students are accompanied by the groundskeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher, currently Professor Rubeus Hagrid, to small boats, which magically sail across the Hogwarts lake. The older students travel up to the castle in carriages pulled by thestrals, magical beasts that are visible only to those who have witnessed, and come to terms with, death.
All students are to have all their required materials (such as their uniform, wand, etc.) and each student is allowed to bring one toad, cat, or owl as suggested by the supplies list. Most people bring owls because they deliver the post.
Returning students gather in the Great Hall with the Headmaster and professors to await the entrance of the first years. These new arrivals are greeted by the deputy headmaster/headmistress, who briefly explains their first encounter with magic inside the school, the Sorting. They are ushered into the Hall and undergo this ritual by donning a piece of sentient headgear called the Sorting Hat. This hat, which traditionally sings a self-composed song at each annual ceremony, examines the students (conceivably using a form of hat-initiated Legilimency) and announces to which House they are assigned. The student then seats himself/herself at one of the four House tables, and another first year puts on the Hat. Once the Sorting is complete, and the Headmaster has said a few words (in Harry's first year, these words were "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!", though they usually have more substance), the students and staff enjoy a start-of-term feast.
After dinner, the first years are led by their house's prefects to their common room, and given the password that grants access. They spend the first evening settling into their dormitories (the house elves bring up their luggage while the students are at dinner) and perhaps acquainting themselves with their dorm mates and classmates. The next day, classes begin. Timetables are handed out for each class at breakfast the next morning, and after breakfast in the Great Hall students depart for lessons.
Trials for House Quidditch teams are held shortly afterwards. First years are rarely selected to the Quidditch teams, though exceptions have been made in some cases (notably Harry Potter himself, who was appointed Seeker during his first year). First years who don't make the team, nearly all, receive flying lessons from Madam Hooch as part of their curriculum.
Terms and holidays
The school year is structured in a similar way to other, Muggle schools and colleges in the UK, with a three-term year punctuated by holidays at Christmas and Easter and bounded by the long summer vacation.
Students may go home for the Christmas holidays. The students who choose to remain do not have any classes and are present at the Christmas feast which teachers attend as well. Feasts such as this are held at the start of term, end of term, and for holidays in between, such as Halloween. The Great Hall is decorated in lavish style for Christmas, as indeed for other festivals and holidays throughout the year, such as Halloween in October. Traditionally, in the event of a Triwizard Tournament, the home school hosts a Yule Ball on Christmas Eve and in Harry's fourth year, the Tournament having been revived, Hogwarts held such a ball which was attended by a large number of students from all three competing magical academies.
In Harry's second year, Defence Against the Dark Arts tutor Gilderoy Lockhart organized a Valentine's Day celebration during the spring term. The Easter holidays are not as enjoyable as the Christmas ones, as students are overloaded with homework to prepare them for their exams, which are taken at the end of the year. Students are not allowed to use magic over the summer holidays until they turn seventeen.
Student life
The day begins at Hogwarts with breakfast in the Great Hall. There are four House tables, each with seventy students or so. At the head table, at the far end of the hall, the headmaster breakfasts with the professors. During breakfast, owls bring in mail for the students; this could be the morning issue of The Daily Prophet, letters from friends or parents, sweets from home or anything else. A bell signals the start of the first class of the morning at 9 a.m.
There are two long morning classes with a short ten minute break in between them for students to get to their next class (the castle is enormous and it is common for students, especially first years, to get lost or be late). After lunch classes resume at 1 p.m., and there is a break around teatime. First year students sometimes get Friday afternoon off. In the evening students eat their dinner in the Great Hall, after which students are expected to be in their common rooms for studying and socializing.
The food served at Hogwarts is widely considered by the student body to be extremely good. The house elves at Hogwarts are skilled chefs, and cook a wide variety of dishes for every meal, including delicious cakes, pies and �clairs (although there is some magic involved certainly, especially when cooking such large quantities). The food served at the school is fresh and grown locally � the school has vegetable patches by the greenhouses. The meats and other condiments are probably bought in Hogsmeade village, and the various dishes are prepared in the kitchens directly below the Great Hall and, at meal times, magically transported up so that they appear on gleaming platters before the students. Hogwarts food is typically British, although the school sometimes makes exceptions (during the Triwizard Tournament, foreign dishes were served in honor of the visiting schools). During formal dances such as the Yule Ball, the House tables are replaced with smaller, round tables seating about a dozen each. Beside each place setting is a small menu. To place an order, a person clearly enunciates a dish (e.g. "pork chops") to his or her plate, and the dish appears (courtesy of the house elves below). At normal meals, the usual beverages (apart from water) are tea, coffee, and pumpkin juice. Most students appear to be very fond of a drink called Butterbeer which is served in the village pubs and restaurants but not at the school. Butterbeer is sold for around two Sickles a bottle and has a negligible amount of alcohol in it, so it has no effect on students except to warm them from the inside. House elves, however, can get drunk on Butterbeer. It is generally either served cold in bottles or steaming hot in mugs ("foaming tankards of hot Butterbeer").
There is also a tower which leads to the owlery, a big circular room at the top of one of Hogwarts' many towers which houses the owls � both those belonging to the school and those belonging to students. Whenever anyone wishes to send letters or packages, they ascend to the owlery to choose an owl. Students with their own owls � which are trophies in many ways, as owls are expensive as well as useful � invariably use their own pets, and those students who do not have their own can use the ones belonging to the school.
On certain weekends, 3rd through 7th year Hogwarts students are permitted to walk to Hogsmeade village, where they can relax at the many pubs, restaurants and shops. There appears to be a good relationship between the school and the village, and the students get along well with the locals. Favorite places in Hogsmeade include Honeydukes Sweetshop, Zonko's Joke Shop (now closed), clothing stores such as Gladrags Wizardwear, a major tourist attraction called The Shrieking Shack (which is rumoured to be haunted) and the pub The Three Broomsticks. Although students under seventeen cannot take alcohol, it is possible to find places in the village to sneak a drink (most notably the Hog's Head Pub).
The students stay in their House dormitories while school is in session. In Harry's year, there are ten students from each of the four Houses, making forty students. There are five students in each dormitory; in Gryffindor House for example, the students are housed in a tower, and the dormitories are circular rooms. The large common room is on the ground floor, and has two staircases leading from it: one for the girls' dormitories and one for the boys' dormitories (indicating that the Gryffindor Tower is either magically enhanced in some way or must have a massive circumference indeed). The structure of dormitories vary from House to House, but are all very comfortable. Each student sleeps in a large four poster bed with bedcovers and heavy curtains in the House colours, and thick white pillows. There is a bedside table for each bed, and each dormitory has a jug of cool water and glasses on a tray.
In the common rooms are comfortable armchairs and sofas for the pupils, and common rooms in the towers also have window seats. There are fireplaces to keep the rooms warm, and students relax here in the evenings, or else sit at desks studying. There are notice boards in each common room too, as well as at other strategic points throughout the school. Each common room is protected by a password to keep students from other houses from entering, but mainly to protect the students from any kind of danger.
When they are not studying or visiting the village, the students usually spend their time out of doors. A favorite spot is by the lake, where groups of students can be seen relaxing under the trees or sunning themselves and chatting on the smooth green lawns. Students can also be seen lounging in the various courtyards and even on the main entrance steps. Quidditch buffs play on their brooms or practice in the stadium, and some kids spend time in the library either studying or reading.
It is also possible to obtain snacks from the kitchens. Stairs leading down from the entrance hall stop at a corridor which leads to a painting of a bowl of fruit. By tickling the pear until it giggles and turns into a door handle, one can access the kitchens. Since the kitchen is staffed by over a hundred house elves who are more than willing to provide the students with anything they would like, it is relatively easy to emerge with trays of cakes, apple pies, �clairs, scones, ice cream, doughnuts, tarts, jelly, marshmallows or just about anything else. Students often fetch food from the kitchens in the evening when a party is being thrown in their common room � parties are often held when a House team wins an Inter-House Quidditch match, and on these occasions the parties can continue till far past midnight.
Uniform
In the books, the Hogwarts uniform consists of a plain black work robe, a plain black pointed hat (which is rarely worn though), and a winter cloak with silver fastenings. In the films adaptations, beneath their open-fronted black robes with a house insignia on the chest, students typically wear school uniforms similar to those of UK public schools. This consists of a grey sweater, white collared shirt, and ties in the colours of their House. Boys wear long, dark trousers, and girls wear dark pleated skirts and knee socks. They also have scarves in house colors for winter time and quidditch matches.
History
Early history
Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by two wizards and two witches: Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. These four were among the most celebrated European wizards and witches of the age, and they personally trained all their students. As time went on Hogwarts grew in size as more and more students enrolled.
Slowly, cracks began to appear among the four professors. Salazar Slytherin wanted to admit only pure-blood students, but the other three founders disagreed. Slytherin distrusted half-bloods and Muggle-borns because of the widespread persecution of magic users at the time. Arguments broke out among the founders. Then Slytherin left the school, but not before secretly building the Chamber of Secrets. When an eventual successor, the Heir of Slytherin, returned to the school, he or she would be able to open the Chamber, unleash a horrible Basilisk, and purge the school of all non-pureblood students.
Slytherin's most famous descendant is the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort. He is also probably the only descendant of Slytherin's who succeeded in discovering The Chamber of Secrets.
Note: It may be assumed that when Hogwarts was first officially "opened", the number of students that attended may have differed slightly from "today's standards". No Houses had yet been formed in Hogwarts early days, but when they were, there would typically be 40 students in each year (5 girls and 5 boys per year in each House).
Middle history
Little information is given in the Harry Potter novels about the history of Hogwarts after its foundation, at least prior to the 1940s.
About three hundred years after the school was founded, the Triwizard Tournament began between the three most prestigious Magical schools in Europe: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. This Tournament was considered the best way for wizards of different nationalities to meet and socialize. The Tournament continued for six centuries, until the death toll became too high, and the Tournament was discontinued until 1994.
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Recent history
The existence of the school was threatened twice when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. The first time it opened was in 1942, when Tom Riddle, the Heir of Slytherin and the future Lord Voldemort, opened the Chamber in his fifth year. When a girl named Myrtle was killed, the Ministry of Magic threatened to close the school. As Riddle spent his time away from Hogwarts in a Muggle orphanage, he did not want the school closed, so he framed Rubeus Hagrid for the deed.
In 1992, the Chamber was opened by Ginny Weasley, under the influence of a diary written by Riddle (one of Lord Voldemort's horcruxes). The diary allowed Riddle's memory to possess Ginny, enabling him to act through her to open the Chamber a second time. Lucius Malfoy had secretly planted the diary in her schoolbooks, with the hope that she would be caught and held responsible, thus bringing an end to Arthur Weasley's Muggle Protection Act, as well as purging Hogwarts of non-pureblood witches and wizards. However, Harry Potter discovered the truth, destroyed the diary, and killed the basilisk that was living in the Chamber.
In 1994, the Triwizard Tournament began once more, though with several safety measures in place. However, Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Professor Alastor Moody, cunningly entered Harry Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire under the name of a nonexistent fourth school, ensuring that he would be chosen by the Goblet. He used a Confundus Charm to trick the Goblet into forgetting that only three schools could compete in the tournament. Consequently, Harry became a fourth champion, to the great disgust of the representatives for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, as well as many Hogwarts students. Crouch made sure that Harry won the Tournament, by helping Harry understand the clues given to the champions. In the last Task of the Tournament, Crouch guaranteed that Harry would reach the Cup first, by enchanting the various creatures in the maze, as well as other people. Prior to the task, Crouch had turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey, which carried Harry straight into the hands of Lord Voldemort. Harry escaped, but Voldemort succeeded in using Harry's blood in a complex spell, which allowed him to attain a bodily form and defeat some of Harry's magical protections.
Hogwarts was also threatened when the Ministry of Magic began implementing "Educational Decrees" in 1995, as part of a conspiracy to discredit Albus Dumbledore. Dolores Umbridge, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, was the centre of this plan. With the Educational Decrees, she slowly took control of Hogwarts, and eventually replaced Albus Dumbledore as headmaster. After she was attacked by Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was forced to accept that Voldemort had returned, Umbridge was removed from the school.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Albus Dumbledore was the most recent Head of Hogwarts, an elderly (he is more than 150 years old at the time of his death), white-haired gentleman and a famous wizard with a keen sense of humour and twinkling eyes. He always knew what was going on at the school and took a special interest in Harry. He carried no course load, but formerly taught Transfiguration. Dumbledore was the only wizard whom Lord Voldemort ever feared. This made the school a safe haven during Voldemort's revival. There are twelve school governors who have the power to suspend the headmaster; Lucius Malfoy was a governor until he was dismissed after blackmailing the other governors into agreeing to suspend Dumbledore.
The headmistress of Hogwarts as of the end of the sixth novel is Minerva McGonagall, in an acting capacity following the death of Dumbledore. Since Dumbledore's death in 1997, the closure of the school during the crisis has been discussed with many of the faculty adamant that it should remain open. However, the faculty agreed to follow "established procedures" and the school governors will have the final say. Readers await the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series to discover the fate of Hogwarts School.
In a 1999 interview, however, Rowling said that one of Harry's classmates would eventually become a teacher at Hogwarts ([1]); this implies that Hogwarts will remain open, or close and then reopen.
Spoilers end here.
Coat of arms
Blazon Shield renaissance, Quarterly, I gules a lion salient to sinister Or, II vert a serpent argent, III Or a badger reguardant proper, IV azure an eagle displayed Or, in fesse couped Or scroll with letter H sable, top riband for the name Hogwarts, base riband for the motto "draco dormiens nunquam titillandus".
The Hogwarts motto � Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus � means, "A Sleeping Dragon Must Never be Tickled"
Layout
Main article: Hogwarts layout
Hogwarts is an enormous castle consisting of seven main floors and six towers, in addition to courtyards, expansive dungeons and many secret rooms and passages. Besides education, it provides all the necessary facilities for food, drink, leisure, and lodging for the students, staff, and entities that reside there throughout most of the year. As the school is a focal point of ancient magical energies, and has centuries of history within it, it holds a countless variety of surprises and resources. The stories often include elements of the castle's inherent unpredictability and the many secrets hidden within it.
Hagrid's hut
Rubeus Hagrid is the groundskeeper, gamekeeper and Professor of the Care of Magical Creatures, the only teacher not to live in the castle. He lives in a small hut on the grounds, on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, with his very large black dog, Fang, who, belying his appearance, is a coward.
The Forbidden Forest
The Forbidden Forest is the forest on the ground of Hogwarts school. Though rarely referred to as the Forbidden Forest directly by any character in the books, it is referred to by this name in a chapter title in the first book in the series. In the movies it is referred to on more than one occasion as The Dark Forest. When it is discussed in the books it is usually called "the forest on the school grounds" which is "forbidden to students" owing to a variety of dangerous creatures which reside within.
Hagrid frequently travels into the forest for various reasons.
The following is an (incomplete) list of beings that inhabit the forest [3]:
Centaurs
Werewolves, according to Draco Malfoy and Argus Filch
A colony of Acromantulas, the late Aragog and his family
Grawp, (a 'small' giant, brought there by Rubeus Hagrid)
Trolls
Unicorns
Thestrals (bred by Rubeus Hagrid)
Fluffy, a three-headed dog who was released into the forest after the events of book one.
A beat-up Ford Anglia formerly owned by Arthur Weasley that had been bewitched with the ability to fly, but took on a mind of its own after Ron and Harry crashed it into the Whomping Willow. It fled into the forest, never to be seen again except on one occasion in which it helped Ron and Harry escape from a hungry bunch of giant spiders.
Greenhouses
There are at least three greenhouses where Herbology classes are held by Professor Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff house.
The Whomping Willow
The Whomping Willow is a magical tree on the Hogwarts grounds. The tree is violent, striking with its branches at those who dare approach it.
The tree was planted the year Remus Lupin (a werewolf) arrived at the school (c. 1971). Headmaster Albus Dumbledore planted the Willow to guard a secret passageway to the Shrieking Shack, a building in Hogsmeade. Lupin was smuggled to the house each month at the full moon, where he could transform into his wolf form without risking harm to others. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry and his best friend Ron Weasley flew an enchanted Ford Anglia to Hogwarts, and accidentally crashed into the Whomping Willow, causing minor damage to the tree but more significant harm to the car.
The Lake
The Lake is a lake located on the south side of the castle. The Hogwarts plumbing network drains into it. A number of magical creatures inhabit the lake, including a giant squid, often seen near the surface, a colony of Merpeople inhabiting the bottom, and a population of grindylows. It was also the temporary home of the Durmstrang ship.
The Quidditch pitch
The Quidditch pitch is where Quidditch games are held, and where teams practice. There are three golden hoops, about 50 feet high, at each end used for scoring, and stands surrounding it, providing seating for spectators. It houses the changing rooms for the four House teams and the offices of the four team captains. The referee is often Madam Hooch, the flying teacher and Quidditch coach, but Severus Snape refereed once in Harry's first year, to protect Harry from further curses by Professor Quirrell. In the fourth book it was the site of the third Triwizard Tournament task.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The White Tomb
The White Tomb is where Albus Dumbledore is buried. It lies beside the Lake, in a serene and calm inlet on a hill. It is the only location in the whole of the Hogwarts grounds where a Head is buried, giving Albus Dumbledore special distinction as, perhaps, the greatest Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Possible influences
In interviews [2] [3], Rowling has suggested that the name 'Hogwarts' derives from the hogwort plant (Croton capitatus), which she had seen at Kew Gardens some time before writing the Harry Potter books.
Rowling probably settled upon this name for its comic potential, as a rearrangement of the word warthog. She may also have been influenced by the structure of the place name Oxford (Ox-ford; Hog-warts). Rowling sought a place at Oxford University, but was rejected, in her eyes on prejudicial grounds similar to those espoused by "pure-blood" advocates at Hogwarts. Harry Potter's discovery that he is a special child, destined for a magical school, can be read as a fulfillment-in-fiction of Rowling's thwarted academic objective (it should be noted that Harry and his creator share the same birthday).
By coincidence, the name Hogwarts also features in the Molesworth books. The Hogwarts is the title of one of Molesworth's imitation Latin plays, and Hoggwart is also the name of the headmaster of Porridge Court, a rival of St. Custard's, Molesworth's terrible prep school.
It has also been suggested that Rowling may have found some inspiration from Atlantic College, a real co-educational boarding school in Britain, which is based in the medieval St Donat's Castle.
Trivia
The dinosaur Dracorex hogwartsia ("dragon king of Hogwarts"), first discovered in 2004 and officially named in 2006, was named such by young visitors to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis in reference to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
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