Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry discussion

Hogwarts

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a boarding school for young witches and wizards, located several hours north of London by train. It is over a thousand years old and was founded by Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin, after whom the school's four houses are named. The Headmaster is Professor Zosimos, and the Deputy Headmaster/mistress is Professor (currently N/A).

Hogwarts is a vast stone castle with many turrets and towers. It sits high on a cliff, overlooking the grounds, a lake and a forest. The ceiling of the Great Hall, where the students and staff gather for meals and other events, is bewitched to look like the sky outside.

Students are sorted into houses the first night they arrive at school by putting on the Sorting Hat, a bewitched hat that decides where each person is best suited. Each house at Hogwarts has a house ghost as well as dormitories and a common room. Professor (currently N/A) is the Head of Gryffindor, Professor Tomov is the Head of Slytherin, Professor (currently N/A) is the Head of Ravenclaw, and Professor (currently N/A) is the Head of Hufflepuff.

The school has a hundred and forty-two staircases, some of which lead to different places on different days. The expansive grounds, which lead to the Forbidden Forest, include Herbology greenhouses, a broom-shed and a lake as well as a Quidditch pitch. Astronomy classes takes place on the tallest tower, while the Potions classes take place deep in the cold dungeons. The halls are said to hide many secret passageways, and feature portraits that speak and move (and sometimes leave their frames to visit each other).

The four Hogwarts founders built the castle over a thousand years ago, far from Muggle eyes, and began to bring together young witches and wizards to receive a magical education.

Ghosts


Hogwarts is the most heavily haunted dwelling place in Britain (and this is against stiff competition, as there are more reported ghost sightings/sensings on these damp islands than anywhere else in the world). The castle is a congenial place for ghosts, because the living inhabitants treat their dead friends with tolerance and even affection, no matter how many times they have heard the same old reminiscences.

Each of the four Hogwarts houses has its own ghost. Slytherin boasts the Bloody Baron, who is covered in silver bloodstains. The least talkative of the house ghosts is the Grey Lady, who is long-haired and beautiful.

Hufflepuff house is haunted by the Fat Friar, who was executed because senior churchmen grew suspicious of his ability to cure the pox merely by poking peasants with a stick, and his ill-advised habit of pulling rabbits out of the communion cup. Though a genial character in general, the Fat Friar still resents the fact that he was never made a cardinal.

Gryffindor house is home to Nearly Headless Nick, who in life was Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. Something of a snob, and a less accomplished wizard than he believed, Sir Nicholas lounged around the court of Henry VII in life, until his foolish attempt to beautify a lady-in-waiting by magic caused the unfortunate woman to sprout tusks. Sir Nicholas was stripped of his wand and inexpertly executed, leaving his head hanging off by a single flap of skin and sinew. He retains a feeling of inadequacy with regard to truly headless ghosts.

Another notable Hogwarts ghost is Moaning Myrtle, who haunts an unpopular girls' toilet. Myrtle was a student at Hogwarts when she died, and she chose to return to school in perpetuity, with the short-term aim of haunting her arch-rival and bully, Olive Hornby. As the decades have rolled by, Myrtle has made a name for herself as the most miserable ghost in school, usually to be found lurking inside one of the toilets and filling the tiled space with her moans and howls.

The Bloody Baron
The Bloody Baron is the Slytherin house ghost. He has a gaunt face and blank eyes, and his robes are stained with silver blood. He is the only one at Hogwarts who can control Peeves.

The Fat Friar
The Fat Friar is the Hufflepuff house ghost.

Moaning Myrtle
Moaning Myrtle is a ghost who haunts a girls’ toilet. She is squat, with a glum face hidden behind lank hair and thick glasses. She has a habit of throwing tantrums and flooding the toilet, which has rendered it out of use all year.

Nearly Headless Nick
Nearly Headless Nick is the Gryffindor house ghost. Though he prefers to be called by his real name – Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington – everyone refers to him by his nickname, which he received due to not being beheaded properly. His ghostly head swings to the side as though on a hinge.

Peeves
Peeves is a loud and raucous poltergeist, with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth, who can turn invisible at will and likes to cause mayhem around the school. He frequently plays pranks on students and teachers. Professor Dumbledore has some influence over Peeves, but the Slytherin ghost, the Bloody Baron, is the only one who can control him.

(view spoiler)[The name 'poltergeist' is German in origin, and roughly translates as 'noisy ghost', although it is not, strictly speaking, a ghost at all. The poltergeist is an invisible entity that moves objects, slams doors and creates other audible, kinetic disturbances. It has been reported in many cultures and there is a strong association with the places where young people, especially adolescents, are living. Explanations for the phenomenon vary all the way from supernatural to scientific.

It was inevitable that, in a building bursting with teenage witches and wizards, a poltergeist would be generated; it was likewise to be expected that such a poltergeist would be noisier, more destructive and harder to expel than those that occasionally frequent Muggle houses. Sure enough, Peeves is the most notorious and troublesome poltergeist in British history. Unlike the overwhelming majority of his colleagues, Peeves has a physical form, though he is able to become invisible at will. His looks reflect his nature, which those who know him would agree is a seamless blend of humour and malice.

Peeves is well-named, for he has been a pet peeve of every Hogwarts caretaker from Hankerton Humble (appointed by the four founders) onwards. Though many students and even teachers have a somewhat perverse fondness for Peeves (he undoubtedly adds a certain zest to school life), he is incurably disruptive, and it generally falls to the caretaker of the day to clean up his many deliberate messes: vases smashed, potions upended, bookcases toppled and so on. Those with weak nerves deplore Peeves' fondness for suddenly materialising an inch from the end of their noses, hiding in suits of armour or dropping solid objects on their heads as they move between classes.

Several concerted efforts to remove Peeves from the castle have resulted in failure. The last and most disastrous was made in 1876 by caretaker Rancorous Carpe, who devised an elaborate trap, baited with an assortment of weapons he believed would be irresistible to Peeves, and a vast enchanted bell jar, reinforced by various Containment Charms, which he intended to drop over the poltergeist once he was in place. Not only did Peeves break easily through the giant bell jar, showering an entire corridor with broken glass, he also escaped the trap armed with several cutlasses, crossbows, a blunderbuss and a miniature cannon. The castle was evacuated while Peeves amused himself by firing randomly out of the windows and threatening all and sundry with death. A three-day standoff was ended when the Headmistress of the day, Eupraxia Mole, agreed to sign a contract allowing Peeves additional privileges, such as a once-weekly swim in the boys' toilets on the ground floor, first refusal on stale bread from the kitchen for throwing purposes, and a new hat – to be custom-made by Madame Bonhabille of Paris. Rancorous Carpe took early retirement for health reasons, and no subsequent attempt has ever been made to rid the castle of its most ill-disciplined inhabitant.

Peeves does recognise authority of a sort. Though generally unimpressed by titles and badges, he is generally amenable to the strictures of the teachers, agreeing to stay out of their classrooms while they teach. He has also been known to show an affinity for rare students (notably Fred and George Weasley), and is certainly afraid of the ghost of Slytherin, the Bloody Baron. (hide spoiler)]

Professor Binns
Professor Binns teaches History of Magic at Hogwarts. He is the only teacher who is also a ghost: he fell asleep in front of the staff room fire one night and rose the next morning to teach, leaving his body behind.

(view spoiler)[Professor Binns' class is considered to be the most boring at Hogwarts. He is very knowledgeable about the history of Hogwarts and dislikes legends and fables, preferring to deal with facts (hide spoiler)]

Locations at Hogwarts

The Library
The Hogwarts library, overseen by the librarian (currently N/A), holds hundreds of narrow rows full of books on magic. The library’s Restricted Section contains books on advanced or dangerous magic. The Restricted Section is an area located at the back of the Hogwarts library. Separated by a rope, students need a signed note from a teacher to take books out of the Restricted Section. It contains information on powerful dark magic (usually only consulted by older students working on advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts work).

Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom
Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom is above the Great Hall. Myrtle is a ghost who haunts the toilet, frequently flooding it when she has bursts of emotion. It is very gloomy, with cracked and spotty mirrors and chipped, stone sinks. The doors to the cubicles are flaking and scratched, and the damp floor is only dully reflected by stubs of candles.