Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

"*The finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world.*"
— Rubeus Hagrid's praising of Hogwarts

**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**, often shortened to **Hogwarts,** was the British wizarding school, located in the Scottish Highlands. It accepted magical students from Great Britain and Ireland for enrolment. It was a state-owned school, funded by the Ministry of Magic.

The precise location of the school could never be uncovered because it was rendered Unplottable. To Muggles, the school appeared to be an old, abandoned castle. Similarly, most wizarding schools' locations were protected in order to prevent their ways of teaching being revealed, as well as protect the students and schools themselves from any harm.

Established around the 10th century, Hogwarts was considered to be one of the finest magical institutions in the wizarding world, though other notable schools included Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in France, the Durmstrang Institute implied to be in northern Europe, and Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the United States. Children with magical abilities were enrolled at birth, and acceptance was confirmed by owl post at age eleven. However, if the child in question was a Muggle-born or a half-blood with no knowledge of the wizarding world, a staff member from the school visited the child and his or her family in order to inform them of their magical heritage and the existence of the wizarding world.

The school's motto was *Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (Draco Dormiens Nvnqvam Titillandvs)*, which, translated from Latin, means "Never tickle a sleeping dragon".

## Description

Hogwarts School, located somewhere in the Highlands of Scotland, consisted of the large Hogwarts Castle and extensive school grounds surrounding it, which included sloping lawns, flowerbeds, vegetable patches, as well as a loch (called the Black Lake), a large dense forest (called the Forbidden Forest), several greenhouses and other outbuildings, and a full-size Quidditch Pitch. One of the castle's towers held an owlery, which housed all the owls owned by the school and by students.

The castle was set upon huge rocks above the Black Lake. Its three highest towers were the Astronomy, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor Towers. The castle's 142 staircases were known to change position. The castle was known for its many updates and changes in layout throughout the years.It should be noted that some rooms in the school tended to "move around", as did the steps on the Grand Staircase. Albus Dumbledore once noted that even he did not know all of Hogwarts' secrets. The castle had been around for centuries, and consequently had a long history of ancient magic.

The school had numerous charms and spells on and around it that made it impossible for a Muggle to see it as the school; rather, they saw only ruins and several warnings of danger. Witches and wizards could not Apparate or Disapparate in Hogwarts grounds, except for when the Headmaster lifted the enchantment, whether only in certain areas or for the entire campus, so as to make the school less vulnerable when it served the headmaster to allow Apparition. Electricity and electronic devices were not found at Hogwarts. Due to the high levels of magic, Muggle substitutes for magic, such as computers, radar and electricity, "went haywire" around Hogwarts. Radios, however, were an exception as they were not powered by electricity, but by magic.

## History

### Early history

"*We'll teach just those whose ancestry's purest.*"
— Professor Slytherin's opinion on the running of Hogwarts

Hogwarts was founded around 990 A.D. by four of the greatest wizards and witches of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They each represented an aspect of personality that they wanted to bring out in new students. They also placed certain protective enchantments in place to ensure the well-being of their students, for which reason the castle and grounds had both always been protected with Anti-Apparition Charms. Although the four founders cooperated well for a time, however, shortly after founding the school, Slytherin had a falling out with the other founders about blood purity, and wanted to admit only pure-blood students. He felt pure-blooded students deserved to learn magic, and those of other ancestry such as Muggle-borns and half-bloods, were unworthy. The other three founders all disagreed, especially Gryffindor. Slytherin left the school, but not before secretly building the Chamber of Secrets. He foretold that only his own heiress would be able to open it once they arrived at the school, and the heir would unleash a murderous basilisk living inside to purge the school of all Muggle-born students.

### Middle history

About three hundred years after the school was founded, the Triwizard Tournament was established as an interscholastic competition between three of the most prestigious magical schools in Europe: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons (France), and Durmstrang (An undetermined Northern European country). This tournament was considered the best way for wizards and witches of different nationalities to meet and socialise. The tournament continued for six centuries, until the death toll became too high. The tournament was discontinued until 1994.

During the 1700s, there was a proposal to install an elaborate plumbing system in the castle. This threatened the secrecy of the Chamber of Secrets, forcing Corvinus Gaunt, a Slytherin student, descendant of Salazar Slytherin and Parselmouth, to protect the entrance to the Chamber by having it concealed behind plumbing fixtures and sinks in second floor girls' bathroom, so only future heirs of Slytherin would know how to open the Chamber.