An Gryffindor Tower

> Once you’ve arrived inside Gryffindor Tower, come inside and be welcomed by the roaring fire, stuffed armchairs, and the great view we have from our windows. Our dormitories are reached by climbing the winding mahogany staircase, decorated with crimson and gold. As I said, there's plenty of gold around the tower. Our four-posters are covered with thick scarlet blankets (we have quite windy nights up in the towers) and are embroidered with gold. Gold chandeliers cast warm glows all around.
>
> Description of the tower

**Gryffindor Tower**, which consisted of the Gryffindor common room and the dormitories, served as the living quarters for students in Gryffindor House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

## Location Known Information

### Location

Hogwarts Castle, Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

### Residents

* Current Gryffindor Students
* Valeria Myriadd's portrait (1991–1992)
* ***Oraclitus Spheer'***s portraits (1992–1993)

### Affiliation

* Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
	+ Gryffindor

### Owner

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

In general, it sported several shades of red and gold. The fireplace mantle was adorned with a portrait of a lion (associated with the house). Gryffindor Tower was one of the three tallest towers of Hogwarts Castle, alongside Ravenclaw Tower and the Astronomy Tower.

## Entrance

The entrance to the Gryffindor common room was concealed under the portrait of the ***Fat Lady***, on the lavish Gryffindor Landing.
To enter one had to present the Fat Lady with the correct password of the week. However, getting the password wrong meant the student would have to wait the day for another student to come by and pass them the code.

## Common room

Main article: Gryffindor common room

> ...the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it — and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cosy, round room full of squashy armchairs.
>
> Description of the common room, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

The common room was a circular room where Gryffindor students could relax after a long day of studying. It was full of squashy armchairs, tables, and a bulletin board where school notices, ads, lost posters, etc. could be posted. The common room was decorated in several shades of red, which was associated with the house. The common room was comfortable, but seem not more comfortable than the Hufflepuff basement.
There were many windows that looked out onto the grounds of the school, and a large fireplace dominated one wall. The mantle of the fireplace was adorned with a portrait of a lion. The fireplace was also connected to the ***Floo Network***, but as it was extremely public except in the dead of night.The walls were decorated with scarlet tapestries that depicted witches and wizards, but also various animals. There were also bookcases located in the room, filled with various novels.

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

## Dormitories

The Gryffindor dormitories were also located in the Tower, with two doors leading off from the common room that open to spiral staircases. There were two staircases opening off the common room into the Tower itself: the boys' staircase on which the seven boys' dormitories were located (one for each year) and the girls' staircase, on which the seven girls' dormitories were located (one for each year).

The girls' staircase was under a ***Charm*** so that if a boy set foot on it and persisted for a few steps, a wailing klaxon went off and the staircase temporarily turned itself ***into a stone slide***, sending him and anyone else on the stairs sailing to the bottom. According to *Hogwarts: A History*, the founders believed that girls were more trustworthy than boys, so that while the girls’ staircase was enchanted to prevent boys from getting in, the boys’ staircase did not carry a reciprocal enchantment. Hermione Granger went into the boys' room on several occasions. This also allowed a possessed Ginny Weasley to sneak in and steal Tom Riddle's diary.
Each dormitory was a round room with windows looking out onto the grounds, and containing four-poster beds.

## See also

* Hufflepuff Basement
* Ravenclaw Tower
* Slytherin Dungeon

## Behind the scenes

* The Gryffindor common room as seen in the films differs slightly from its description in the books in that it is not a perfect circle, and that both the boys' and girls' dormitories are accessed via the same staircase: boys on the left, girls on the right.
* In *The Film Adaptation* of *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire* (film), one of the portraits on the wall of the common room is of a young Minerva McGonagall.
* When Ron Weasley and ***Lavender Brown*** began dating, one chapter which described them as being "in a prominent corner of the common room". However, the common room is circular. It is possible that there are nooks or alcoves in various areas around the wall.
* The ***charm*** used to make the girls' dormitory stairs into a slide may be the ***Glisseo*** charm. It is never stated if similar enchantments are placed on the entrances to the girls' domitories in other houses, but is highly likely, as Hermione identifies the founders collectively as the ones responsible for the charm.
* In the Gryffindor Tower leads to the Entrance Hall, ***Charms Corridor***, *Upper Castle*, a side-room behind a bookcase and the ***Great Foyer***/***First Floor East Wing***, it is also located next to the ***Rear Hall*** in the 1992–1993 school year.
* In the film adaptation of *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone (film)*, the entrance is on one end of a hallway. Whereas, it is located on the seventh floor of the ***Grand Staircase Tower***. As the shape of the common room doesn't change, one explanation of this change of location may be that these particular stairs were not there in the first movie, and were built to replace the corridor during the summer of 1992, before Harry's third year started.

* In the film adaptations *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* and **Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire**, we can see the Gryffindor Boys' Dormitory is shown to be located in a small tower (see above) at one corner of the ***Paved Courtyard*** close to the ***Clock Tower***. This is consistent with the ***Fat Lady***'s location in *Philosopher's Stone*, but it is inconsistent with ***Fat Lady***'s location in the third film and fifth and sixth video games (in the ***Grand Staircase Tower***). One possible explanation is that the ***portrait*** is a secret passageway or shortcut which connects the two areas of the castle.
* In of *The Film Adaptation* of *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* (film), Harry and Ginny have their first kiss in the ***Room of Requirement*** instead of the Gryffindor common room, due to the Quidditch match and Harry's detention with Snape being cut.
* Gryffindor is the only common room whose guardian/entrance is known to have changed at some point, the Fat Lady being replaced by ***Sir Cadogan***.

## Appearances

* *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) (First Entire Appearance)
* *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* (film)

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter 7
2. ↑ Transcription of new Pottermore information
3. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire* (film)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* (film)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* (film)
6. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* (film)
7. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 13
8. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 17
9. ↑ *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter 9
10. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 5

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