Gryffindor Common Room

> 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, Pottermore

The **Gryffindor common room** served as a common room for Gryffindor House at 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) and the room was described as being 'cosy'.

### Location

Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts Castle, Highlands,Scotland, Great Britain

## Entrance

 File:Fat Lady portrait.jpg  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.

## Description

> ...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

 File:Gryffindor common room HL.webp  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 common room.

 File:GryffindorCommonRoom PM.jpg  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 and there were various books on the mantle. 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 and forms of literature.

 File:GryffindorCommonRoom1 PM.jpg  The common room was usually where celebration parties were held after Gryffindor Quidditch victories, or when Harry Potter completed the first 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.

## Known passwords

* *Balderdash* (1994–95)
* ***Banana** Fritters* (1994–95)
* ***Baubles*** (1996–97)
* *Caput Draconis* (Latin for "***dragon**'s head*") (1991–92)
* *Dilligrout* (1996–97)
* *Fairy Lights* (1994-95)
* *Flibbertigibbet* (1993–94)
* *Fortuna Major* (Latin for "*greater fortune*") (1993–94)
* *Oddsbodikins* (1993–94)
* ***Pig** Snout* (1991–92)
* *Quid Agis?* (Latin for "*What are you doing?*") (1996–97)
* *Scurvy Cur* (1993–94)
* *Tapeworm* (1996–97)
* *Wattlebird* (1992–93)

## Behind the scenes

* 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.
* In the common room's position in the back right of the Quad, the window to the left of the fireplace does not fit with the shape of the exterior model of the castle. In order for the window to view the outside, the common room would have to be pushed further out from the Quad so that nearly the entire room would stick out, while the exterior model only sticks out several feet from the rest of the building.
* In the Template:GOF, 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 of Template:HBP 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 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 Template:HBP, 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. File:PM BlueMonday chair in Gryffindor common room.png
* "A comfy chair in the Gryffindor common room" was one out of the thirty-two options generated by an old feature on Template:PM, "Wonderful wizarding world happiness generator", which was about things that could cast away the Blue Monday blues.
	+ The description was "Gryffindor common room always sounded like a cosy place full of squishy arm chairs. Sink into one and it'll be like January isn't happening".

## Appearances

Template:Imagecat

* *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (film) (First appearance)
* *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film)
* Template:POA
* Template:GOF
* Template:OOTP
* Template:HBP

## Notes and references

Template:Hogwarts Seventh Floor

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 , Chapter 7 (*The Sorting Hat*)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Template:PM - Pottermore introductions to Hogwarts Houses
3. ↑ J.K. Rowling's Pottermore releases backstories & history of four Hogwarts Houses from Snitchseeker.com (via Internet Archive)
4. ↑ Template:GOF
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Template:HBP Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "HBP24" defined multiple times with different content
6. ↑ Template:POA
7. ↑ Template:POA
8. ↑ Template:HBP
9. ↑ Template:GOF
10. ↑ Template:GOF
11. ↑ Template:HBP
12. ↑ Template:HBP
13. ↑ Template:GOF
14. ↑ Template:POA
15. ↑ Template:POA
16. ↑ Template:OOTP
17. ↑ Template:POA
18. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (film), Chapter 9
19. ↑ Template:POA
20. ↑ Template:HBP
21. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 5
22. ↑ Features: "Wonderful wizarding world happiness generator" at Template:PM (archived)
23. ↑ *"Introducing our 'Wonderful wizarding world happiness generator', which is ready and waiting to cast away those #BlueMonday blues. Click here to receive your very own piece of wizarding world happiness, and let us know what you got… pottermo.re/Happiness"* - @pottermore on Twitter and Facebook
24. ↑ Image by @littleblackb1rd on Twitter