Hogwarts Restricted Section

> Harry wandered over to the Restricted Section... you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and he knew he'd never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts, and only read by older students studying advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts.
>
> Description, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

The **Restricted Section** was an area in the Hogwarts Library, closed off by a rope. Books in this section might have been rare, valuable, and/or considered inappropriate for younger students, thus why it was restricted.

### Location

First floor, Hogwarts Library, Hogwarts Castle, Scotland, Great Britain

Students might only check out a book from this section if they had a note of permission from a teacher. The librarian would then retrieve the book for the student.

## History

### Early known history

The Restricted Section used to have books about Horcruxes, including *Secrets of the Darkest Art*. However by Tom Riddle's time at the school in the 1940s, it was a banned subject and Albus Dumbledore was very strict about it. He eventually had every book about Horcruxes taken out of the section at an unknown date, before June ***1997***. It was later suspected that Riddle found the method to make a Horcrux in the book before Dumbledore removed it from the library.

### 1980s

In the ***1987–1988 school year***, ***Rita Skeeter*** and Jacob's sibling entered the Restricted Section. During the meeting, Rita shared her view towards the Restricted Section, believing it was nothing less than a repository for Dark Magic, going as far as saying that it might as well just have been called an armoury, given the number of tomes that would have potentially catastrophic consequences should they fall into the wrong hands.

### 1990s

> The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Stepping carefully over the rope that separated these books from the rest of the library, he held up his lamp to read the titles.
>
> Harry wanders into the Restricted Section, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

 File:Library book PS.gif
During the 1991–1992 school year, Harry Potter used his newly-acquired Invisibility cloak to sneak into the Restricted Section during the Christmas holidays. He went at night in order to look for information on Nicolas Flamel, in order to discover Flamel's connection to the Philosopher's Stone. Unfortunately, he picked up a large black book near the bottom of the shelf that began screaming when he opened it. Worried that he would attract unwanted attention, Harry closed the book and ran out of the library.
During the 1992–1993 school year, Hermione Granger entered the Restricted Section using an autograph from Gilderoy Lockhart, who was the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor that year, though the librarian Madam Pince made extra sure of the note, as though suspecting forgery. Inside, she found ***Moste Potente Potions***, which contained instructions on brewing Polyjuice Potion. Hermione subsequently made the advanced Potion, facilitating Harry and Ron Weasley disguising themselves as ***Gregory Goyle*** and ***Vincent Crabbe*** and entering the Slytherin Dungeon to question Draco Malfoy about the Heir of Slytherin.
During ***1994–1995 school year***, Harry Potter received Minerva McGonagall's permission to enter the Restricted Section so he could research a way about being able to breathe underwater for an hour to compete in the second task of the ***Triwizard Tournament***, but was unable to find anything useful from any of the books.
By the ***1996–1997 school year***, according to Hermione Granger, she had *"been right through the restricted section"* in the hopes of looking for information on Horcruxes, but not finding much on the subject matter.

## Known books

Moste Potente Potions.jpg*Moste Potente Potions*Secrets of the Darkest Art.jpg*Secrets of the Darkest Art*Library book PS.gifShrieking book
* ***Famous Fire-Eaters***
* ***Fifteenth-Century Fiends***

## Behind the scenes

* Tom Riddle, obsessed with immortality even as a student, may have went into the Restricted Section to research any possibility of achieving such a feat. The section had a book once, the *Secrets of the Darkest Art*, about the concept and creation of Horcruxes. However, if he had searched in the section, he could not have found any documents on the possibility of creating more than one Horcrux, as no wizard in history before him had even attempted such a feat.
	+ Dumbledore thought he feigned a lack of understanding about Horcruxes when he asked ***Horace Slughorn*** for an opinion on the matter. However, the school had banned the subject of Horcruxes by then and Dumbledore was very strict about it. He eventually removed every book that had information on Horcruxes but it's unknown when. It may be because of Riddle but it's unconfirmed. These books were kept in his office until Hermione Granger took the books when she tried a simple Summoning Charm after he was killed.
* The ***Astronomy Tower*** and the chamber where the Mirror of Erised is stored are located behind the Restricted Section. Argus Filch and his cat Mrs Norris guard the section.
* In Template:COS, the ***Moste Potente Potions*** book was found in the regular section of the library, rather than requiring Lockhart's permission for the Restricted Section.
* In the book, The Restricted Section is mentioned to be separated from the main library by a rope. In the film adaptation, however, there are two gated doors as an entrance.
* Fans have theorised about the possibility that after students reach a certain age, they no longer need a signed note to access the Restricted Section, basing on the notion that Hermione claimed to have gone through the Restricted Section when researching about Horcruxes, and that "it is unlikely any professor would give her a note to research a banned subject at Hogwarts," hence "it is likely she didn't need one".

## Appearances

* Template:PS Template:1st
* Template:COS Template:Mention
* Template:HBP Template:Mention
* Template:PM
* Template:TCG
* Template:WBS Template:Mention
* Template:HM
* Template:MA Template:Mention
* Template:HL

## Notes and references

Template:Reflist
Template:Hogwarts Number-First Floor

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Template:PS - Chapter 22 (*Cloaked in Darkness*)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Template:HBP
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Template:DH
4. ↑ Template:HM
5. ↑ Template:PS
6. ↑ Template:COS
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 In Template:HBP, Dumbledore *thought* that Tom knew how to create Horcruxes, but that he just wanted to know whether it was possible to create seven because "no book could have given him that information". In Template:DH, Hermione had taken books about Horcruxes that Dumbledore "removed", and that she would "bet Voldemort got all the instruction he needed from here". Harry agreed that it "could" be "where he got the information".
8. ↑ Template:HBP - "a banned subject at Hogwarts, you know ... Dumbledore's particularly fierce about it ..."