Discipline At Hogwarts

**Rubeus Hagrid**: "*Yeh've done wrong and now yeh've got ter pay for it.*"
**Draco Malfoy**: But this is servant's stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something. If my father knew I was doing this, he'd--
**Rubeus Hagrid**: "*--tell yer that's how it's done at Hogwarts. Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone?*"
— Rubeus Hagrid to Draco Malfoy on Hogwarts discipline[src]
In Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the many underage wizards and witches were kept under control by the teachers through the many **rules** set there. Any miscreants were usually punished by the teachers or the ***Ministry of Magic***, and the form of punishment depended on the severity of the mischief. These punishments could also be used in combination as the ones who handed them out saw fit.

## Types of discipline

### Confiscation of possessions

> Hold it!... Fanged Frisbees are banned, hand it over.
>
> Hermione Granger to a passing fourth-year, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The caretaker, prefects and teachers could confiscate students' possessions when they were on the list of prohibited objects, or they believed they may be dangerous. In at least one instance this was done as a punishment. In Harry's ***third year***, Professor McGonagall confiscated his ***Firebolt***, because she believed that Sirius Black sent it with a jinx or hex to harm him. She returned it to him intact after ***stripping it down*** to search for any jinxes or hexes.

### House point deduction

> While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points.
>
> Minerva McGonagall, *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*

 File:Hourglasses.jpg  This was one of the most common forms of punishment in Hogwarts. Students who performed well in class were awarded points for their house, and the house that had the most points at the end of the school year would be awarded the House Cup. However, when a student had committed some minor mischief, they would usually lose House points. As the House Cup competition was a sign of pride for each House, losing points would set them back from winning that pride. This form of punishment could seem a little unfair, as one student could drag the entire House down with them. However, this also showed why this form of discipline was so effective - peer pressure to behave.

All teachers, prefects, and the Head Boy and Girl had the authority to dock House points from students. However, prefects had no authority to dock points from other prefects. During the reign of the ***Inquisitorial Squad***, the members were given special permission to dock points from anyone they desired, even prefects.

Strict disciplinarians, such as Professor McGonagall, had no qualms about deducting points from their own House, if they believed such action was warranted. Other teachers, such as Professor Snape, were biased toward their own House.

### Detention

> Ah, here's the scalawag! Come in, Harry, come in — You can address the envelopes!
>
> Gilderoy Lockhart to Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Such examples could include doing something dangerous (such as entering the ***Forbidden Forest*** to help Rubeus Hagrid) or doing physical labour and other tasks without magic. Hagrid believed that simply writing lines was not enough to instil the lesson in the offending student.

When Gilderoy Lockhart was a professor, he requested Harry Potter to assist him in answering his fan mail, and considered this to be a treat for the boy that he should not be expecting for any other detention he could receive. Contrary to Lockhart's misguided belief, Harry found the detention to be dull and irritating, his hands aching from having been so redundant in writing answers for fans while having to endure Lockhart's constant bombardment of unsolicited advices to fame. Indeed, Gilderoy's choice of detention was more to show off his fan mail to Harry, because Hagrid told him that Harry was more famous than him without needing to try, so Gilderoy turned this detention into a chance to brag about his fame.

Snape was known to give harsh and demoralising detentions to students. This included having Ron clean the Hospital Wing's bedpans without the use of magic, having the latter and Harry pickle rats' brains in the dungeon, and forcing Neville Longbottom to disembowel a barrel-ful of horned toads, causing him to almost faint afterwards out of nervousness and sickness.

As Umbridge was restrained by the laws of the wizarding world (though the actual legality of her actions at the time is unclear), her punishments paled in comparison to those of the ***Carrows*** during Lord Voldemort's reign. This included torture and physical punishment, such as the use of the Cruciatus Curse on students, or shackling them to the dungeons.

Prefects may also have been able to place fellow students in detention. Ron once threatened ***Seamus Finnigan*** with this punishment when he questioned Harry's sanity, and the twins Fred and George Weasley once suggested that Hermione might do this to them.

When Harry unintentionally injured Draco with the ***Sectumsempra*** curse, Professor Snape gave him detention for every Saturday morning until the end of term. Professor McGonagall considered detentions of even such magnitude to be a very lenient punishment for such a heinous act (despite Harry's lack of knowledge of the curse's effects beforehand) as Harry could have easily been expelled for bringing harm to another student (in spite of the fact that Draco attacked first, and was about to use the Cruciatus Curse on Harry).

### Removal of privileges

In Harry's second year, Snape suggested suspending Harry from Quidditch during the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, but Professor McGonagall rejected that. Three years later, Professor McGonagall threatened ***Angelina Johnson*** with the loss of her position as Captain of the team if she shouted loudly again in the Great Hall. Later that year, when Harry and George Weasley attacked Draco Malfoy for insulting their families, Umbridge stripped them of their privilege to play Quidditch and confiscated their broomsticks. Fred Weasley also lost his permission because he would have attacked Malfoy too, if Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet had not restrained him. Although Fred and George retrieved their brooms and escaped Hogwarts,

### Parent or guardian notification

> I've had more owls from Hogwarts about [Fred and George] than the rest put together.
>
> Molly Weasley, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)

 File:Howler WB F2 HowlerCloseUpPromo Promo 100615 Land.jpg  Serious offences, or perhaps repeat offences, warranted sending a letter to the family of the student in addition to other punishments.

In some cases the reply from the family was a Howler (a red envelope that would burst into flames and spoke its message in a highly-magnified voice of the writer) sent to the offending student, which was especially embarrassing if it arrived in front of other students.

In Harry's and Ron's second year, the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, wrote to both their families regarding them operating a flying car that was seen by ***Muggles***, in violation of The ***International Statute of Secrecy***. While Harry saw this as nothing, since his ***legal guardians*** would only be disappointed that he was not killed by the incident, Ron's mother sent him a Howler.

### Suspension

> ...he should be suspended, at the very least, for leading his friends into such danger.
>
> Severus Snape, about the Encounter at the Shrieking Shack, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)

To be suspended from school was to be removed from participation in school life for a certain amount of time. Although this practice was not very usual, some professors, like Severus Snape, frequently suggested that Harry Potter be suspended for reasons that they thought were justified.

### Expulsion

> Be warned, Potter, any more nighttime wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled.
>
> One of Severus Snape's many threats to Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

 File:Order Of The Phoenix Howler.png  Expulsion from Hogwarts was the final and worst punishment given to a student. The rule-breaking they committed was usually severe enough to have injured others. The student would be removed permanently from school, and the ***Ministry of Magic*** would confiscate one's wand and destroy it. From that point on, the youth in question would be forbidden from practising any more magic. Exceptions to this were made in cases where the expulsion occurred after they had taken their O.W.L. examinations and there was no apparent malicious intent involved in the misdeed, in which case the offender could be deemed old enough to learn from their mistakes and sufficiently skilled to still function as law abiding citizen, as was the case with ***Newt Scamander*** when he accidentally "*endangered another human life with a **beast***", and was permitted to keep his wand and allowed to continue to use magic. However, this luxury was not given to everyone, as another student that was later expelled, ***Jacob***, was eligible to have his wand snapped in two despite being of age at the time of his expulsion after "admitting" to Ministry officials that he was guilty of pressuring his ***classmate*** into reckless experimenting with a ***dangerous potion*** that ended up killing him.

There were other reasons for expulsion. Under the ***International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy*** and ***Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery***, for underage wizards and witches, if they performed magic outside of school, especially in front of ***Muggles***, they were given one warning letter. A second offence may result in a disciplinary hearing or expulsion. There were exceptions, though: if the situation was serious enough to threaten the student in question or anyone within the vicinity, or if granted permission by a high-authority figure, he or she had permission to perform magic.

The Ministry did not have the authority to punish students for misdemeanours within school unless it directly transgressed any Educational Decrees, nor could it expel any students and confiscate wands unless charges were successfully proven.

Rubeus Hagrid was expelled, in his third year, for a crime that he did not commit (he was framed by Tom Riddle). Over fifty years later, his name was cleared by Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who uncovered the whole truth about the Chamber of Secrets. However, his access to the privileges of practising magic and receiving magical education were not restored.

Harry Potter was many times close to being expelled, mainly by Professors Severus Snape and ***Dolores Umbridge***. However, thanks to quick thinking and help from fairer teachers, he was saved from these situations. Once, when Harry produced a Patronus out of school, ***to save his life*** and that of his cousin, ***Dudley Dursley***, from a pair of ***Dementors*** sent by Umbridge, Harry received an expulsion notice for performing underage magic, and in front of a Muggle, stating that his wand would be confiscated and destroyed. However, this expulsion was later retracted and changed to a ***disciplinary hearing***, at which Harry was found not guilty. In 1996, Harry came within an ace of being expelled for forming ***Dumbledore's Army*** without the High Inquisitor's permission, in violation of Educational Decree 24; Dumbledore used the group's name to take credit for its founding, thus saving Harry from expulsion When Harry critically injured Draco Malfoy with the ***Sectumsempra*** curse, it was actually enough to have him expelled, as Professor Minerva McGonagall stated Harry was lucky not to have been, due to Snape giving lenience to prevent others from finding out that he was the one who invented the curse (Despite the fact Draco attacked first and nearly used the Cruciatus curse on Harry.)

Draco Malfoy once risked his own expulsion when he made a botched ***attempt*** at killing Dumbledore, in which he inflicted a severe injury upon ***Katie Bell*** instead. Snape warned him he was already suspected of being responsible for the incident, and only lack of evidence saved him from expulsion. Later however, Dumbledore confirmed that he allowed Draco to remain at Hogwarts to keep him safe from Lord Voldemort's wrath, despite knowing he nearly killed both Katie and Ron Weasley. Draco was allowed to remain a student at Hogwarts partly because neither Ronald nor Katie suffered any lasting injury.

## Other forms of discipline

At various times, a number of other types of punishments, often immoral, were employed at Hogwarts. Argus Filch stated that it was "*a pity they let the old punishments die out*", such as hanging students from their thumbs and or wrists for a few days.

### Transfiguration

**Minerva McGonagall**: "*Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment! Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?*"
Bartemius Crouch Junior (as Alastor Moody)
**He might’ve mentioned it, yeah, but I thought a good sharp shock —**: "*We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender’s Head of House!*"
— Minerva McGonagall informing Barty Crouch Junior (disguised as Alastor Moody) about the correct disciplinary procedures at Hogwarts[src]
***Bartemius Crouch Junior***, ***impersonating*** ***Alastor Moody***, once ***transfigured*** Draco Malfoy into a ***ferret***, though the transfiguration was quickly ***undone*** by Minerva McGonagall, who warned him that "*We never use transfiguration as a punishment.*"

### Corporal punishment

> Approval for Whipping... Approval for Whipping... I can do it at last... they've had it coming to them for years...
>
> Argus Filch, overjoyed at the idea of being allowed to whip Fred and George Weasley, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)

By the time Harry had arrived at Hogwarts, when Albus Dumbledore was headmaster, inflicting pain on students was not authorised. Upon seeing Dolores Umbridge shake ***Marietta Edgecombe*** very hard, he was visibly angry and magically forced Umbridge to release her saying, "*I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores.*" Immediately thereafter, Fudge threatened him with arrest, forcing him to depart his office (and likely the school) temporarily.

In his first year, after he had made unauthorised use of a broomstick to retrieve Neville's ***Remembrall***, Harry feared that Professor McGonagall would use a cane to discipline him, due to his confusion about the surname of Gryffindor Quidditch captain, ***Oliver Wood***. Caning students on the palm of the hands or bottom was permitted in Muggle private schools until 1996, although as a free, state funded school, it likely became illegal under Muggle law at Hogwarts in 1986. It is unclear whether the cane was ever used at Hogwarts, although in wizarding family life similar forms of discipline were used, as Ron recalls Mrs Weasley "walloping" his brother with her broomstick as punishment.

Previously, some of Umbridge's detentions had students write lines with a blood quill that cut the back of their own hand and used their blood as ink. Upon discovering Harry was being subjected to this, Ron said, "Go to McGonagall, say something!" but Harry did not. Lee Jordan also experienced the blood quill after angering Umbridge. It is unknown if this punishment was brought to the attention of a Head of House or the Headmaster.

Soon thereafter, Argus Filch was seen entering Umbridge's office to get forms to ***allow him*** to administer ***whipping*** as a punishment. Filch attempted to administer this punishment on Fred and George Weasley, but they flew away before he could do so. He later prowled the corridors of the school with his whip in hand, but there were so many miscreants that he did not know which way to turn, so it is uncertain if he was able to ever administer this punishment. Educational Decree 29 would have possibly allowed even more gruesome punishments, but it was never actually passed. Upon Umbridge's removal and Dumbledore's return, these punishments or threats of punishments ceased.

## Disciplinary authority

Discipline at Hogwarts was enforced by a variety of people. Depending on their position within the hierarchy, they could hand out different kinds of punishment.

* Prefects could dock house points from all students except other prefects and the Head Boy or Head Girl. According to Hermione Granger, a prefect could also give students detention.
* The Head Boy and Head Girl had the same powers as prefects, but in addition they could dock points from prefects.

* The ***Inquisitorial Squad***, formed by Dolores Umbridge during the ***1995–1996 school year***, had the right to hand out punishments to any other students, including prefects, putting them seemingly on par with the Head Boy and Head Girl.

* Non-teaching members of the faculty, such as the caretaker, the librarian and the matron, had the power to give and dock house points, and could suggest that teachers, Heads of House, or the headteacher give students detention, be it verbally or by way of using a form. Though they could not themselves hand out detention like a teacher could, they could be charged with overseeing a detention. As a part of the school faculty, they presumably outranked the Head Boy/Girl and the prefects, even though they could not give detention whereas prefects could.
* All Hogwarts teachers could deduct house points from students, and could give any student detention.
* Additionally, Heads of House could revoke privileges from or suspend students of their house, or propose they be expelled.
* During the ***1997–1998 school year***, ***Amycus Carrow*** and ***Alecto Carrow*** were put in charge of all discipline. However, unlike High Inquisitor Umbridge during the 1995-1996 year, they were never implied to have outranked the headteacher.
* The headteacher naturally had the highest level of disciplinary authority: (s)he could use all of the authorised punishments listed above, but could also revoke any punishment handed out (with the likely exception of those handed out by the High Inquisitor during the period that Educational Decree Number 25 was in effect). Apparently, any expulsion needed to be confirmed by the head before the student got expelled, and the head also had the power to revoke the expulsion after the fact if he or she had reason to believe there were mitigating circumstances previously unknown to them, or that there otherwise were not grounds for an expulsion/that they made a bad decision.

The ***Ministry of Magic*** had no right to punish students for their wrongdoings in school, nor did they have the right to expel students and confiscate wands unless charges had been successfully validated and the student accused of them convicted.

It is unknown what, if any, disciplinary authority the Board of Governors or its members had.

## Behind the scenes

* Two of the three Hogwarts students known to have been expelled were expelled for similar reasons. ***Newton Scamander*** for endangering a human life with a beast and Rubeus Hagrid for opening the Chamber of Secrets and killing a human with a beast. Both were blamed for the actions of others.
* Though not confirmed, it can be assumed any or all employees at Hogwarts are expected to "lead by example" and discipline students if they step out of line in their presence.

## 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 Half-Blood Prince* (film) (Possible Known-Physical Appearance)
* *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2* (Possible Known-Physical Appearance)

## Notes and references

1. ↑ *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter B, page 7
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter B, page 15
3. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 7 (*Flying To Hogwarts*)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 9 (*Not expelled... today*)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 5 (*To Diagon Alley*)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 6 (*Flourish and Blotts*)
7. ↑ *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter B, page 5
8. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 13 (*The Writing on the Wall*)
9. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 17 (*Duelling-Club*)
10. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 18 (*An-Parselmouth*)
11. ↑ *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter B, page 9