Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry

Almost every fantasy enthusiast has read Harry Potter and has known about the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for a long time. It is an amazing place to pursue magical education. Almost all of the hardcore fans have been waiting for their acceptance letter from Hogwarts since they turned eleven. Here are a few interesting facts about Hogwarts for you to go back to the time you read The Philosopher’s Stone

Hogwarts is located somewhere in Scotland, and its location is masked by advanced spell work. While people with inherent magic can clearly see the school, to muggles it appears as an ancient ruin. And to go to Hogwarts, you have to board the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9 ¾, King’s Cross Station before 11 am. Once the train leaves, your chances of getting to school on time are very slim because apparition is disabled in the castle grounds.

In your first year, you study seven subjects – Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Defence Against Dark Arts, Astronomy, Herbology, and History of Magic. You can buy almost all your school supplies and books at Diagon Alley. Yes, you can even buy a pet, preferably an owl, a cat or a toad. While you will be taken to the castle in boats when you first enter the school, you will be taken in carriages from the second year onwards. The carriages are drawn by Thestrals, which are skeleton horses with bat-like wings.

The closest place to Hogwarts with a magical population is Hogsmeade, a village which students are allowed to visit occasionally from their third year, provided they have a consent form signed by a parent or a guardian. It is well known that there are four houses in Hogwarts to which students are sorted. Gryffindor, known for their chivalry, Slytherin, determined to win, Ravenclaw where the smarty-pants stay, and Hufflepuff where we have all the good mellow kids. Of course, there are always exceptions, as we see in the books.

All four houses have their respective ghosts. Gryffindors have Nearly-Headless Nick, Slytherin’s Bloody Baron, Ravenclaw’s Grey Lady, and Hufflepuffs have the Fat Friar. Almost all well-known wizards, witches and ghosts can be found on the cards on the back of the boxes of Chocolate Frogs. And of course, they are collectables. Cards of Merlin, Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley are very rare.

There are 142 staircases which form a network in the castle, some of which have regular movement. So, you have to time your use of the stairs perfectly if you want to reach your intended destination. The castle has seven floors including the dungeons. There are also a few secret passages and tunnels which lead in and out of Hogwarts. All this information can be found in the Marauders Map, a magical artefact created by four students during their time at Hogwarts – Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. There are also Quidditch grounds where you can play Quidditch, a game played on flying brooms and involves three kinds of balls and two teams of seven players each.