History of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry located in Scotland and accepted magical students from Great Britian and Ireland.
Although it was in the wide open, there were numerous concealments, repel, and protective charms and spells that would render the school appear as ruins and prevented muggles to enter the territories of Hogwarts.
Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Godric Gryffindor founded Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the 10th century to protect and teach young witches and wizards from the frenzies of the Inquisition and witch hunts by muggles.
Along with Durmstrang Institute of Northern Europe and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in France, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was one of the finest schools of magic.
The school spirit of Hogwarts was "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus" that means “Do not tickle a sleeping dragon”. Hogwarts also had its own school song as below which the Frog Choir of Hogwarts would often perform before important school events.
"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald, Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling, With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air, Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing, Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest, And learn until our brains all rot."
-school song of Hogwarts -
The Sorting Ceremony – Start of the adventure
1st of September, the first day of the semester was one of the most important days of Hogwarts.
On the night of this day, freshman of Hogwarts school will be sorted to each of their dormitory houses that would determine their ‘family’ that they would spend their seven years with at Hogwarts.
Each dormitory house of Hogwarts were referred as family rather than mere fellow students. The Sorting Hat would decide each student’s house and that decision was final and irreversible.
Thus the Sorting Ceremony was an event where each house would greet their new family members and marks the start of a connection and destiny for all first-year students.
"The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts."
— The importance of the Sorting Ceremony -
Sorting Hat
The Sorting Hat would determine which house each first-year student would belong to. The Sorting Hat originally belonged to Godric Gryffindor and has sorted witches and wizards for almost 1,000 years.
The Sorting Hat was a legilimens which meant that it could cast magic named legilimency. Legilimency allowed the caster to see through the mind of a person.
The Sorting Hat had powerful legilimency and would navigate the minds of the student to determine which house would suit the student perfectly.
The Sorting Hat would take a holistic approach in sorting students and sometimes it would face difficulty in sorting students
. Incidents when the sorting hat faced difficulties deciding the student’s dormitory would be called a hatstall. There were arguments and disputes over some cases of the sorting hat’s decision, however the sorting hat had its own distinguished and outstanding comprehension of the values of each house.
Sorting Hat: "Hmm. Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"
Harry Potter: "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin."
Sorting Hat: "Not Slytherin, eh? Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it’s all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — no? Well, if you’re sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!"
Gryffindor House
Godric Gryffindor wanted to accept courageous and those of chivalry to Hogwarts. The symbol of Gryffindor House was a Lion, and the house colors were red and gold.
The common room Gryffindor House was located on the 7th floor of Hogwarts behind the Fat Lady portrait.
Godric Gryffindor was once best friends with Salazar Slytherin; however, both had a severe dispute over Salazar Slytherin’s blind desire for only admitting pure blooded wizards and witches.
This dispute started the rivalry between Slytherin House and Gryffindor House.
While Gryffindor House emphasized courage, they were also assessed as pointless and reckless. The house ghost of Gryffindor was Sir Nearly Headless Nick who was originally named Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington.
He couldn’t join the order of headless knights because he was ‘nearly headless’. When Harry Potter first entered Hogwarts, the head of House Gryffindor was Professor Minerva McGonagall.
Slytherin House
Salzar Slytherin founded Slytherin House. Salzar Slytherin desired to admit only pure-blooded witches and wizards which started the century-long rivalry between Gryffindor House and Slytherin House.
Salazar Slytherin wanted to admit students that were ambitious and cunning along with his desire of pure-blood.
Despite Salazar Slytherin’s desire, pure-blood was only one of the characteristics that the sorting hat considered and muggle-borns were also admitted to Slytherin House.
Despite many dark wizards were from Slytherin House, many of the leaders of the magic society were from Slytherin House.
Especially Merlin the Great himself was from Slytherin House where he took his symbolic green color. The house color of Slytherin was green and silver and the house ghost of Slytherin was the Bloody Baron.
The common house of Slytherin was located in the dungeon where students could see underwater of the Black Lake.
As Salazar Slytherin associated with snakes and serpents, the symbol of Slytherin House became the serpent. Professor Severus Snape was the head of Slytherin House during Harry Potter’s first year.
Ravenclaw House
Rowena Ravenclaw supported Ravenclaw House. The symbol of House Ravenclaw was the eagle and the house ghost was the Grey Lady.
While the movie series portrayed the symbol as a crow or raven, the actual symbol of Ravenclaw House is an eagle. Blue and bronze symbolized Ravenclaw House.
Rowena Ravenclaw emphasized the importance of academics and knowledge thus she wanted to admit the most talented and academic students to her house.
Although not academically talented, many students with their unique talents in specific fields were also admitted to Ravenclaw House such as Garrick Ollivander.
Members of Hufflepuff members were regarded bright but negative perspectives sort them as anti-social or weird.
Professor Filius Flitwick was the head of Ravenclaw House who was not only a notable charms master but excelled at magic duels and was once crowned ‘dueling champion’.
The common room of Ravenclaw House was at the High tower where students had to solve a riddle by the eagle decorated entrance to enter.
Hufflepuff House
The Fat Friar was the house ghost of Hufflepuff House which was founded by Helga Hufflepuff.
Helga Hufflepuff believed that hard-working and tolerant students all deserved to be admitted to Hogwarts.
Helga Hufflepuff believed that discrimination of students was unust and Hufflepuff House developed a strict moral code of being just, friendly and sense of equality.
The symbol of Hufflepuff House was a badger and the symbol colors were yellow and black. The common room of Hufflepuff House was near the kitchen but it had a unique function that would keep other house members (probably protect Hufflepuff members from being bullied) by pouring vinegar on them.
Hufflepuff House students were somewhat considered uncompetitive and too normal, but they were the ones who were just and acted strictly by the morality even at the most dire moments. Professor Pomona Sprout was the head of Hufflepuff.
