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The Map of Hogwarts and Surrounding Areas: the school grounds
Here is my cleaned-up version of JK Rowling's own map again, for reference. If you have any trouble reading her hand-written labels, run your mouse over them to bring up a typed transcription.
For reasons stated in the introduction it cannot be anything like accurate as to scale, nor entirely accurate as to layout, but this is our basic starting-point. Whatever layout we end up with should recognisably resemble JKR's, even if some details of scale and position have to be severely tweaked.
At the foot of the page you will find my own version of the map of the grounds, which endeavours to fit everything which we are told in the books. Everything between here and there is the explanation of how I got there.
Analysis Basic orientation & layout Scale Entrances & boundaries (inc. train station) The lawns The lake The Forbidden Forest The Whomping Willow Hagrid's cabin The Quidditch pitch Greenhouses, vegetables & flowers Beyond the grounds
Conclusion Criteria which must be met Map of grounds
Note, incidentally, that the Hogwarts grounds are far from flat. Distances given in this essay are distances on a flat ground-plan, as if viewing the grounds from above. The relative elevation of various points in the grounds will actually make a difference to the distances. For example, the true distance from Harry's dorm to the nearest edge of the Forest is not the base-line, aerial-view distance but the hypotenuse of a vertical, right-angled triangle of which the x-axis is the distance in aerial overview (or plan view) and the y-axis is the height of the dorm window above the ground-level at the edge of the Forest.
However, trying to work out the elevation for every point, as well as the plan, would have added a good month to the completion-time of this essay; and since most of the distances are approximate anyway, and most of the slopes, except the drop straight down the cliff from castle to lake, are shallow enough to be walked up or down, the differences would probably not be significant enough to be worth the extra time or effort. Just bear in mind that where two points are significantly different in height, you can probably add ten or twenty yards to the distance between them.
For reasons described in the section about the overall setting of Hogwarts, we know that the Forbidden Forest lies more or less west and north-west of the castle. With this as our starting-point we can derive further information about the layout of the grounds.
'It is –' he consulted his watch, 'five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it.' [PoA ch. #21; p. 288]
He was standing next to Hermione in the deserted Entrance Hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors. [cut] 'In here!' Hermione seized Harry's arm and dragged him across the hall to the door of a broom cupboard; she opened it, pushed him inside amongst the buckets and mops, followed him in, then slammed the door behind them. [8.55; p.m., 6 June 1994.] [PoA ch. #21; p. 289] 'Why did he tell us to go back three hours?' [cut] 'This is three hours ago, and we are walking down to Hagrid's,' [PoA ch. #21; p. 290] 'OK, but we'll go round by the greenhouses!' said Hermione breathlessly. 'We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door' [PoA ch. #21; p. 290] [cut] Hermione nudged him, and pointed towards the castle. [cut] Dumbledore, Fudge, the old Committee member, and Macnair the executioner were coming down the steps. [PoA ch. #21; p. 292] 'It is the decision of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures that the Hippogriff Buckbeak, hereafter called the condemned, shall be executed on the sixth of June at sundown –'. [PoA ch. #21; p. 293] 'We'll have to hide in here,' said Hermione, who looked very shaken. 'We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle. Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius' window. He won't be there for another couple of hours ...oh, this is going to be difficult ...' She looked nervously over her shoulder into the depths of the Forest. The sun was setting now. [PoA ch. #21; p. 295] [Snape] was conjuring stretchers and lifting the unconscious forms of Harry, Hermione and Black onto them. [cut] Then, wand held out in front of him, he moved them away towards the castle. 'Right, it's nearly time,' Hermione said tensely, looking at her watch. 'We've got about forty-five minutes until Dumbledore locks the door to the hospital wing.' [PoA ch. #21; p. 301] 'We've got exactly ten minutes to get back down to the hospital wing without anybody seeing us - before Dumbledore locks the door -' [cut]It sounded like Fudge and Snape. They were walking quickly along the corridor at the foor of the staircase. [PoA ch. #22; p. 304] [cut] Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset. [May 1996.] [OotP ch. #29; p. 595]
'Why did he tell us to go back three hours?' [cut] 'This is three hours ago, and we are walking down to Hagrid's,' [PoA ch. #21; p. 290]
'OK, but we'll go round by the greenhouses!' said Hermione breathlessly. 'We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door' [PoA ch. #21; p. 290]
[cut] Hermione nudged him, and pointed towards the castle. [cut] Dumbledore, Fudge, the old Committee member, and Macnair the executioner were coming down the steps. [PoA ch. #21; p. 292]
'It is the decision of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures that the Hippogriff Buckbeak, hereafter called the condemned, shall be executed on the sixth of June at sundown –'. [PoA ch. #21; p. 293]
'We'll have to hide in here,' said Hermione, who looked very shaken. 'We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle. Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius' window. He won't be there for another couple of hours ...oh, this is going to be difficult ...' She looked nervously over her shoulder into the depths of the Forest. The sun was setting now. [PoA ch. #21; p. 295]
[Snape] was conjuring stretchers and lifting the unconscious forms of Harry, Hermione and Black onto them. [cut] Then, wand held out in front of him, he moved them away towards the castle. 'Right, it's nearly time,' Hermione said tensely, looking at her watch. 'We've got about forty-five minutes until Dumbledore locks the door to the hospital wing.' [PoA ch. #21; p. 301]
'We've got exactly ten minutes to get back down to the hospital wing without anybody seeing us - before Dumbledore locks the door -' [cut]It sounded like Fudge and Snape. They were walking quickly along the corridor at the foor of the staircase. [PoA ch. #22; p. 304]
[cut] Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset. [May 1996.] [OotP ch. #29; p. 595]
The front face of the castle, where the main doors are, faces broadly west or north-west, and therefore broadly towards the Forest. The sun isn't necessarily shining straight in through the main doors in PoA when Time-Turned Harry and Hermione are waiting to set out, but it has to be at such an angle that a substantial swathe of light falls into the Entrance Hall.
We know that that day was the 6th June 1994. We know that Harry and Hermione went back three hours, from five to midnight to five to nine, and had time to rescue Buckbeak before the sun set. At this point, at sunset, it was still two hours before Sirius would arrive in Flitwick's office - something which occurred after 11.10pm when Snape gathered up the unconscious Sirius, and before 11:45pm when Fudge and Snape were heading towards Flitwick's office, expecting Sirius to be there.
Sunset was therefore probably no later than 9:40pm. For reasons explained in the section about the overall setting of Hogwarts, we know that Hogwarts at that time was using British Summer Time, according to which the sun should have set at about 10:10pm. Therefore, we know that the sun set around thirty minutes early due to the presence of a mountain or mountains which obscured the true horizon at the point at which the sun would otherwise have set.
If we assume for the sake of argument that Hogwarts is in or around Kintail, as explained in the section on location, then we can say that at five to nine by BST, when the sunlight was streaming into the Entrance Hall, the sun was about 32° north of due west. At about 9:40pm when the sun set behind the mountains it would have been at about 41° north of due west.
However, the point at which Dumbledore descended the steps with the setting sun gilding his beard was somewhere in between these two points. Time-Turned Harry and Hermione had spent five minutes or so hiding in the cupboard off the Entrance Hall, then gone all the way round by the greenhouses, reached Hagrid's hut and had a couple of minutes of conversation before they saw Dumbledore descend the steps in the time-loop sequence, so it must have been about 9:15pm, at which point the sun would have been around 36° north of west.
So, we know that the castle is so aligned that sunlight shining from a point about 36° north of west will illuminate someone coming down the front steps, and sunlight shining from a point about 32° north of west will shine right into the Entrance Hall. That doesn't mean the sun can't illuminate the steps and the hallway from other angles as well, but any chart of Hogwarts' position has to allow the sun to illuminate those points from those angles.
As they approached the Quidditch pitch, Harry glanced over to his right to where the trees of the Forbidden Forest were swaying darkly. [OotP ch. #14; p. 260]
Harry did not think he had ever moved so fast: the Thestral streaked over the castle [cut] They were over the Hogwarts grounds, they had passed Hogsmeade; Harry could see mountains and gullies below them. [OotP ch. #34; p. 675]
Heading from the main doors of the castle towards the front gates, the Forbidden Forest is on the right. We know this, even without consulting JK's own map, because the Quidditch pitch is towards the front gates (you pass it on the way to Hogsmeade) and the Forest is on the right as you head for the Quidditch pitch. So the front gates are broadly south or south-west of the castle. This is confirmed by the fact that we know the main gates are broadly in the direction of Hogsmeade, and when they ride the Thestrals from Hogwarts to London, heading therefore south and slightly east, they pass over the castle, then the grounds, then to one side of the village. The village, and therefore the gates, must be broadly south of the castle. Having the castle face west and the front-gates in the south-west enables the gates to be more or less in front of the castle, as they are in JK's map.
Although JK's map shows the Quidditch pitch as right near the gates, the fact that Harry and Cho pass the pitch and then after that they start talking about the World Cup, and it says that this takes them "all the way down the drive", does suggest that there is at least a noticeable bit of driveway after the pitch.
Silhouetted on the dark horizon, high on the cliff over the lake, stood the many turrets and towers of Hogwarts castle. [cut] [cut] Harry found himself gripping the edges of his seat very hard as they flew towards the lake. [cut] Glancing out of his window, Harry saw the smooth, black, glassy surface of the water, a mile below. [cut] They were over the lake ... the castle was right ahead ... [cut] The nose of the car dropped. They were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle wall. 'Noooooo!' Ron yelled, swinging the steering wheel around; they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch and then out over the black lawns [cut] 'MIND THAT TREE!' Harry bellowed [CoS ch. #05; p. 58/59]
The castle stands on a cliff over the lake, and it is near the edge of the cliff.
Despite what is said when Harry first sees Hogwarts, it cannot be the case that the castle is on top of a mountain, and the Hogwarts lake, the lake which is in the grounds and comes up to the castle's foot, is at the base of that mountain. A mountain is a peak of at least 2,000ft, and if the castle were on a mountain, and the mountain was over the lake, the students would have to descend 2,000ft every time they go from the castle down to sit at the lakeside. This would take about an hour each way, and given the short horizontal distance between the castle and the lakeside, it could only be achieved by going up and down a very steep flight of stairs. This is clearly not the case, so when the book says that the castle stands on a mountain over the lake, it is obviously not meant literally. "Mountain" here just means "a high place".
It is also quite possible, even likely, that the castle and the lake are both on top of a mountain, or at least partway up one, which would make it much more likely that the castle would appear against the horizon as seen from the flying car. Just because Hogwarts is surrounded by mountains, doesn't mean it isn't on a mountain itself; although the mountains around it must be bigger and higher in order to force ground-water into the lake, or to feed it from a stream running off from a higher level - since it's too big to be just filled by rain water.
By the same token, the car cannot really be a mile over the lake, and yet at the same time the passengers be able to see the castle as higher than them (silhouetted on the horizon). Either "a mile" here is just a loose expression for "a long way", or the lake which is a mile below is not the lake which accompanies the castle, but a sea-level lake at the base of the mountain Hogwarts is sited on. And even that doesn't work, because they'd still have to be below the castle, and there is no mountain in Britain which is a mile high - and the mountains around Hogwarts have to be higher than it is, to make the lake work. Furthermore, the level of the lawns can't be more than a few hundred feet higher than the lake at most, given how easily students stroll down to the lakeside, so if they really were a mile above the lake the flying Ford Anglia would have to have fallen nearly a mile before it hit the Whomping Willow - and there's no suggestion that the fall is that steep or that severe. So we can say with confidence that the flying car isn't really a mile above the lake; it just feels as if it is.
To his intense relief, however, when James and his three friends strode off down the lawn towards the lake, Snape followed [OotP ch. #28; p. 567]
The slope from the castle to the lake is such that it can be walked down but scrambled up: probably a one-in-three or one-in-four slope. On Rowling's map the words "lawn slopes down to lake (tree)" are quite close to the side of the castle, and it sounds like an easy stroll when Harry follows the Marauders down to the lake. If we assume the tree to be about 200 yards from the castle, and average one in three slope would make the castle's foot 200ft above the lake; and average one in four slope would make it 150ft up. In truth, there's probably a steep climb up from the lake-side, then a more level bit, then an even steeper bit up to the castle proper. But we certainly don't want the castle to be over 200ft above the lake, or it would start getting difficult for the pupils to walk down to the water without using a stair.
At the same time, the cliff must be fairly high - say a mimimum of 60ft plus, more likely 120ft plus - for the car to be able to be a significant distance above the water, and yet still well below the top of the castle: so we want the cliff to be as high as it can be and the students still be able to walk down to it. Since they see the castle as silhouetted on the horizon, from some distance away, there also must not be a higher mountain close behind it in their direction of travel. For reasons which will become apparent later, their direction of travel is probably north or slightly west of north, so there isn't a higher mountain north or nor' nor' west of the castle.
An hour later they reluctantly left the sunlit common room for the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom four floors below. [HBP ch. #09; p. 168]
'STUDENTS OUT OF BED!' Peeves bellowed, 'STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR' Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door – and it was locked. [They go through the door] They weren't in a room, as he had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. [PS ch. #09; p. 118/119]
There is another factor, which is that the top of the Durmstrang ship's mast is visible from the DADA classroom. Internal evidence suggests that the DADA classroom is not on an outer face of the castle, and if it was you'd expect that if any of the Durmstrang ship was visible, the whole ship would be visible - since we have no evidence that there are buildings or large boulders at the water's edge which might hide the bulk of the ship. It must be part of the castle which is obscuring it from view.
The Japanese four-masted sailing barque the Kaiwo Maru has an overall mast height of 182ft, but that seems to be unusually high, so we don't want the Durmstrang mast to be higher than that. The entrance to the Gryffindor common room changes floors from year to year but when it is high it seems to be on the seventh floor, and the DADA classroom is four floors below that, so no higher than the third floor. From there, false!Moody looks across other sections of the castle - for reasons described in the section on the layout of the castle itself, probably across the Charms department, which we know is at least four storeys high because the Charms corridor opens into the third floor right corridor where Fluffy was chained.
If we assume that the block where the Charms corridor is is no more than four storeys high, and is about 500 yards from the DADA classroom and sittting on a surface about 10ft lower down, and the Durmstrang ship is 200 yards from the DADA classroom and has a total height of 180ft, it's possible for false!Moody and Harry to have seen part of the topmost sail from the classroom window even if the cliff is as much as 180ft high. If the DADA classroom is much further back from the Charms block, though, or the Charms block is not set lower down relative to the main building, or the DADA classroom in use in GoF is any lower than the third floor, thyen the cliff needs to be no more than about 120ft.
'Noooooo!' Ron yelled, swinging the steering wheel around; they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch and then out over the black lawns [CoS ch. #05; p. 59]
Harry and Ron's experience with the flying car also incidentally supports the idea, in JKR's drawing, that the greenhouses and vegetable patch are to one side of the castle, although elsewhere they are said to be behind it.
As the students in the boats approach the cliff they see the castle looming ever larger. This tells us that either the cliff slopes towards the castle or, if the cliff is vertical, the castle must come right up to the edge of it. If the cliff was vertical and the castle was set back from the edge at all, or if the cliff overhung the water, then as they approached the cliff-face the bulk of the cliff would progressively obscure the castle from view.
Feeling too queasy to eat, Harry waited until Hermione had swallowed her last spoonful of porridge, then dragged her out into the grounds for another walk. There, he told her all about the dragons, and about everything Sirius had said, while they took another long walk around the lake. [cut] They walked three times around the lake, [GoF ch. #20; p. 295]
We also see that the flying Ford Anglia seems to come to the castle wall at the very edge of the cliff. Yet, we know that it is possible to walk right around the lake, and there is no suggestion that in order to do so Harry and Hermione have to swing round to the other side of the castle, or enter the castle and walk along a corridor inside it. So there has to be a foot-path of some kind between the castle and the water.
It could be that there's a stone ledge or some sort of beach at the foot of the cliff. The problem with that, however, is the we know that there is a water-filled channel, at least wide and deep enough to admit a small boat, running from the lake in under the castle. A footpath at the base of the cliff would therefore have to cross this channel on a high-arched bridge, high enough for a boat to sail under; or on a set of steps up the cliff-face, over the channel and down the other side; or there would have to be a flat bridge which could be lifted or swivelled out of the way to enable the boats to pass. Either way, this would be a striking feature of the walk and you would rather expect it to be mentioned.
There could be a path at the top of the cliff, between the castle and the drop. The problem with that is that a castle on a cliff-top would ordinarily be built as close to the cliff's edge as it will go, for defensive reasons.
However, if the cliff slopes and the top of it forms a complex, stepped shape, then the castle may approach as near to the edge as it can do, and yet there may be a more or less level path somewhere further down the cliff - perhaps with a wall or fence along the edge for safety. This would be similar to Edinburgh castle, with which JK Rowling must be very familiar, which has the main castle building at the top of a mound and then a green slope between the castle and the cliff's edge, too steep to build on but shallow enough to stroll (or possibly scramble) across, and with a wall at the lip of the drop proper.
Therefore, it is most likely that what we have at Hogwarts is a cliff which is probably around 180ft high (about the height of Castle Rock, Edinburgh, and more than twice as high as the cliff on which Chepstow Castle stands), with the lower part of the cliff either vertical or sloping back, and the upper part sloping back towards the base of the castle, too steep to build on but shallow enough to allow for a foot-path along the face of the cliff; possibly with a safety-wall between the path and the drop. The main bulk of the castle comes as near to the edge of the cliff as the shape of the cliff-top allows, so that there is a castle wall rising fairly sheer above the water.
The lake is probably south of the castle, or at least part of it is. It is possible to interpret Ron's comment 'That's south. Look, you can see a bit of the lake out of the window ...' as meaning that he looks out of the window, sees the direction of the lake and from that works out that the passage runs south, although the lake itself is not in the south. However, it does sound as if the lake is supposed to be to the south. If JK didn't mean it that way, you would expect Ron to say something like "There's the lake in that direction, so this direction must be south".
From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water – except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep in the centre; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks – and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor ... [GoF ch. #15; p. 216]
Harry had just descended the last marble step into the Entrance Hall [cut] The only sounds were the shouts, laughter and splashes drifting into the Hall from the grounds through the open front doors. [OotP ch. #38; p. 749]
We also know that the lake wraps around at least one side of the castle - it isn't just behind it, as in JKR's sketch - because standing in front of the castle, not too far ahead of the front steps, Harry is able to see the middle of the lake. Part of the lake is also fairly close to the castle, since Harry, coming down the main stair into the Entrance Hall, is able to hear water splashing in the lake.
He, Ron and Hermione left the castle together on Saturday, and set off through the cold, wet grounds towards the gates. As they passed the Durmstrang ship moored in the lake [GoF ch. #24; p. 385]
They marched in silence past the Beauxbatons carriage and up towards the castle. 'How dare he,' Hagrid growled, as they strode past the lake. [GoF ch. #28; p. 488]
Harry heard [the crowd who watched the Third Task, held on the Quidditch pitch] gasping, screaming and shouting as the man supporting him pushed a path through them, taking him back to the castle. Across the lawn, past the lake and the Durmstrang ship; [GoF ch. #35; p. 584]
He had no doubt whatsoever what Karkaroff was up to. He had sneaked off his ship to try and find out what the first task was going to be. He might even have spotted Hagrid and Madame Maxime heading off around the Forest together [GoF ch. #19; p. 289]
Voldemort was at the gates of Hogwarts; [cut][cut] he glided alongside Snape, up through the grounds towards the lake. 'I shall join you in the castle shortly,' he said, in his high, cold voice. 'Leave me now.' Snape bowed and set off back up the path, his black cloak billowing behind him. [Tom] walked slowly, waiting for Snape’s figure to disappear. [cut] And he walked on, around the edge of the lake, [DH ch. #24; p. 404/405]
Likewise, we know that part of the lake is in the same general direction as the Quidditch pitch as seen from the castle, and encroaches close to the route between the castle and the front gates, between Hagrid's house (strictly, the Beauxbatons carriage, but that was very near Hagrid's house) and the castle and between the Quidditch pitch and the castle. As they neared Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the mystery of the Beauxbatons' sleeping quarters was solved. The gigantic powder-blue carriage in which they had arrived had been parked two hundred yards from Hagrid's front door [GoF ch. #16; p. 231/232] He stumped out of the cabin, and they saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window. [cut] 'Look!' said Ron suddenly, pointing out of the window. Hagrid had just straightened up and turned round. [cut] Harry, Ron and Hermione peered through the window and saw that Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons students had just emerged from their carriage [cut] They couldn't hear what Hagrid was saying, but he was talking to Madame Maxime with a rapt, misty-eyed expression [GoF ch. #16; p. 234] The inside of the enormous Beauxbatons carriage was also lit up; Harry could hear Madame Maxime talking inside it as he knocked on Hagrid's front door. [GoF ch. #19; p. 284] The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin [GoF ch. #23; p. 351] [There is an anomaly to do with the position of the Beauxbatons carriage. It is initially described as being parked 200 yards from Hagrid's front door [GoF ch. #16] but it is elsewhere described as being next to Hagrid's house, and only about five hours after it was said to be 200 yards from the cabin, Hagrid is standing just outside his front door, talking to Madam Maxime who is standing by the Beauxbatons carriage, and their conversation is so quiet that the trio, inside the cabin, cannot hear what they are saying. Either the carriage was moved much nearer to Hagrid's cabin while they were having lunch, or that "two hundred yards" is an error for 20 yards, or JKR - with her well-known near-total lack of math skills - doesn't know what 200 yards looks like. At any rate, by the time we get to GoF ch. #28 it is certainly parked near Hagrid's cabin, so part of the lake lies close to a route between Hagrid's cabin and the castle.]
He stumped out of the cabin, and they saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window. [cut] 'Look!' said Ron suddenly, pointing out of the window. Hagrid had just straightened up and turned round. [cut] Harry, Ron and Hermione peered through the window and saw that Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons students had just emerged from their carriage [cut] They couldn't hear what Hagrid was saying, but he was talking to Madame Maxime with a rapt, misty-eyed expression [GoF ch. #16; p. 234]
The inside of the enormous Beauxbatons carriage was also lit up; Harry could hear Madame Maxime talking inside it as he knocked on Hagrid's front door. [GoF ch. #19; p. 284]
The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin [GoF ch. #23; p. 351]
[There is an anomaly to do with the position of the Beauxbatons carriage. It is initially described as being parked 200 yards from Hagrid's front door [GoF ch. #16] but it is elsewhere described as being next to Hagrid's house, and only about five hours after it was said to be 200 yards from the cabin, Hagrid is standing just outside his front door, talking to Madam Maxime who is standing by the Beauxbatons carriage, and their conversation is so quiet that the trio, inside the cabin, cannot hear what they are saying. Either the carriage was moved much nearer to Hagrid's cabin while they were having lunch, or that "two hundred yards" is an error for 20 yards, or JKR - with her well-known near-total lack of math skills - doesn't know what 200 yards looks like. At any rate, by the time we get to GoF ch. #28 it is certainly parked near Hagrid's cabin, so part of the lake lies close to a route between Hagrid's cabin and the castle.]
'Get out of the way, Colin!' said Harry angrily. He and Hermione supported Ron out of the stadium and across the grounds towards the edge of the forest. 'Nearly there, Ron,' said Hermione, as the gamekeeper's cabin came into view [CoS ch. #07; p. 87]
'Yeah, well, a bit o' trouble wouldn' hurt,' said Hagrid, pausing to peer around the edge of the stands to make sure the stretch of lawn between there and his cabin was deserted. 'Give us more time.' 'What is it, Hagrid?' said Hermione, looking up at him with a concerned expression on her face as they hurried across the grass towards the edge of the Forest. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604]
Heading from the castle towards the Quidditch pitch means the Forest is on your right, and heading from the Quidditch pitch towards Hagrid's cabin also means heading towards the Forbidden Forest. Harry and Krum left the stadium together, but Krum did not set a course for the Durmstrang ship. Instead, he walked towards the forest. 'What're we going this way for?' said Harry, as they passed Hagrid's cabin [GoF ch. #28; p. 479] He, Ron and Hermione left the castle together on Saturday, and set off through the cold, wet grounds towards the gates. As they passed the Durmstrang ship moored in the lake [GoF ch. #24; p. 385] We also know that if you start from the Quidditch pitch, Hagrid's cabin and that part of the lake where the Durmstrang ship is moored are in identifiably different directions. However, we don't know for sure where the Durmstrang ship is, except that it is somewhere near the path from the castle to the front gates. Wood paced the pitch, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance, and the rest of the school spill onto the lawn. [PoA ch. #15; p. 224] [cut] arriving at the Owlery, which was situated at the top of West Tower. [GoF ch. #15; p. 201] As they approached the Quidditch pitch [cut] the sky was empty but for a few distant owls fluttering around the Owlery tower. [OotP ch. #14; p. 260] There is a direct line of sight from the Quidditch pitch to the front steps of the castle, and from the Quidditch pitch to the Owlery in West Tower. People pushed their way towards the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. [cut] Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. [cut] The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. [cut] [cut] [the castle] towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. [PS ch. #06; p. 83] [cut] the long procession of carriages was rumbling and splashing its way up the track towards Hogwarts castle.Through the gates, flanked with statues of winged boars, and up the sweeping drive [GoF ch. #11/12; p. 151/152] 'You've got a rubbish sense of humour then,' Ron snapped, as the wheels below them creaked into motion. Luna did not seem perturbed by Ron's rudeness; on the contrary, she simply watched him for a while as though he were a mildly interesting television programme. Rattling and swaying, the carriages moved in convoy up the road. When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds [OotP ch. #11; p. 181] The set off towards the lane that led to the school. [cut] They trudged up the dark, deserted lane, following the freshly-made carriage tracks. [cut] Having always travelled there by carriage, Harry had never before appreciated just how far Hogwarts was from Hogsmeade Station. With great relief he finally saw the tall pillars on either side of the gates [HBP ch. #08; p. 150/150]
We also know that if you start from the Quidditch pitch, Hagrid's cabin and that part of the lake where the Durmstrang ship is moored are in identifiably different directions. However, we don't know for sure where the Durmstrang ship is, except that it is somewhere near the path from the castle to the front gates. Wood paced the pitch, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance, and the rest of the school spill onto the lawn. [PoA ch. #15; p. 224] [cut] arriving at the Owlery, which was situated at the top of West Tower. [GoF ch. #15; p. 201] As they approached the Quidditch pitch [cut] the sky was empty but for a few distant owls fluttering around the Owlery tower. [OotP ch. #14; p. 260] There is a direct line of sight from the Quidditch pitch to the front steps of the castle, and from the Quidditch pitch to the Owlery in West Tower.
[cut] arriving at the Owlery, which was situated at the top of West Tower. [GoF ch. #15; p. 201]
As they approached the Quidditch pitch [cut] the sky was empty but for a few distant owls fluttering around the Owlery tower. [OotP ch. #14; p. 260]
There is a direct line of sight from the Quidditch pitch to the front steps of the castle, and from the Quidditch pitch to the Owlery in West Tower.
[cut] the long procession of carriages was rumbling and splashing its way up the track towards Hogwarts castle.Through the gates, flanked with statues of winged boars, and up the sweeping drive [GoF ch. #11/12; p. 151/152]
'You've got a rubbish sense of humour then,' Ron snapped, as the wheels below them creaked into motion. Luna did not seem perturbed by Ron's rudeness; on the contrary, she simply watched him for a while as though he were a mildly interesting television programme. Rattling and swaying, the carriages moved in convoy up the road. When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds [OotP ch. #11; p. 181]
The set off towards the lane that led to the school. [cut] They trudged up the dark, deserted lane, following the freshly-made carriage tracks. [cut] Having always travelled there by carriage, Harry had never before appreciated just how far Hogwarts was from Hogsmeade Station. With great relief he finally saw the tall pillars on either side of the gates [HBP ch. #08; p. 150/150]
They walked between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars and turned left on to the road into the village [OotP ch. #16; p. 299]
Harry's thoughts strayed to Ginny as they trudged up the road to Hogwarts [HBP ch. #12; p. 233]
If we compare Harry's journeys from Hogsmeade station to the castle in first year, by boat, and in other years by coach or on foot, we can see that Hogsmeade train station is probably quite close to the side of the lake across from the castle, but quite a long way from the main gates. Rowling's own map shows it as on the opposite side if the grounds from the gates, and from Hogsmeade itself. Hogsmeade is broadly in front of and to the left of the gates.
There are two ways that I can see of laying out the grounds so that they broadly resemble JK Rowling's own sketch, whilst fulfilling the criteria established so far: that the Forest is in the west and north-west; that Hagrid's cabin is between the Quidditch pitch and a substantial part of the Forest; that the castle faces more or less towards the Forest; that part of the castle approaches very close to the lake; that the main body of the lake is to the side or front of the castle, so that it is possible for someone standing in front of the castle to see the centre of the lake; and that part of the lake should lie close to a feasible route between the castle and the front gates, and between the castle and Hagrid's cabin.
Of these, B) is probably preferable. It fulfils the not-definite-but-very-probable criterion of having part of the lake extend south of the castle; it doesn't require the driveway to be quite so loopy; and it enables there to be one single block of greenhouses which lie on a curve which goes lake, castle-wall, greenhouses, vegetable patch, Whomping Willow, and which are both close to the lake to the left side (as you face the main doors) of the castle, as shown in JK's own sketch, and also behind the castle, as described in the books. It also makes it possible for the sloping lawn by the lake, and the ominous beech tree at the water's edge, to be on the right side of the castle as they are in JK's own sketch. [That label which overlaps the corner of the castle on JK's map says "Lawn slopes down to lake (tree)".]
In addition, A) would create problems with the scene where the delegation from Durmstrang first approach the castle. It would require them to pass through or close to the greenhouses, and there is no mention of them doing so.
Plan B), then, gives us a rough outline of the grounds, onto which to apply the other details which we find in the books.
Note incidentally that both these possible ground-plans require the flying Ford Anglia to describe an S-shaped curve, not the simple "great arc" described in CoS, on order to fly across the lake towards the castle wall, swerve away from the castle, pass over the greenhouses and then crash into the Whomping Willow. But this applies equally to JKR's own drawing.
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A lot of the measurements in this section depend on knowing the average speed for a human walking, running etc.. For information on how these were obtained, see the Introduction page.
Harry didn't answer. Yes, everything did seem to happen to him ... that was more or less what Hermione had said as they had walked around the lake [GoF ch. #18; p. 259]
Harry waited until Hermione had swallowed her last spoonful of porridge, then dragged her out into the grounds for another walk. There, he told her all about the dragons, and about everything Sirius had said, while they took another long walk around the lake. [cut] They walked three times around the lake [GoF ch. #20; p. 295]
The perimeter of the lake is short enough that it is suitable for a stroll, and can be walked around three times without exhausting oneself. The amount of conversation which Harry and Hermione have while walking round the lake in GoF chapter #18 would take a minimum of about ten minutes to have, so at an unforced walking speed that gives us a minimum length for the perimeter of the lake of about 800 yards. If the lake were a smoothish oval that would make it around 300 yards long by 150 yards across.
However, it is later described as a "long walk", so it is probably significantly longer than this minimum figure. At the same time, if they walk three times round it without exhausting themselves, it probably doesn't take more than about half an hour to walk round, which would give a maximum perimeter of about 2,400 yards, and an oval lake, if it were oval, about 470 yards across and 950 yards long. Of course, the lake isn't a smooth oval: unless it's been artificially dug it's bound to have quite a wiggly, irregular edge, so that will reduce its size (because it gets in a longer perimeter for a given surface area of lake).
It's not impossible that the lake is artificial, but it's unlikely: there are so many natural mountain lakes in Scotland that one would hardly need another. In some countries one gets lakes which were carved out by a glacier and are quite smooth and regular, but in Scotland the land is crumpled and lochs seldom have more than the occasional smooth stretch along an otherwise irregular shore. Loch Na Tuadh in Wester Ross, for example, which is about the same size as the lake at Hogwarts would be, is vaguely triangular, with one fairly straight side, one side which is straight for about two thirds of its length and one side which is wildly irregular and frilly. The slightly smaller Long Loch of Glenhead is frilly all the way round, and except for the long straight slashes of the sea lochs along the coast, which are really elongated river-mouths, most Scottish lochs are equally baroque. Harry didn't say anything. He was thinking back to the person he'd seen on the other bank of the lake. He knew who he thought it had been ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 297] Had he been seeing things across the lake? The figure had been too far away to see distinctly ... yet he had felt sure, for a moment, before he'd lost consciousness ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 298] The lake must be fairly wide, since boating across it is a ceremonial occasion, but not enormously so. When Harry sees his time-looped self across the other side of the lake in PoA, by moonlight, the figure is too far away to make out very clearly, yet near enough that he can detect a resemblance to James. So at that point the lake is probably not more than three hundred yards across, and not less than fifty, depending on how dark it was. A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. [PS ch. #20; p. 278] The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him ... [cut] [cut]Harry raised his head a few inches and saw an animal amidst the light, galloping away across the lake. [cut] it was bright as a unicorn. [cut] Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For a moment, Harry saw, by its brightness, somebody welcoming it back ... raising his hand to pat it ... someone who looked strangely familiar ... [PS ch. #20; p. 282] The moon drifted in and out of sight behind the shifting clouds. [PS ch. #21; p. 298] The Patronus turned. It was cantering back towards Harry across the still surface of the water. It wasn't a horse. It wasn't a unicorn, either. It was a stag. It was shining brightly as the moon above ... [PS ch. #21; p. 300] Since it was June, and probably as far north as the Kintail area, then unless the sky was very overcast visibility would be good: even in Edinburgh, a hundred miles further south, the night sky on a clear night in June can be almost light enough to read a newspaper by at midnight. We know that there were some clouds about that night, intermittently covering the moon, but it is strongly implied that the moon was visible at the moment that the stag Patronus returned to Harry (it was "shining brightly as the moon above") and time-looped Harry was also illuminated by the brightness of the Patronus, and there are reasons (see below) to think that Harry is long-sighted, not short-sighted. All in all there are good reasons to think that Harry would have been able to see his time-turned self from a considerable distance, and that the lake at that point was something over about a hundred and fifty yards wide. He swam deeper and deeper, out towards the middle of the lake, his eyes wide, staring through the eerily grey-lit water around him to the shadow beyond, where the water became opaque. [cut] Light-green weed stretched ahead of him as far as he could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass. Harry was staring unblinkingly ahead of him, trying to discern shapes through the gloom ... and then, without warning, something grabbed hold of his ankle. [GoF ch. #26; p. 430] Harry pulled his ankle out of the Grindylow's grip and swam as fast as he could [cut] every now and then he felt one of the Grindylows snatch at his foot again [cut] Harry slowed down a little [cut] He turned full circle in the water [cut] [cut] He whipped around, and saw Moaning Myrtle [GoF ch. #26; p. 430/431] He swam on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. [cut] Then, at long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mer-song [cut] Harry swam faster, and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it [cut] A cluster of crude stone dwellins stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom [GoF ch. #26; p. 431/432] When Harry swims to the mer village, during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, he swims for at least about three minutes to reach the point where the Grindylows attack him, then speeds up to get away from them and towards the point where he meets Moaning Myrtle - say another two minutes at least. From that point he swims on for what feels to him like at least twenty minutes - but since time-sense is distorted when you are in an unfamiliar place, it was probably no more than fifteen minutes. So it took him about twenty minutes of swimming time (not counting the pauses while he fought the Grindylow and spoke to Myrtle) to reach the mer village. He stretched out his hands in front of him and stared at them. They looked green and ghostly under the water, and they had become webbed. He twisted around and looked at his bare feet – they had become elongated and his toes were webbed, too; it looked as though he had sprouted flippers. [GoF ch. #26; p. 429] The top speed for a human diver wearing fins is 3.36 mph but normal speed over distance is about 1mph and Harry is an inexperienced swimmer, so he has gone no more than about a quarter of a mile - 440 yards - from the pale-green weeds where he met the Grindylow, and probably only about a third of a mile - less than 590 yards - all told. 'Mr Cedric Diggory [cut] was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour.' [GoF ch. #26; p. 439] He swam swiftly towards a seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs, and tried to mime a request to borrow the spear. The merman laughed and shook his head. 'We do not help,' he said in a harsh, croaky voice. ''Come ON!' Harry said fiercely (but only bubbles issued from his mouth), and he tried to pull the spear away from the merman, but the merman yanked it back, still shaking his head and laughing. Harry swirled around, staring about. Something sharp ... anything ... There were rocks littering the lake bottom. He dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one, and returned to the statue. He began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. [GoF ch. #26; p. 433] He turned back to Hermione, raised the jagged rock and began to hack at her bindings, too – At once, several pairs of strong grey hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads and laughing.[cut] [cut] Harry struggled to fight off the mermen, but they laughed harder than ever, holding him back. [GoF ch. #26; p. 433/434] The constraints are 1) the lake needs to be long enough to account for the time it took Harry to swim to the mer village from a point which is not right at the end of the lake and 2) the need not to position the mer village right up close to the castle's sewage outlet, but 3) the need for the lake not to be so long that it makes Harry's sprint from the castle round the end of the lake in five minutes unrealistic. There is another issue to consider, however. Cedric, who does not delay to rescue the other hostages but simply arrives at the mer village, cuts Cho free and swims straight back to the judges' table, takes one minute over an hour to do so. This suggests that it has taken him an average of half an hour to swim each way - probably thirty-five minutes on the outward leg, since he has to locate the mer village underwater, and then twenty-five minutes going back. However, there's no indication that he is wearing fins, which would slow him down considerably, and indeed he arrives at the mer village well after Harry. We also don't know what obstacles he may have encountered to delay him on the way. Harry has had time to ask the mer people for help, be refused, search for and find a sharp stone, spend several minutes hacking Ron free, and argue and physically fight with the mer people to get them to let him save the other hostages as well. Harry hit Krum hard on the shoulder, and held up the jagged stone. Krum seized it, and began to cut Hermione free. Within seconds, he had done it [GoF ch. #26; p. 434/435] Harry darted forwards and began to hack at the robes [sic] binding the small girl to the statue; and at last she was free. He seized the little girl around the waist, grabbed the neck of Ron's robes, and kicked off from the bottom. It was very slow work. He could no longer use his webbed hands to propel himself forwards; he worked his flippers furiously, but Ron and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging him back down [GoF ch. #26; p. 435] He kicked hard with his flippers and discovered that they were nothing more than feet [GoF ch. #26; p. 436] 'C'mon,' Harry said shortly, 'help me with her. I don't think she can swim very well.' They pulled Fleur's sister through the water [GoF ch. #26; p. 437] 'Mr Harry Potter [cut] returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour.' [GoF ch. #26; p. 440] It certainly seems reasonable to think that if Cedric, flipperless, takes about thirty-five minutes to reach the mer village then Harry, with his feet changed to flippers, makes it in twenty-five minutes (twenty minutes swimming, and five minutes fighting Grindylows and talking to Moaning Myrtle) and then spends ten minutes on freeing Ron and arguing with the mer people, before Cedric gets there. Harry then takes a lot more than twenty-five minutes to get back, because we know he takes well over an hour all told: but after Cedric's departure Harry assists Krum, then spends an unknown length of time hacking Gabrielle free (we know Harry took several minutes to cut Ron free, but Krum cut Hermione free in seconds with the same sharp stone), then he struggles slowly to the surface, then he has to swim back with feet which are no longer flippers, and then he and Ron are further delayed by having to help Gabrielle, who is not a strong swimmer. So it seems reasonable to assume that Harry's outwards journey to the mer village indeed took only twenty minutes of swim-time, with flippers, at 1 mph. All told, from the shore by the judges' table to the mer village is probably less than 600 yards: even if Harry went in a dead straight line to get there, which seems unlikely. Almost certainly, he wove about a bit in seeking the mer village, plus he may well have gone further than the middle to get there; so the lake need not be as much as 12,000 yards long. So the lake is maybe 800 to 1,200 yards long, with a circumference of around a mile and a half, including wiggle. Walking at a normal speed, Harry and Hermione would take about thirty to thirty-five minutes to walk round it. 'Underwater ...' Harry said slowly. 'Myrtle ... what lives in the lake, apart from the giant squid?' 'Oh, all sorts,' she said. 'I sometimes go down there ... sometimes don't have any choice, if someone flushes my toilet when I'm not expecting it ...' Trying not to think about Moaning Myrtle zooming down a pipe to the lake with the contents of a toilet [GoF ch. #25; p. 403] On the other hand, although the lake could be as little as 800 yards long and still fit the mer village into it, if the village is near one end, there are good reasons (described in the section below on the lake) to think that Harry starts his swim towards the mer village from the end of the lake farthest from the castle and that the mer village, if it is nearer to one end of the lake, would therefore be nearer the castle end. Since we know the castle discharges raw sewage directly into the lake this could get quite unpleasant, and it is certainly pleasanter to think that the lake is nearer the 1,200 yard mark and the mer village is in the middle, a fair distance from the castle. Bagman [cut] pointed his wand at his throat as he had done at the World Cup, said 'Sonorus!' and his voice boomed out across the dark water towards the stands. [cut] The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause [GoF ch. #26; p. 428] We know that the width of the lake is such that, during this second task, Harry can clearly hear the spectators from one side of the lake to the other - but since we don't know how many spectators there are, or which way the wind is blowing, this doesn't really help us, except to say that the width is not enormous. At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. [PS ch. #08; p. 104] Hagrid's door had burst open and by the light flooding out of the cabin they saw him quite clearly a massive figure roaring and brandishing his fists, surrounded by six people, all of whom, judging by the tiny threads of red light they were casting in his direction, seemed to be attempting to Stun him. [OotP ch. #31; p. 635] The figures around the cabin had shot no fewer than four Stunners at Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red beams collided with her; for a moment she looked luminous and glowed an eerie red, then she lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more. [OotP ch. #31; p. 636] From the castle doors to Hagrid's cabin takes five minutes or less, because the Trio leave the castle at five to three in order to meet Hagrid at three. Normal human walking speed is about 2.7 miles an hour at normal cruising speed, maybe less if you're just sauntering, and four miles an hour if really hurrying. There's no indication that the Trio are late and in a rush, nor that they arrive late, so Hagrid's cabin is about 400 yards from the castle, maybe less. We certainly don't want to go over 400 yards, because we know that Harry, standing on the Astronomy Tower in the dark, can see callers at Hagrid's house by the shapes they make against the light from his open door and can even distinguish the fire from their wands as distinct threads, and Umbridge and her cohorts are able to Stupefy McGonagall with some force when they are standing in front of Hagrid's cabin and she is halfway between Hagrid's cabin and the castle. It seems unlikely, given duels etc. that we've seen, that the range of a normal wand wielded by a normal witch or wizard could be over 200 yards, so we can say that Hagrid's cabin is certainly no more than 400 yards from the front door of the castle. It could easily be as little as 320 yards (a four-minute walk). Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. [cut] [cut] Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. [PoA ch. #06; p. 86] But then – when they had walked so far around the perimeter of the Forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight – Harry heard something. Men were shouting up ahead ... then came a deafening, ear-splitting roar ... Hagrid led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. [cut] Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood [GoF ch. #19; p. 285/286] Harry sped up, skirting the edge of the Forest; he had just under fifteen minutes to get back to the fireside and talk to Sirius, [cut] Harry hastily checked that the Cloak was covering him and lay very still, staring up at the dark outline of the wizard he had hit. [cut] [cut] Harry remained still and silent. After a minute or so, Karkaroff seemed to decide that he had hit some sort of animal; he was looking around at waist height, as though expecting to see a dog. Then he crept back under the cover of the trees, and started to edge forwards towards the place where the dragons were. Very slowly and very carefully, Harry got to his feet and set off again, as fast as he could without making too much noise, hurrying through the darkness back towards Hogwarts. [cut] Harry reached the castle, slipped in through the front doors and began to climb the marble stairs; he was very out of breath, but he didn't dare slow down ... he had less than five minutes to get up to the fire. [GoF ch. #19; p. 289/290] After looking at the dragons in their paddock, Harry has less than fifteen minutes to get to the Gryffindor common room. He goes as fast as he can without making a noise, but it's dark, so that probably means a very brisk walk rather than a run. He arrives at the castle with less than five minutes left, so the journey from the dragon-paddock to the castle took ten minutes (hurrying, but in the dark) and he spent over a minute of that hiding from Karkaroff. Hence, his journey-time was just under nine minutes, hurrying, and probably ten or eleven minutes at normal walking-speed. We do not know for sure whether the dragon paddock in GoF is the same one as the paddock where the Hippogriffs were in PoA. However, both paddocks were at the edge of the Forest, and both were accessed starting from Hagrid's house. Since Hagrid's house is itself at the edge of the Forest, there are only two directions one can go from it and still be at the edge of the Forest - towards the gates, and away. Hagrid's house is four or five minutes' walk from the castle, diagonally across the grounds towards the gates. Starting from Hagrid's house the Hippogriff pen was five minutes' walk away. If it was in a direction away from the gates then it would be back up towards the castle and only a little way past the main doors, so the paddock ought to be easily visible from the front of the castle. If so it can't be the same paddock that the flying horses were in in GoF, because that was near the Beauxbatons carriage, which was near Hagrid's house, and it can't be the dragon paddock because that was ten or more minutes' walk from the castle. That would mean there were three different paddocks. Likewise, if the Hippogriff paddock was towards the gates and the dragon paddock away from them, there would have to be three separate paddocks. On the other hand if we assume that the dragon and Hippogriff paddocks are the same, and both are towards the gates starting from Hagrid's house, then we have a nine or ten minute walk (four or five minutes to Hagrid's house and five minutes on from there) downhill from the castle to the paddock, and a nine minute rush or eleven or twelve minute walk uphill from the paddock to the castle. Furthermore, the position of the Durmstrang ship overlooks part of the edge of the Forest where Hagrid and Maxime pass on their way to the dragon-pen. If the dragon pen is towards the gates this ties in with the idea that the lake wraps around the side of the castle, rather than lying purely behind it, and that the lake extends in the direction of the front gates. If we assume, then, that the dragon paddock is towards the gates, then from this we can tell that if you follow the edge of the Forest from Hagrid's cabin, going away from the castle and towards the gates, you apparently go round a curve, since the trees eventually cut out the view of both castle and lake. Then you come to a clear area large enough to hold a pen containing four dragons, plus stands for spectators. This is probably the same place where Hagrid had a paddock for displaying Hippogriffs: the descriptions of how you get there tally, and there seems no need to complicate matters by postulating two different paddock-areas reached by walking around two different edges of the Forest. From the edge of this paddock back to the castle is a journey of about nine minutes or less. How do we know this? It's five minutes or less at normal walking speed from the castle to Hagrid's cabin, then five minutes round to where the Hippogriffs were, which is very probably the same paddock area they later keep the dragons in. The journey from Hagrid's cabin to a point from which one can clearly see the dragon-paddock is five minutes (about 400 yards), and the journey from the paddock to the castle (hurrying hard, but in the dark and uphill) is just under nine minutes. This supports the idea that Hagrid's cabin is only about a four-minute walk - 320 yards - from the castle. Either that or there is a route from the paddock to the castle which is substantially more direct than going close by Hagrid's cabin - but that doesn't seem likely if we are keeping close to JK's own map. Men were shouting up ahead ... then came a deafening, ear-splitting roar ... Hagrid led Madamee Maxime around a clump of trees, and came to a halt. Harry hurried up alongside them [cut] Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-loking dragons were rearing on their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting – torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks [GoF ch. #19; p. 285/286] Why was the dragon-pen not visible from the towers of the castle, even though they were rearing up fifty feet and shooting flames even higher? Why were their roars not heard by students walking outside in the grounds, even though roaring naturally carries over very great distance, and they were only about five minutes' walk from Hagrid's house? They weren't under Silencio, because Harry did hear them when he got close. We must assume they were under a disguising spell and a silencing spell other than Silencio. Perhaps Snape made them a gift of Muffliato. And how did they keep stray students from simply walking in on them as they strolled around the grounds? Again, we must assume they were protected by some sort of concealment and misdirection spell. Harry set down his goblet and was about to turn back to his bed when something caught his eye. An animal of some kind was prowling across the silvery lawn. [cut] He peered out at the grounds again and, after a minute's frantic searching, spotted it. It was skirting the edge of the Forest now ... It wasn't the Grim at all ... it was a cat ... Harry clutched the window ledge in relief as he recognized the bottlebrush tail. It was only Crookshanks ... [cut] 'I need you to tell me if you can see something!' ''S'all dark, Harry,' Ron muttered thickly. [PoA ch. #15; p. 223/224] Harry had not lost hope of finding and saving Hagrid; he ran so fast that they were halfway towards the Forest before they were brought up short again. [DH ch. #32; p. 521] How far is the edge of the Forbidden Forest from the castle? We know that Harry, looking out of his window at the top of Gryffindor Tower in the wee small hours of the morning, is able to see Crookshanks, well enough to recognize his tail, when the cat is skirting the edge of the Forest - and that by moonlight or the earliest light of dawn, since the grass looked silvery and Ron considered it still too dark to see much. But we also know that during the final battle Harry sets out from the castle, runs for a significant period of time and is still only halfway to the Forest. It was dark at the time, so he may not have been running very fast, and he may have been running at a diagonal rather than straight towards the nearest edge of the Forest; still, the Forest must be a reasonable distance from the castle. Harry set down his goblet and was about to turn back to his bed when something caught his eye. An animal of some kind was prowling across the silvery lawn. Harry dashed to his bedside table, snatched up his glasses, and put them on then hurried back to the window. [PoA ch. #15; p. 223] He opened his eyes. Everything was slightly blurred. Somebody had removed his glasses. He was lying in the dark hospital wing. At the very end of the ward, he could make out Madam Pomfrey with her back to him, bending over a bed. Harry squinted. Ron’s red hair was visible beneath Madam Pomfrey’s arm. Harry emerged from behind his towel; the changing room was blurred because he was not wearing his glasses, but he could still tell that everyone’s face was turned towards him. [OotP ch. #18; p. 337] Harry put his glasses on his bedside table and got into bed but did not pull the hangings closed around his four-poster; instead, he stared at the patch of starry sky visible through the window next to Neville’s bed. [OotP ch. #21; p. 407] He got into bed, yawning. With his glasses off, the occasional firework passing the window had become blurred, looking like sparkling clouds, beautiful and mysterious against the black sky. [OotP ch. #28; p. 559] Is Harry long- or short-sighted? We know that his sight is blurred without his glasses, and he needs his glasses to see comparatively near things - such as the features of the other players in the changing room. If his markedly blurred vision without glasses - so blurred he can only just about tell whether people standing a few feet away are facing him or not - was due to short sight, he shouldn't be able to see any smallish object at a distance. If I take my glasses off, for example, then not only can I not read the clock on the other side of the room (about ten feet away), but if I didn't already know that it was a clock, I probably wouldn't be able to tell that it was: it's just a fuzzy black blotch with a thin white streak across the front. Yet, Harry can see quite distant objects without his glasses, even if they are blurred. He can see that the sky is starry, without his glasses. Even if he can't positively identify Crookshanks without his glasses, he can see that there is a smallish animal "prowling" across the grass, by moonlight, when he is looking nine-plus storeys down and an unknown distance horizontally. [His dormitory is an unknown height above the Gryffindor common-room, which itself is usually entered from the seventh floor - the eighth floor in American terms. Even if the Common Room is on the third floor at that point - as it sometimes seems to be - he's still looking down from at least five storeys up.] He can make out Madam Pomfrey and Ron's red hair in semi-darkness (although not too dark to distinguish the colour red, evidently), from what sounds like a considerable distance, since JKR refers to "the very end of the ward" rather than just "the end of the ward". And Harry's ability to spot the snitch at great distance - albeit with his glasses - also tends to suggest long sight (hyperopia). The blurriness could mean he has an astigmatism or it could be just because hyperopia makes the eyes work extra hard to focus, and become extra tired. Experiment has shown that the greatest distance over which I personally can distinguish an animal the size of a large cat (actually it was a West Highland terrier, but the principle is sound), in daylight, with my glasses on, clearly enough to be sure of what I'm looking at is probably no more than 220 yards. Harry however is more than thirty years younger than me, he must have very good visual acuity in order to be a good Seeker and he is probably long-sighted, so he should be able to see much further than me. Although it's very difficult to find data on range of sight I did find one source on the net (a law-court in the Philippines!) which stated that it was definitely known to be impossible to see someone clearly enough to identify them with any certainty at 200 metres (about 218 yards), and it seems to be accepted that facial recognition is already unreliable at 150 yards. Harry is also working in poor lighting conditions when he sees Crookshanks. On the other hand, he's probably quite long-sighted and he identifies Crookshanks by his tail, which is a larger and more visible marker than someone's facial features We can probably say, therefore, that the nearest approach of the Forest cannot be more than about 300 yards from Gryffindor Tower, otherwise it's just not credible that Harry would be able to identify Crookshanks. But it's probably not much less than that either, because Harry runs some significant distance and is still only halfway to the Forest. If he's running hard, 300 yards is the distance he would cover in just over a minute.
Had he been seeing things across the lake? The figure had been too far away to see distinctly ... yet he had felt sure, for a moment, before he'd lost consciousness ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 298]
The lake must be fairly wide, since boating across it is a ceremonial occasion, but not enormously so. When Harry sees his time-looped self across the other side of the lake in PoA, by moonlight, the figure is too far away to make out very clearly, yet near enough that he can detect a resemblance to James. So at that point the lake is probably not more than three hundred yards across, and not less than fifty, depending on how dark it was. A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. [PS ch. #20; p. 278] The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him ... [cut] [cut]Harry raised his head a few inches and saw an animal amidst the light, galloping away across the lake. [cut] it was bright as a unicorn. [cut] Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For a moment, Harry saw, by its brightness, somebody welcoming it back ... raising his hand to pat it ... someone who looked strangely familiar ... [PS ch. #20; p. 282] The moon drifted in and out of sight behind the shifting clouds. [PS ch. #21; p. 298] The Patronus turned. It was cantering back towards Harry across the still surface of the water. It wasn't a horse. It wasn't a unicorn, either. It was a stag. It was shining brightly as the moon above ... [PS ch. #21; p. 300] Since it was June, and probably as far north as the Kintail area, then unless the sky was very overcast visibility would be good: even in Edinburgh, a hundred miles further south, the night sky on a clear night in June can be almost light enough to read a newspaper by at midnight. We know that there were some clouds about that night, intermittently covering the moon, but it is strongly implied that the moon was visible at the moment that the stag Patronus returned to Harry (it was "shining brightly as the moon above") and time-looped Harry was also illuminated by the brightness of the Patronus, and there are reasons (see below) to think that Harry is long-sighted, not short-sighted. All in all there are good reasons to think that Harry would have been able to see his time-turned self from a considerable distance, and that the lake at that point was something over about a hundred and fifty yards wide. He swam deeper and deeper, out towards the middle of the lake, his eyes wide, staring through the eerily grey-lit water around him to the shadow beyond, where the water became opaque. [cut] Light-green weed stretched ahead of him as far as he could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass. Harry was staring unblinkingly ahead of him, trying to discern shapes through the gloom ... and then, without warning, something grabbed hold of his ankle. [GoF ch. #26; p. 430] Harry pulled his ankle out of the Grindylow's grip and swam as fast as he could [cut] every now and then he felt one of the Grindylows snatch at his foot again [cut] Harry slowed down a little [cut] He turned full circle in the water [cut] [cut] He whipped around, and saw Moaning Myrtle [GoF ch. #26; p. 430/431] He swam on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. [cut] Then, at long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mer-song [cut] Harry swam faster, and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it [cut] A cluster of crude stone dwellins stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom [GoF ch. #26; p. 431/432] When Harry swims to the mer village, during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, he swims for at least about three minutes to reach the point where the Grindylows attack him, then speeds up to get away from them and towards the point where he meets Moaning Myrtle - say another two minutes at least. From that point he swims on for what feels to him like at least twenty minutes - but since time-sense is distorted when you are in an unfamiliar place, it was probably no more than fifteen minutes. So it took him about twenty minutes of swimming time (not counting the pauses while he fought the Grindylow and spoke to Myrtle) to reach the mer village. He stretched out his hands in front of him and stared at them. They looked green and ghostly under the water, and they had become webbed. He twisted around and looked at his bare feet – they had become elongated and his toes were webbed, too; it looked as though he had sprouted flippers. [GoF ch. #26; p. 429] The top speed for a human diver wearing fins is 3.36 mph but normal speed over distance is about 1mph and Harry is an inexperienced swimmer, so he has gone no more than about a quarter of a mile - 440 yards - from the pale-green weeds where he met the Grindylow, and probably only about a third of a mile - less than 590 yards - all told. 'Mr Cedric Diggory [cut] was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour.' [GoF ch. #26; p. 439] He swam swiftly towards a seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs, and tried to mime a request to borrow the spear. The merman laughed and shook his head. 'We do not help,' he said in a harsh, croaky voice. ''Come ON!' Harry said fiercely (but only bubbles issued from his mouth), and he tried to pull the spear away from the merman, but the merman yanked it back, still shaking his head and laughing. Harry swirled around, staring about. Something sharp ... anything ... There were rocks littering the lake bottom. He dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one, and returned to the statue. He began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. [GoF ch. #26; p. 433] He turned back to Hermione, raised the jagged rock and began to hack at her bindings, too – At once, several pairs of strong grey hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads and laughing.[cut] [cut] Harry struggled to fight off the mermen, but they laughed harder than ever, holding him back. [GoF ch. #26; p. 433/434] The constraints are 1) the lake needs to be long enough to account for the time it took Harry to swim to the mer village from a point which is not right at the end of the lake and 2) the need not to position the mer village right up close to the castle's sewage outlet, but 3) the need for the lake not to be so long that it makes Harry's sprint from the castle round the end of the lake in five minutes unrealistic. There is another issue to consider, however. Cedric, who does not delay to rescue the other hostages but simply arrives at the mer village, cuts Cho free and swims straight back to the judges' table, takes one minute over an hour to do so. This suggests that it has taken him an average of half an hour to swim each way - probably thirty-five minutes on the outward leg, since he has to locate the mer village underwater, and then twenty-five minutes going back. However, there's no indication that he is wearing fins, which would slow him down considerably, and indeed he arrives at the mer village well after Harry. We also don't know what obstacles he may have encountered to delay him on the way. Harry has had time to ask the mer people for help, be refused, search for and find a sharp stone, spend several minutes hacking Ron free, and argue and physically fight with the mer people to get them to let him save the other hostages as well. Harry hit Krum hard on the shoulder, and held up the jagged stone. Krum seized it, and began to cut Hermione free. Within seconds, he had done it [GoF ch. #26; p. 434/435] Harry darted forwards and began to hack at the robes [sic] binding the small girl to the statue; and at last she was free. He seized the little girl around the waist, grabbed the neck of Ron's robes, and kicked off from the bottom. It was very slow work. He could no longer use his webbed hands to propel himself forwards; he worked his flippers furiously, but Ron and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging him back down [GoF ch. #26; p. 435] He kicked hard with his flippers and discovered that they were nothing more than feet [GoF ch. #26; p. 436] 'C'mon,' Harry said shortly, 'help me with her. I don't think she can swim very well.' They pulled Fleur's sister through the water [GoF ch. #26; p. 437] 'Mr Harry Potter [cut] returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour.' [GoF ch. #26; p. 440] It certainly seems reasonable to think that if Cedric, flipperless, takes about thirty-five minutes to reach the mer village then Harry, with his feet changed to flippers, makes it in twenty-five minutes (twenty minutes swimming, and five minutes fighting Grindylows and talking to Moaning Myrtle) and then spends ten minutes on freeing Ron and arguing with the mer people, before Cedric gets there. Harry then takes a lot more than twenty-five minutes to get back, because we know he takes well over an hour all told: but after Cedric's departure Harry assists Krum, then spends an unknown length of time hacking Gabrielle free (we know Harry took several minutes to cut Ron free, but Krum cut Hermione free in seconds with the same sharp stone), then he struggles slowly to the surface, then he has to swim back with feet which are no longer flippers, and then he and Ron are further delayed by having to help Gabrielle, who is not a strong swimmer. So it seems reasonable to assume that Harry's outwards journey to the mer village indeed took only twenty minutes of swim-time, with flippers, at 1 mph. All told, from the shore by the judges' table to the mer village is probably less than 600 yards: even if Harry went in a dead straight line to get there, which seems unlikely. Almost certainly, he wove about a bit in seeking the mer village, plus he may well have gone further than the middle to get there; so the lake need not be as much as 12,000 yards long. So the lake is maybe 800 to 1,200 yards long, with a circumference of around a mile and a half, including wiggle. Walking at a normal speed, Harry and Hermione would take about thirty to thirty-five minutes to walk round it. 'Underwater ...' Harry said slowly. 'Myrtle ... what lives in the lake, apart from the giant squid?' 'Oh, all sorts,' she said. 'I sometimes go down there ... sometimes don't have any choice, if someone flushes my toilet when I'm not expecting it ...' Trying not to think about Moaning Myrtle zooming down a pipe to the lake with the contents of a toilet [GoF ch. #25; p. 403] On the other hand, although the lake could be as little as 800 yards long and still fit the mer village into it, if the village is near one end, there are good reasons (described in the section below on the lake) to think that Harry starts his swim towards the mer village from the end of the lake farthest from the castle and that the mer village, if it is nearer to one end of the lake, would therefore be nearer the castle end. Since we know the castle discharges raw sewage directly into the lake this could get quite unpleasant, and it is certainly pleasanter to think that the lake is nearer the 1,200 yard mark and the mer village is in the middle, a fair distance from the castle. Bagman [cut] pointed his wand at his throat as he had done at the World Cup, said 'Sonorus!' and his voice boomed out across the dark water towards the stands. [cut] The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause [GoF ch. #26; p. 428] We know that the width of the lake is such that, during this second task, Harry can clearly hear the spectators from one side of the lake to the other - but since we don't know how many spectators there are, or which way the wind is blowing, this doesn't really help us, except to say that the width is not enormous. At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. [PS ch. #08; p. 104] Hagrid's door had burst open and by the light flooding out of the cabin they saw him quite clearly a massive figure roaring and brandishing his fists, surrounded by six people, all of whom, judging by the tiny threads of red light they were casting in his direction, seemed to be attempting to Stun him. [OotP ch. #31; p. 635] The figures around the cabin had shot no fewer than four Stunners at Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red beams collided with her; for a moment she looked luminous and glowed an eerie red, then she lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more. [OotP ch. #31; p. 636] From the castle doors to Hagrid's cabin takes five minutes or less, because the Trio leave the castle at five to three in order to meet Hagrid at three. Normal human walking speed is about 2.7 miles an hour at normal cruising speed, maybe less if you're just sauntering, and four miles an hour if really hurrying. There's no indication that the Trio are late and in a rush, nor that they arrive late, so Hagrid's cabin is about 400 yards from the castle, maybe less. We certainly don't want to go over 400 yards, because we know that Harry, standing on the Astronomy Tower in the dark, can see callers at Hagrid's house by the shapes they make against the light from his open door and can even distinguish the fire from their wands as distinct threads, and Umbridge and her cohorts are able to Stupefy McGonagall with some force when they are standing in front of Hagrid's cabin and she is halfway between Hagrid's cabin and the castle. It seems unlikely, given duels etc. that we've seen, that the range of a normal wand wielded by a normal witch or wizard could be over 200 yards, so we can say that Hagrid's cabin is certainly no more than 400 yards from the front door of the castle. It could easily be as little as 320 yards (a four-minute walk). Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. [cut] [cut] Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. [PoA ch. #06; p. 86] But then – when they had walked so far around the perimeter of the Forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight – Harry heard something. Men were shouting up ahead ... then came a deafening, ear-splitting roar ... Hagrid led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. [cut] Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood [GoF ch. #19; p. 285/286] Harry sped up, skirting the edge of the Forest; he had just under fifteen minutes to get back to the fireside and talk to Sirius, [cut] Harry hastily checked that the Cloak was covering him and lay very still, staring up at the dark outline of the wizard he had hit. [cut] [cut] Harry remained still and silent. After a minute or so, Karkaroff seemed to decide that he had hit some sort of animal; he was looking around at waist height, as though expecting to see a dog. Then he crept back under the cover of the trees, and started to edge forwards towards the place where the dragons were. Very slowly and very carefully, Harry got to his feet and set off again, as fast as he could without making too much noise, hurrying through the darkness back towards Hogwarts. [cut] Harry reached the castle, slipped in through the front doors and began to climb the marble stairs; he was very out of breath, but he didn't dare slow down ... he had less than five minutes to get up to the fire. [GoF ch. #19; p. 289/290] After looking at the dragons in their paddock, Harry has less than fifteen minutes to get to the Gryffindor common room. He goes as fast as he can without making a noise, but it's dark, so that probably means a very brisk walk rather than a run. He arrives at the castle with less than five minutes left, so the journey from the dragon-paddock to the castle took ten minutes (hurrying, but in the dark) and he spent over a minute of that hiding from Karkaroff. Hence, his journey-time was just under nine minutes, hurrying, and probably ten or eleven minutes at normal walking-speed. We do not know for sure whether the dragon paddock in GoF is the same one as the paddock where the Hippogriffs were in PoA. However, both paddocks were at the edge of the Forest, and both were accessed starting from Hagrid's house. Since Hagrid's house is itself at the edge of the Forest, there are only two directions one can go from it and still be at the edge of the Forest - towards the gates, and away. Hagrid's house is four or five minutes' walk from the castle, diagonally across the grounds towards the gates. Starting from Hagrid's house the Hippogriff pen was five minutes' walk away. If it was in a direction away from the gates then it would be back up towards the castle and only a little way past the main doors, so the paddock ought to be easily visible from the front of the castle. If so it can't be the same paddock that the flying horses were in in GoF, because that was near the Beauxbatons carriage, which was near Hagrid's house, and it can't be the dragon paddock because that was ten or more minutes' walk from the castle. That would mean there were three different paddocks. Likewise, if the Hippogriff paddock was towards the gates and the dragon paddock away from them, there would have to be three separate paddocks. On the other hand if we assume that the dragon and Hippogriff paddocks are the same, and both are towards the gates starting from Hagrid's house, then we have a nine or ten minute walk (four or five minutes to Hagrid's house and five minutes on from there) downhill from the castle to the paddock, and a nine minute rush or eleven or twelve minute walk uphill from the paddock to the castle. Furthermore, the position of the Durmstrang ship overlooks part of the edge of the Forest where Hagrid and Maxime pass on their way to the dragon-pen. If the dragon pen is towards the gates this ties in with the idea that the lake wraps around the side of the castle, rather than lying purely behind it, and that the lake extends in the direction of the front gates. If we assume, then, that the dragon paddock is towards the gates, then from this we can tell that if you follow the edge of the Forest from Hagrid's cabin, going away from the castle and towards the gates, you apparently go round a curve, since the trees eventually cut out the view of both castle and lake. Then you come to a clear area large enough to hold a pen containing four dragons, plus stands for spectators. This is probably the same place where Hagrid had a paddock for displaying Hippogriffs: the descriptions of how you get there tally, and there seems no need to complicate matters by postulating two different paddock-areas reached by walking around two different edges of the Forest. From the edge of this paddock back to the castle is a journey of about nine minutes or less. How do we know this? It's five minutes or less at normal walking speed from the castle to Hagrid's cabin, then five minutes round to where the Hippogriffs were, which is very probably the same paddock area they later keep the dragons in. The journey from Hagrid's cabin to a point from which one can clearly see the dragon-paddock is five minutes (about 400 yards), and the journey from the paddock to the castle (hurrying hard, but in the dark and uphill) is just under nine minutes. This supports the idea that Hagrid's cabin is only about a four-minute walk - 320 yards - from the castle. Either that or there is a route from the paddock to the castle which is substantially more direct than going close by Hagrid's cabin - but that doesn't seem likely if we are keeping close to JK's own map. Men were shouting up ahead ... then came a deafening, ear-splitting roar ... Hagrid led Madamee Maxime around a clump of trees, and came to a halt. Harry hurried up alongside them [cut] Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-loking dragons were rearing on their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting – torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks [GoF ch. #19; p. 285/286] Why was the dragon-pen not visible from the towers of the castle, even though they were rearing up fifty feet and shooting flames even higher? Why were their roars not heard by students walking outside in the grounds, even though roaring naturally carries over very great distance, and they were only about five minutes' walk from Hagrid's house? They weren't under Silencio, because Harry did hear them when he got close. We must assume they were under a disguising spell and a silencing spell other than Silencio. Perhaps Snape made them a gift of Muffliato. And how did they keep stray students from simply walking in on them as they strolled around the grounds? Again, we must assume they were protected by some sort of concealment and misdirection spell.
The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him ... [cut] [cut]Harry raised his head a few inches and saw an animal amidst the light, galloping away across the lake. [cut] it was bright as a unicorn. [cut] Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For a moment, Harry saw, by its brightness, somebody welcoming it back ... raising his hand to pat it ... someone who looked strangely familiar ... [PS ch. #20; p. 282]
The moon drifted in and out of sight behind the shifting clouds. [PS ch. #21; p. 298]
The Patronus turned. It was cantering back towards Harry across the still surface of the water. It wasn't a horse. It wasn't a unicorn, either. It was a stag. It was shining brightly as the moon above ... [PS ch. #21; p. 300]
Since it was June, and probably as far north as the Kintail area, then unless the sky was very overcast visibility would be good: even in Edinburgh, a hundred miles further south, the night sky on a clear night in June can be almost light enough to read a newspaper by at midnight. We know that there were some clouds about that night, intermittently covering the moon, but it is strongly implied that the moon was visible at the moment that the stag Patronus returned to Harry (it was "shining brightly as the moon above") and time-looped Harry was also illuminated by the brightness of the Patronus, and there are reasons (see below) to think that Harry is long-sighted, not short-sighted. All in all there are good reasons to think that Harry would have been able to see his time-turned self from a considerable distance, and that the lake at that point was something over about a hundred and fifty yards wide. He swam deeper and deeper, out towards the middle of the lake, his eyes wide, staring through the eerily grey-lit water around him to the shadow beyond, where the water became opaque. [cut] Light-green weed stretched ahead of him as far as he could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass. Harry was staring unblinkingly ahead of him, trying to discern shapes through the gloom ... and then, without warning, something grabbed hold of his ankle. [GoF ch. #26; p. 430] Harry pulled his ankle out of the Grindylow's grip and swam as fast as he could [cut] every now and then he felt one of the Grindylows snatch at his foot again [cut] Harry slowed down a little [cut] He turned full circle in the water [cut] [cut] He whipped around, and saw Moaning Myrtle [GoF ch. #26; p. 430/431] He swam on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. [cut] Then, at long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mer-song [cut] Harry swam faster, and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it [cut] A cluster of crude stone dwellins stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom [GoF ch. #26; p. 431/432] When Harry swims to the mer village, during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, he swims for at least about three minutes to reach the point where the Grindylows attack him, then speeds up to get away from them and towards the point where he meets Moaning Myrtle - say another two minutes at least. From that point he swims on for what feels to him like at least twenty minutes - but since time-sense is distorted when you are in an unfamiliar place, it was probably no more than fifteen minutes. So it took him about twenty minutes of swimming time (not counting the pauses while he fought the Grindylow and spoke to Myrtle) to reach the mer village. He stretched out his hands in front of him and stared at them. They looked green and ghostly under the water, and they had become webbed. He twisted around and looked at his bare feet – they had become elongated and his toes were webbed, too; it looked as though he had sprouted flippers. [GoF ch. #26; p. 429] The top speed for a human diver wearing fins is 3.36 mph but normal speed over distance is about 1mph and Harry is an inexperienced swimmer, so he has gone no more than about a quarter of a mile - 440 yards - from the pale-green weeds where he met the Grindylow, and probably only about a third of a mile - less than 590 yards - all told. 'Mr Cedric Diggory [cut] was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour.' [GoF ch. #26; p. 439] He swam swiftly towards a seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs, and tried to mime a request to borrow the spear. The merman laughed and shook his head. 'We do not help,' he said in a harsh, croaky voice. ''Come ON!' Harry said fiercely (but only bubbles issued from his mouth), and he tried to pull the spear away from the merman, but the merman yanked it back, still shaking his head and laughing. Harry swirled around, staring about. Something sharp ... anything ... There were rocks littering the lake bottom. He dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one, and returned to the statue. He began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. [GoF ch. #26; p. 433] He turned back to Hermione, raised the jagged rock and began to hack at her bindings, too – At once, several pairs of strong grey hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads and laughing.[cut] [cut] Harry struggled to fight off the mermen, but they laughed harder than ever, holding him back. [GoF ch. #26; p. 433/434] The constraints are 1) the lake needs to be long enough to account for the time it took Harry to swim to the mer village from a point which is not right at the end of the lake and 2) the need not to position the mer village right up close to the castle's sewage outlet, but 3) the need for the lake not to be so long that it makes Harry's sprint from the castle round the end of the lake in five minutes unrealistic. There is another issue to consider, however. Cedric, who does not delay to rescue the other hostages but simply arrives at the mer village, cuts Cho free and swims straight back to the judges' table, takes one minute over an hour to do so. This suggests that it has taken him an average of half an hour to swim each way - probably thirty-five minutes on the outward leg, since he has to locate the mer village underwater, and then twenty-five minutes going back. However, there's no indication that he is wearing fins, which would slow him down considerably, and indeed he arrives at the mer village well after Harry. We also don't know what obstacles he may have encountered to delay him on the way. Harry has had time to ask the mer people for help, be refused, search for and find a sharp stone, spend several minutes hacking Ron free, and argue and physically fight with the mer people to get them to let him save the other hostages as well. Harry hit Krum hard on the shoulder, and held up the jagged stone. Krum seized it, and began to cut Hermione free. Within seconds, he had done it [GoF ch. #26; p. 434/435] Harry darted forwards and began to hack at the robes [sic] binding the small girl to the statue; and at last she was free. He seized the little girl around the waist, grabbed the neck of Ron's robes, and kicked off from the bottom. It was very slow work. He could no longer use his webbed hands to propel himself forwards; he worked his flippers furiously, but Ron and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging him back down [GoF ch. #26; p. 435] He kicked hard with his flippers and discovered that they were nothing more than feet [GoF ch. #26; p. 436] 'C'mon,' Harry said shortly, 'help me with her. I don't think she can swim very well.' They pulled Fleur's sister through the water [GoF ch. #26; p. 437] 'Mr Harry Potter [cut] returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour.' [GoF ch. #26; p. 440] It certainly seems reasonable to think that if Cedric, flipperless, takes about thirty-five minutes to reach the mer village then Harry, with his feet changed to flippers, makes it in twenty-five minutes (twenty minutes swimming, and five minutes fighting Grindylows and talking to Moaning Myrtle) and then spends ten minutes on freeing Ron and arguing with the mer people, before Cedric gets there. Harry then takes a lot more than twenty-five minutes to get back, because we know he takes well over an hour all told: but after Cedric's departure Harry assists Krum, then spends an unknown length of time hacking Gabrielle free (we know Harry took several minutes to cut Ron free, but Krum cut Hermione free in seconds with the same sharp stone), then he struggles slowly to the surface, then he has to swim back with feet which are no longer flippers, and then he and Ron are further delayed by having to help Gabrielle, who is not a strong swimmer. So it seems reasonable to assume that Harry's outwards journey to the mer village indeed took only twenty minutes of swim-time, with flippers, at 1 mph. All told, from the shore by the judges' table to the mer village is probably less than 600 yards: even if Harry went in a dead straight line to get there, which seems unlikely. Almost certainly, he wove about a bit in seeking the mer village, plus he may well have gone further than the middle to get there; so the lake need not be as much as 12,000 yards long. So the lake is maybe 800 to 1,200 yards long, with a circumference of around a mile and a half, including wiggle. Walking at a normal speed, Harry and Hermione would take about thirty to thirty-five minutes to walk round it. 'Underwater ...' Harry said slowly. 'Myrtle ... what lives in the lake, apart from the giant squid?' 'Oh, all sorts,' she said. 'I sometimes go down there ... sometimes don't have any choice, if someone flushes my toilet when I'm not expecting it ...' Trying not to think about Moaning Myrtle zooming down a pipe to the lake with the contents of a toilet [GoF ch. #25; p. 403] On the other hand, although the lake could be as little as 800 yards long and still fit the mer village into it, if the village is near one end, there are good reasons (described in the section below on the lake) to think that Harry starts his swim towards the mer village from the end of the lake farthest from the castle and that the mer village, if it is nearer to one end of the lake, would therefore be nearer the castle end. Since we know the castle discharges raw sewage directly into the lake this could get quite unpleasant, and it is certainly pleasanter to think that the lake is nearer the 1,200 yard mark and the mer village is in the middle, a fair distance from the castle. Bagman [cut] pointed his wand at his throat as he had done at the World Cup, said 'Sonorus!' and his voice boomed out across the dark water towards the stands. [cut] The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause [GoF ch. #26; p. 428] We know that the width of the lake is such that, during this second task, Harry can clearly hear the spectators from one side of the lake to the other - but since we don't know how many spectators there are, or which way the wind is blowing, this doesn't really help us, except to say that the width is not enormous.
Harry pulled his ankle out of the Grindylow's grip and swam as fast as he could [cut] every now and then he felt one of the Grindylows snatch at his foot again [cut] Harry slowed down a little [cut] He turned full circle in the water [cut] [cut] He whipped around, and saw Moaning Myrtle [GoF ch. #26; p. 430/431]
He swam on for what felt like at least twenty minutes. [cut] Then, at long last, he heard a snatch of haunting mer-song [cut] Harry swam faster, and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it [cut] A cluster of crude stone dwellins stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom [GoF ch. #26; p. 431/432]
When Harry swims to the mer village, during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, he swims for at least about three minutes to reach the point where the Grindylows attack him, then speeds up to get away from them and towards the point where he meets Moaning Myrtle - say another two minutes at least. From that point he swims on for what feels to him like at least twenty minutes - but since time-sense is distorted when you are in an unfamiliar place, it was probably no more than fifteen minutes. So it took him about twenty minutes of swimming time (not counting the pauses while he fought the Grindylow and spoke to Myrtle) to reach the mer village.
The top speed for a human diver wearing fins is 3.36 mph but normal speed over distance is about 1mph and Harry is an inexperienced swimmer, so he has gone no more than about a quarter of a mile - 440 yards - from the pale-green weeds where he met the Grindylow, and probably only about a third of a mile - less than 590 yards - all told.
He swam swiftly towards a seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs, and tried to mime a request to borrow the spear. The merman laughed and shook his head. 'We do not help,' he said in a harsh, croaky voice. ''Come ON!' Harry said fiercely (but only bubbles issued from his mouth), and he tried to pull the spear away from the merman, but the merman yanked it back, still shaking his head and laughing. Harry swirled around, staring about. Something sharp ... anything ... There were rocks littering the lake bottom. He dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one, and returned to the statue. He began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. [GoF ch. #26; p. 433]
He turned back to Hermione, raised the jagged rock and began to hack at her bindings, too – At once, several pairs of strong grey hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads and laughing.[cut] [cut] Harry struggled to fight off the mermen, but they laughed harder than ever, holding him back. [GoF ch. #26; p. 433/434]
The constraints are 1) the lake needs to be long enough to account for the time it took Harry to swim to the mer village from a point which is not right at the end of the lake and 2) the need not to position the mer village right up close to the castle's sewage outlet, but 3) the need for the lake not to be so long that it makes Harry's sprint from the castle round the end of the lake in five minutes unrealistic.
There is another issue to consider, however. Cedric, who does not delay to rescue the other hostages but simply arrives at the mer village, cuts Cho free and swims straight back to the judges' table, takes one minute over an hour to do so. This suggests that it has taken him an average of half an hour to swim each way - probably thirty-five minutes on the outward leg, since he has to locate the mer village underwater, and then twenty-five minutes going back. However, there's no indication that he is wearing fins, which would slow him down considerably, and indeed he arrives at the mer village well after Harry. We also don't know what obstacles he may have encountered to delay him on the way. Harry has had time to ask the mer people for help, be refused, search for and find a sharp stone, spend several minutes hacking Ron free, and argue and physically fight with the mer people to get them to let him save the other hostages as well.
Harry darted forwards and began to hack at the robes [sic] binding the small girl to the statue; and at last she was free. He seized the little girl around the waist, grabbed the neck of Ron's robes, and kicked off from the bottom. It was very slow work. He could no longer use his webbed hands to propel himself forwards; he worked his flippers furiously, but Ron and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging him back down [GoF ch. #26; p. 435]
He kicked hard with his flippers and discovered that they were nothing more than feet [GoF ch. #26; p. 436]
'C'mon,' Harry said shortly, 'help me with her. I don't think she can swim very well.' They pulled Fleur's sister through the water [GoF ch. #26; p. 437]
'Mr Harry Potter [cut] returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour.' [GoF ch. #26; p. 440]
It certainly seems reasonable to think that if Cedric, flipperless, takes about thirty-five minutes to reach the mer village then Harry, with his feet changed to flippers, makes it in twenty-five minutes (twenty minutes swimming, and five minutes fighting Grindylows and talking to Moaning Myrtle) and then spends ten minutes on freeing Ron and arguing with the mer people, before Cedric gets there. Harry then takes a lot more than twenty-five minutes to get back, because we know he takes well over an hour all told: but after Cedric's departure Harry assists Krum, then spends an unknown length of time hacking Gabrielle free (we know Harry took several minutes to cut Ron free, but Krum cut Hermione free in seconds with the same sharp stone), then he struggles slowly to the surface, then he has to swim back with feet which are no longer flippers, and then he and Ron are further delayed by having to help Gabrielle, who is not a strong swimmer.
So it seems reasonable to assume that Harry's outwards journey to the mer village indeed took only twenty minutes of swim-time, with flippers, at 1 mph. All told, from the shore by the judges' table to the mer village is probably less than 600 yards: even if Harry went in a dead straight line to get there, which seems unlikely. Almost certainly, he wove about a bit in seeking the mer village, plus he may well have gone further than the middle to get there; so the lake need not be as much as 12,000 yards long. So the lake is maybe 800 to 1,200 yards long, with a circumference of around a mile and a half, including wiggle. Walking at a normal speed, Harry and Hermione would take about thirty to thirty-five minutes to walk round it.
On the other hand, although the lake could be as little as 800 yards long and still fit the mer village into it, if the village is near one end, there are good reasons (described in the section below on the lake) to think that Harry starts his swim towards the mer village from the end of the lake farthest from the castle and that the mer village, if it is nearer to one end of the lake, would therefore be nearer the castle end. Since we know the castle discharges raw sewage directly into the lake this could get quite unpleasant, and it is certainly pleasanter to think that the lake is nearer the 1,200 yard mark and the mer village is in the middle, a fair distance from the castle.
We know that the width of the lake is such that, during this second task, Harry can clearly hear the spectators from one side of the lake to the other - but since we don't know how many spectators there are, or which way the wind is blowing, this doesn't really help us, except to say that the width is not enormous.
Hagrid's door had burst open and by the light flooding out of the cabin they saw him quite clearly a massive figure roaring and brandishing his fists, surrounded by six people, all of whom, judging by the tiny threads of red light they were casting in his direction, seemed to be attempting to Stun him. [OotP ch. #31; p. 635]
The figures around the cabin had shot no fewer than four Stunners at Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red beams collided with her; for a moment she looked luminous and glowed an eerie red, then she lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more. [OotP ch. #31; p. 636]
From the castle doors to Hagrid's cabin takes five minutes or less, because the Trio leave the castle at five to three in order to meet Hagrid at three. Normal human walking speed is about 2.7 miles an hour at normal cruising speed, maybe less if you're just sauntering, and four miles an hour if really hurrying. There's no indication that the Trio are late and in a rush, nor that they arrive late, so Hagrid's cabin is about 400 yards from the castle, maybe less.
We certainly don't want to go over 400 yards, because we know that Harry, standing on the Astronomy Tower in the dark, can see callers at Hagrid's house by the shapes they make against the light from his open door and can even distinguish the fire from their wands as distinct threads, and Umbridge and her cohorts are able to Stupefy McGonagall with some force when they are standing in front of Hagrid's cabin and she is halfway between Hagrid's cabin and the castle. It seems unlikely, given duels etc. that we've seen, that the range of a normal wand wielded by a normal witch or wizard could be over 200 yards, so we can say that Hagrid's cabin is certainly no more than 400 yards from the front door of the castle. It could easily be as little as 320 yards (a four-minute walk).
But then – when they had walked so far around the perimeter of the Forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight – Harry heard something. Men were shouting up ahead ... then came a deafening, ear-splitting roar ... Hagrid led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. [cut] Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood [GoF ch. #19; p. 285/286]
Harry sped up, skirting the edge of the Forest; he had just under fifteen minutes to get back to the fireside and talk to Sirius, [cut] Harry hastily checked that the Cloak was covering him and lay very still, staring up at the dark outline of the wizard he had hit. [cut] [cut] Harry remained still and silent. After a minute or so, Karkaroff seemed to decide that he had hit some sort of animal; he was looking around at waist height, as though expecting to see a dog. Then he crept back under the cover of the trees, and started to edge forwards towards the place where the dragons were. Very slowly and very carefully, Harry got to his feet and set off again, as fast as he could without making too much noise, hurrying through the darkness back towards Hogwarts. [cut] Harry reached the castle, slipped in through the front doors and began to climb the marble stairs; he was very out of breath, but he didn't dare slow down ... he had less than five minutes to get up to the fire. [GoF ch. #19; p. 289/290]
After looking at the dragons in their paddock, Harry has less than fifteen minutes to get to the Gryffindor common room. He goes as fast as he can without making a noise, but it's dark, so that probably means a very brisk walk rather than a run. He arrives at the castle with less than five minutes left, so the journey from the dragon-paddock to the castle took ten minutes (hurrying, but in the dark) and he spent over a minute of that hiding from Karkaroff. Hence, his journey-time was just under nine minutes, hurrying, and probably ten or eleven minutes at normal walking-speed.
We do not know for sure whether the dragon paddock in GoF is the same one as the paddock where the Hippogriffs were in PoA. However, both paddocks were at the edge of the Forest, and both were accessed starting from Hagrid's house. Since Hagrid's house is itself at the edge of the Forest, there are only two directions one can go from it and still be at the edge of the Forest - towards the gates, and away.
Hagrid's house is four or five minutes' walk from the castle, diagonally across the grounds towards the gates. Starting from Hagrid's house the Hippogriff pen was five minutes' walk away. If it was in a direction away from the gates then it would be back up towards the castle and only a little way past the main doors, so the paddock ought to be easily visible from the front of the castle. If so it can't be the same paddock that the flying horses were in in GoF, because that was near the Beauxbatons carriage, which was near Hagrid's house, and it can't be the dragon paddock because that was ten or more minutes' walk from the castle. That would mean there were three different paddocks. Likewise, if the Hippogriff paddock was towards the gates and the dragon paddock away from them, there would have to be three separate paddocks.
On the other hand if we assume that the dragon and Hippogriff paddocks are the same, and both are towards the gates starting from Hagrid's house, then we have a nine or ten minute walk (four or five minutes to Hagrid's house and five minutes on from there) downhill from the castle to the paddock, and a nine minute rush or eleven or twelve minute walk uphill from the paddock to the castle.
Furthermore, the position of the Durmstrang ship overlooks part of the edge of the Forest where Hagrid and Maxime pass on their way to the dragon-pen. If the dragon pen is towards the gates this ties in with the idea that the lake wraps around the side of the castle, rather than lying purely behind it, and that the lake extends in the direction of the front gates.
If we assume, then, that the dragon paddock is towards the gates, then from this we can tell that if you follow the edge of the Forest from Hagrid's cabin, going away from the castle and towards the gates, you apparently go round a curve, since the trees eventually cut out the view of both castle and lake. Then you come to a clear area large enough to hold a pen containing four dragons, plus stands for spectators. This is probably the same place where Hagrid had a paddock for displaying Hippogriffs: the descriptions of how you get there tally, and there seems no need to complicate matters by postulating two different paddock-areas reached by walking around two different edges of the Forest.
From the edge of this paddock back to the castle is a journey of about nine minutes or less. How do we know this? It's five minutes or less at normal walking speed from the castle to Hagrid's cabin, then five minutes round to where the Hippogriffs were, which is very probably the same paddock area they later keep the dragons in.
The journey from Hagrid's cabin to a point from which one can clearly see the dragon-paddock is five minutes (about 400 yards), and the journey from the paddock to the castle (hurrying hard, but in the dark and uphill) is just under nine minutes. This supports the idea that Hagrid's cabin is only about a four-minute walk - 320 yards - from the castle. Either that or there is a route from the paddock to the castle which is substantially more direct than going close by Hagrid's cabin - but that doesn't seem likely if we are keeping close to JK's own map.
Why was the dragon-pen not visible from the towers of the castle, even though they were rearing up fifty feet and shooting flames even higher? Why were their roars not heard by students walking outside in the grounds, even though roaring naturally carries over very great distance, and they were only about five minutes' walk from Hagrid's house? They weren't under Silencio, because Harry did hear them when he got close. We must assume they were under a disguising spell and a silencing spell other than Silencio. Perhaps Snape made them a gift of Muffliato.
And how did they keep stray students from simply walking in on them as they strolled around the grounds? Again, we must assume they were protected by some sort of concealment and misdirection spell.
Harry had not lost hope of finding and saving Hagrid; he ran so fast that they were halfway towards the Forest before they were brought up short again. [DH ch. #32; p. 521]
How far is the edge of the Forbidden Forest from the castle?
We know that Harry, looking out of his window at the top of Gryffindor Tower in the wee small hours of the morning, is able to see Crookshanks, well enough to recognize his tail, when the cat is skirting the edge of the Forest - and that by moonlight or the earliest light of dawn, since the grass looked silvery and Ron considered it still too dark to see much. But we also know that during the final battle Harry sets out from the castle, runs for a significant period of time and is still only halfway to the Forest. It was dark at the time, so he may not have been running very fast, and he may have been running at a diagonal rather than straight towards the nearest edge of the Forest; still, the Forest must be a reasonable distance from the castle.
He opened his eyes. Everything was slightly blurred. Somebody had removed his glasses. He was lying in the dark hospital wing. At the very end of the ward, he could make out Madam Pomfrey with her back to him, bending over a bed. Harry squinted. Ron’s red hair was visible beneath Madam Pomfrey’s arm.
Harry emerged from behind his towel; the changing room was blurred because he was not wearing his glasses, but he could still tell that everyone’s face was turned towards him. [OotP ch. #18; p. 337]
Harry put his glasses on his bedside table and got into bed but did not pull the hangings closed around his four-poster; instead, he stared at the patch of starry sky visible through the window next to Neville’s bed. [OotP ch. #21; p. 407]
He got into bed, yawning. With his glasses off, the occasional firework passing the window had become blurred, looking like sparkling clouds, beautiful and mysterious against the black sky. [OotP ch. #28; p. 559]
Is Harry long- or short-sighted? We know that his sight is blurred without his glasses, and he needs his glasses to see comparatively near things - such as the features of the other players in the changing room. If his markedly blurred vision without glasses - so blurred he can only just about tell whether people standing a few feet away are facing him or not - was due to short sight, he shouldn't be able to see any smallish object at a distance. If I take my glasses off, for example, then not only can I not read the clock on the other side of the room (about ten feet away), but if I didn't already know that it was a clock, I probably wouldn't be able to tell that it was: it's just a fuzzy black blotch with a thin white streak across the front. Yet, Harry can see quite distant objects without his glasses, even if they are blurred.
He can see that the sky is starry, without his glasses. Even if he can't positively identify Crookshanks without his glasses, he can see that there is a smallish animal "prowling" across the grass, by moonlight, when he is looking nine-plus storeys down and an unknown distance horizontally. [His dormitory is an unknown height above the Gryffindor common-room, which itself is usually entered from the seventh floor - the eighth floor in American terms. Even if the Common Room is on the third floor at that point - as it sometimes seems to be - he's still looking down from at least five storeys up.] He can make out Madam Pomfrey and Ron's red hair in semi-darkness (although not too dark to distinguish the colour red, evidently), from what sounds like a considerable distance, since JKR refers to "the very end of the ward" rather than just "the end of the ward". And Harry's ability to spot the snitch at great distance - albeit with his glasses - also tends to suggest long sight (hyperopia). The blurriness could mean he has an astigmatism or it could be just because hyperopia makes the eyes work extra hard to focus, and become extra tired.
Experiment has shown that the greatest distance over which I personally can distinguish an animal the size of a large cat (actually it was a West Highland terrier, but the principle is sound), in daylight, with my glasses on, clearly enough to be sure of what I'm looking at is probably no more than 220 yards. Harry however is more than thirty years younger than me, he must have very good visual acuity in order to be a good Seeker and he is probably long-sighted, so he should be able to see much further than me.
Although it's very difficult to find data on range of sight I did find one source on the net (a law-court in the Philippines!) which stated that it was definitely known to be impossible to see someone clearly enough to identify them with any certainty at 200 metres (about 218 yards), and it seems to be accepted that facial recognition is already unreliable at 150 yards. Harry is also working in poor lighting conditions when he sees Crookshanks. On the other hand, he's probably quite long-sighted and he identifies Crookshanks by his tail, which is a larger and more visible marker than someone's facial features
We can probably say, therefore, that the nearest approach of the Forest cannot be more than about 300 yards from Gryffindor Tower, otherwise it's just not credible that Harry would be able to identify Crookshanks. But it's probably not much less than that either, because Harry runs some significant distance and is still only halfway to the Forest. If he's running hard, 300 yards is the distance he would cover in just over a minute.
[cut] they ran down the lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, heads bowed against the ferocious wind, umbrellas being whipped out of their hands as they went. [PoA ch. #09; p. 131]
The Quidditch pitch is a significant distance from the drive; we can surmise this because even when the grass is very wet students still choose to walk down the lawn to reach the Quidditch pitch, rather than walking on the probably-drier driveway and then cutting across. So the pitch is probably not less than 100 yards off from the driveway at its closest approach.
The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. [GoF ch. #31; p. 539]
At the same time, the pitch is close enough to the drive that as Harry heads for the front gates, on his way to Hogsmeade, he is able to identify individual players. Admittedly the players are Ron and Ginny, so Harry doesn't have to identify their faces - just see red hair/female and red hair/male: but even hair-colour fades with distance, and the pitch is also close enough to the Forest that the cheering of the crowds can flush startled birds from the trees - so we can probably say that the Quidditch pitch is not more than 300 yards from the driveway as it approaches the front gates.
He now had a distant view of the Gryffindor Quidditch team soaring up and down the pitch, while half a dozen black figures stood at the foot of the three high goalposts, apparently awaiting their turn to Keep. It was impossible to tell which one was Ron at this distance. [OotP ch. #13; p. 247]
The wind was picking up; even at a distance Harry could hear the swishing, pounding sounds of the rain pummelling the surface of the lake. [he is on the Quidditch pitch at this point] [OotP ch. #18; p. 337]
The pitch is close enough to the school that it is possible, looking out of a school window, to see Hagrid (who is about eleven feet tall) on the pitch, and identify what he is doing and apparently what he is wearing. It is far enough from the castle (from the DADA office, anyway) that it is not possible to identify normal-sized players - not even Ron's red hair. I can see people's hair-colour at about 200 yards and Harry is much younger than me, and must have high visual acuity since he is a Seeker, so he should be able to see hair-colour etc. at about 300 yards. That really ought to make the pitch around 400 to 500 yards from the castle, but at the same time we know that it is at a significant distance from the lake, and that there is room for a great swathe of lawn between it and the lake/castle.
The fact that people can identify Hagrid at that distance is irrelevent, since all they have to see to know it's Hagrid is the fact that he is very tall. I can see people well enough to see that they are people at up to 800 yards, and would certainly expect to be able to tell a giant from a person of normal height at that range. It may well be that Harry doesn't actually identify Hagrid's gloves and boots from that distance, he just knows he is wearing them; but nevertheless he can see him well enough to know or guess what he's doing. So the pitch could be up to about 600 yards from the nearest part of the school, but surely no further than that.
At the same time, we do want the pitch to be a considerable distance from the castle, because Harry allows himself half an hour to get from the Gryffindor common room to the pitch, and he does mean to go straight there - he doesn't appear to stop off at the library en route or anything, although I suppose he might stop for a pee. This is for the third Triwizard task, so he wouldn't want to arrive at the last moment; even so, it implies a significant walk. 600 yards at normal walking speed should take about 7½ minutes; 500 yards would take just over 6 minutes.
Through the gates, flanked with statues of winged boars, and up the sweeping drive the carriages trundled, swaying dangerously in what was fast becoming a gale. Leaning against the window, Harry could see Hogwarts coming nearer, its many lighted windows blurred and shimmering behind the thick curtain of rain. [GoF ch. #12; p. 152]
Rattling and swaying, the carriages moved in convoy up the road. When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, Harry leaned forwards to try and see whether there were any lights on in Hagrid's cabin by the Forbidden Forest, but the grounds were in complete darkness. Hogwarts Castle, however, loomed ever closer: a towering mass of turrets, jet black against the dark sky, here and there a window blazing fiery bright above them. [OotP ch. #11; p. 181/182]
The distance from the front gates to the castle is long enough for the Thestral-drawn carriages to take an appreciable length of time to traverse it - long enough to qualify as "at last" and "ever closer", so we can probably say it took at least three minutes. Nor are the Thestrals simply walking - the carriages pick up speed, and yet still take long enough to qualify as "at last".
[Why do they pick up speed? Perhaps because the Thestrals know they will soon be unloaded. What did they use before Hagrid began breeding Thestrals?]
Assuming Thestrals go at about the same speed as horses, their walking speed should be 4˝mph and their trotting speed anywhere from 5-12mph, but probably only about 8-9mph as they are pulling carriages. When they speed up, they are going sufficiently faster than walking speed for it to be commented on, so say 9mph. Say they do a minute at 4˝mph and two minutes at 9mph, that gives us a minimum length for the driveway (which we know winds about a bit because it's described as "sweeping" i.e. arranged in one or more large curves) of about 660 yards.
Given that a substantial proportion of the lake (large enough that somebody standing in front of the castle is able to see the centre of the lake) lies alongside the drive between the castle and the gate, we certainly don't want to end up with much less than that 660 yards.
He knew that Snape had come to fetch him for this, for the few minutes when he could needle and torment Harry without anyone else listening. They reached the castle steps at last [HBP ch. #08; p. 154]
At the same time, Harry is able to see Snape's lantern clearly from the front gates when Snape is close by the castle, and Harry estimates the walk back up to the castle with Snape as only a few minutes, although still long enough to qualify as "at last". They don't seem to be hurrying, and indeed as it's dark they would tend to be going fairly slowly. The greatest time which could be considered to be "a few minutes" is probably about ten minutes, so at normal walking speed (which they may actually be going slower than) we can say that the greatest possible length of the driveway is about 800 yards, or a little less than half a mile (assuming they walk along the sweep of the driveway and don't cut across the grass).
That fits in quite well with a layout which has Hagrid about 320 yards from the castle, and the Forest extending on a curve which takes us another 400 yards or so (long enough for it to be a five minute walk to the Hippogriff paddock) in the general direction of the gates, but going round a curve rather than straight. It makes it around 600-700 yards in a straight line from the gates to the castle, and then the driveway, which we know to be curved ("sweeping") would be somewhat longer.
In HBP, Harry is left on the Hogwarts Express, magically bound, for an unspecified but significant period after the other students have disembarked. He is then found and healed by Tonks, and they take what feels to Harry like a very long walk around the periphery of the Hogwarts grounds, from the station to the front gates. [We are not told why they go all the way to the front gates, instead of sending a Patronus-message to ask someone to come back and let them in by the station-gate, which is probably nearer to the castle than the front gates are and would also save them the long walk round the grounds: but perhaps it's because there is no proper path around the lake, just grass, and it would be a muddy and difficult walk in the dark.] 'Someone's coming down for you,' said Tonks. 'Look.' A lantern was bobbing at the distant foot of the castle. [HBP ch. #08; p. 152] Snape did not speak for a minute or so. [cut] '[cut] You know, I don't believe any house has ever been in negative figures this early in the term – we haven't even started pudding. You might have set a record, Potter.'[cut] [cut] He knew that Snape had come to fetch him for this, for the few minutes when he could needle and torment Harry without anyone else listening. [HBP ch. #08; p. 153/154] He reached across Ron for a couple of chicken legs and a handful of chips, but before he could take them they vanished, to be replaced with puddings. 'You missed the Sorting, anyway,' said Hermione, as Ron dived for a large chocolate gateau. [HBP ch. #08; p. 155] Snape then comes to meet them at the front gates, a journey which takes not more than about ten minutes/800 yards - but which probably doesn't take much less than that, either, to allow for the distance from the castle to Hagrid's cabin and from Hagrid's cabin to the dragon paddock. He sets out at about the time they arrive at the gates, since they see his lantern at the castle foot a brief conversation after arriving at the gates. During the walk back - so around fifteen minutes after Harry and Tonks arrive at the gates - Snape says that the school haven't started the dessert course yet. Harry arrives at the Great Hall around twenty minutes after he and Tonks reached the gates, and at that point dessert is just about to be served. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. [cut] Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. [cut] '[cut] Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words.' [PS ch. #07; p. 91] 'Hey, Harry, come and look – it's the Sorting!' [cut] Through the forest of pointed black Hogwarts hats, Harry saw a long line of scared-looking first-years filing into the Hall. [cut] Not daring even to look at each other, Harry and Ron followed Snape up the steps into the vast, echoing entrance hall, which was lit with flaming torches. A delicious smell of food was wafting from the Great Hall [CoS ch. #05; p. 61/62] Professor Flitwick, who was a tiny little wizard with a shock of white hair, was carrying an ancient hat and a three-legged stool out of the hall. 'Oh,' said Hermione softly, 'we've missed the Sorting!' [PoA ch. #05; p. 71] 'Well, I think that's everything of importance,' said Dumbledore. 'Let the feast begin!' [PoA ch. #05; p. 73] The Sorting continued; boys and girls with varying degrees of fright on their faces moving, one by one, to the three-legged stool, the line dwindling slowly as Professor McGonagall passed the 'L's. 'Oh, hurry up,' Ron moaned, massaging his stomach. 'Now, Ron, the Sorting's much more important than food,' said Nearly Headless Nick [GoF ch. #12; p. 159] Finally, 'Zeller, Rose' was Sorted into Hufflepuff, and Professor McGonagall picked up the Hat and stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet. [cut] '[cut] There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!' [cut] [cut] food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the five long tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables [OotP ch. #11; p. 188] During the time that Harry lay magically bound on the train, and then was healed, and then walked to the front gates, and then the twenty minutes or so it took for Snape to reach the gates and then Harry to walk back with him, the carriages and boats reached the castle, the Sorting was held, and the first course of the feast was eaten. We don't know for sure whether they ate the first course after the Sorting had finished or during it: in CoS the feast appears to begin during Sorting, or is certainly served during it, since Harry and Ron can smell food in the Great Hall only a couple of minutes after witnessing the start of Sorting; but in other years the food isn't served until Sorting has finished. On balance of probability we can certainly say it's likely they didn't start eating in HBP until after the Sorting, as that is the usual practice. Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. 'Finnigan, Seamus,' the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor. [PS ch. #07; p. 90] We do know that there are probably about ninety-four first-year students to be Sorted (see Numbers of students attending Hogwarts), and that sorting generally takes a lot less than a minute. Sorting ninety-four students probably takes around twenty-five minutes. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right - the rest of the school must already be here [PS ch. #07; p. 85] [cut] his attention had been caught by Professor Grubbly-Plank who had just appeared behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end and took the seat that ought to have been Hagrid's. That meant the first-years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle [OotP ch. #11; p. 184] We know that the first-years, who cross the lake in boats, generally arrive at the school after the carriages carrying the upper years do. The limiting factor on when the Sorting starts, therefore, is the speed of the first-years. We do not know quite how long the first-years take, but it has to be long enough for the carriages to go halfway round the grounds and up the drive, at an average speed of about 6mph. Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice. 'Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,' Hagrid called over his shoulder, 'jus' round this bend here.' [cut] The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. [PS ch. #06; p. 83] And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. 'Heads down!' yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. [cut] [cut] Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. [PS ch. #06; p. 83/84] The path they go down from the station to the lakeside does not seem to be very long. It's long enough to register, and for it to be noteworthy that nobody spoke much, so it's not a ten-second job - but probably not more than three minutes, plus a few minutes to embark. We don't know how far under the castle the harbour is, but sailing to the underground harbour, disembarking and then walking up through the passageway through the rock probably doesn't take more than ten to fifteen minutes at most. Granted they are climbing up a slope, and the casrtle has to be very large and convoluted to fit the times it takes students to get around it, but we know the castle is very near the lake, they only have to pass under the castle and come out in front of it, and the distance from the base of the cliff to the front of the castle is unlikely to be more than 200 yards at the outside. So we have a journey which takes them fifteen or twenty minutes plus however long it takes to cross the water. We don't know how fast the boats go, but they are not remarked on as hugely fast. If they are travelling at normal fastish small rowing-boat speed, that's about one and a half to two yards per second. Judging from JKR's own map they travel slantwise across one end of the lake, heading towards the side of the castle closest to the station, and we know we don't want the lake to be very wide at the castle end because Harry is able to semi-recognize what he thinks is James across the lake, by moonlight, and there are other considerations, examined below, to do with the point at which Harry and Hermione reach the lakeside when Sirius is attacked by Dementors, which also suggest the lake is not very wide at that point. So our boats are only going to travel 150 - 200 yards, which again should take two or three minutes. So assuming the boats go at normal fastish rowing speed, we have a journey-time of around twenty minutes, during which the other students must have embarked in the carriages at one end, journeyed round the perimeter of the grounds, disembarked at the other end and filed into the hall. Even if we assume the boats go much slower than a rowing boat, and the first-years take twenty-five minutes, and the upper years embark and disembark really fast, that still leaves a maximum of twenty minutes for the carriages to make it from the station to the front doors. If the Thestrals trot at 9mph the whole way, they could do about three miles in twenty minutes. The length of the front drive accounts for getting on for half a mile of that, so that would make the journey around the perimeter, from the station to the front gates, a maximum of about two and a half miles. Say two miles around the perimeter and just under half a mile across the grounds, since making it a little shorter enables the Thestral-carriages to get to the castle in about sixteen minutes, which is good since we do need them to get there ahead of the first-years. That would mean that the walk Harry and Tonks made around the perimeter of the grounds was also two miles, and should have taken them about forty-five minutes, plus ten minutes to walk across the grounds. We can actually get away with it being a little less than that and still qualify as a long walk. If we look at this another way, Harry arrives just as dessert is about to be served. Since the other students got off the train and left him, about an hour and twenty-five minutes have elapsed - twenty minutes for the first-years to reach the castle, twenty-five minutes for the Sorting and probably about forty minutes for the main course. During that hour and twenty-five minutes, Harry himself has spent about twenty minutes waiting for Snape to cross the grounds and then walking back with him, about five minutes being got off the train and healed by Tonks, and the remaining hour was divided between lying stranded and paralysed on the train, and walking round the perimeter of the grounds. He both lay on the train for a substantial period of time, and walked for what felt to him to be a very long time. Without straining credulity too far in any direction, then, we can assume that the boats go a lot slower than a fast rowing boat and/or that the first-years faff around and are very slow to embark and disembark; that the Thestrals trot most of the way; that Harry lay bound on the train for fifteen minutes and walked for three-quarters of an hour; and that the length of the road which runs around the outside of the grounds, from the station to the front gates, is around two miles. Return to contents-list Entrances & boundaries Feeling too queasy to eat, Harry waited until Hermione had swallowed her last spoonful of porridge, then dragged her out into the grounds for another walk. There, he told her all about the dragons, and about everything Sirius had said, while they took another long walk around the lake. [cut] They walked three times around the lake, [GoF ch. #20; p. 295] We know that it is not the case, as shown on JK Rowling's own rough map, that the boundaries of Hogwarts come up to the edge of the lake and stop there, because we know that students can walk right around the lake, without any suggestion that they leave the castle grounds in order to do so. So we know that the boundary runs around the far side of the lake. 'Because the castle's protected by more than walls, you know,' said Hermione. 'There are all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate in here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those Dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They'd have seen him fly in, too.' [PoA ch. #09; p. 123] With great relief he finally saw the tall pillars on either side of the gates, each topped with a winged boar. [cut] But when he put out a hand to push open the gates, he found them chained shut. 'Alohomora!' he said confidently, pointing his wand at the padlock, but nothing happened. 'That won't work on these,' said Tonks. 'Dumbledore bewitched them himself.' Harry looked around. 'I could climb a wall,' he suggested. 'No, you couldn't,' said Tonks flatly. 'Anti-intruder jinxes on all of them. Security's been tightened a hundredfold this summer.' [HBP ch. #08; p. 151/152] Harry heard, over the whistling of the night air in his ears, Dumbledore muttering in some strange language again. He thought he understood why as he felt his broom shudder for a moment when they flew over the boundary wall into the grounds: Dumbledore was undoing the enchantments he himself had set around the castle, so that they could enter at speed. [HBP ch. #27; p. 544] ‘You must know they’ve got [cut] Dementors all around the boundary walls,' [DH ch. #28; p. 459] We know that the boundaries are walls, at least for much of their length. They are identified as such at the front gates, and JK's own map has a label saying "Hogwarts wall" next to the lake. We aren't told whether the walls are stone or brick (in Scotland, probably stone) but they are too high just to leap over, and there's no suggestion one can see over them; Hermione, who is not very athletic, considers the possibility that Sirius might fly over them, but not that he might simply climb them. On the other hand Harry, who is very athletic, regards climbing the walls near the gate as quite an easy prospect, even when he has just been injured. It could be that the walls are unusually low or crumbled or overhung by a convenient, climbable tree just at that point, and the fact that he looks around before he suggests climbing them would fit with that. But if the walls are, in general, climbable to somebody as athletic as Harry but not obviously climbable to Hermione, then we can assume they are probably about eight feet high, not too smooth to climb, but also not so rough as to present very obvious footholds. By the start of Harry's sixth year, the walls had been reinforced by anti-intruder jinxes which evidently prevented them from being flown as well as climbed over, or at least from being flown over at speed, since Dumbledore later had to release the wards before he and Harry could enter the grounds by broom. We don't know whether these were in place before. The fact that Tonks speaks of the jinxes as part of the increased security which has been put in place that summer may mean there were no spell-wards on the walls before (other than the anti-Apparition one which covers all the grounds). If there were, they certainly weren't as strong. We cannot tell whether there were wards on the walls in the Marauders' day. The fact that they mapped all the tunnels suggests they felt they needed to use tunnels, but that doesn't prove it was impossible to fly out. It would have been awkward for them all to fly under the Invisibility Cloak, and they would have needed to use tunnels when in beast-form anyway, unless the walls were low enough to leap. 'And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those Dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They'd have seen him fly in, too. [PoA ch. #09; p. 123] For whatever reason, Harry regards the wall as climbable, yet in PoA having Dementors at the entrances was regarded as enough security to keep Sirius out. There was no suggestion he might come in over the wall other than by flying, which might mean the walls were warded against climbers at that time, but on the other hand Hermione seems to think that he could have flown in, were it not for the Dementors. This, combined with the fact that Harry expects to open the gates with a simple Alohomora in HBP, until Tonks tells him otherwise, suggests that there really weren't spell wards on the walls prior to HBP, or only very weak ones, other than the general anti-Apparition wards etc. which Hermione mentioned. It also suggests that either there were a lot of Dementors patrolling or standing guard in between the entrances (not just stationed at the entrances themselves, as we are told), or there are a lot of entrances close enough together that the space in between them is all overlooked from an entrance. Or perhaps the Dementors, who have no eyes anyway, can "see" sections of the wall by thinking about them, without necessarily needing to be physically close to them. [We don't know how they sense people anyway - whether by smell or heat or life-force or brain activity - but we know they can't identify individual minds, since they couldn't tell when Barty Crouch Jnr was Polyjuiced to resemble his mother. And they didn't recognise Sirius when he was a dog. So although they in some sense eat minds, they aren't very sensitive to the individual differences between them, which suggests it is emotions rather than memories which they feed on.] 'I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a dog ... I've been living in the Forest ever since' [PoA ch. #19; p. 273] How did Sirius in fact get in? He could have walked straight past the Dementors, as a dog. Or he could have come up one of the tunnels - possibly one of the ones known to Filch. Or he could have come through the Forest, because another thing we don't know is whether the walls go all the way around the Forbidden Forest (which appears to be about four miles across) or whether they just stop open-endedly at some point, or even cut through the Forest and join up. As explained in the section on the setting of Hogwarts, we can be pretty sure that at least part of the Forest crowds up against the foot of a nearby mountain, which might be steep enough to prevent access at that point, but it surely can't actually surround the Forest. ‘There’s only one way in, now,’ said Aberforth. ‘You must know they’ve got all the old secret passageways covered at both ends, Dementors all around the boundary walls, regular patrols inside the school from what my sources tell me. The place has never been so heavily guarded.' [DH ch. #28; p. 459] ‘Heard You-Know-Who from up in our cave,’ said Hagrid grimly. ‘Voice carried, didn’ it? [cut] Smashed our way through the boundary by the forest, Grawpy was carryin’ us, Fang an’ me.' [DH ch. #31; p. 498] If the walls simply peter out, a sufficiently enterprizing trespasser ought to be able to get into the castle grounds simply by starting beyond the limits of the walls and then walking in through the Forest. However, Aberforth doesn't seem to regard this as a viable way of getting into the grounds, since he says that with the boundary-walls and passages patrolled there is only one way in and it isn't via the Forest, so there may well be walls running right round the Forest and joining up with the mountain. Hagrid, ambiguously, just refers to the "boundary" by the edge of the Forest. At least a hundred Dementors, their hidden faces pointing up at him, were standing below [PoA ch. #09; p. 134] The fact that there are so many Dementors present at Hogwarts in PoA - at least a hundred, we are told - could be evidence that the Forest is open-ended and they had to patrol right the way round it. Or it could just mean they got bored with guard-duty and spent their time breeding: it was rather a wet autumn. If there is a barrier of some sort around the Forest, is it jinxed to keep the creatures in - even the Thestrals? Or does nothing but laziness and territoriality protect the surrounding Muggles from the Acromantulas?
Snape did not speak for a minute or so. [cut] '[cut] You know, I don't believe any house has ever been in negative figures this early in the term – we haven't even started pudding. You might have set a record, Potter.'[cut] [cut] He knew that Snape had come to fetch him for this, for the few minutes when he could needle and torment Harry without anyone else listening. [HBP ch. #08; p. 153/154]
He reached across Ron for a couple of chicken legs and a handful of chips, but before he could take them they vanished, to be replaced with puddings. 'You missed the Sorting, anyway,' said Hermione, as Ron dived for a large chocolate gateau. [HBP ch. #08; p. 155]
Snape then comes to meet them at the front gates, a journey which takes not more than about ten minutes/800 yards - but which probably doesn't take much less than that, either, to allow for the distance from the castle to Hagrid's cabin and from Hagrid's cabin to the dragon paddock. He sets out at about the time they arrive at the gates, since they see his lantern at the castle foot a brief conversation after arriving at the gates. During the walk back - so around fifteen minutes after Harry and Tonks arrive at the gates - Snape says that the school haven't started the dessert course yet. Harry arrives at the Great Hall around twenty minutes after he and Tonks reached the gates, and at that point dessert is just about to be served. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. [cut] Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. [cut] '[cut] Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words.' [PS ch. #07; p. 91] 'Hey, Harry, come and look – it's the Sorting!' [cut] Through the forest of pointed black Hogwarts hats, Harry saw a long line of scared-looking first-years filing into the Hall. [cut] Not daring even to look at each other, Harry and Ron followed Snape up the steps into the vast, echoing entrance hall, which was lit with flaming torches. A delicious smell of food was wafting from the Great Hall [CoS ch. #05; p. 61/62] Professor Flitwick, who was a tiny little wizard with a shock of white hair, was carrying an ancient hat and a three-legged stool out of the hall. 'Oh,' said Hermione softly, 'we've missed the Sorting!' [PoA ch. #05; p. 71] 'Well, I think that's everything of importance,' said Dumbledore. 'Let the feast begin!' [PoA ch. #05; p. 73] The Sorting continued; boys and girls with varying degrees of fright on their faces moving, one by one, to the three-legged stool, the line dwindling slowly as Professor McGonagall passed the 'L's. 'Oh, hurry up,' Ron moaned, massaging his stomach. 'Now, Ron, the Sorting's much more important than food,' said Nearly Headless Nick [GoF ch. #12; p. 159] Finally, 'Zeller, Rose' was Sorted into Hufflepuff, and Professor McGonagall picked up the Hat and stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet. [cut] '[cut] There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!' [cut] [cut] food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the five long tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables [OotP ch. #11; p. 188] During the time that Harry lay magically bound on the train, and then was healed, and then walked to the front gates, and then the twenty minutes or so it took for Snape to reach the gates and then Harry to walk back with him, the carriages and boats reached the castle, the Sorting was held, and the first course of the feast was eaten. We don't know for sure whether they ate the first course after the Sorting had finished or during it: in CoS the feast appears to begin during Sorting, or is certainly served during it, since Harry and Ron can smell food in the Great Hall only a couple of minutes after witnessing the start of Sorting; but in other years the food isn't served until Sorting has finished. On balance of probability we can certainly say it's likely they didn't start eating in HBP until after the Sorting, as that is the usual practice. Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. 'Finnigan, Seamus,' the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor. [PS ch. #07; p. 90] We do know that there are probably about ninety-four first-year students to be Sorted (see Numbers of students attending Hogwarts), and that sorting generally takes a lot less than a minute. Sorting ninety-four students probably takes around twenty-five minutes. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right - the rest of the school must already be here [PS ch. #07; p. 85] [cut] his attention had been caught by Professor Grubbly-Plank who had just appeared behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end and took the seat that ought to have been Hagrid's. That meant the first-years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle [OotP ch. #11; p. 184] We know that the first-years, who cross the lake in boats, generally arrive at the school after the carriages carrying the upper years do. The limiting factor on when the Sorting starts, therefore, is the speed of the first-years. We do not know quite how long the first-years take, but it has to be long enough for the carriages to go halfway round the grounds and up the drive, at an average speed of about 6mph. Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice. 'Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,' Hagrid called over his shoulder, 'jus' round this bend here.' [cut] The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. [PS ch. #06; p. 83] And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. 'Heads down!' yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. [cut] [cut] Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. [PS ch. #06; p. 83/84] The path they go down from the station to the lakeside does not seem to be very long. It's long enough to register, and for it to be noteworthy that nobody spoke much, so it's not a ten-second job - but probably not more than three minutes, plus a few minutes to embark. We don't know how far under the castle the harbour is, but sailing to the underground harbour, disembarking and then walking up through the passageway through the rock probably doesn't take more than ten to fifteen minutes at most. Granted they are climbing up a slope, and the casrtle has to be very large and convoluted to fit the times it takes students to get around it, but we know the castle is very near the lake, they only have to pass under the castle and come out in front of it, and the distance from the base of the cliff to the front of the castle is unlikely to be more than 200 yards at the outside. So we have a journey which takes them fifteen or twenty minutes plus however long it takes to cross the water. We don't know how fast the boats go, but they are not remarked on as hugely fast. If they are travelling at normal fastish small rowing-boat speed, that's about one and a half to two yards per second. Judging from JKR's own map they travel slantwise across one end of the lake, heading towards the side of the castle closest to the station, and we know we don't want the lake to be very wide at the castle end because Harry is able to semi-recognize what he thinks is James across the lake, by moonlight, and there are other considerations, examined below, to do with the point at which Harry and Hermione reach the lakeside when Sirius is attacked by Dementors, which also suggest the lake is not very wide at that point. So our boats are only going to travel 150 - 200 yards, which again should take two or three minutes. So assuming the boats go at normal fastish rowing speed, we have a journey-time of around twenty minutes, during which the other students must have embarked in the carriages at one end, journeyed round the perimeter of the grounds, disembarked at the other end and filed into the hall. Even if we assume the boats go much slower than a rowing boat, and the first-years take twenty-five minutes, and the upper years embark and disembark really fast, that still leaves a maximum of twenty minutes for the carriages to make it from the station to the front doors. If the Thestrals trot at 9mph the whole way, they could do about three miles in twenty minutes. The length of the front drive accounts for getting on for half a mile of that, so that would make the journey around the perimeter, from the station to the front gates, a maximum of about two and a half miles. Say two miles around the perimeter and just under half a mile across the grounds, since making it a little shorter enables the Thestral-carriages to get to the castle in about sixteen minutes, which is good since we do need them to get there ahead of the first-years. That would mean that the walk Harry and Tonks made around the perimeter of the grounds was also two miles, and should have taken them about forty-five minutes, plus ten minutes to walk across the grounds. We can actually get away with it being a little less than that and still qualify as a long walk. If we look at this another way, Harry arrives just as dessert is about to be served. Since the other students got off the train and left him, about an hour and twenty-five minutes have elapsed - twenty minutes for the first-years to reach the castle, twenty-five minutes for the Sorting and probably about forty minutes for the main course. During that hour and twenty-five minutes, Harry himself has spent about twenty minutes waiting for Snape to cross the grounds and then walking back with him, about five minutes being got off the train and healed by Tonks, and the remaining hour was divided between lying stranded and paralysed on the train, and walking round the perimeter of the grounds. He both lay on the train for a substantial period of time, and walked for what felt to him to be a very long time. Without straining credulity too far in any direction, then, we can assume that the boats go a lot slower than a fast rowing boat and/or that the first-years faff around and are very slow to embark and disembark; that the Thestrals trot most of the way; that Harry lay bound on the train for fifteen minutes and walked for three-quarters of an hour; and that the length of the road which runs around the outside of the grounds, from the station to the front gates, is around two miles. Return to contents-list Entrances & boundaries
'Hey, Harry, come and look – it's the Sorting!' [cut] Through the forest of pointed black Hogwarts hats, Harry saw a long line of scared-looking first-years filing into the Hall. [cut] Not daring even to look at each other, Harry and Ron followed Snape up the steps into the vast, echoing entrance hall, which was lit with flaming torches. A delicious smell of food was wafting from the Great Hall [CoS ch. #05; p. 61/62]
Professor Flitwick, who was a tiny little wizard with a shock of white hair, was carrying an ancient hat and a three-legged stool out of the hall. 'Oh,' said Hermione softly, 'we've missed the Sorting!' [PoA ch. #05; p. 71]
'Well, I think that's everything of importance,' said Dumbledore. 'Let the feast begin!' [PoA ch. #05; p. 73]
The Sorting continued; boys and girls with varying degrees of fright on their faces moving, one by one, to the three-legged stool, the line dwindling slowly as Professor McGonagall passed the 'L's. 'Oh, hurry up,' Ron moaned, massaging his stomach. 'Now, Ron, the Sorting's much more important than food,' said Nearly Headless Nick [GoF ch. #12; p. 159]
Finally, 'Zeller, Rose' was Sorted into Hufflepuff, and Professor McGonagall picked up the Hat and stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet. [cut] '[cut] There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!' [cut] [cut] food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the five long tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables [OotP ch. #11; p. 188]
During the time that Harry lay magically bound on the train, and then was healed, and then walked to the front gates, and then the twenty minutes or so it took for Snape to reach the gates and then Harry to walk back with him, the carriages and boats reached the castle, the Sorting was held, and the first course of the feast was eaten. We don't know for sure whether they ate the first course after the Sorting had finished or during it: in CoS the feast appears to begin during Sorting, or is certainly served during it, since Harry and Ron can smell food in the Great Hall only a couple of minutes after witnessing the start of Sorting; but in other years the food isn't served until Sorting has finished. On balance of probability we can certainly say it's likely they didn't start eating in HBP until after the Sorting, as that is the usual practice.
We do know that there are probably about ninety-four first-year students to be Sorted (see Numbers of students attending Hogwarts), and that sorting generally takes a lot less than a minute. Sorting ninety-four students probably takes around twenty-five minutes.
[cut] his attention had been caught by Professor Grubbly-Plank who had just appeared behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end and took the seat that ought to have been Hagrid's. That meant the first-years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle [OotP ch. #11; p. 184]
We know that the first-years, who cross the lake in boats, generally arrive at the school after the carriages carrying the upper years do. The limiting factor on when the Sorting starts, therefore, is the speed of the first-years. We do not know quite how long the first-years take, but it has to be long enough for the carriages to go halfway round the grounds and up the drive, at an average speed of about 6mph.
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. 'Heads down!' yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. [cut] [cut] Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. [PS ch. #06; p. 83/84]
The path they go down from the station to the lakeside does not seem to be very long. It's long enough to register, and for it to be noteworthy that nobody spoke much, so it's not a ten-second job - but probably not more than three minutes, plus a few minutes to embark. We don't know how far under the castle the harbour is, but sailing to the underground harbour, disembarking and then walking up through the passageway through the rock probably doesn't take more than ten to fifteen minutes at most. Granted they are climbing up a slope, and the casrtle has to be very large and convoluted to fit the times it takes students to get around it, but we know the castle is very near the lake, they only have to pass under the castle and come out in front of it, and the distance from the base of the cliff to the front of the castle is unlikely to be more than 200 yards at the outside. So we have a journey which takes them fifteen or twenty minutes plus however long it takes to cross the water.
We don't know how fast the boats go, but they are not remarked on as hugely fast. If they are travelling at normal fastish small rowing-boat speed, that's about one and a half to two yards per second. Judging from JKR's own map they travel slantwise across one end of the lake, heading towards the side of the castle closest to the station, and we know we don't want the lake to be very wide at the castle end because Harry is able to semi-recognize what he thinks is James across the lake, by moonlight, and there are other considerations, examined below, to do with the point at which Harry and Hermione reach the lakeside when Sirius is attacked by Dementors, which also suggest the lake is not very wide at that point. So our boats are only going to travel 150 - 200 yards, which again should take two or three minutes.
So assuming the boats go at normal fastish rowing speed, we have a journey-time of around twenty minutes, during which the other students must have embarked in the carriages at one end, journeyed round the perimeter of the grounds, disembarked at the other end and filed into the hall. Even if we assume the boats go much slower than a rowing boat, and the first-years take twenty-five minutes, and the upper years embark and disembark really fast, that still leaves a maximum of twenty minutes for the carriages to make it from the station to the front doors.
If the Thestrals trot at 9mph the whole way, they could do about three miles in twenty minutes. The length of the front drive accounts for getting on for half a mile of that, so that would make the journey around the perimeter, from the station to the front gates, a maximum of about two and a half miles. Say two miles around the perimeter and just under half a mile across the grounds, since making it a little shorter enables the Thestral-carriages to get to the castle in about sixteen minutes, which is good since we do need them to get there ahead of the first-years.
That would mean that the walk Harry and Tonks made around the perimeter of the grounds was also two miles, and should have taken them about forty-five minutes, plus ten minutes to walk across the grounds. We can actually get away with it being a little less than that and still qualify as a long walk.
If we look at this another way, Harry arrives just as dessert is about to be served. Since the other students got off the train and left him, about an hour and twenty-five minutes have elapsed - twenty minutes for the first-years to reach the castle, twenty-five minutes for the Sorting and probably about forty minutes for the main course.
During that hour and twenty-five minutes, Harry himself has spent about twenty minutes waiting for Snape to cross the grounds and then walking back with him, about five minutes being got off the train and healed by Tonks, and the remaining hour was divided between lying stranded and paralysed on the train, and walking round the perimeter of the grounds. He both lay on the train for a substantial period of time, and walked for what felt to him to be a very long time.
Without straining credulity too far in any direction, then, we can assume that the boats go a lot slower than a fast rowing boat and/or that the first-years faff around and are very slow to embark and disembark; that the Thestrals trot most of the way; that Harry lay bound on the train for fifteen minutes and walked for three-quarters of an hour; and that the length of the road which runs around the outside of the grounds, from the station to the front gates, is around two miles.
We know that it is not the case, as shown on JK Rowling's own rough map, that the boundaries of Hogwarts come up to the edge of the lake and stop there, because we know that students can walk right around the lake, without any suggestion that they leave the castle grounds in order to do so. So we know that the boundary runs around the far side of the lake.
With great relief he finally saw the tall pillars on either side of the gates, each topped with a winged boar. [cut] But when he put out a hand to push open the gates, he found them chained shut. 'Alohomora!' he said confidently, pointing his wand at the padlock, but nothing happened. 'That won't work on these,' said Tonks. 'Dumbledore bewitched them himself.' Harry looked around. 'I could climb a wall,' he suggested. 'No, you couldn't,' said Tonks flatly. 'Anti-intruder jinxes on all of them. Security's been tightened a hundredfold this summer.' [HBP ch. #08; p. 151/152]
Harry heard, over the whistling of the night air in his ears, Dumbledore muttering in some strange language again. He thought he understood why as he felt his broom shudder for a moment when they flew over the boundary wall into the grounds: Dumbledore was undoing the enchantments he himself had set around the castle, so that they could enter at speed. [HBP ch. #27; p. 544]
‘You must know they’ve got [cut] Dementors all around the boundary walls,' [DH ch. #28; p. 459]
We know that the boundaries are walls, at least for much of their length. They are identified as such at the front gates, and JK's own map has a label saying "Hogwarts wall" next to the lake. We aren't told whether the walls are stone or brick (in Scotland, probably stone) but they are too high just to leap over, and there's no suggestion one can see over them; Hermione, who is not very athletic, considers the possibility that Sirius might fly over them, but not that he might simply climb them.
On the other hand Harry, who is very athletic, regards climbing the walls near the gate as quite an easy prospect, even when he has just been injured. It could be that the walls are unusually low or crumbled or overhung by a convenient, climbable tree just at that point, and the fact that he looks around before he suggests climbing them would fit with that. But if the walls are, in general, climbable to somebody as athletic as Harry but not obviously climbable to Hermione, then we can assume they are probably about eight feet high, not too smooth to climb, but also not so rough as to present very obvious footholds.
By the start of Harry's sixth year, the walls had been reinforced by anti-intruder jinxes which evidently prevented them from being flown as well as climbed over, or at least from being flown over at speed, since Dumbledore later had to release the wards before he and Harry could enter the grounds by broom. We don't know whether these were in place before. The fact that Tonks speaks of the jinxes as part of the increased security which has been put in place that summer may mean there were no spell-wards on the walls before (other than the anti-Apparition one which covers all the grounds). If there were, they certainly weren't as strong.
We cannot tell whether there were wards on the walls in the Marauders' day. The fact that they mapped all the tunnels suggests they felt they needed to use tunnels, but that doesn't prove it was impossible to fly out. It would have been awkward for them all to fly under the Invisibility Cloak, and they would have needed to use tunnels when in beast-form anyway, unless the walls were low enough to leap.
For whatever reason, Harry regards the wall as climbable, yet in PoA having Dementors at the entrances was regarded as enough security to keep Sirius out. There was no suggestion he might come in over the wall other than by flying, which might mean the walls were warded against climbers at that time, but on the other hand Hermione seems to think that he could have flown in, were it not for the Dementors. This, combined with the fact that Harry expects to open the gates with a simple Alohomora in HBP, until Tonks tells him otherwise, suggests that there really weren't spell wards on the walls prior to HBP, or only very weak ones, other than the general anti-Apparition wards etc. which Hermione mentioned.
It also suggests that either there were a lot of Dementors patrolling or standing guard in between the entrances (not just stationed at the entrances themselves, as we are told), or there are a lot of entrances close enough together that the space in between them is all overlooked from an entrance. Or perhaps the Dementors, who have no eyes anyway, can "see" sections of the wall by thinking about them, without necessarily needing to be physically close to them.
[We don't know how they sense people anyway - whether by smell or heat or life-force or brain activity - but we know they can't identify individual minds, since they couldn't tell when Barty Crouch Jnr was Polyjuiced to resemble his mother. And they didn't recognise Sirius when he was a dog. So although they in some sense eat minds, they aren't very sensitive to the individual differences between them, which suggests it is emotions rather than memories which they feed on.]
How did Sirius in fact get in? He could have walked straight past the Dementors, as a dog. Or he could have come up one of the tunnels - possibly one of the ones known to Filch. Or he could have come through the Forest, because another thing we don't know is whether the walls go all the way around the Forbidden Forest (which appears to be about four miles across) or whether they just stop open-endedly at some point, or even cut through the Forest and join up. As explained in the section on the setting of Hogwarts, we can be pretty sure that at least part of the Forest crowds up against the foot of a nearby mountain, which might be steep enough to prevent access at that point, but it surely can't actually surround the Forest.
‘Heard You-Know-Who from up in our cave,’ said Hagrid grimly. ‘Voice carried, didn’ it? [cut] Smashed our way through the boundary by the forest, Grawpy was carryin’ us, Fang an’ me.' [DH ch. #31; p. 498]
If the walls simply peter out, a sufficiently enterprizing trespasser ought to be able to get into the castle grounds simply by starting beyond the limits of the walls and then walking in through the Forest. However, Aberforth doesn't seem to regard this as a viable way of getting into the grounds, since he says that with the boundary-walls and passages patrolled there is only one way in and it isn't via the Forest, so there may well be walls running right round the Forest and joining up with the mountain. Hagrid, ambiguously, just refers to the "boundary" by the edge of the Forest.
The fact that there are so many Dementors present at Hogwarts in PoA - at least a hundred, we are told - could be evidence that the Forest is open-ended and they had to patrol right the way round it. Or it could just mean they got bored with guard-duty and spent their time breeding: it was rather a wet autumn.
If there is a barrier of some sort around the Forest, is it jinxed to keep the creatures in - even the Thestrals? Or does nothing but laziness and territoriality protect the surrounding Muggles from the Acromantulas?
There is a substantial swathe of trees between Hogsmeade train station and the lake. Assuming that there actually is any sort of solid boundary around that side of the grounds, we can surmise that the trees are at least partly inside the perimeter, not outside it, and that the boundary therefore stands off a substantial distance from the lake, because when the students leave the station they go down a path through the trees to the lakeside, and there's no suggestion that in so doing they pass through any barrier other than the station itself. There may well be a gate of some sort that they go through at the station end, and that we haven't been told about, or there could even be a gate somewhere among the trees, where it is so dark Harry cannot make out individual trunks. Certainly, by the time they reached the lakeside, and better lighting, they are inside the boundary, since we know you can walk right round the lake without leaving the grounds.
At long last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get out; owls hooted, cats miaowed, and Neville's pet toad croaked loudly from under his hat. It was freezing on the tiny platform [PoA ch. #05; p. 68]
'We're – well – Ron and I are supposed to go into the prefect carriage,' Hermione said awkwardly. [cut] [cut] as Hermione and Ron dragged their trunks [cut] off towards the engine end of the train [OotP ch. #10; p. 167]
Harry could not help noticing that a lot of people stared at him [cut] After he had met this behaviour in five consecutive carriages he remembered that the Daily Prophet had been telling its readers all summer what a lying show-off he was. [cut] In the very last carriage they met Neville Longbottom [OotP ch. #10; p. 167/168]
'We'd better get out of here, quickly,' she said, as the train windows became obscured with steam and the train began to move out of the station. 'Come on, we'll jump.' Harry hurried after her into the corridor. Tonks pulled open the train door and leapt on to the platform, which seemed to be sliding underneath them as the train gathered momentum. Harry followed her, staggered a little on landing [HBP ch. #08; p. 149]
Although the station platform is described as tiny, it can't be as small as all that, since it is long enough to accommodate a train which carries five hundred or more passengers at once (see separate essay on the number of students attending Hogwarts to explain how this figure was derived). We know Slughorn is able to fit seven people and a large hamper into his compartment, so the carriages are probably the type which the 3801 Limited touring company calls "tourist class compartment", with eight eight-seater compartments per carriage. Even so, when you factor in the fact that there's a separate prefects' carriage at the front of the train (or perhaps a half-carriage, since there are only twenty-four prefects plus the Head Boy and Girl, with the other half taken up with supplies for the snacks-trolley etc.) they're going to need at least nine carriages at about 64'6" each (which seems to be the standard length for an old-fashioned railway carriage), plus the engine and guards' van, and perhaps a tender, although the engine might be one of those that has a water-tank and coal-bin built in.
Indeed, we know for a fact that there are an absolute minimum of six carriages, because in OotP Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny get on the train and then Ron and Hermione head towards the prefects' carriage at the front of the train, and Harry and Ginny go the other way and pass through five carriages before reaching the last carriage. Even if those five carriages include the one they started in and the one they end up in (which, in fact, it sounds as if they probably don't), and there are no other carriages between their starting point and the prefects' carriage, which there probably are, that makes six. If we assume Harry and Ginny pass through five carriages plus the ones they start and end in, which is what it sounds like, and at least one carriage between their starting point and the prefects' carriage, that makes the full nine - and in fact there could well be ten.
The train must be at least about 240 yards long, and even if the train pulls up with the guards' van, the engine and half of the first and last carriages off the ends of the platform, the platform must still be about 170 yards long, unless we assume that passengers have to walk up the inside of the train and all get out at one end. That's possible. Or perhaps the platform is tiny only in the sense of being narrow. It really can't be as short as all that, since Harry and Tonks have time to scramble out of the train onto the platform after the train is in motion: if the platform was very short, they would probably already have been off the end of it.
As the train doors opened, there was a rumble of thunder overhead. Hermione bundled Crookshanks up in her cloak and Ron left his dress robes over Pigwidgeon as they left the train, heads bent and eyes narrowed against the downpour. The rain was now coming down so thick and fast that it was as though buckets of ice-cold water were being emptied repeatedly over their heads. [cut] 'Oooh, I wouldn't fancy crossing the lake in this weather,' said Hermione fervently, shivering as they inched slowly along the dark platform with the rest of the crowd. [GoF ch. #11; p. 151]
He can't have left, Harry told himself as he shuffled slowly through a narrow doorway on to the road outside with the rest of the crowd. [OotP ch. #10; p. 177]
The horse was there in front of him, gleaming solidly in the dim light issuing from the station windows behind them [OotP ch. #10; p. 179/180]
It may also be that JKR means that the station building is small. We know that there is a station building, not just a bare platform or a little unlit shelter, because the station has lighted windows even when the platform itself is dark. The fact that the passengers have to go through a door (rather than a gate) to get out onto the road could mean they pass through this building, but on the other hand we see them shuffle along the platform in the rain and there's no indication that they get under cover until they reach the carriages. And it's not that they are already under cover - the station isn't all under a canopy. They are definitely exposed to the rain when they are on the platform, so if there is any cover - as you would normally expect there to be.
Hermione bundled Crookshanks up in her cloak and Ron left his dress robes over Pigwidgeon as they left the train, heads bent and eyes narrowed against the downpour. [GoF ch. #11; p. 151]
At last, the train began to slow down and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready to get off. As Ron and Hermione were supposed to supervise all this, they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving Harry and the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon. 'I'll carry that owl, if you like,' said Luna to Harry, reaching out for Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed Trevor carefully in an inside pocket. 'Oh – er – thanks,' said Harry, handing her the cage and hoisting Hedwig's more securely into his arms. [OotP ch. #10; p. 176/177]
Luna appeared holding Pigwidgeon's cage in her arms; [OotP ch. #10; p. 179]
[cut] everyone was shuffling along the dark platform outside; he could hear the scraping of trunks and the loud babble of talk. [HBP ch. #08; p. 148]
Perhaps the building is a sheltered waiting room and lavatory for outgoing passengers, or somewhere for the students to leave their luggage. In PS they are specifically told to leave their luggage on the train. It could be that this is targetted at first years, who must cross the lake by boat, but if so the announcement doesn't say so. At any rate we know that somebody (house elves?) comes to fetch the trunks of the first years, at least. Older years get their luggage down ready for when they get off, and according to what we're told in HBP they do take it with them onto the platform, but they don't seem to take it with them into the carriages. There's no mention of them hauling luggage into the carriages and they often seem to have both arms full of pets anyway. So the building may well be, or include, a left-luggage office, where the trunks of all students are left while the house-elves sort them out. Harry, Ron and Hermione turned and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake. 'All right, you three?' Hagrid yelled over the heads of the crowd. They waved at him, but had no chance to speak to him because the mass of people around them was shunting them away along the platform. [PoA ch. #05; p. 68] 'Hi, Hagrid!' Harry yelled, seeing a gigantic silhouette at the far end of the platform. 'All righ', Harry?' Hagrid bellowed back, waving. 'See yeh at the feast if we don' drown!' First-years traditionally reached Hogwarts Castle by sailing across the lake with Hagrid. [GoF ch. #11; p. 151] There must also be a barrier of some kind along the back of the platform, since passengers only seem to be able to get off the platform at two points. The path which leads down to the lake-side is at the end of the platform furthest from Hogsmeade. We know this because it's at a significant distance from the point at which they exit to the road and meet the carriages, since the crowd heading for the door carries the Trio away from Hagrid's position; and logic suggests that the carriages will be at the Hogsmeade end of the platform. We don't know for sure, of course, that the train comes in with its nose pointing towards Hogsmeade, although JK's map suggests that it does. [cut] they followed Hagrid down what seemd to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. [PS ch. #06; p. 83] Harry could smell the pine trees that lined the path down to the lake. [OotP ch. #10; p. 177] Scots Pines near Huntly, Aberdeenshire, with Fourman Hill in the distance © Anne Burgess at Geograph The path down to the lakeside is narrow and steep (see above) and surrounded by a dense growth of pine trees. Since it is unlikely that the Forestry Commission has been planting foreign conifers on Hogwarts land, these pines are probably native Scots Pines. Rowling's own map shows the path as turning first right and then left before reaching the shore. Either the trees are very densely-packed, or there is some sort of rise in the ground between the station/path and the lake, because we know the castle cannot be seen from either station or path, until the path turns the final bend and opens out onto the lakeside. Since this is the first glimpse the students get of the castle there must be a barrier - wall, trees or rising land - preventing the castle from being seen from the train as it approaches the station. There could be a wall or a bank running through the trees, and they pass through a gap in it in the dark, without noticing. Harry followed her, staggered a little on landing, then straightened up in time to see the gleaming scarlet steam engine pick up speed, round the corner and disappear from view. [HBP ch. #08; p. 149/150] The railway line itself also goes around a sharp bend just before it reaches the station. There is some obstruction - probably more trees, or a spur of hillside - which prevents the train from being seen from the station once it has rounded the bend, and presumably also prevents the station from being seen from the train until you are right on top of it. Something which is never resolved is how the train turns around. There appears to be just the one scarlet engine, not an engine at each end; whenever the train moves the engine appears to be in the lead and pulling, not behind it and pushing; and yet there's no mention of turntables to spin the thing around, or loops of track it could use to end up facing the other way. It comes into the station, whether King's Cross or Hogsmeade, with its nose pointing towards the station, and it leaves with its nose pointing the other way. Either it turns "by magic", or there are turntables or loops and we just aren't told about them. And he stamped, hard, on Harry's face. Harry felt his nose break; [HBP ch. #07; p. 147] Harry could not move a muscle. He lay there beneath the Invisibilty Cloak feeling the blood flow, hot and wet, over his face [cut][cut] ... and now the last few footsteps were dying away; [cut] The train lurched, causing Harry to roll over onto his side. [cut] The floor began to vibrate as the engine roared into life. [cut][cut] 'Wotcher, Harry.' There was a flash of red light and Harry's body unfroze; he was able to push himself into a more dignified sitting position, hastily wiping the blood off his bruised face [cut][cut] the train windows becaome obscured with steam and the train began to move out of the station. [HBP ch. #08; p. 148/149] When the train reaches Hogsmeade station in HBP, Harry is left lying frozen on the floor on his back (we know he's on his back because Draco treads on his face and breaks his nose, and the blood flows over his face). After he has been there some time, the train lurches so violently that it rolls him over, even though he was on his back. Harry then feels the vibration and roar of the engine, but this is not the train actually starting to drive away, because it doesn't do so for at least several seconds afterwards; time enough for Tonks to find Harry and remove both Cloak and immobilising spell, and for Harry to sit up and wipe his face. The lurch, therefore, may well be the train doing whatever it does that turns it round, which is therefore probably mechanical, not magical. One good, simple suggestion (thank you, silvialaura) is that the track has a loop in it like the eye of a needle, with the two sides of the loop diverging just before the station. The train pulls into the station, so that the whole thing, engine and carriages, is within the loop. The engine then uncouples from the train (taking its tender if any with it), leaves the carriages sitting at the station and proceeds on down the track and around the loop in a U-turn, coming back onto the main line on the London side of the carriages, with its nose towards London. It then backs up and re-couples itself to the other end of the carriages, which would explain the lurch. This would mean there are probably two guards' vans, one either end of the carriages, so that there is always one bringing up the rear. It would of course be perfectly possible for the whole train, carriages and all, to go round a loop and end up facing the other way, but that violent lurch that Harry felt suggests that at the Hogsmeade end, at least, the engine saves time and fuel by uncoupling and going around the loop on its own while the passengers are disembarking from the stationary carriages. If the Hogsmeade Express runs on actual coal and water which are consumed, rather than on magic or on magically-replenished coal, there may be some sort of refuelling point further around the loop, to which the engine and tender go to stock up while the passengers are getting off. Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. [PS ch. #06; p. 74] They leaned out of the window and waved at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley until the train turned a corner and blocked them from view. [PoA ch. #05; p. 59] But Mrs Weasley only smiled and waved. Before the train had rounded the corner, she, Bill and Charlie had Disapparated. [GoF ch. #11; p. 146] [cut] the black dog was bounding alongside the window, [cut] then they rounded a bend, and Sirius was gone. [OotP ch. #10; p. 166] Harry waved until the train had turned a corner and Mr and Mrs Weasley were lost from view, [HBP ch. #07; p. 130] We have some support for this idea that the train turns by going round a loop, in the fact that the Hogsmeade Express starts its journey from King's Cross at a severe angle to the northbound Muggle tracks. We know this because as it pulls away from the station it goes round a bend and disappears from view, and that bend is close enough to the platform that individuals can still clearly be seen. The real tracks from King's Cross main-line station run straight north, then they enter a longish tunnel which takes them under an area of roads, then they emerge into daylight again and begin to bend slightly towards the east, but they do so in a gentle curve, not a sharp one, and that bend is about half a mile out from the platforms anyway. So we know that when it starts off the Hogwarts Express is at a sharp angle to the Muggle tracks and has to turn a corner to join them (which it must do, or at least run alongside them, because it's heading the same way), which may have something to do with how it turns round. The passengers may be embarking while it is parked halfway through another turning loop, and it then completes the turn to get back onto the main track. Assuming that the engine of the Hogwarts Express always pulls rather than pushes the train, it certainly must turn round at King's Cross somehow, coming in with its nose to the station and going out with its nose to the north. The British cover-art and the images from the films trick us into expecting that when Harry walks onto Platform 9¾ the engine is pointing towards him and he is at the buffer end, but the books do not say so. [cut] ... he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock. [PS ch. #06; p. 71] Next moment, they had fallen sideways through the solid metal onto platform nine and three-quarters and looked up to see the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam engine, puffing smoke over a paltform packed with witches and wizards seeing their children onto the train. [PoA ch. #05; p. 57] [cut] platform nine and three-quarters materialised in front of them. The Hogwarts Express, a gleaming scarlet steam engine, was already there, [GoF ch. #11; p. 145] [cut] each of them leaned against it in turn and fell easily through on to platform nine and three-quarters, where the Hogwarts Express stood belching sooty steam [OotP ch. #10; p. 165] [cut] and found himself, a second later, standing on platform nine and three-quarters, where the scarlet Hogwarts Express stood belching steam over the crowd. [HBP ch. #07; p. 127] We do know, with reasonable certainty, that when Harry steps onto the platform he is near the engine, because it is always the first thing he sees. Also there is a sign which is said to be "overhead"; it's ambiguous whether that means over the train or over Harry's position, but if it means over the train then the fact that Harry is close enough to read it easily is significant. But what we we don't know and aren't told is whether the students come onto the platform at the London or Hogwarts end of the train. They may perfectly-well be approaching from the side of an engine which has already turned round ready to go and is at the outbound end of the train, with its nose pointing down the track towards Hogsmeade. We have no definite evidence as to whether the track continues past Hogsmeade, but we do know that the Hogwarts Express terminates there and returns to London. And, after all, why would it run on? Wizards generally travel by Apparition. It's only because there are too many students on the move at once to be Side-Along Apparated or to feed through a limited number of Floos that they need a train at all - and perhaps to move large freight to Hogsmeade. How do other wizard communities receive freight? Are there other train services? Do they use Floo? Or they may just shrink their freight very small and use Floo or brooms. We can surmise that at least part of the freight is carried this way, since Mundungus was caught selling things which 'fell off the back of a broom' - and whilst this is an obvious play on things "falling off the back of a lorry" the joke wouldn't work if there wasn't some truth in it.
'Hi, Hagrid!' Harry yelled, seeing a gigantic silhouette at the far end of the platform. 'All righ', Harry?' Hagrid bellowed back, waving. 'See yeh at the feast if we don' drown!' First-years traditionally reached Hogwarts Castle by sailing across the lake with Hagrid. [GoF ch. #11; p. 151]
There must also be a barrier of some kind along the back of the platform, since passengers only seem to be able to get off the platform at two points. The path which leads down to the lake-side is at the end of the platform furthest from Hogsmeade. We know this because it's at a significant distance from the point at which they exit to the road and meet the carriages, since the crowd heading for the door carries the Trio away from Hagrid's position; and logic suggests that the carriages will be at the Hogsmeade end of the platform. We don't know for sure, of course, that the train comes in with its nose pointing towards Hogsmeade, although JK's map suggests that it does.
Harry could smell the pine trees that lined the path down to the lake. [OotP ch. #10; p. 177]
The path down to the lakeside is narrow and steep (see above) and surrounded by a dense growth of pine trees. Since it is unlikely that the Forestry Commission has been planting foreign conifers on Hogwarts land, these pines are probably native Scots Pines. Rowling's own map shows the path as turning first right and then left before reaching the shore. Either the trees are very densely-packed, or there is some sort of rise in the ground between the station/path and the lake, because we know the castle cannot be seen from either station or path, until the path turns the final bend and opens out onto the lakeside. Since this is the first glimpse the students get of the castle there must be a barrier - wall, trees or rising land - preventing the castle from being seen from the train as it approaches the station. There could be a wall or a bank running through the trees, and they pass through a gap in it in the dark, without noticing.
The railway line itself also goes around a sharp bend just before it reaches the station. There is some obstruction - probably more trees, or a spur of hillside - which prevents the train from being seen from the station once it has rounded the bend, and presumably also prevents the station from being seen from the train until you are right on top of it.
Something which is never resolved is how the train turns around. There appears to be just the one scarlet engine, not an engine at each end; whenever the train moves the engine appears to be in the lead and pulling, not behind it and pushing; and yet there's no mention of turntables to spin the thing around, or loops of track it could use to end up facing the other way. It comes into the station, whether King's Cross or Hogsmeade, with its nose pointing towards the station, and it leaves with its nose pointing the other way. Either it turns "by magic", or there are turntables or loops and we just aren't told about them.
Harry could not move a muscle. He lay there beneath the Invisibilty Cloak feeling the blood flow, hot and wet, over his face [cut][cut] ... and now the last few footsteps were dying away; [cut] The train lurched, causing Harry to roll over onto his side. [cut] The floor began to vibrate as the engine roared into life. [cut][cut] 'Wotcher, Harry.' There was a flash of red light and Harry's body unfroze; he was able to push himself into a more dignified sitting position, hastily wiping the blood off his bruised face [cut][cut] the train windows becaome obscured with steam and the train began to move out of the station. [HBP ch. #08; p. 148/149]
When the train reaches Hogsmeade station in HBP, Harry is left lying frozen on the floor on his back (we know he's on his back because Draco treads on his face and breaks his nose, and the blood flows over his face). After he has been there some time, the train lurches so violently that it rolls him over, even though he was on his back. Harry then feels the vibration and roar of the engine, but this is not the train actually starting to drive away, because it doesn't do so for at least several seconds afterwards; time enough for Tonks to find Harry and remove both Cloak and immobilising spell, and for Harry to sit up and wipe his face. The lurch, therefore, may well be the train doing whatever it does that turns it round, which is therefore probably mechanical, not magical.
One good, simple suggestion (thank you, silvialaura) is that the track has a loop in it like the eye of a needle, with the two sides of the loop diverging just before the station. The train pulls into the station, so that the whole thing, engine and carriages, is within the loop. The engine then uncouples from the train (taking its tender if any with it), leaves the carriages sitting at the station and proceeds on down the track and around the loop in a U-turn, coming back onto the main line on the London side of the carriages, with its nose towards London. It then backs up and re-couples itself to the other end of the carriages, which would explain the lurch. This would mean there are probably two guards' vans, one either end of the carriages, so that there is always one bringing up the rear.
It would of course be perfectly possible for the whole train, carriages and all, to go round a loop and end up facing the other way, but that violent lurch that Harry felt suggests that at the Hogsmeade end, at least, the engine saves time and fuel by uncoupling and going around the loop on its own while the passengers are disembarking from the stationary carriages. If the Hogsmeade Express runs on actual coal and water which are consumed, rather than on magic or on magically-replenished coal, there may be some sort of refuelling point further around the loop, to which the engine and tender go to stock up while the passengers are getting off.
They leaned out of the window and waved at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley until the train turned a corner and blocked them from view. [PoA ch. #05; p. 59]
But Mrs Weasley only smiled and waved. Before the train had rounded the corner, she, Bill and Charlie had Disapparated. [GoF ch. #11; p. 146]
[cut] the black dog was bounding alongside the window, [cut] then they rounded a bend, and Sirius was gone. [OotP ch. #10; p. 166]
Harry waved until the train had turned a corner and Mr and Mrs Weasley were lost from view, [HBP ch. #07; p. 130]
We have some support for this idea that the train turns by going round a loop, in the fact that the Hogsmeade Express starts its journey from King's Cross at a severe angle to the northbound Muggle tracks. We know this because as it pulls away from the station it goes round a bend and disappears from view, and that bend is close enough to the platform that individuals can still clearly be seen.
The real tracks from King's Cross main-line station run straight north, then they enter a longish tunnel which takes them under an area of roads, then they emerge into daylight again and begin to bend slightly towards the east, but they do so in a gentle curve, not a sharp one, and that bend is about half a mile out from the platforms anyway. So we know that when it starts off the Hogwarts Express is at a sharp angle to the Muggle tracks and has to turn a corner to join them (which it must do, or at least run alongside them, because it's heading the same way), which may have something to do with how it turns round. The passengers may be embarking while it is parked halfway through another turning loop, and it then completes the turn to get back onto the main track.
Assuming that the engine of the Hogwarts Express always pulls rather than pushes the train, it certainly must turn round at King's Cross somehow, coming in with its nose to the station and going out with its nose to the north. The British cover-art and the images from the films trick us into expecting that when Harry walks onto Platform 9¾ the engine is pointing towards him and he is at the buffer end, but the books do not say so.
Next moment, they had fallen sideways through the solid metal onto platform nine and three-quarters and looked up to see the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam engine, puffing smoke over a paltform packed with witches and wizards seeing their children onto the train. [PoA ch. #05; p. 57]
[cut] platform nine and three-quarters materialised in front of them. The Hogwarts Express, a gleaming scarlet steam engine, was already there, [GoF ch. #11; p. 145]
[cut] each of them leaned against it in turn and fell easily through on to platform nine and three-quarters, where the Hogwarts Express stood belching sooty steam [OotP ch. #10; p. 165]
[cut] and found himself, a second later, standing on platform nine and three-quarters, where the scarlet Hogwarts Express stood belching steam over the crowd. [HBP ch. #07; p. 127]
We do know, with reasonable certainty, that when Harry steps onto the platform he is near the engine, because it is always the first thing he sees. Also there is a sign which is said to be "overhead"; it's ambiguous whether that means over the train or over Harry's position, but if it means over the train then the fact that Harry is close enough to read it easily is significant.
But what we we don't know and aren't told is whether the students come onto the platform at the London or Hogwarts end of the train. They may perfectly-well be approaching from the side of an engine which has already turned round ready to go and is at the outbound end of the train, with its nose pointing down the track towards Hogsmeade.
We have no definite evidence as to whether the track continues past Hogsmeade, but we do know that the Hogwarts Express terminates there and returns to London. And, after all, why would it run on? Wizards generally travel by Apparition. It's only because there are too many students on the move at once to be Side-Along Apparated or to feed through a limited number of Floos that they need a train at all - and perhaps to move large freight to Hogsmeade.
How do other wizard communities receive freight? Are there other train services? Do they use Floo? Or they may just shrink their freight very small and use Floo or brooms. We can surmise that at least part of the freight is carried this way, since Mundungus was caught selling things which 'fell off the back of a broom' - and whilst this is an obvious play on things "falling off the back of a lorry" the joke wouldn't work if there wasn't some truth in it.
A hundred horseless carriages stood waiting for them outside the station. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville climbed gratefully into one of them, the door shut with a snap and a few moments later, with a great lurch, the long procession of carriages was rumbling and splashing its way up the track towards Hogwarts castle. [GoF ch. #11; p. 151]
[cut] so he allowed himself to be shunted forwards on to the dark rain-washed road outside Hogsmeade Station. [OotP ch. #10; p. 177/178]
They trudged up the dark, deserted lane, following the freshly made carriage tracks. [cut] And so they tramped on through the cold night in silence, Tonks's long cloak whispering on the ground behind them. Having always travelled there by carriage, Harry had never before appreciated just how far Hogwarts was from Hogsmeade Station. With great relief he finally saw the tall pillars on either side of the gates [HBP ch. #08; p. 151]
A track leads from the station around the outside of the Hogwarts grounds to the front gates. It must be fairly wide, at least at the station end, since a hundred carriages draw up at the station and it doesn't sound as if they are in single file (they are said to be outside the station - not strung out in a line leading off into the dim distance). At that point, it's probably wide enough for the carriages to be parked two or more deep.
[cut] he, Ron and Luna made for the carriage in which Hermione and Ginny were already sitting. [OotP ch. #10; p. 179]
We know the carriages probably seat six, three each side of the door, because a group of at least five (Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and at least one other in one carriage, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna and Ginny in another) are able to fit into a carriage together. So they are fairly large vehicles, wide enough to seat three abreast. Including the wheels and the Thestral they must be a minimum of about 13ft long by 8ft wide.
It isn't the case that the carriages are entered from the rear and parked closely side by side, because as Harry approaches the coaches the Thestrals are in front of him. If the carriages are entered from the rear there must be space to pass between them, and more likely they are entered from the side in the normal manner, so there has to be space between them for the doors to open and passengers to embark, as well as the width of the carriage itself. So even if the carriages are parked side by side rather than end to end, if there was only one row of them they would extend for getting on for four hundred yards and there's no suggestion that the students have to trail such a distance carrying their caged familiars, so in fact the road must be wide enough at the station end for the carriages to park at least two deep, and the students probably emerge from the station midway along the row of carriages, so nobody has to walk the whole length of it.
JK's map shows the railway track running roughly parallel to the Hogwarts boundary wall, so we must assume that the station platform is also parallel to the wall, not perpendicular to it. How is the start of the carriage-road oriented in relation to the station?
The railway line must continue on past the station platform at least for a bit, to allow the engine to pass the platform and turn, so the students cannot simply walk across in front of the train without crossing the track, and in any case we know there are exits from both ends of the platform. There is no suggestion that the first years have to walk across the track, or a bridge, in order to get down to the lake, nor that the more senior years cross the track to get to the carriages. This tells us that the track is not between the platform and the Hogwarts boundary wall at either end, so the platform is between the track and the wall.
If the start of the carriage-road lies along the length of the platform, then, it must be between the platform and the Hogwarts wall. It can't be between the platform and the track, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get off the train, and it's not on the far side of the track, because there's no suggestion that they cross the line to get to it. And if the start of the carriage road is between the station platform and the wall, then the first years must cross the width if the carriage road, or at least pass by the end of it, in order to get from the platform onto the track down to the lake.
Alternatively, the track could be end-on to the platform. In that case, the barrier along the back of the platform could be part of the wall of Hogwarts itself, and the students pass through the gate into the grounds at that point. Against this, it means the boundary wall is only a platform-width from the track, which restricts the width of the carriage track, which we want to be wide enough to allow the carriages to at least double-park. But it could be that the wall has a kink in it which allows for some sort of wider forecourt; or that the students walk ahead from the station until they pass the end of the track where the train turns, and there is a wide carriage-park at that point.
If the forecourt is between the station and the wall, and is constrained by the length of the platform, then it will be about 170 yards long. If there are a hundred coaches about 13ft long and they are lined up one behind the other, there will need to be three lines of them side by side, each 8ft wide, plus space for a crowd of people to walk in between the lines. If they park side by side, they will need to have space between them for the doors to open, so each coach will still need at least 10ft of width: you can get away with having only two ranks of carriages in a 170-yard-long forecourt but it must be wide enough for the length of two 13ft coach-and-thestral sets facing each other, plus space for the passengers milling about in between. Either way, the forecourt must be a minimum of 36ft wide, and more likely 40ft-plus.
For general traffic purposes, anyway, you would expect the track either to be wide enough for two carriages or, if single track, to have regular passing-points (unless vehicles just pass each other by magic). And indeed, JK's own map shows it as being quite a wide road. Nevertheless, although the track must be reasonably wide, it is earth, and sometimes mud, all the way - not just at the station-end. We know because the carriage-wheels leave ruts.
or possibly:
Rowling's map states that the road from the station "travels round castle grounds, skirts Hogsmeade, ends at school gates". We can see that this road approaches the school gates from the left.
They rounded a corner in the lane [cut] He began to sprint towards the school; [cut] he hurtled round a bend in the lane [HBP ch. #12; p. 233/234]
As they flew over the dark, twisting lane down which they had walked earlier, Harry heard, over the whistling of the night air in his ears, Dumbledore muttering in some strange language again. He thought he understood why as he felt his broom shudder for a moment when they flew over the boundary wall into the grounds: [HBP ch. #27; p. 544]
We also know that there is a lane which runs into Hogsmeade village, to the left of the front gates as you stand with your back to the castle. However, this lane cannot simply be a loop of the station road, because the station road passes along the edge of the village, and the lane from the school to Hogsmeade connects into the village High Street. Also,the route from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade is described as a twisting lane, not a wide carriageway, and in the various descriptions of journeys from the station to the front gates there's no suggestion that the carriages, or the road which takes them around the edge of the grounds, twist about or go round any sharp corners the way the lane to Hogsmeade does. When Harry and Dumbledore fly from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts they fly along the lane (probably to ensure they don't hit any trees or barns in the dark) and then cross the boundary wall, and there's nothing to suggest that they've actually been following the boundary up to the point at which they cross it. At some point, therefore, the winding lane that leads to the High Street has to split away from the fairly direct station road.
Rowling's drawing shows the station road hugging the boundary wall closely and at the same time passing by the village, with the village therefore approaching closely to the wall. However, the drawing is distorted - the station road is shown as impossibly wide, about half the width of the castle - so we can't take that as gospel. What can we derive from the books? Harry's thoughts strayed to Ginny as they trudged up the road to Hogwarts through the frozen slush. [cut] It was a little while before Harry became aware that the voices of Katie Bell and her friend, which were being carried back to him on the wind, had become shriller and louder. Harry squinted at their indistinct figures. [cut] They rounded a corner in the lane [cut] Harry looked around; the landscape seemed deserted. [cut] He began to sprint towards the school; [cut] he hurtled round a bend in the lane and collided with what seemed to be an enormous bear on its hind legs. 'Hagrid!' he panted, disentangling himself from the hedgerow into which he had fallen. [HBP ch. #12; p. 233/234] The road into Hogwarts seems to be surrounded by countryside. After Katie is cursed, Harry looks around and sees empty country, and there's no indication that he is up against the boundary of the school on one side - only a hedge is mentioned - nor, clearly, is he in the outskirts of the village. We're told that as Harry stands in the lane between Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, he is surrounded by open country, not village. It isn't very likely that the lane performs a wide swing to the side - if it did, a shorter, more direct lane between school and village would have grown up over the years - so this open land must be between the village and the school. Depending on how wide the carriage-road swings away from the boundary-wall, the stretch of the Hogsmeade lane which crosses open country could be before or after the split. That is, it may be the case that you emerge from the school gates, see the carriage road bearing left around the walls, turn almost immediately into a separate lane and then walk across open land towards Hogsmeade; or it may be that you walk out of the gates onto the carriage road and follow it away from the gates and across open country, then just before you reach Hogsmeade the carriage-road bears away to the left, back towards the boundary-wall, and a separate lane takes you into the village. In the latter case, the final bend - the one Harry rounds after he's looked around and seen a deserted landscape, and just before he crashes into Hagrid - must be in the station road. The passage twisted and turned, more like the burrow of a giant rabbit than anything else. Harry hurried along it, stumbling now and then on the uneven floor, holding his wand out in front of him. It took ages, but Harry had the thought of Honeydukes to sustain him. After what felt like an hour, the passage began to rise. Panting, Harry sped up [cut] Ten minutes later, he came to the foot of some worn, stone steps [PoA ch. #10; p. 146] Harry didn't have a very clear idea of how he had managed to get back into the Honeydukes cellar, through the tunnel and into the castle once more. All he knew was that the return trip seemed to take no time at all [PoA ch. #11; p. 157] Also, we have to consider that Hogsmeade seems to be quite a long way from the castle, judging from the length of time it takes Harry to get down the tunnel to Honeydukes. Admittedly it's a winding route, and probably didn't really take anything like an hour to traverse (since the return journey was very quick) but more likely about thirty minutes up to the point at which the ground began to rise. Also it's dark and uneven, and even though he was hurrying Harry probably wasn't going very fast. Even so, he must have travelled about a mile and half, including that final ten minutes at increased speed, and even after you factor in all the winding about Hogsmeade, or at any rate Honeydukes, must be getting on for a mile from the castle. If the central part of the village is close to the carriage road, which is close to the boundary wall, and yet Honeydukes is about a mile from the castle, then either the boundary, and the grounds, bulge out in a great curve which takes part of the grounds a lot nearer to the village than the gates are; or the village is slewed round in such a way that although Honeydukes (and therefore the other shops, since they all seem to be close together) are about a mile from the school, the other end of the village is right up against the wall. But if the Hogwarts grounds bulged right out towards the village, why would the gate, and the start of the lane to Hogsmeade, not be at or near the point of closest approach? If the village was arranged end-on to the school grounds, why would all the shops selling school supplies be at the further end? It's not likely that the boundary of the school grounds and Hogsmeade High Street ever approach each other very closely. So, the village High Street is a fair distance from the boundary wall. The station road skirts the village. The two most extreme options are that the station road hugs the boundary wall and that the outskirts of the village extend a long way from the High Street and almost to the school grounds; or that the village is quite nuclear and the station road swings wide away from the boundary wall and approaches quite closely to the High Street. We know we have open land between the village and the school, and that the station road and the lane into the village part company somewhere in that open land. We don't really want the carriage road to swing very far away from the boundary-wall because the longer that road is, the harder it gets to explain how come the carriages are able to get all the way from the station around the grounds to the school, in the time it takes the first-years to boat across the lake. On the other hand, we don't want the village outskirts to approach the boundary wall too closely, otherwise we have trouble explaining how come Harry stood in the lane and saw open country around him. With great relief he finally saw the tall pillars on either side of the gates, each topped with a winged boar. [cut] 'I could climb a wall,' he suggested. [HBP ch. #08; p. 151/152] The best solution is probably to assume that between the village and the school the carriage road loops away from the school wall by a few hundred yards - probably due to a bulge of the rise the school stands on - and crosses somewhere midway between the wall and the village, and there are a few outlying houses either fronting or backing onto it. This would fit with the fact that Harry doesn't suggest climbing the wall until he and Tonks get to the gates, which would seem a little odd if they'd been walking close by the wall all the way. When Harry stands in open country, he has actually passed the junction between the Hogsmeade lane and the station road and is standing on the station road, in the gap between the edge of the village and the school. There's no indication that the students turn right to enter the Hogsmeade lane (after turning left out of the gates), nor any indication that Harry, in rounding that final bend where he hits Hagrid, is actually turning a corner at a T-junction. Therefore, what is probably happening is that the carriage/station road bears left from the school gates, then somewhat right and left again in order to skirt the village, and either the lane to Hogsmeade veers off from the station road at a shallow angle, or the Hogsmeade lane continues in a straight line and it's the station road that turns off at an angle. To get to Hogsmeade they either bear right at a fork, or continue straight across the top bar of a T-junction, rather than turning right at a T-junction. There is an anomaly to do with the angle of the boundary road. As discussed below under lawns, the Hogwarts grounds slope down from the castle to the front gates. The station is well above the surface of the lake, since the students who follow Hagrid walk down quite a long, steep path, and the castle cannot itself be more than about 180ft above the lake, since pupils are able to stroll down the grass from the castle to a point on the lakeside which is not enormously far away, without needing stairs. You would think that that would mean that the station is well above the level of the front gates, and that the road around the perimeter generally sloped downwards from the station towards the front gates. 'Don't you think it's a bit odd,' said Harry, scrambling up the grassy slope, [from the lakeside, towards Hagrid's cabin] [PS ch. #16; p. 193] Breaking into a run, she led them all the way back up the road, through the gates flanked by winged boars, and up through the grounds to Hagrid's cabin. [GoF ch. #24; p. 392] They set off towards the lane that led to the school. [cut] They trudged up the dark, deserted lane, following the freshly made carriage tracks. [HBP ch. #08; p. 150/151] Yet when Tonks are Harry walk round the perimeter they are said to be going "up" the lane, which suggests it is either level or slopes upwards. Either the road slopes up before coming down again, or the average slope of the Hogwarts grounds is very shallow, so that the front gates are no lower than the station. That's possible, if we assume that the station is only 60ft above the lake (and therefore 120ft below the castle), and the average slope from the castle to the gates (which we know to be about 600 yards away) is only about one in fifteen. But it would require the lake to be sitting at the bottom of a very deep depression, because it would mean that even the front gates, which are very definitely downslope from the castle, were level with the station and hence 60ft higher than the lake. That would make the lake shore lower than the grounds around it, by at least the height of the pine-covered slope which the first-years walk down. Nothing really has been said to suggest that that is the case. Harry does scramble up from the lake to get to Hagrid's house - but there's no indication that he does so up a height greater than the one he walked down in first year (and it would have to be greater, because Hagrid's house is higher than the front gates). I think we must conclude that at the station end the boundary road runs along a level, or even slopes up a little, but that overall it slopes down towards the front gates.
The road into Hogwarts seems to be surrounded by countryside. After Katie is cursed, Harry looks around and sees empty country, and there's no indication that he is up against the boundary of the school on one side - only a hedge is mentioned - nor, clearly, is he in the outskirts of the village.
We're told that as Harry stands in the lane between Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, he is surrounded by open country, not village. It isn't very likely that the lane performs a wide swing to the side - if it did, a shorter, more direct lane between school and village would have grown up over the years - so this open land must be between the village and the school.
Depending on how wide the carriage-road swings away from the boundary-wall, the stretch of the Hogsmeade lane which crosses open country could be before or after the split. That is, it may be the case that you emerge from the school gates, see the carriage road bearing left around the walls, turn almost immediately into a separate lane and then walk across open land towards Hogsmeade; or it may be that you walk out of the gates onto the carriage road and follow it away from the gates and across open country, then just before you reach Hogsmeade the carriage-road bears away to the left, back towards the boundary-wall, and a separate lane takes you into the village. In the latter case, the final bend - the one Harry rounds after he's looked around and seen a deserted landscape, and just before he crashes into Hagrid - must be in the station road.
Harry didn't have a very clear idea of how he had managed to get back into the Honeydukes cellar, through the tunnel and into the castle once more. All he knew was that the return trip seemed to take no time at all [PoA ch. #11; p. 157]
Also, we have to consider that Hogsmeade seems to be quite a long way from the castle, judging from the length of time it takes Harry to get down the tunnel to Honeydukes. Admittedly it's a winding route, and probably didn't really take anything like an hour to traverse (since the return journey was very quick) but more likely about thirty minutes up to the point at which the ground began to rise. Also it's dark and uneven, and even though he was hurrying Harry probably wasn't going very fast. Even so, he must have travelled about a mile and half, including that final ten minutes at increased speed, and even after you factor in all the winding about Hogsmeade, or at any rate Honeydukes, must be getting on for a mile from the castle.
If the central part of the village is close to the carriage road, which is close to the boundary wall, and yet Honeydukes is about a mile from the castle, then either the boundary, and the grounds, bulge out in a great curve which takes part of the grounds a lot nearer to the village than the gates are; or the village is slewed round in such a way that although Honeydukes (and therefore the other shops, since they all seem to be close together) are about a mile from the school, the other end of the village is right up against the wall. But if the Hogwarts grounds bulged right out towards the village, why would the gate, and the start of the lane to Hogsmeade, not be at or near the point of closest approach? If the village was arranged end-on to the school grounds, why would all the shops selling school supplies be at the further end? It's not likely that the boundary of the school grounds and Hogsmeade High Street ever approach each other very closely.
So, the village High Street is a fair distance from the boundary wall. The station road skirts the village. The two most extreme options are that the station road hugs the boundary wall and that the outskirts of the village extend a long way from the High Street and almost to the school grounds; or that the village is quite nuclear and the station road swings wide away from the boundary wall and approaches quite closely to the High Street.
We know we have open land between the village and the school, and that the station road and the lane into the village part company somewhere in that open land. We don't really want the carriage road to swing very far away from the boundary-wall because the longer that road is, the harder it gets to explain how come the carriages are able to get all the way from the station around the grounds to the school, in the time it takes the first-years to boat across the lake. On the other hand, we don't want the village outskirts to approach the boundary wall too closely, otherwise we have trouble explaining how come Harry stood in the lane and saw open country around him.
The best solution is probably to assume that between the village and the school the carriage road loops away from the school wall by a few hundred yards - probably due to a bulge of the rise the school stands on - and crosses somewhere midway between the wall and the village, and there are a few outlying houses either fronting or backing onto it. This would fit with the fact that Harry doesn't suggest climbing the wall until he and Tonks get to the gates, which would seem a little odd if they'd been walking close by the wall all the way. When Harry stands in open country, he has actually passed the junction between the Hogsmeade lane and the station road and is standing on the station road, in the gap between the edge of the village and the school.
There's no indication that the students turn right to enter the Hogsmeade lane (after turning left out of the gates), nor any indication that Harry, in rounding that final bend where he hits Hagrid, is actually turning a corner at a T-junction. Therefore, what is probably happening is that the carriage/station road bears left from the school gates, then somewhat right and left again in order to skirt the village, and either the lane to Hogsmeade veers off from the station road at a shallow angle, or the Hogsmeade lane continues in a straight line and it's the station road that turns off at an angle. To get to Hogsmeade they either bear right at a fork, or continue straight across the top bar of a T-junction, rather than turning right at a T-junction.
There is an anomaly to do with the angle of the boundary road. As discussed below under lawns, the Hogwarts grounds slope down from the castle to the front gates. The station is well above the surface of the lake, since the students who follow Hagrid walk down quite a long, steep path, and the castle cannot itself be more than about 180ft above the lake, since pupils are able to stroll down the grass from the castle to a point on the lakeside which is not enormously far away, without needing stairs. You would think that that would mean that the station is well above the level of the front gates, and that the road around the perimeter generally sloped downwards from the station towards the front gates.
Breaking into a run, she led them all the way back up the road, through the gates flanked by winged boars, and up through the grounds to Hagrid's cabin. [GoF ch. #24; p. 392]
They set off towards the lane that led to the school. [cut] They trudged up the dark, deserted lane, following the freshly made carriage tracks. [HBP ch. #08; p. 150/151]
Yet when Tonks are Harry walk round the perimeter they are said to be going "up" the lane, which suggests it is either level or slopes upwards. Either the road slopes up before coming down again, or the average slope of the Hogwarts grounds is very shallow, so that the front gates are no lower than the station. That's possible, if we assume that the station is only 60ft above the lake (and therefore 120ft below the castle), and the average slope from the castle to the gates (which we know to be about 600 yards away) is only about one in fifteen. But it would require the lake to be sitting at the bottom of a very deep depression, because it would mean that even the front gates, which are very definitely downslope from the castle, were level with the station and hence 60ft higher than the lake.
That would make the lake shore lower than the grounds around it, by at least the height of the pine-covered slope which the first-years walk down. Nothing really has been said to suggest that that is the case. Harry does scramble up from the lake to get to Hagrid's house - but there's no indication that he does so up a height greater than the one he walked down in first year (and it would have to be greater, because Hagrid's house is higher than the front gates).
I think we must conclude that at the station end the boundary road runs along a level, or even slopes up a little, but that overall it slopes down towards the front gates.
With great relief he finally saw the tall pillars on either side of the gates, each topped with a winged boar. [cut] But when he put out a hand to push open the gates, he found them chained shut. 'Alohomora!' he said confidently, pointing his wand at the padlock [HBP ch. #08; p. 151/152]
He shut the gates in her face with a loud clang and tapped the chains with his wand again, so that they slithered, clinking, back into place. [HBP ch. #08; p. 153]
[cut] he was looking through the high, wrought-iron gates, with winged boars on pillars at either side, looking through the dark grounds towards the castle, which was ablaze with lights. [DH ch. #30; p. 488]
The main or front entrance has high, paired gates of wrought iron, which can be bound closed with a padlock and chain. These gates are set into a wall and flanked on either side by tall stone pillars bearing figures of winged boars. We aren't told what the boars are made of - probably either stone or cast iron. The gates open inwards towards the castle.
Through the gates, flanked with statues of winged boars, and up the sweeping drive the carriages trundled [GoF ch. #12; p. 152]
Here stood the hundred or so horseless stagecoaches that always took the students above first year up to the castle [OotP ch. #10; p. 178]
'Er – why was Filch sniffing you?' asked Ron, as he, Harry and Hermione set off at a brisk pace down the wide drive to the gates. [OotP ch. #16; p. 298]
The gates lead to a driveway which sweeps up to the castle - i.e. it performs one or more large, loose curves. We can surmise that the driveway must be at least wide enough for two carriages to pass each other (unless they do it by magic): and indeed we are told that it is wide. If you had only three or four carriages coming up the drive, there might just be a forecourt area where they pulled up, unloaded and then turned round to go back down the drive. But we know that at the start of the autumn term they have a hundred carriages to accommodate, and it's unlikely that there's a forecourt big enough to hold a hundred carriages at once (it would need to be about 50 yards square, and you would expect such a large feature would be mentioned if it existed). Ergo, the carriages roll up a few at a time, unload, turn round and go back out past the carriages still coming in. So the driveway must be at least 20ft wide, and at the castle-end there is room for a carriage to turn round.
An alternative is that at the castle end the driveway goes round in a loop, enabling carriages to offload and then move on swiftly without having to turn on the spot, and to approach the castle driving on the left and leave it driving down the other side of the track without any adjustment of position. This still requires the main, un-looped part of the track to be wide enough for two carriages to pass each other, though, since we've no reason to think that the entire track is one vast loop, or that the emptied carriages leave by any door other than the main gates.
'And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those Dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds.' [PoA ch. #09; p. 123]
Only two entrances to the Hogwarts grounds are ever described - the front gates, and the path down from the station. Yet we know there is at least one more - and not just an open-ended swathe of Forest, either - because the Dementors in PoA are described as guarding "every entrance", not "both entrances". So there must be at least three entrances: indeed, Hermione's reference to "every single entrance" sounds more as if there are four or more.
We do not know where the third entrance is. The lane from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade is winding and probably narrow (if it wasn't, it would be a road, not a lane). Although wizards have various magical means of transporting objects they do also seem to use vehicles quite a lot (the train, the carriages, the boats, the Ministry's cars, the Knight Bus etc.) and it would be surprizing if the only road into the only purely wizarding village in Britain was too narrow to drive up easily. It seems reasonable to assume that somewhere along the carriage-road between the station and the front gates there is a wide road, suitable for vehicles, which branches off towards the village, so one possibility is that there is another gate into the grounds at that point.
Against this, however, for this putative goods-entrance into the grounds to be of much use you'd expect that it would connect to a path within the grounds, leading to the castle, and if there was such a gate and path you have to ask why Harry and Tonks trecked the whole way from the station around to the main gates in HBP. If the answer is that, like the station gate, you come through it and then find that the lake is between you and the castle, it wouldn't be of much oractical use.
For reasons explained in more detail in the section on the Forbidden Forest, we know that the Forest is not very big, because the timing of various journeys means that Aragog's nest is not more than a mile and a half in from the edge, yet it is described as being in the heart of the forest. The Forbidden Forest therefore is unlikely to be more than about four miles across - yet it supports large communities of centaurs and giant spiders, who all have to eat. It has been suggested that the Forbidden Forest is just an enclave of a much larger and less magical forest to which the centaurs - who can probably be trusted to make their own arrangements about not being seen by Muggles - have access. This means that there is probably at least one and very likely two or more gates around the far side of the Forbidden Forest.
In addition, we know that there are multiple tunnels leading out from Hogwarts castle and grounds towards Hogsmeade. These are dealt with in the section on access to Hogsmeade village.
The grounds slope down from the castle - in general, and specifically towards the Quidditch pitch and Hagrid's cabin and the lake. The castle therefore stands on top of its own little hill or mound - as you would expect from a fortification dating back to the tenth century.
From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water [GoF ch. #15; p. 216]
Silhouetted on the dark horizon, high on the cliff over the lake, stood the many turrets and towers of Hogwarts castle. [CoS ch. #05; p. 58]
'Don't you think it's a bit odd,' said Harry, scrambling up the grassy slope, [from the lakeside, towards Hagrid's cabin] [PS ch. #16; p. 193]
It was a clear, breezy day and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the Forbidden Forest [PS ch. #09; p. 109]
[cut] they seized the ends of their trunks and began dragging them up the grassy slope, towards the great oak front doors [from the Whomping Willow] [CoS ch. #05; p. 60]
But Colin didn't stop questioning Harry all the way down the sloping lawns to the Quidditch pitch [CoS ch. #07; p. 83]
As eleven o'clock approached, the whole school started to make its way down to the Quidditch stadium. [CoS ch. #10; p. 126]
[cut] they ran down the lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, heads bowed against the ferocious wind [PoA ch. #09; p. 131]
'I mean, we can do it tonight,' said Ron, as he and Harry walked down the sloping lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, their broomsticks over their shoulders [OotP ch. #14; p. 259]
A great tide of students was moving up the sloping lawns from the pitch. [OotP ch. #30; p. 618]
Harry walked slowly back up the grounds towards the castle through the crowd, [from the pitch] [HBP ch. #14; p. 280]
Hermione ran to open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy easily. As they passed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash in Malfoy's arm; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope towards the castle [from the paddock where they met the Hippogriffs] [PoA ch. #06; p. 90]
They said goodbye to Hagrid and walked back up to the castle [CoS ch. #07; p. 91]
Harry walked beside them in silence as they went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. [PoA ch. #06; p. 86]
They made their way slowly down the lawn [to Hagrid's cabin] [PoA ch. #11; p. 160]
Harry walked down the lawn towards the lights shining in Hagrid's cabin. [GoF ch. #19; p. 284]
They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the pitch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 477/478]
'Hurry, von't you?' Krum called after him, as Harry sprinted away from the Forest, and up through the dark grounds. [GoF ch. #28; p. 483]
When they walked down the lawns towards the Forest for Care of Magical Creatures [OotP ch. #15; p. 288]
He looked up at Grawp, who was now pulling back the pine with an expression of detached pleasure on his boulderish face; the roots were creaking as he ripped them away from the ground. [cut] Nobody spoke for a while, not even when they heard the distant crash that meant Grawp had pulled over the pine tree at last. [OotP ch. #31; p. 614]
They climbed the steps together. At the front doors both instinctively looked back at the Forbidden Forest. Harry was not sure whether or not it was his imagination, but he rather thought he saw a small cloud of birds erupting into the air over the tree tops in the distance, almost as though the tree in which they had been nesting had just been pulled up by the roots. [OotP ch. #30; p. 619]
'Well, he has,' said Hermione firmly. 'Grawp's about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up twenty-foot pine trees, and knows me,' she snorted, 'as Hermy.' [OotP ch. #31; p. 622]
It is possible to gain some idea of how much higher the castle is than the Forest, by the fact that Harry and Hermione are able to look back from the castle steps and see the region of the Forest where they met Grawp. They must be higher than the general tree-tops to be able to see across the Forest like that; if they were lower than the tree-tops, the nearer trees would obscure their view. We do not know how tall the trees in the forest generally are, but they are probably not very big, since a tree which is described as "towering" is only twenty feet high. [We know it's the same tree being referred to, the one which Grawp pulled up, because Grawp is only sixteen feet tall and he was able to reach into the tree's upper branches.] Twenty foot is of course actually very short for a pine tree: mature Scots pines, the commonest native species, are around 50ft tall. But if the characters think that a 20ft tree is "towering" the implication is that the forest is not generally very tall (and indeed, trees in exposed positions in Scotland often end up rather stunted). Standing at the castle door Harry, who is probably about 5'6" at this point, has a view over the top of the Forest. So his feet should at minimum be about level with the majority of the tallest trees, the ones that make up the Forest canopy. So the castle is a minumum of twenty feet higher up than the Forest. It may of course be a lot more so. A booming bell echoed from the castle across the wet grounds, signalling the end of the lesson, and the class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's small wooden cabin, which stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. [GoF ch. #13; p. 173] 'OK, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!' said Hermione breathlessly. 'We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!' Still working out what she meant, Harry set off at a sprint, Hermione behind him. They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing towards the shelter of the Forest ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 290/291] Breaking into a run, she led them all the way back up the road, through the gates flanked by winged boars, and up through the grounds to Hagrid's cabin. [GoF ch. #24; p. 392] Hagrid's cabin is probably at a lower level than the greenhouses, or if not then one has to go up from the level of the greenhouses before one can go down to Hagrid's cabin. The former is more likely, because there seems to be a clear line of sight from Hagrid's cabin to an area between the Whomping Willow and the greenhouses and to some of the greenhouses themselves, which there probably wouldn't be if there was a large convex bulge in the ground between them, although there is probably a small bulge which obscures the base of the Whomping Willow as seen from the greenhouses (see below). The front gates are lower down than Hagrid's cabin. A group of men was walking down the distant castle steps. In front was Albus Dumbledore, his silver beard gleaming in the dying sun. [seen from Hagrid's cabin] [PoA ch. #16; p. 242] When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, Harry leaned forwards to try and see whether there were any lights on in Hagrid's cabin by the Forbidden Forest [OotP ch. #11; p. 181] At last they rolled to a halt outside the gates to Hogwarts. [cut] [cut] Harry glanced back when they reached the oaken front doors; the Knight Bus had already gone [OotP ch. #24; p. 465/466] They made their way down the drive in the gathering twilight. The air was full of the smells of warm grass, lake water and wood smoke from Hagrid's cabin. It was difficult to believe that they were heading for anything dangerous or frightening. 'Professor,' said Harry quietly, as the gates at the bottom of the drive came into view, 'will we be Apparating?' [HBP ch. #25; p. 517] [cut] he was looking through the high, wrought-iron gates, with winged boars on pillars at either side, looking through the dark grounds towards the castle, which was ablaze with lights. [DH ch. #30; p. 488] The slope of the grounds is probably quite uneven and lumpy - as indeed you would expect of a Scottish hillside. There is a clear line of sight from Hagrid's cabin to the castle doors, from at or near the front gates to Hagrid's cabin and from the castle doors to the front gates, and yet as one walks down the drive towards the gates the gates are out of sight for part of the way, and then "come into view". This suggests that as you descend to a level lower than the front doors there is an obstruction between the castle-end of the drive and the front gates - either a bulge in the ground or a clump of trees. A lantern was bobbing at the distant foot of the castle. Harry was so pleased to see it [cut] It was not until the glowing yellow light was ten feet away from them [HBP ch. #08; p. 152] At the same time, we know there is a line of sight from the gates to part of the base of the castle, since Harry and Tonks see Snape's lantern as at the castle's foot. That may just mean that they see it at the front door (i.e. at the bottom of the castle's front wall), before dropping from view behind whatever the obstruction is, but it doesn't sound like that - it sounds as if they see him at the base of the mound on which the castle stands, and then have him in view all the way from then on. This suggests that Snape exited from the Great Hall through the small room at the back and then came round the outside of the castle, rejoining the path partway along at a point at which the drive swings out around whatever the obstruction is. So standing at the front doors of the castle you can see the gates and be seen from them, then as you go down from the doors to a lower level there is an obstruction which prevents you from seeing the gates any more. Then the driveway swings out around the obstruction, taking a course along the base of the castle mound, and as you follow it the gates come back into view and you are seen, from the gates, as being at the foot of the castle. Harry was looking out of the window. It was much harder to see what was going on from here. [cut] Harry stepped outside again and edged around the cabin. He could hear yelping in the distance. That meant the Dementors were closing in on Sirius ... [cut] Harry stared out towards the lake [PoA ch. #21; p. 299] As they neared Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the mystery of the Beauxbatons' sleeping quarters was solved. [GoF ch. #16; p. 231] Likewise, although it looks superficially as if there ought to be a clear line of sight between Hagrid's cabin and the lake, we know there is something in the way - Harry apparently can't see the lake clearly by standing in front of Hagrid's cabin and looking to the side, he actually has to go to the end of the cabin. Likewise, the Beauxbatons cabin is said to be near Hagrid's cabin, and the initial comment about it being 200 yards away is almost certainly an error (if it had moved 180 yards during the course of the afternoon you would think this would have been commented on), and yet the Beauxbatons carriage is not visible as the Trio walk down from the castle towards Hagrid's cabin, and doesn't become visible until they are almost upon it. Again, this suggests either a stand of trees in the way, or a bulge in the ground, between the castle and the area of Hagrid's cabin, although whatever it is is low enough not to obstruct the view from Hagrid's cabin to the front doors.. The Whomping Willow was a very violent tree which stood alone in the middle of the grounds. [PoA ch. #09; p. 136] As they neared the greenhouses they saw the rest of the class standing outside, waiting for Professor Sprout. Harry, Ron and Hermione had only just joined them when she came striding into view across the lawn, accompanied by Gilderoy Lockhart. Professor Sprout's arms were full of bandages, and with another twinge of guilt, Harry spotted the Whomping Willow in the distance, several of its branches now in slings. [CoS ch. #06; p. 70] We are told that the Whomping Willow stands alone in the grounds, so you wouldn't expect there to be other trees near it to obscure it from view. From the greenhouses it is possible to see at least the upper part of the Whomping Willow, yet not possible to see a person standing at its base. We know because Harry, standing by the greenhouses, can see the Willow, and Professor Sprout has been bandaging the Willow and comes presumably straight from the Willow towards the greenhouses, and as Harry watches she comes into view - he doesn't see her all the way back to the Willow. Again, therefore, there is an obstruction between the greenhouses and the Willow, high enough to hide a person behind, and that obstruction is probably a bulge in the ground rather than trees. This rise in the ground will contribute to them having to go quite steeply downwards towards Hagrid's cabin, even though the greenhouses are probably themselves somewhat lower than the castle. [Why? JKR's drawing shows the greenhouses as extending along the side of the lake, and we know the ground slopes down from the cliff on which the castle sits towards the level of the lake shore.] It's probably not big enough to explain the whole of the fact that they go downwards towards Hagrid's place, however, because as they go from the greenhouses to Hagrid there's no mention of them having to climb upwards from the greenhouses before going down, as they would have to do if the bulge was a proper hill. So the greenhouses are still higher than Hagrid's house. 'Get out of the way, Colin!' said Harry angrily. He and Hermione supported Ron out of the stadium and across the grounds towards the edge of the forest. 'Nearly there, Ron,' said Hermione, as the gamekeeper's cabin came into view [CoS ch. #07; p. 87] 'Bin watchin' from me hut,' said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, 'But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. [PS ch. #11; p. 137] There is also an obstruction of some sort which prevents Hagrid's house from being in plain view all the way from the Quidditch pitch. However, it is either a very low obstruction (low enough for Hagrid to see over), or not in direct line of sight, because Hagrid is able to watch matches from his cabin using binoculars. 'Did you like question ten, Moony?' asked Sirius as they emerged from the Entrance Hall. [cut] [cut] when James and his three friends strode off down the lawn towards the lake, Snape followed [cut] They stopped in the shade of the very same beech tree on the edge of the lake where Harry, Ron and Hermione had once spent a Sunday finishing their homework, and threw themselves down on the grass. [OotP ch. #28; p. 566/567] ‘They look like they might be breaching the North Battlements, they’ve brought giants of their own!’ [DH ch. #31; p. 503] He looked up: a giant stood before him, twenty feet high [DH ch. #32; p. 520] We know that at the south side of the castle where the big beech tree is, the ground slopes down, and the slope is shallow enough to walk down. Rowling's own map labels this area "This slopes down to lake (tree)", and we see young Snape and the Marauders walk down this slope, Since the castle stands on top of a cliff relative to the level of the lake, the students are probably walking down a sort of grassy ramp which wraps around the base of a much steeper mound. We can also surmise that on the north side too, either the slope to the castle is very shallow or, if there is a steep drop, it is low, or readily climbable. We know this because during the Battle of Hogwarts the giants attack the North Battlements, and since they aren't all that big they couldn't do so if those battlements were at the top of a high, steep drop.
Twenty foot is of course actually very short for a pine tree: mature Scots pines, the commonest native species, are around 50ft tall. But if the characters think that a 20ft tree is "towering" the implication is that the forest is not generally very tall (and indeed, trees in exposed positions in Scotland often end up rather stunted). Standing at the castle door Harry, who is probably about 5'6" at this point, has a view over the top of the Forest. So his feet should at minimum be about level with the majority of the tallest trees, the ones that make up the Forest canopy. So the castle is a minumum of twenty feet higher up than the Forest. It may of course be a lot more so.
'OK, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!' said Hermione breathlessly. 'We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!' Still working out what she meant, Harry set off at a sprint, Hermione behind him. They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing towards the shelter of the Forest ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 290/291]
Hagrid's cabin is probably at a lower level than the greenhouses, or if not then one has to go up from the level of the greenhouses before one can go down to Hagrid's cabin. The former is more likely, because there seems to be a clear line of sight from Hagrid's cabin to an area between the Whomping Willow and the greenhouses and to some of the greenhouses themselves, which there probably wouldn't be if there was a large convex bulge in the ground between them, although there is probably a small bulge which obscures the base of the Whomping Willow as seen from the greenhouses (see below). The front gates are lower down than Hagrid's cabin.
When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, Harry leaned forwards to try and see whether there were any lights on in Hagrid's cabin by the Forbidden Forest [OotP ch. #11; p. 181]
At last they rolled to a halt outside the gates to Hogwarts. [cut] [cut] Harry glanced back when they reached the oaken front doors; the Knight Bus had already gone [OotP ch. #24; p. 465/466]
They made their way down the drive in the gathering twilight. The air was full of the smells of warm grass, lake water and wood smoke from Hagrid's cabin. It was difficult to believe that they were heading for anything dangerous or frightening. 'Professor,' said Harry quietly, as the gates at the bottom of the drive came into view, 'will we be Apparating?' [HBP ch. #25; p. 517]
The slope of the grounds is probably quite uneven and lumpy - as indeed you would expect of a Scottish hillside. There is a clear line of sight from Hagrid's cabin to the castle doors, from at or near the front gates to Hagrid's cabin and from the castle doors to the front gates, and yet as one walks down the drive towards the gates the gates are out of sight for part of the way, and then "come into view". This suggests that as you descend to a level lower than the front doors there is an obstruction between the castle-end of the drive and the front gates - either a bulge in the ground or a clump of trees.
At the same time, we know there is a line of sight from the gates to part of the base of the castle, since Harry and Tonks see Snape's lantern as at the castle's foot. That may just mean that they see it at the front door (i.e. at the bottom of the castle's front wall), before dropping from view behind whatever the obstruction is, but it doesn't sound like that - it sounds as if they see him at the base of the mound on which the castle stands, and then have him in view all the way from then on. This suggests that Snape exited from the Great Hall through the small room at the back and then came round the outside of the castle, rejoining the path partway along at a point at which the drive swings out around whatever the obstruction is. So standing at the front doors of the castle you can see the gates and be seen from them, then as you go down from the doors to a lower level there is an obstruction which prevents you from seeing the gates any more. Then the driveway swings out around the obstruction, taking a course along the base of the castle mound, and as you follow it the gates come back into view and you are seen, from the gates, as being at the foot of the castle.
As they neared Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the mystery of the Beauxbatons' sleeping quarters was solved. [GoF ch. #16; p. 231]
Likewise, although it looks superficially as if there ought to be a clear line of sight between Hagrid's cabin and the lake, we know there is something in the way - Harry apparently can't see the lake clearly by standing in front of Hagrid's cabin and looking to the side, he actually has to go to the end of the cabin. Likewise, the Beauxbatons cabin is said to be near Hagrid's cabin, and the initial comment about it being 200 yards away is almost certainly an error (if it had moved 180 yards during the course of the afternoon you would think this would have been commented on), and yet the Beauxbatons carriage is not visible as the Trio walk down from the castle towards Hagrid's cabin, and doesn't become visible until they are almost upon it. Again, this suggests either a stand of trees in the way, or a bulge in the ground, between the castle and the area of Hagrid's cabin, although whatever it is is low enough not to obstruct the view from Hagrid's cabin to the front doors..
As they neared the greenhouses they saw the rest of the class standing outside, waiting for Professor Sprout. Harry, Ron and Hermione had only just joined them when she came striding into view across the lawn, accompanied by Gilderoy Lockhart. Professor Sprout's arms were full of bandages, and with another twinge of guilt, Harry spotted the Whomping Willow in the distance, several of its branches now in slings. [CoS ch. #06; p. 70]
We are told that the Whomping Willow stands alone in the grounds, so you wouldn't expect there to be other trees near it to obscure it from view. From the greenhouses it is possible to see at least the upper part of the Whomping Willow, yet not possible to see a person standing at its base. We know because Harry, standing by the greenhouses, can see the Willow, and Professor Sprout has been bandaging the Willow and comes presumably straight from the Willow towards the greenhouses, and as Harry watches she comes into view - he doesn't see her all the way back to the Willow. Again, therefore, there is an obstruction between the greenhouses and the Willow, high enough to hide a person behind, and that obstruction is probably a bulge in the ground rather than trees.
This rise in the ground will contribute to them having to go quite steeply downwards towards Hagrid's cabin, even though the greenhouses are probably themselves somewhat lower than the castle. [Why? JKR's drawing shows the greenhouses as extending along the side of the lake, and we know the ground slopes down from the cliff on which the castle sits towards the level of the lake shore.] It's probably not big enough to explain the whole of the fact that they go downwards towards Hagrid's place, however, because as they go from the greenhouses to Hagrid there's no mention of them having to climb upwards from the greenhouses before going down, as they would have to do if the bulge was a proper hill. So the greenhouses are still higher than Hagrid's house.
'Bin watchin' from me hut,' said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, 'But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. [PS ch. #11; p. 137]
There is also an obstruction of some sort which prevents Hagrid's house from being in plain view all the way from the Quidditch pitch. However, it is either a very low obstruction (low enough for Hagrid to see over), or not in direct line of sight, because Hagrid is able to watch matches from his cabin using binoculars.
‘They look like they might be breaching the North Battlements, they’ve brought giants of their own!’ [DH ch. #31; p. 503]
He looked up: a giant stood before him, twenty feet high [DH ch. #32; p. 520]
We know that at the south side of the castle where the big beech tree is, the ground slopes down, and the slope is shallow enough to walk down. Rowling's own map labels this area "This slopes down to lake (tree)", and we see young Snape and the Marauders walk down this slope, Since the castle stands on top of a cliff relative to the level of the lake, the students are probably walking down a sort of grassy ramp which wraps around the base of a much steeper mound. We can also surmise that on the north side too, either the slope to the castle is very shallow or, if there is a steep drop, it is low, or readily climbable. We know this because during the Battle of Hogwarts the giants attack the North Battlements, and since they aren't all that big they couldn't do so if those battlements were at the top of a high, steep drop.
It was a clear, breezy day and the grass rippled under their feet [PS ch. #09; p. 109]
Pettigrew had transformed. Harry saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm, and heard a scurrying through the grass. [PoA ch. #20; p. 279]
The lawn is green and smooth, so probably quite well-cared-for, but it is not cut very short; it's long enough to ripple, and for a rat to run through it rather than over it.
They filed down the steps and lined up in front of the castle. [GoF ch. #15; p. 212]
From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds [GoF ch. #15; p. 216]
[cut] an area of lawn right in front of the castle had been transformed into a sort of grotto full of fairy lights [GoF ch. #23; p. 359]
There is a substantial skirt of lawn in front of the castle, and it must be reasonably flat - since they were able to set up what seems to be an extensive pleasure-garden there for the Yule Ball, as well as lining all the students up on it to greet the Triwizard candidates. It was a clear, breezy day and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the Forbidden Forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance. [PS ch. #09; p. 109] [cut] Malfoy had leapt on to his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well – hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak [PS ch. #09; p. 110] On the opposite side of the grounds from the Forbidden Forest, there is a smooth expanse of lawn which is used for flying practice. There is an individual oak tree standing somewhere near here: perhaps towards the lake, since we know there are trees around it. To be completely on the opposite side from the Forest, this lawn would need to be on the far side of the lake, but I've tried to keep the area on the far side of the lake but within the grounds quite narrow, to conform with JK's own map which has the boundary wall coming right up to the lake. Therefore, I have placed the training-lawn at one end of the lake, as far from the Forest as it can be without actually going round the back side of the water. Harry shouldered the Firebolt and he and Ron walked out of the shadowy stadium, [cut] They were halfway towards the castle when Harry, glancing to his left, saw something that made his heart turn over – a pair of eyes, gleaming out of the darkness. [cut] A beam of light fell across the grass, hit the bottom of a tree and illuminated its branches; there, crouching amongst the budding leaves, was Crookshanks. [PoA ch. #13; p. 189/190] 'Come and look at this,' said Ron, who was standing by the window. He was staring down onto the grounds. 'What's Malfoy doing?' Harry and Hermione went to see. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were standing in the shadow of a tree below. [looking down from the window of the Transfiguration classroom] [GoF ch. #31; p. 529] Harry struggled to his feet, looking around groggily for his wand, hoping to give chase again, but even as his fingers fumbled in the grass, discarding twigs, he knew it would be too late [HBP ch. #28; p. 564] [cut] he heard slight movements around him that suggested frail bodies shifting their footing on the earthy, twig-strewn ground that marked the outer edge of the Forest. [DH ch. #34; p. 560] There are other individual trees scattered about the lawns; not just those in the Forest. Ron and Harry encounter Crookshanks in one on the way back from Quidditch, and Draco speaks to beetle-Rita under one. When Harry pursues Snape towards the front gates at the end of HBP, he crosses an area of lawn which is scattered with twigs: this may however be due to proximity to the Forbidden Forest. Harry began to fumble with the knot of rope tying Buckbeak to the fence. [cut] Harry tugged harder on the rope around Buckbeak's neck. The Hippogriff began to walk, rustling its wings irritably. They were still ten feet away from the Forest, in plain view of Hagrid's back door. [PoA ch. #21; p. 293] They set off back towards the castle, walking slowly to keep themselves hidden under the Cloak. Light was fading fast now. By the time they reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them. [PoA ch. #17; p. 244] The practical examination took place in the afternoon on the lawn on the edge of the Forbidden Forest [OotP ch. #31; p. 632] We know Hagrid's cabin doesn't back right onto the Forest - there's a vegetable patch behind it, and then a fair amount of clear space beyond that, across which Harry has to lead Buckbeak. Nevertheless, the area around Hagrid's house is not just open lawn. On leaving Hagrid's house, the Trio have to go some way before they come to "open ground", which means that the ground around Hagrid's cabin is in some way not open. It might mean that it's in a sort of cul-de-sac surrounded by trees, or it might mean that the area around Hagrid's cabin, at least on the castle side, is uneven, boggy or covered with scrub or bushes. As they neared Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the mystery of the Beauxbatons' sleeping quarters was solved. The gigantic powder-blue carriage in which they had arrived had been parked two hundred yards from Hagrid's front door [GoF ch. #16; p. 231/232] He stumped out of the cabin, and they saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window. [cut] 'Look!' said Ron suddenly, pointing out of the window. Hagrid had just straightened up and turned round. [cut] Harry, Ron and Hermione peered through the window and saw that Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons students had just emerged from their carriage [cut] They couldn't hear what Hagrid was saying, but he was talking to Madame Maxime with a rapt, misty-eyed expression [GoF ch. #16; p. 234] Hagrid was leading him to the Beauxbatons carriage [cut] Madame Maxime closed the door behind her, Hagrid offered her his arm, and they set off around the edge of the paddock containing Madame Maxime's giant winged horses [GoF ch. #19; p. 284/285] The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin [GoF ch. #23; p. 351] 'What're we going this way for?' said Harry, as they passed Hagrid's cabin, and the illuminated Beauxbatons carriage. 'Don't vont to be overheard,' said Krum shortly. When at last they had reached a quiet stretch of ground, a short way from the Beauxbatons' horses' paddock, Krum stopped in the shade of the trees and turned to face Harry. [GoF ch. #28; p. 479] Despite this, the lawn generally seems to extend right up to the Forest, and we know that somewhere quite near Hagrid's cabin there was land suitable to make a field for the Beauxbatons team's flying horses. We know that the paddock was near the Beauxbatons carriage, and although the carriage is described at one point as being two hundred yards from Hagrid's cabin this has to be an error for twenty yards, because Hagrid, standing outside his cabin, and Maxime, standing by her carriage, are able to converse in voices so quiet that people inside Hagrid's cabin cannot hear what is being said. On another occasion we are actually told that the carriage is next to Hagrid's house. So, we know the paddock for the horses must also be close to Hagrid's house, and it seems to be more or less between Hagrid's house and the trees. The land around Hagrid's house can't all be scrubland and bushes, then: perhaps it is not "open" because it is in its own little dell - although clearly visible from the castle, which is substantially higher up. North and nor'-nor'-west of the castle, in the direction beyond the greenhouses and the Whomping Willow, we have no input on the boundary between the lawns and the Forbidden Forest, q.v., except that the edge of the Forest is quite a long way back. Within reason, therefore, we can imagine this area as big as we like and containing whatever we like - hills, stables, farmland, a summerhouse, sports pitches for games other than Quidditch.... However, we have to bear in mind that the paddock for the Beauxbatons horses was tucked in somewhere near Hagrid's cabin. If there was a vaste area of lawn to the north you'd think the horses would have been put there where they'd have more room, so we can guess that this area is unsuitable for a large number of giant horses. It could be too marshy, too lumpy, too bare of grass or too covered with heather or bushes, too exposed to the weather or already in use for something else. It may be that much of this area is taken up by Sprout's vegetable garden - it has a lot of mouths to feed. 'Dissendium!' Harry whispered, tapping the stone witch again. At once, the statue's hump opened wide enough to admit a fairly thin person. Harry [cut] hoisted himself into the hole headfirst, and pushed himself forwards. He slid a considerable way down what felt like a stone slide, then landed on cold, damp earth. He stood up, looking around. It was pitch dark. He [cut] saw that he was in a very narrow, low, earthy passageway. [PoA ch. #10; p. 145] Panting, a sharp pain in his side, Harry didn't slow down until he reached the stone slide. [cut] He [cut] started to climb, fast as he could, his sweaty hands slipping on the sides of the chute. He reached the inside of the witch's hump, tapped it with his wand, stuck his head through and hoisted himself out [PoA ch. #14; p. 208] You really would expect, incidentally, that a castle in Scotland, standing on top of its own private hill, would be built on a big rock, not an earthen mound. Yet when Harry goes down the tunnel from the statue's hump, it lands him in an earth-floored tunnel, which is not too far down - since he is able to climb back up the chute. Perhaps earth has banked up against the rock so thickly that it is possible to pass a tunnel through it. In which case, the tunnel is probably on the far side of the rock from the prevailing winds. You would also expect that the students would have worn "paths of desire" into the grounds over the centuries, especially between the castle and the greenhouses, and between the castle and the Quidditch pitch. Are they there, although we haven't been shown them? Are they magically-healed, perhaps by garden-elves? Or perhaps the students are fenced away from worn strips until they've had a chance to recover, and we just haven't been told. And what about slots worn into the stairs and corridors by centuries of passing feet? Have the stones been replaced, or are they magically mended? Return to contents-list The lake
[cut] Malfoy had leapt on to his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well – hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak [PS ch. #09; p. 110]
On the opposite side of the grounds from the Forbidden Forest, there is a smooth expanse of lawn which is used for flying practice. There is an individual oak tree standing somewhere near here: perhaps towards the lake, since we know there are trees around it. To be completely on the opposite side from the Forest, this lawn would need to be on the far side of the lake, but I've tried to keep the area on the far side of the lake but within the grounds quite narrow, to conform with JK's own map which has the boundary wall coming right up to the lake. Therefore, I have placed the training-lawn at one end of the lake, as far from the Forest as it can be without actually going round the back side of the water.
'Come and look at this,' said Ron, who was standing by the window. He was staring down onto the grounds. 'What's Malfoy doing?' Harry and Hermione went to see. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were standing in the shadow of a tree below. [looking down from the window of the Transfiguration classroom] [GoF ch. #31; p. 529]
Harry struggled to his feet, looking around groggily for his wand, hoping to give chase again, but even as his fingers fumbled in the grass, discarding twigs, he knew it would be too late [HBP ch. #28; p. 564]
[cut] he heard slight movements around him that suggested frail bodies shifting their footing on the earthy, twig-strewn ground that marked the outer edge of the Forest. [DH ch. #34; p. 560]
There are other individual trees scattered about the lawns; not just those in the Forest. Ron and Harry encounter Crookshanks in one on the way back from Quidditch, and Draco speaks to beetle-Rita under one. When Harry pursues Snape towards the front gates at the end of HBP, he crosses an area of lawn which is scattered with twigs: this may however be due to proximity to the Forbidden Forest.
They set off back towards the castle, walking slowly to keep themselves hidden under the Cloak. Light was fading fast now. By the time they reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them. [PoA ch. #17; p. 244]
The practical examination took place in the afternoon on the lawn on the edge of the Forbidden Forest [OotP ch. #31; p. 632]
We know Hagrid's cabin doesn't back right onto the Forest - there's a vegetable patch behind it, and then a fair amount of clear space beyond that, across which Harry has to lead Buckbeak. Nevertheless, the area around Hagrid's house is not just open lawn. On leaving Hagrid's house, the Trio have to go some way before they come to "open ground", which means that the ground around Hagrid's cabin is in some way not open. It might mean that it's in a sort of cul-de-sac surrounded by trees, or it might mean that the area around Hagrid's cabin, at least on the castle side, is uneven, boggy or covered with scrub or bushes. As they neared Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the mystery of the Beauxbatons' sleeping quarters was solved. The gigantic powder-blue carriage in which they had arrived had been parked two hundred yards from Hagrid's front door [GoF ch. #16; p. 231/232] He stumped out of the cabin, and they saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window. [cut] 'Look!' said Ron suddenly, pointing out of the window. Hagrid had just straightened up and turned round. [cut] Harry, Ron and Hermione peered through the window and saw that Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons students had just emerged from their carriage [cut] They couldn't hear what Hagrid was saying, but he was talking to Madame Maxime with a rapt, misty-eyed expression [GoF ch. #16; p. 234] Hagrid was leading him to the Beauxbatons carriage [cut] Madame Maxime closed the door behind her, Hagrid offered her his arm, and they set off around the edge of the paddock containing Madame Maxime's giant winged horses [GoF ch. #19; p. 284/285] The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin [GoF ch. #23; p. 351] 'What're we going this way for?' said Harry, as they passed Hagrid's cabin, and the illuminated Beauxbatons carriage. 'Don't vont to be overheard,' said Krum shortly. When at last they had reached a quiet stretch of ground, a short way from the Beauxbatons' horses' paddock, Krum stopped in the shade of the trees and turned to face Harry. [GoF ch. #28; p. 479] Despite this, the lawn generally seems to extend right up to the Forest, and we know that somewhere quite near Hagrid's cabin there was land suitable to make a field for the Beauxbatons team's flying horses. We know that the paddock was near the Beauxbatons carriage, and although the carriage is described at one point as being two hundred yards from Hagrid's cabin this has to be an error for twenty yards, because Hagrid, standing outside his cabin, and Maxime, standing by her carriage, are able to converse in voices so quiet that people inside Hagrid's cabin cannot hear what is being said. On another occasion we are actually told that the carriage is next to Hagrid's house. So, we know the paddock for the horses must also be close to Hagrid's house, and it seems to be more or less between Hagrid's house and the trees. The land around Hagrid's house can't all be scrubland and bushes, then: perhaps it is not "open" because it is in its own little dell - although clearly visible from the castle, which is substantially higher up. North and nor'-nor'-west of the castle, in the direction beyond the greenhouses and the Whomping Willow, we have no input on the boundary between the lawns and the Forbidden Forest, q.v., except that the edge of the Forest is quite a long way back. Within reason, therefore, we can imagine this area as big as we like and containing whatever we like - hills, stables, farmland, a summerhouse, sports pitches for games other than Quidditch.... However, we have to bear in mind that the paddock for the Beauxbatons horses was tucked in somewhere near Hagrid's cabin. If there was a vaste area of lawn to the north you'd think the horses would have been put there where they'd have more room, so we can guess that this area is unsuitable for a large number of giant horses. It could be too marshy, too lumpy, too bare of grass or too covered with heather or bushes, too exposed to the weather or already in use for something else. It may be that much of this area is taken up by Sprout's vegetable garden - it has a lot of mouths to feed.
Hagrid was leading him to the Beauxbatons carriage [cut] Madame Maxime closed the door behind her, Hagrid offered her his arm, and they set off around the edge of the paddock containing Madame Maxime's giant winged horses [GoF ch. #19; p. 284/285]
'What're we going this way for?' said Harry, as they passed Hagrid's cabin, and the illuminated Beauxbatons carriage. 'Don't vont to be overheard,' said Krum shortly. When at last they had reached a quiet stretch of ground, a short way from the Beauxbatons' horses' paddock, Krum stopped in the shade of the trees and turned to face Harry. [GoF ch. #28; p. 479]
Despite this, the lawn generally seems to extend right up to the Forest, and we know that somewhere quite near Hagrid's cabin there was land suitable to make a field for the Beauxbatons team's flying horses. We know that the paddock was near the Beauxbatons carriage, and although the carriage is described at one point as being two hundred yards from Hagrid's cabin this has to be an error for twenty yards, because Hagrid, standing outside his cabin, and Maxime, standing by her carriage, are able to converse in voices so quiet that people inside Hagrid's cabin cannot hear what is being said.
On another occasion we are actually told that the carriage is next to Hagrid's house. So, we know the paddock for the horses must also be close to Hagrid's house, and it seems to be more or less between Hagrid's house and the trees. The land around Hagrid's house can't all be scrubland and bushes, then: perhaps it is not "open" because it is in its own little dell - although clearly visible from the castle, which is substantially higher up.
North and nor'-nor'-west of the castle, in the direction beyond the greenhouses and the Whomping Willow, we have no input on the boundary between the lawns and the Forbidden Forest, q.v., except that the edge of the Forest is quite a long way back. Within reason, therefore, we can imagine this area as big as we like and containing whatever we like - hills, stables, farmland, a summerhouse, sports pitches for games other than Quidditch....
However, we have to bear in mind that the paddock for the Beauxbatons horses was tucked in somewhere near Hagrid's cabin. If there was a vaste area of lawn to the north you'd think the horses would have been put there where they'd have more room, so we can guess that this area is unsuitable for a large number of giant horses. It could be too marshy, too lumpy, too bare of grass or too covered with heather or bushes, too exposed to the weather or already in use for something else. It may be that much of this area is taken up by Sprout's vegetable garden - it has a lot of mouths to feed.
Panting, a sharp pain in his side, Harry didn't slow down until he reached the stone slide. [cut] He [cut] started to climb, fast as he could, his sweaty hands slipping on the sides of the chute. He reached the inside of the witch's hump, tapped it with his wand, stuck his head through and hoisted himself out [PoA ch. #14; p. 208]
You really would expect, incidentally, that a castle in Scotland, standing on top of its own private hill, would be built on a big rock, not an earthen mound. Yet when Harry goes down the tunnel from the statue's hump, it lands him in an earth-floored tunnel, which is not too far down - since he is able to climb back up the chute.
Perhaps earth has banked up against the rock so thickly that it is possible to pass a tunnel through it. In which case, the tunnel is probably on the far side of the rock from the prevailing winds.
You would also expect that the students would have worn "paths of desire" into the grounds over the centuries, especially between the castle and the greenhouses, and between the castle and the Quidditch pitch. Are they there, although we haven't been shown them? Are they magically-healed, perhaps by garden-elves? Or perhaps the students are fenced away from worn strips until they've had a chance to recover, and we just haven't been told. And what about slots worn into the stairs and corridors by centuries of passing feet? Have the stones been replaced, or are they magically mended?
We've already established that the lake is so placed that the middle of it can be seen from a position just in front of the castle; that part of it is in the same general direction as the Quidditch pitch; that part of it is quite close to the front doors and that it is downslope from the castle, which stands on a cliff above it. On the far side from the castle, where the path from the station reaches the lake shore, there is an area suitable for launching small boats. Somewhere at the base of the cliff, under the castle, there is a wide, ivy-curtained opening which leads into a water-filled channel which penetrates the cliff-face and flows to an underground harbour and a pebbled beach, from which a tunnel leads up to the lawn in front of the castle.
Harry felt his knees hit the cold grass. [at the lake-side] [PoA ch. #20; p. 281]
Harry pulled off his shoes and socks, pulled the handful of Gillyweed out of his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and waded out into the lake. [GoF ch. #26; p. 428]
The sunlight was dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, on the bank of which the group of laughing girls who had just left the Great Hall were sitting, with their shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water. [OotP ch. #28; p. 568]
Other than in the area of the cliff, the lake seems to be mostly surrounded by low, grassy slopes and banks and by wadeable shallows. Presumably the edges are tidied and maintained, since there is no hint that people who sit or walk by the lake have to negotiate any muddy undergrowth.
[cut] they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. [PS ch. #16; p. 192]
'I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up!' Harry said, so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. [This is while walking around the lake.] [GoF ch. #18; p. 255]
He walked a short way around the lake, sat down on its bank, sheltered from the gaze of passers-by behind a tangle of shrubs, and stared out over the gleaming water, thinking ... [OotP ch. #38; p. 754]
Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice. 'Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,' Hagrid called over his shoulder, 'jus' round this bend here.' [cut] The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. [PS ch. #06; p. 83]
We know also that the lake is at least partly surrounded by trees and bushes, possibly including the oak tree in which Draco hid Neville's Remembrall in first year (but not the tree under which he spoke to beetle-Rita: the likely layout of the castle suggests that that was in front of the castle on the side nearest the vegetable patch). In particular, there is a thick swathe of pine trees between the lake and the station. This wooded area between the lake and the station slopes steeply up towards the station, since the path itself is steep. Given its position, it is probably not part of the Forbidden Forest proper: so presumably this is an area of woodland which the students may roam in.
Some of the trees are apparently large enough and close enough to the lake to shed substantial branches or even tree-trunks into it, since when Harry swims to the mer village he encounters at least one large log on the lake floor.
They waited, watching the moving clouds reflected in the lake, while the bush next to them whispered in the breeze. [cut] 'D' you reckon he's up there yet?' said Harry, checking his watch. He looked up at the castle, and began counting the windows to the right of the West Tower. [PoA ch. #21; p. 301/302]
The bushes around the lake include one which is on the side nearest to Hagrid's house, and which commands a view of the West Tower and windows to the right of it. The attack by the Dementors on Sirius took place on the opposite bank - that is, on the far side of the lake from Hagrid's house. It is from this bush that Harry launches the stag Patronus and causes his earlier self to think that he is his own father. The lake at this point is obviously fairly wide and has a longish shore which is quite close to Hagrid's house and leading towards and away from his house, because the Dementors move around the shores of the lake, not across the water, and Harry sees them as travelling towards the opposite bank with their backs to Hagrid's cabin.
They stopped in the shade of the very same beech tree on the edge of the lake where Harry, Ron and Hermione had once spent a Sunday finishing their homework, and threw themselves down on the grass. Harry looked over his shoulder yet again and saw, to his delight, that Snape had settled himself on the grass in the dense shadow of a clump of bushes. [OotP ch. #28; p. 567/568]
After lying in bed for a while thinking about the day ahead, Harry got up very quietly and moved across to the window beside Neville's bed, and stared out on a truly glorious morning. The sky was a clear, misty, opalescent blue. Directly ahead of him, Harry could see the towering beech tree below which his father had once tormented Snape. [OotP ch. #29; p. 581]
As it was another fine, warm day, they persuaded him to join them in revising under the beech tree at the edge of the lake, where they had less chance of being overheard than in the common room. [cut] They spread their books out in the shade of the beech tree and sat down [OotP ch. #31; p. 620]
Harry turned and walked slowly on, waiting for them to catch up, which they finally did in the shade of a beech tree under which they had sat in happier times. [HBP ch. #30; p. 605]
'Then I've got to track down the rest of the Horcruxes, haven't I?' said Harry, his eyes upon Dumbledore's white tomb, reflected in the water on the other side of the lake. [cut] '[cut] And if I meet Severus Snape along the way,' he added, 'so much the better for me, so much the worse for him.' [HBP ch. #30; p. 606/607]
[cut] he looked away from Ginny and the others and stared out over the lake, towards the Forest [cut] there was movement among the trees. The centaurs had come to pay their respects, too. They did not move into the open but Harry saw them standing quite still, half-hidden in shadow, watching the wizards, their bows hanging at their sides. [HBP ch. #30; p. 600/601]
They also include the fateful beech tree under which James and Sirius tormented Snape. We know that this tree is very tall, that it is clearly visible from Gryffindor Tower and that there is (or at least was in the mid 1970s) a thick clump of bushes nearby. JK Rowling's own map suggests that the beech tree is on the right side of the castle as you stand facing the front doors - the note which overlaps the corner of the castle says "This slopes down to lake (tree)". Given its position, this may well be the same clump of bushes from which Harry launched the stag Patronus in PoA.
'This'll liven you up, Padfoot,' said James quietly. 'Look who it is ...' [cut] Snape was on his feet again [cut] As he left the shadows of the bushes and set off across the grass, Sirius and James stood up. [OotP ch. #28; p. 568/569]
We can work out the position of the bushes relative to the beech tree. The horrible bullying incident took place in mid June (at the end of OWLs) and it wasn't first thing in the morning, because at least one exam had already been held that day. It probably wasn't late afternoon either, as it seemed to be very hot and bright. So it was either midday-ish or mid-afternoon, and the sun was high and either in the south or west. Snape sat down in the shade of the bushes, so he was on their north or east side, and from that position he was clearly visible to the Marauders under the beech tree. So the bushes are south or west of the beech tree.
We also know that Harry, sitting with his back to Snape and to the bushes, can see both the beech tree and the group of girls sitting by the lake, without turning round: they may be off to one side a bit but they are in the same field of view. The girls cannot be far on the castle side of the tree, because JK's drawing shows the tree as close to the foot of the castle, therefore what's between the tree and the castle is a steep slope climbing the height of the cliff in a short horizontal space. So the girls are either close to the tree, or if they are any distance away from it they are on the side away from the castle and also towards the water, which places them west or south of the tree.
Harry, however, must be west or south of the tree because the bushes are, and he is more or less between the tree and the bushes. If he is south of the tree and looking towards and past it to the girls they must be north of the tree, which takes them away from the water which we know to be broadly south of the side of the castle. So Harry is west of the tree and so are the bushes, and the girls are more or less east of it. As such they must be fairly close to the tree, and sandwiched between it and the slope up to the castle.
This means that the bushes Snape sat under are probably not the exact same bushes in which Harry hid from the Dementors, since those were right by the water's edge: but they may be part of the same general group of bushes, extending for some distance.
The beech tree is on the far side of the lake from Dumbledore's white tomb (which is so tall and/or so close to the water that it reflects in the lake). Horribly, it is under this tree that Harry swears revenge on Snape. Dumbledore's tomb is on the opposite side of the lake from the Forbidden Forest, confirming that the beech tree is on the Forest side. The width of the lake in the towards the Forest/away from the Forest direction is constrained by the fact that Harry can see that the centaurs have their bows at their sides. I've discussed this with a couple of friends who are in historical re-enactment societies, and they reckoned it would be possible for a person with good eyesight to make this out up to about 650 yards, but probably not much further than that. Voldemort was at the gates of Hogwarts; Harry could see him standing there, and see, too, the lamp bobbing in the pre-dawn, coming closer and closer. [cut][cut] he glided alongside Snape, up through the grounds towards the lake. 'I shall join you in the castle shortly,' he said, in his high, cold voice. 'Leave me now.' Snape bowed and set off back up the path, his black cloak billowing behind him. [Tom] walked slowly, waiting for Snape’s figure to disappear. It would not do for Snape, or indeed anyone else, to see where he was going. But there were no lights in the castle windows, and he could conceal himself ... [cut] And he walked on, around the edge of the lake, taking in the outlines of the beloved castle, [cut] And here it was, beside the lake, reflected in the dark waters. The white marble tomb, an unnecessary blot on the familiar landscape. [DH ch. #24; p. 404/405] We also know from DH that as you walk up from the gates you can go round one side of the lake towards the castle, and round the other towards the tomb, and the tomb side of the lake is near enough to the castle that it would be possible for light from the castle to illuminate it well enough to make out a figure in pre-dawn light, were the castle lights to be lit at that time. Sirius saw Snape up through the hole, then stood back for Harry and Hermione to pass. At last, all of them were out. The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. [cut] Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. [PoA ch. #20; p. 278] Sirius was bleeding; [cut] the sound of his paws was fading to silence as he pounded away across the grounds. [PoA ch. #20; p. 279] But then, out of the darkness, they heard a yelping, a whining; a dog in pain ... 'Sirius,' Harry muttered, staring into the darkness. [cut] Harry set off at a run, Hermione right behind him. The yelping seemed to be coming from near the lake. They pelted towards it, and Harry, running flat out, felt the cold without realising what it must mean – The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why – Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head. 'Nooo,' he moaned. 'Noooo .... please ...' And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake towards them. He spun around [cut] more were appearing out of the darkness on every side [PoA ch. #20; p. 280] [cut] he groped in the mist for Sirius, and found his arm [PoA ch. #20; p. 281] With every ounce of strength he could muster, Harry raised his head a few inches and saw an animal amidst the light, galloping away across the lake. Eyes blurred with sweat, Harry tried to make out what it was ... it was bright as a unicorn. Fighting to stay conscious, Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. [PoA ch. #20; p. 282] The Dementor attack on Sirius takes place on the far side of the lake from Hagrid's cabin, and presumably more or less on the far side from the castle. It is across the lake from the clump of bushes from which Harry launches the Patronus, and which commands a view of West Tower (and which may well be the clump near the beech tree). Starting from a position somewhere between the Whomping Willow and the castle, first Sirius and then Harry and Hermione run towards the lake and end up on the far side of it from Hagrid's cabin. On both JK's map and on mine it looks as if they probably went round the left side of the lake as you face the castle, and on both JK's map and on mine it looks as if they must either have run in between the greenhouses or swung wide to skirt them, although this isn't mentioned. On both maps, you would think that they would come to the water's edge substantially before they reached a point which was anything like on the opposite side from Hagrid's cabin. Yet shortly after they "reach the lakeshore" they are in touching distance of Sirius, who we know is on the opposite shore from the bushes from which Time-Turned Harry will launch the stag Patronus. Nor is it likely to be the case that they are at one end of the lake and Time-Turned Harry is at the other end because we know the lake is almost certainly over half a mile long, and Harry can see his Time-Turned self clearly enough, by moonlight, to see that it looks a bit like James. It is possible to make this work if you have the lake at the side of the castle and the long axis of the lake pointing away from it (see sketch above). In this case, it would be quite possible for the two Harrys to end up opposite each other, and for Harry and Hermione to first reach the lakeside at the point where Sirius is. However, this means that in order to fulfil the criterion that the middle of the lake can be seen from the front of the castle the lake has to be so far to the side and front of the castle that none of it is behind the building, as it is in JK's map. It also makes it impossible for there to be a single block of greenhouses which is both behind the castle (as described in the books) and to the left side of it (as you face the main doors) and next to the lake, as shown on JK's map. If we stick with the original map B the greenhouses are in approximately the right position, and the lake extends behind the castle, but it means that Harry and Hermione must have gone some distance along the side of the lake before descending to the lakeshore, in order to reach a point which is even vaguely opposite a point which might command a view of a feature on the west side of the castle. Perhaps it is muddy and slow-going close by the lake, or there are banks of roses or brambles along the water's edge at the greenhouse end, and they stuck to a regular path which is some distance off from the water, only leaving the path when they spotted Sirius. The sunlight was dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, on the bank of which the group of laughing girls who had just left the Great Hall were sitting, with their shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water. [OotP ch. #28; p. 568] Harry saw Aberforth again, his grey hair flying as he led a small group of students past. ‘They look like they might be breaching the North Battlements, they’ve brought giants of their own!’ [DH ch. #31; p. 503] He looked up: a giant stood before him, twenty feet high [cut]>BR /> The gargantuan monster trying to crush people on the upper floors looked around and let out a roar. [DH ch. #32; p. 520] There is another obvious factor. We know that at the front of the castle is a long rolling green slop you can easily walk up, and at the back of the castle is a steep cliff with a considerable drop to the lake. We know that the beech tree and bushes at the edge of the lake on the right (south) side of the castle are close to the water level, because some girls sitting on the bank nearby are able to dangle their feet in the water, and we also know, at least if we take Rowling's own drawing into account, that the beech tree is very close to the base of the castle - meaning that the ground has dropped the whole height of the cliff, from the level of the castle to the level of the lake, in a short horizontal distance, and the south side of the castle therefore stands above quite a steep drop. On the north side, however, we are told that during the battle giants were brought up in an attempt to breach the North Battlements. They presumably weren't brought to use magic, since a human wizard would do that, and we're not told that they have seige engines, so presumably the giants are supposed to, and are able to, walk up to the battlements and attack them with brute force. Rowling's giants are not all that huge - Grawp is described as "a bit on the runty side fer a giant – on'y sixteen foot –', which makes it unlikely that regular giants are much over twenty foot, and a full giant twenty feet tall is described as "gargantuan". So we aren't talking about giants standing at lake-level and striking at walls a whole cliff's-height above them: they must be able to walk up to the base of the North Battlements, or at least to a point not more than about fifteen feet below them. The Willow must be rather lower than the battlements, because the Willow is in the same general area as the vegetable patch etc. and you go down the slope at the front of the castle to get there - but it's probably still higher than the lake level, and in any case prior to Sirius's running off in pursuit of Peter they had been heading towards the castle and therefore probably upslope. This means that when Harry and Hermione follow Sirius round the north side of the castle, from the Whomping Willow down to the lakeside on the back or (broadly) east side, they are heading downslope again, from somewhere partway up the height of the castle mound down to lake level. It may be that they do not hit the lakeside at the northern or greenhouse end, instead following a path above and away from the lake, passing along the edge of the pine-wood below the station and only reaching the waterside at a point close to being opposite the bushes by the castle, because to reach the lakeside any sooner would have involved a delay while they scrambled down a steep bank. Especially if that bank was covered with roses or brambles. Another constraint on this scene is that the more directly opposite the location of the attack is to the bushes from which Harry launched the Patronus, the shorter the distance between the two sites and the more likely it is that Harry would see that the figure greeting the Patronus looked like James. Yet, since the castle faces west and the bushes from which the Patronus comes command a view of a feature on the west of the castle (the West Tower), the bushes must be somewhat to the front of the castle, which means that a position directly opposite them must be a long way from any possible starting position between the Whomping Willow and the castle. Using map B I make it about half a mile - which at normal human running speed (which seems to be about 8-10 mph) would take at least three minutes - longer, if anything, because they would tend to slow down over such a long distance. This is quite a long time, given that Sirius was facing the Dementors. If we have Sirius caught by the Dementors much nearer the Willow, so that it only takes two minutes to reach him, that seems more reasonable but then he can't be directly opposite a position which comands a view of the West Tower. He has to be diagonally opposite, which makes the distance over which Harry nearly-but-not-quite recognized his Time-Turned self about 400 yards. If Sirius's position is diagonally opposite the bushes we must assume, then, that the moon was very bright, or that the Patronus was so bright it illuminated the figure as clearly as daylight. You also have to consider how far away Harry and Hermione would be able to hear Sirius. However you arrange it, from a position between the Willow and the castle they probably shouldn't be able to hear a dog at the lakeside - but perhaps Sirius started whining before he reached the lake (perhaps when he encountered Dementors coming downhill from the station gate), and then ran on, away from the Dementors and coincidentally away from Harry and Hermione. It's also just about possible I suppose that the slope up to the station causes Sirius's cries to be echoed and reflected round the end of the castle and its mound to where Harry and Hermione are. We also have some leeway in that it's not clear when Harry and Hermione stopped running. As they reached the shore Harry saw that Sirius had turned back into a man, and the shortly afterwards he spun round to defend himself, by which point he was probably stationary, and when he was stationary he was close enough to Sirius to touch him, or within a few feet of being able to touch him, since he may have moved a bit during the confrontation. But there is a slight lapse in between seeing Sirius and spinning round, during which Harry observes Sirius's behaviour and the mass of Dementors who are gliding towards them, so it is possible, even likely, that in that brief interval Harry continued to run towards Sirius. If he was running at 10mph - and he would probably put on a burst of speed once he caught sight of Sirius - that's close to 300 yards a minute, so we can have him running fifty or even a hundred yards further on from the point at which he first reaches the lakeside. By drawing the lake partially but not wholly to the side and making it a sort of axe-head shape, with only a small amount behind the castle, it is possible to more or less satisfy most of the criteria (including the one about part of it being close to the driveway). It makes it more natural that Sirius should end up on a piece of the lake shore roughly opposite a bush beside the castle - in fact it would be reasonable to assume that Dementors, coming downslope from the station gate, interrupted his pursuit of Peter and he fled from them along the shore. It makes it marginally more natural that Harry and Hermione should reach the shore close to Sirius's position; it enables the greenhouses to fulfil the triple demands of being behind the castle, alongside the castle and close to the lake; it reduces the distance Harry and Hermione run to rescue Sirius before reaching the shore to 600 yards (a two-minute sprint if they can manage to do 10mph) and the distance across the lake between Harry One and Harry Two to a little over 200 yards; and it even allows the Quidditch pitch to be only 500 yards from the castle whilst maintaining a significant distance from the lake. And it lets the lake be as long as it needs to be without pushing the pitch too far away from the school. What it also does, unfortunately, is reduce the distance the first-years sail across the lake to a little under 200 yards - but there are no perfect solutions, and that seems a small price to pay for making everything else fit. And JK's own map does show the boats as only traversing a small corner of the lake. Even a distance of 220 yards is pushing it for Harry 1 to be able to see Harry 2 across the lake well enough to see that he looks like James. it seems to be accepted that facial recognition is already unreliable at 150 yards, by daylight. But the evidence suggests that Harry is long-sighted, it barely gets dark at all in the Highlands in June and the light from the Patronus would have illuminated his face - and even so, he got the identification slightly wwrong. Moody grinned. [cut] He took another long draught from his hip-flask, and his magical eye swivelled onto the window. The topmost sail of the Durmstrang ship was visible through it. [GoF ch. #29; p. 496] From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water [cut][cut] the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide towards the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank. People were disembarking [cut] they drew nearer, walking up the lawns into the light streaming from the Entrance Hall [GoF ch. #15; p. 216/217] Draughty though the castle always was in winter, Harry was glad of its fires and thick walls every time he passed the Durmstrang ship on the lake [GoF ch. #21; p. 321] For reasons discussed in the section on basic layout, the fact that the mast of the Durmstrang ship is visible from the window of the DADA classroom means we want the Durmstrang ship to be moored as close to the castle as possible. We know that the ship is indeed moored quite close in, because standing on the lawn in front of the main doors Harry can hear the gangplank landing on the bank, and when the Durmstrang students disembark they very soon come into the area illuminated by the light from those doors. The fact that Harry thinks about "every time" he passes by the ship suggests that its mooring is near the main path from the castle to the gate. To get the ship as close to the castle as possible I have assumed a curving limb of water which curls round and leaves the fateful beech tree and its accompanying bushes sitting on a promontory. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid [PS ch. #12; p. 143] [cut] students were enjoying themselves skating on the frozen lake [OotP ch. #21; p. 390] And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. [PS ch. #06; p. 83] [cut] Harry saw the smooth, black, glassy surface of the water [CoS ch. #05; p. 58] From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water [GoF ch. #15; p. 216] [cut] the cloudless sky smiled at itself in the smoothly sparkling lake [OotP ch. #31; p. 622] We are not specifically told what sort of lake it is, nor how it is filled. However, we can probably eliminate the possibility that it is a salt-water loch and that Hogwarts is at therefore sea-level. Students are able to walk all the way round the lake without any suggestion that they have to cross over a significant inlet to do so, and in a hard winter the water forms a crust of ice thick enough to skate on. It also seems too smooth to have any tidal element. So, we can say with a high degree of certainty that the lake is not a tidal inlet, and is presumably fresh-water - unless it has been artificially and magically made salt. It has to be the case either that the lake has been made magically salty, or that the giant squid has been made magically able to survive in fresh water. As to how it is filled, it seems unlikely that it is maintained simply by rainwater, since there is no mention of the lake shrinking significantly in hot, dry weather. Either it is groundwater, welling up from an aquifer, or it is fed by streams - but if the latter they must be quite small, as there is no suggestion that the students have to cross any bridges when they walk around the lake. This does not exclude the presence of small plank bridges, or stepping stones, but if there were any large bridges across significant watercourses you'd expect they'd be mentioned. Either of these solutions require that the mountains around Hogwarts should be fairly close and massive and substantially higher than the castle is. An aquifer-fed lake is the more convenient solution; if the lake was fed by streams it would have to have actual slopes leading up from the lakeside, and further up. That may well be the case with the slopes which lead up from the lake to the station, and there may be small streams running down through the pine trees, narrow enough to jump over or crossed by small plank bridges; but the lake is quite a large body of water, and to produce enough run-off from higher ground to keep it filled you would expect that those slopes and streams continue up the side of a susbstantial mass of mountain. That's possible - it may well be that Hogwarts is on its own ledge halfway up a large mountain - but we've never been told that there's a peak looming that close. Groundwater on the other hand can be squeezed out of the top of a free-standing hill so long as there are taller landmasses around it, so it is the more flexible option. It requires, however, that there should be either an underground water-sustem with which the open lake communicates - and which raises the same problems about how it is kept filled - or an extremly high water table which would leave Hogsmeade as soggy as Norfolk. Leaning against the window, Harry could see Hogwarts coming nearer, its many lighted windows blurred and shimmering behind the thick curtain of rain. [cut] 'Blimey,' said Ron, shaking his head and sending water everywhere, 'if that keeps up the lake's going to overflow.' [GoF ch. #12; p. 152] If it's an aquifer it must be very localized, or the lake must sit at the bottom of a deep hollow a long way below the level of the lawns around it, because we know there are tunnels leading out of the Hogwarts grounds (i.e. going lower than the ground-level at the lowest level of the grounds) and there's no suggestion that they fill with water, so presumably they are above the water-table. And it seems unlikely that the lake sits at the bottom of a very deep hollow, since Ron fears it will overflow in heavy rain. So perhaps we should assume that Hogwarts is in fact on a ledge partway up a mountain, and the lake is fed by numerous but small streams coming down the hillside from the direction of the station, although it remains possible that there may be one or more small underground lakes in the surrounding area which communicate with the Hogwarts loch via sunterranean fissures. Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on end; the lake rose [CoS ch. #08; p. 94] They walked past a mossy tree-stump. Harry could hear running water; there must be a stream somewhere close by. [PS ch. #15; p. 183] Their robes billowed and swirled around them as they splashed across the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology [OotP ch. #18; p. 344] We also don't know how the lake empties itself, if it does. I suppose it might be sitting exactly at the level of the water-table - but if it does have an outflow, it's either not very big (because students walking around the lake don't have to cross any notewortjy bridges) or it's underground. We do know the lake probably doesn't drain very freely, as the water-level rises noticeably in heavy rain even though the lake is probably quite high up. The stream which runs through the forest is probably one, since the Forest seems to be at a lower level than the castle and to slope downwards away from it, at least in the area around Aragog's nest. Since the vegetable patch floods in heavy rain it may well be that this outlet stream runs through or close to the vegetable patch, irrigating it in summer and flooding it in winter. 'Underwater ...' Harry said slowly. 'Myrtle ... what lives in the lake, apart from the giant squid?' 'Oh, all sorts,' she said. 'I sometimes go down there ... sometimes don't have any choice, if someone flushes my toilet when I'm not expecting it ...' Trying not to think about Moaning Myrtle zooming down a pipe to the lake with the contents of a toilet [GoF ch. #25; p. 403] From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water – except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep in the centre; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks – and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor ...[cut] Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, [cut] Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide towards the bank. [GoF ch. #15; p. 216/217] It's to be hoped that the lake does have some significant inflow and outflow to keep it fresh, since the castle seems to empty its lavatories straight into the lake, and the merpeople and the squid have to live in that. And it's to be sincerely hoped that the castle doesn't get its drinking-water from the lake. It is possible that the tunnel which leads the lake in under the castle connects to a subterranean outflow, probably connecting to Hogsmeade. This would enable the mer-people to swim to the sea if they want to, rather than being prisoners at Hogwarts, and it would explain why the Durmstrang ship popped up from underneath the surface of the lake: rather than Apparating there, it may have sailed upstream to Hogsmeade and then squeezed up a narrow subterranean fissure in the manner of the Knight Bus going through a narrow alley. That it comes up right in the middle of the lake could mean that there is another low-level fissure conencting the lake to its outflow, as well as or instead of the tunnel under the castle. If the tunnel does lead to an outflow, though, it's going to be close to the outflow from the lavatories, which would risk polluting Hogsmeade. Perhaps some sort of physical or magical sewage filter in involved. Given that the mer-people seem to have quite a large village, it makes sense that they would be not just hunter-gatherers but farmers of edible waterweeds, so perhaps sewage from the castle is magically sanitised and pumped to underwater fields in the shallow areas of the lake. Note that the Durmstrang ship comes up roughly in the middle of the lake and in a position which is visible from the lawn in front of the castle. On the map which I have worked out (below) that means that the ship surfaces a short distance south of the Mer village.
We also know from DH that as you walk up from the gates you can go round one side of the lake towards the castle, and round the other towards the tomb, and the tomb side of the lake is near enough to the castle that it would be possible for light from the castle to illuminate it well enough to make out a figure in pre-dawn light, were the castle lights to be lit at that time. Sirius saw Snape up through the hole, then stood back for Harry and Hermione to pass. At last, all of them were out. The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. [cut] Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. [PoA ch. #20; p. 278] Sirius was bleeding; [cut] the sound of his paws was fading to silence as he pounded away across the grounds. [PoA ch. #20; p. 279] But then, out of the darkness, they heard a yelping, a whining; a dog in pain ... 'Sirius,' Harry muttered, staring into the darkness. [cut] Harry set off at a run, Hermione right behind him. The yelping seemed to be coming from near the lake. They pelted towards it, and Harry, running flat out, felt the cold without realising what it must mean – The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why – Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head. 'Nooo,' he moaned. 'Noooo .... please ...' And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake towards them. He spun around [cut] more were appearing out of the darkness on every side [PoA ch. #20; p. 280] [cut] he groped in the mist for Sirius, and found his arm [PoA ch. #20; p. 281] With every ounce of strength he could muster, Harry raised his head a few inches and saw an animal amidst the light, galloping away across the lake. Eyes blurred with sweat, Harry tried to make out what it was ... it was bright as a unicorn. Fighting to stay conscious, Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. [PoA ch. #20; p. 282] The Dementor attack on Sirius takes place on the far side of the lake from Hagrid's cabin, and presumably more or less on the far side from the castle. It is across the lake from the clump of bushes from which Harry launches the Patronus, and which commands a view of West Tower (and which may well be the clump near the beech tree). Starting from a position somewhere between the Whomping Willow and the castle, first Sirius and then Harry and Hermione run towards the lake and end up on the far side of it from Hagrid's cabin. On both JK's map and on mine it looks as if they probably went round the left side of the lake as you face the castle, and on both JK's map and on mine it looks as if they must either have run in between the greenhouses or swung wide to skirt them, although this isn't mentioned. On both maps, you would think that they would come to the water's edge substantially before they reached a point which was anything like on the opposite side from Hagrid's cabin. Yet shortly after they "reach the lakeshore" they are in touching distance of Sirius, who we know is on the opposite shore from the bushes from which Time-Turned Harry will launch the stag Patronus. Nor is it likely to be the case that they are at one end of the lake and Time-Turned Harry is at the other end because we know the lake is almost certainly over half a mile long, and Harry can see his Time-Turned self clearly enough, by moonlight, to see that it looks a bit like James. It is possible to make this work if you have the lake at the side of the castle and the long axis of the lake pointing away from it (see sketch above). In this case, it would be quite possible for the two Harrys to end up opposite each other, and for Harry and Hermione to first reach the lakeside at the point where Sirius is. However, this means that in order to fulfil the criterion that the middle of the lake can be seen from the front of the castle the lake has to be so far to the side and front of the castle that none of it is behind the building, as it is in JK's map. It also makes it impossible for there to be a single block of greenhouses which is both behind the castle (as described in the books) and to the left side of it (as you face the main doors) and next to the lake, as shown on JK's map. If we stick with the original map B the greenhouses are in approximately the right position, and the lake extends behind the castle, but it means that Harry and Hermione must have gone some distance along the side of the lake before descending to the lakeshore, in order to reach a point which is even vaguely opposite a point which might command a view of a feature on the west side of the castle. Perhaps it is muddy and slow-going close by the lake, or there are banks of roses or brambles along the water's edge at the greenhouse end, and they stuck to a regular path which is some distance off from the water, only leaving the path when they spotted Sirius. The sunlight was dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, on the bank of which the group of laughing girls who had just left the Great Hall were sitting, with their shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water. [OotP ch. #28; p. 568] Harry saw Aberforth again, his grey hair flying as he led a small group of students past. ‘They look like they might be breaching the North Battlements, they’ve brought giants of their own!’ [DH ch. #31; p. 503] He looked up: a giant stood before him, twenty feet high [cut]>BR /> The gargantuan monster trying to crush people on the upper floors looked around and let out a roar. [DH ch. #32; p. 520] There is another obvious factor. We know that at the front of the castle is a long rolling green slop you can easily walk up, and at the back of the castle is a steep cliff with a considerable drop to the lake. We know that the beech tree and bushes at the edge of the lake on the right (south) side of the castle are close to the water level, because some girls sitting on the bank nearby are able to dangle their feet in the water, and we also know, at least if we take Rowling's own drawing into account, that the beech tree is very close to the base of the castle - meaning that the ground has dropped the whole height of the cliff, from the level of the castle to the level of the lake, in a short horizontal distance, and the south side of the castle therefore stands above quite a steep drop. On the north side, however, we are told that during the battle giants were brought up in an attempt to breach the North Battlements. They presumably weren't brought to use magic, since a human wizard would do that, and we're not told that they have seige engines, so presumably the giants are supposed to, and are able to, walk up to the battlements and attack them with brute force. Rowling's giants are not all that huge - Grawp is described as "a bit on the runty side fer a giant – on'y sixteen foot –', which makes it unlikely that regular giants are much over twenty foot, and a full giant twenty feet tall is described as "gargantuan". So we aren't talking about giants standing at lake-level and striking at walls a whole cliff's-height above them: they must be able to walk up to the base of the North Battlements, or at least to a point not more than about fifteen feet below them. The Willow must be rather lower than the battlements, because the Willow is in the same general area as the vegetable patch etc. and you go down the slope at the front of the castle to get there - but it's probably still higher than the lake level, and in any case prior to Sirius's running off in pursuit of Peter they had been heading towards the castle and therefore probably upslope. This means that when Harry and Hermione follow Sirius round the north side of the castle, from the Whomping Willow down to the lakeside on the back or (broadly) east side, they are heading downslope again, from somewhere partway up the height of the castle mound down to lake level. It may be that they do not hit the lakeside at the northern or greenhouse end, instead following a path above and away from the lake, passing along the edge of the pine-wood below the station and only reaching the waterside at a point close to being opposite the bushes by the castle, because to reach the lakeside any sooner would have involved a delay while they scrambled down a steep bank. Especially if that bank was covered with roses or brambles. Another constraint on this scene is that the more directly opposite the location of the attack is to the bushes from which Harry launched the Patronus, the shorter the distance between the two sites and the more likely it is that Harry would see that the figure greeting the Patronus looked like James. Yet, since the castle faces west and the bushes from which the Patronus comes command a view of a feature on the west of the castle (the West Tower), the bushes must be somewhat to the front of the castle, which means that a position directly opposite them must be a long way from any possible starting position between the Whomping Willow and the castle. Using map B I make it about half a mile - which at normal human running speed (which seems to be about 8-10 mph) would take at least three minutes - longer, if anything, because they would tend to slow down over such a long distance. This is quite a long time, given that Sirius was facing the Dementors. If we have Sirius caught by the Dementors much nearer the Willow, so that it only takes two minutes to reach him, that seems more reasonable but then he can't be directly opposite a position which comands a view of the West Tower. He has to be diagonally opposite, which makes the distance over which Harry nearly-but-not-quite recognized his Time-Turned self about 400 yards. If Sirius's position is diagonally opposite the bushes we must assume, then, that the moon was very bright, or that the Patronus was so bright it illuminated the figure as clearly as daylight. You also have to consider how far away Harry and Hermione would be able to hear Sirius. However you arrange it, from a position between the Willow and the castle they probably shouldn't be able to hear a dog at the lakeside - but perhaps Sirius started whining before he reached the lake (perhaps when he encountered Dementors coming downhill from the station gate), and then ran on, away from the Dementors and coincidentally away from Harry and Hermione. It's also just about possible I suppose that the slope up to the station causes Sirius's cries to be echoed and reflected round the end of the castle and its mound to where Harry and Hermione are. We also have some leeway in that it's not clear when Harry and Hermione stopped running. As they reached the shore Harry saw that Sirius had turned back into a man, and the shortly afterwards he spun round to defend himself, by which point he was probably stationary, and when he was stationary he was close enough to Sirius to touch him, or within a few feet of being able to touch him, since he may have moved a bit during the confrontation. But there is a slight lapse in between seeing Sirius and spinning round, during which Harry observes Sirius's behaviour and the mass of Dementors who are gliding towards them, so it is possible, even likely, that in that brief interval Harry continued to run towards Sirius. If he was running at 10mph - and he would probably put on a burst of speed once he caught sight of Sirius - that's close to 300 yards a minute, so we can have him running fifty or even a hundred yards further on from the point at which he first reaches the lakeside. By drawing the lake partially but not wholly to the side and making it a sort of axe-head shape, with only a small amount behind the castle, it is possible to more or less satisfy most of the criteria (including the one about part of it being close to the driveway). It makes it more natural that Sirius should end up on a piece of the lake shore roughly opposite a bush beside the castle - in fact it would be reasonable to assume that Dementors, coming downslope from the station gate, interrupted his pursuit of Peter and he fled from them along the shore. It makes it marginally more natural that Harry and Hermione should reach the shore close to Sirius's position; it enables the greenhouses to fulfil the triple demands of being behind the castle, alongside the castle and close to the lake; it reduces the distance Harry and Hermione run to rescue Sirius before reaching the shore to 600 yards (a two-minute sprint if they can manage to do 10mph) and the distance across the lake between Harry One and Harry Two to a little over 200 yards; and it even allows the Quidditch pitch to be only 500 yards from the castle whilst maintaining a significant distance from the lake. And it lets the lake be as long as it needs to be without pushing the pitch too far away from the school. What it also does, unfortunately, is reduce the distance the first-years sail across the lake to a little under 200 yards - but there are no perfect solutions, and that seems a small price to pay for making everything else fit. And JK's own map does show the boats as only traversing a small corner of the lake. Even a distance of 220 yards is pushing it for Harry 1 to be able to see Harry 2 across the lake well enough to see that he looks like James. it seems to be accepted that facial recognition is already unreliable at 150 yards, by daylight. But the evidence suggests that Harry is long-sighted, it barely gets dark at all in the Highlands in June and the light from the Patronus would have illuminated his face - and even so, he got the identification slightly wwrong. Moody grinned. [cut] He took another long draught from his hip-flask, and his magical eye swivelled onto the window. The topmost sail of the Durmstrang ship was visible through it. [GoF ch. #29; p. 496] From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water [cut][cut] the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide towards the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank. People were disembarking [cut] they drew nearer, walking up the lawns into the light streaming from the Entrance Hall [GoF ch. #15; p. 216/217] Draughty though the castle always was in winter, Harry was glad of its fires and thick walls every time he passed the Durmstrang ship on the lake [GoF ch. #21; p. 321] For reasons discussed in the section on basic layout, the fact that the mast of the Durmstrang ship is visible from the window of the DADA classroom means we want the Durmstrang ship to be moored as close to the castle as possible. We know that the ship is indeed moored quite close in, because standing on the lawn in front of the main doors Harry can hear the gangplank landing on the bank, and when the Durmstrang students disembark they very soon come into the area illuminated by the light from those doors. The fact that Harry thinks about "every time" he passes by the ship suggests that its mooring is near the main path from the castle to the gate. To get the ship as close to the castle as possible I have assumed a curving limb of water which curls round and leaves the fateful beech tree and its accompanying bushes sitting on a promontory.
Sirius was bleeding; [cut] the sound of his paws was fading to silence as he pounded away across the grounds. [PoA ch. #20; p. 279]
But then, out of the darkness, they heard a yelping, a whining; a dog in pain ... 'Sirius,' Harry muttered, staring into the darkness. [cut] Harry set off at a run, Hermione right behind him. The yelping seemed to be coming from near the lake. They pelted towards it, and Harry, running flat out, felt the cold without realising what it must mean – The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why – Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head. 'Nooo,' he moaned. 'Noooo .... please ...' And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake towards them. He spun around [cut] more were appearing out of the darkness on every side [PoA ch. #20; p. 280]
[cut] he groped in the mist for Sirius, and found his arm [PoA ch. #20; p. 281]
With every ounce of strength he could muster, Harry raised his head a few inches and saw an animal amidst the light, galloping away across the lake. Eyes blurred with sweat, Harry tried to make out what it was ... it was bright as a unicorn. Fighting to stay conscious, Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. [PoA ch. #20; p. 282]
The Dementor attack on Sirius takes place on the far side of the lake from Hagrid's cabin, and presumably more or less on the far side from the castle. It is across the lake from the clump of bushes from which Harry launches the Patronus, and which commands a view of West Tower (and which may well be the clump near the beech tree). Starting from a position somewhere between the Whomping Willow and the castle, first Sirius and then Harry and Hermione run towards the lake and end up on the far side of it from Hagrid's cabin. On both JK's map and on mine it looks as if they probably went round the left side of the lake as you face the castle, and on both JK's map and on mine it looks as if they must either have run in between the greenhouses or swung wide to skirt them, although this isn't mentioned.
On both maps, you would think that they would come to the water's edge substantially before they reached a point which was anything like on the opposite side from Hagrid's cabin. Yet shortly after they "reach the lakeshore" they are in touching distance of Sirius, who we know is on the opposite shore from the bushes from which Time-Turned Harry will launch the stag Patronus. Nor is it likely to be the case that they are at one end of the lake and Time-Turned Harry is at the other end because we know the lake is almost certainly over half a mile long, and Harry can see his Time-Turned self clearly enough, by moonlight, to see that it looks a bit like James.
It is possible to make this work if you have the lake at the side of the castle and the long axis of the lake pointing away from it (see sketch above). In this case, it would be quite possible for the two Harrys to end up opposite each other, and for Harry and Hermione to first reach the lakeside at the point where Sirius is. However, this means that in order to fulfil the criterion that the middle of the lake can be seen from the front of the castle the lake has to be so far to the side and front of the castle that none of it is behind the building, as it is in JK's map. It also makes it impossible for there to be a single block of greenhouses which is both behind the castle (as described in the books) and to the left side of it (as you face the main doors) and next to the lake, as shown on JK's map.
If we stick with the original map B the greenhouses are in approximately the right position, and the lake extends behind the castle, but it means that Harry and Hermione must have gone some distance along the side of the lake before descending to the lakeshore, in order to reach a point which is even vaguely opposite a point which might command a view of a feature on the west side of the castle. Perhaps it is muddy and slow-going close by the lake, or there are banks of roses or brambles along the water's edge at the greenhouse end, and they stuck to a regular path which is some distance off from the water, only leaving the path when they spotted Sirius. The sunlight was dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, on the bank of which the group of laughing girls who had just left the Great Hall were sitting, with their shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water. [OotP ch. #28; p. 568] Harry saw Aberforth again, his grey hair flying as he led a small group of students past. ‘They look like they might be breaching the North Battlements, they’ve brought giants of their own!’ [DH ch. #31; p. 503] He looked up: a giant stood before him, twenty feet high [cut]>BR /> The gargantuan monster trying to crush people on the upper floors looked around and let out a roar. [DH ch. #32; p. 520] There is another obvious factor. We know that at the front of the castle is a long rolling green slop you can easily walk up, and at the back of the castle is a steep cliff with a considerable drop to the lake. We know that the beech tree and bushes at the edge of the lake on the right (south) side of the castle are close to the water level, because some girls sitting on the bank nearby are able to dangle their feet in the water, and we also know, at least if we take Rowling's own drawing into account, that the beech tree is very close to the base of the castle - meaning that the ground has dropped the whole height of the cliff, from the level of the castle to the level of the lake, in a short horizontal distance, and the south side of the castle therefore stands above quite a steep drop. On the north side, however, we are told that during the battle giants were brought up in an attempt to breach the North Battlements. They presumably weren't brought to use magic, since a human wizard would do that, and we're not told that they have seige engines, so presumably the giants are supposed to, and are able to, walk up to the battlements and attack them with brute force. Rowling's giants are not all that huge - Grawp is described as "a bit on the runty side fer a giant – on'y sixteen foot –', which makes it unlikely that regular giants are much over twenty foot, and a full giant twenty feet tall is described as "gargantuan". So we aren't talking about giants standing at lake-level and striking at walls a whole cliff's-height above them: they must be able to walk up to the base of the North Battlements, or at least to a point not more than about fifteen feet below them. The Willow must be rather lower than the battlements, because the Willow is in the same general area as the vegetable patch etc. and you go down the slope at the front of the castle to get there - but it's probably still higher than the lake level, and in any case prior to Sirius's running off in pursuit of Peter they had been heading towards the castle and therefore probably upslope. This means that when Harry and Hermione follow Sirius round the north side of the castle, from the Whomping Willow down to the lakeside on the back or (broadly) east side, they are heading downslope again, from somewhere partway up the height of the castle mound down to lake level. It may be that they do not hit the lakeside at the northern or greenhouse end, instead following a path above and away from the lake, passing along the edge of the pine-wood below the station and only reaching the waterside at a point close to being opposite the bushes by the castle, because to reach the lakeside any sooner would have involved a delay while they scrambled down a steep bank. Especially if that bank was covered with roses or brambles. Another constraint on this scene is that the more directly opposite the location of the attack is to the bushes from which Harry launched the Patronus, the shorter the distance between the two sites and the more likely it is that Harry would see that the figure greeting the Patronus looked like James. Yet, since the castle faces west and the bushes from which the Patronus comes command a view of a feature on the west of the castle (the West Tower), the bushes must be somewhat to the front of the castle, which means that a position directly opposite them must be a long way from any possible starting position between the Whomping Willow and the castle. Using map B I make it about half a mile - which at normal human running speed (which seems to be about 8-10 mph) would take at least three minutes - longer, if anything, because they would tend to slow down over such a long distance. This is quite a long time, given that Sirius was facing the Dementors. If we have Sirius caught by the Dementors much nearer the Willow, so that it only takes two minutes to reach him, that seems more reasonable but then he can't be directly opposite a position which comands a view of the West Tower. He has to be diagonally opposite, which makes the distance over which Harry nearly-but-not-quite recognized his Time-Turned self about 400 yards. If Sirius's position is diagonally opposite the bushes we must assume, then, that the moon was very bright, or that the Patronus was so bright it illuminated the figure as clearly as daylight. You also have to consider how far away Harry and Hermione would be able to hear Sirius. However you arrange it, from a position between the Willow and the castle they probably shouldn't be able to hear a dog at the lakeside - but perhaps Sirius started whining before he reached the lake (perhaps when he encountered Dementors coming downhill from the station gate), and then ran on, away from the Dementors and coincidentally away from Harry and Hermione. It's also just about possible I suppose that the slope up to the station causes Sirius's cries to be echoed and reflected round the end of the castle and its mound to where Harry and Hermione are. We also have some leeway in that it's not clear when Harry and Hermione stopped running. As they reached the shore Harry saw that Sirius had turned back into a man, and the shortly afterwards he spun round to defend himself, by which point he was probably stationary, and when he was stationary he was close enough to Sirius to touch him, or within a few feet of being able to touch him, since he may have moved a bit during the confrontation. But there is a slight lapse in between seeing Sirius and spinning round, during which Harry observes Sirius's behaviour and the mass of Dementors who are gliding towards them, so it is possible, even likely, that in that brief interval Harry continued to run towards Sirius. If he was running at 10mph - and he would probably put on a burst of speed once he caught sight of Sirius - that's close to 300 yards a minute, so we can have him running fifty or even a hundred yards further on from the point at which he first reaches the lakeside. By drawing the lake partially but not wholly to the side and making it a sort of axe-head shape, with only a small amount behind the castle, it is possible to more or less satisfy most of the criteria (including the one about part of it being close to the driveway). It makes it more natural that Sirius should end up on a piece of the lake shore roughly opposite a bush beside the castle - in fact it would be reasonable to assume that Dementors, coming downslope from the station gate, interrupted his pursuit of Peter and he fled from them along the shore. It makes it marginally more natural that Harry and Hermione should reach the shore close to Sirius's position; it enables the greenhouses to fulfil the triple demands of being behind the castle, alongside the castle and close to the lake; it reduces the distance Harry and Hermione run to rescue Sirius before reaching the shore to 600 yards (a two-minute sprint if they can manage to do 10mph) and the distance across the lake between Harry One and Harry Two to a little over 200 yards; and it even allows the Quidditch pitch to be only 500 yards from the castle whilst maintaining a significant distance from the lake. And it lets the lake be as long as it needs to be without pushing the pitch too far away from the school. What it also does, unfortunately, is reduce the distance the first-years sail across the lake to a little under 200 yards - but there are no perfect solutions, and that seems a small price to pay for making everything else fit. And JK's own map does show the boats as only traversing a small corner of the lake. Even a distance of 220 yards is pushing it for Harry 1 to be able to see Harry 2 across the lake well enough to see that he looks like James. it seems to be accepted that facial recognition is already unreliable at 150 yards, by daylight. But the evidence suggests that Harry is long-sighted, it barely gets dark at all in the Highlands in June and the light from the Patronus would have illuminated his face - and even so, he got the identification slightly wwrong.
Harry saw Aberforth again, his grey hair flying as he led a small group of students past. ‘They look like they might be breaching the North Battlements, they’ve brought giants of their own!’ [DH ch. #31; p. 503]
He looked up: a giant stood before him, twenty feet high [cut]>BR /> The gargantuan monster trying to crush people on the upper floors looked around and let out a roar. [DH ch. #32; p. 520]
There is another obvious factor. We know that at the front of the castle is a long rolling green slop you can easily walk up, and at the back of the castle is a steep cliff with a considerable drop to the lake. We know that the beech tree and bushes at the edge of the lake on the right (south) side of the castle are close to the water level, because some girls sitting on the bank nearby are able to dangle their feet in the water, and we also know, at least if we take Rowling's own drawing into account, that the beech tree is very close to the base of the castle - meaning that the ground has dropped the whole height of the cliff, from the level of the castle to the level of the lake, in a short horizontal distance, and the south side of the castle therefore stands above quite a steep drop.
On the north side, however, we are told that during the battle giants were brought up in an attempt to breach the North Battlements. They presumably weren't brought to use magic, since a human wizard would do that, and we're not told that they have seige engines, so presumably the giants are supposed to, and are able to, walk up to the battlements and attack them with brute force. Rowling's giants are not all that huge - Grawp is described as "a bit on the runty side fer a giant – on'y sixteen foot –', which makes it unlikely that regular giants are much over twenty foot, and a full giant twenty feet tall is described as "gargantuan". So we aren't talking about giants standing at lake-level and striking at walls a whole cliff's-height above them: they must be able to walk up to the base of the North Battlements, or at least to a point not more than about fifteen feet below them.
The Willow must be rather lower than the battlements, because the Willow is in the same general area as the vegetable patch etc. and you go down the slope at the front of the castle to get there - but it's probably still higher than the lake level, and in any case prior to Sirius's running off in pursuit of Peter they had been heading towards the castle and therefore probably upslope. This means that when Harry and Hermione follow Sirius round the north side of the castle, from the Whomping Willow down to the lakeside on the back or (broadly) east side, they are heading downslope again, from somewhere partway up the height of the castle mound down to lake level. It may be that they do not hit the lakeside at the northern or greenhouse end, instead following a path above and away from the lake, passing along the edge of the pine-wood below the station and only reaching the waterside at a point close to being opposite the bushes by the castle, because to reach the lakeside any sooner would have involved a delay while they scrambled down a steep bank. Especially if that bank was covered with roses or brambles.
Another constraint on this scene is that the more directly opposite the location of the attack is to the bushes from which Harry launched the Patronus, the shorter the distance between the two sites and the more likely it is that Harry would see that the figure greeting the Patronus looked like James. Yet, since the castle faces west and the bushes from which the Patronus comes command a view of a feature on the west of the castle (the West Tower), the bushes must be somewhat to the front of the castle, which means that a position directly opposite them must be a long way from any possible starting position between the Whomping Willow and the castle. Using map B I make it about half a mile - which at normal human running speed (which seems to be about 8-10 mph) would take at least three minutes - longer, if anything, because they would tend to slow down over such a long distance. This is quite a long time, given that Sirius was facing the Dementors.
If we have Sirius caught by the Dementors much nearer the Willow, so that it only takes two minutes to reach him, that seems more reasonable but then he can't be directly opposite a position which comands a view of the West Tower. He has to be diagonally opposite, which makes the distance over which Harry nearly-but-not-quite recognized his Time-Turned self about 400 yards. If Sirius's position is diagonally opposite the bushes we must assume, then, that the moon was very bright, or that the Patronus was so bright it illuminated the figure as clearly as daylight.
You also have to consider how far away Harry and Hermione would be able to hear Sirius. However you arrange it, from a position between the Willow and the castle they probably shouldn't be able to hear a dog at the lakeside - but perhaps Sirius started whining before he reached the lake (perhaps when he encountered Dementors coming downhill from the station gate), and then ran on, away from the Dementors and coincidentally away from Harry and Hermione. It's also just about possible I suppose that the slope up to the station causes Sirius's cries to be echoed and reflected round the end of the castle and its mound to where Harry and Hermione are.
We also have some leeway in that it's not clear when Harry and Hermione stopped running. As they reached the shore Harry saw that Sirius had turned back into a man, and the shortly afterwards he spun round to defend himself, by which point he was probably stationary, and when he was stationary he was close enough to Sirius to touch him, or within a few feet of being able to touch him, since he may have moved a bit during the confrontation. But there is a slight lapse in between seeing Sirius and spinning round, during which Harry observes Sirius's behaviour and the mass of Dementors who are gliding towards them, so it is possible, even likely, that in that brief interval Harry continued to run towards Sirius. If he was running at 10mph - and he would probably put on a burst of speed once he caught sight of Sirius - that's close to 300 yards a minute, so we can have him running fifty or even a hundred yards further on from the point at which he first reaches the lakeside.
By drawing the lake partially but not wholly to the side and making it a sort of axe-head shape, with only a small amount behind the castle, it is possible to more or less satisfy most of the criteria (including the one about part of it being close to the driveway). It makes it more natural that Sirius should end up on a piece of the lake shore roughly opposite a bush beside the castle - in fact it would be reasonable to assume that Dementors, coming downslope from the station gate, interrupted his pursuit of Peter and he fled from them along the shore. It makes it marginally more natural that Harry and Hermione should reach the shore close to Sirius's position; it enables the greenhouses to fulfil the triple demands of being behind the castle, alongside the castle and close to the lake; it reduces the distance Harry and Hermione run to rescue Sirius before reaching the shore to 600 yards (a two-minute sprint if they can manage to do 10mph) and the distance across the lake between Harry One and Harry Two to a little over 200 yards; and it even allows the Quidditch pitch to be only 500 yards from the castle whilst maintaining a significant distance from the lake. And it lets the lake be as long as it needs to be without pushing the pitch too far away from the school.
What it also does, unfortunately, is reduce the distance the first-years sail across the lake to a little under 200 yards - but there are no perfect solutions, and that seems a small price to pay for making everything else fit. And JK's own map does show the boats as only traversing a small corner of the lake.
Even a distance of 220 yards is pushing it for Harry 1 to be able to see Harry 2 across the lake well enough to see that he looks like James. it seems to be accepted that facial recognition is already unreliable at 150 yards, by daylight. But the evidence suggests that Harry is long-sighted, it barely gets dark at all in the Highlands in June and the light from the Patronus would have illuminated his face - and even so, he got the identification slightly wwrong.
From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water [cut][cut] the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide towards the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank. People were disembarking [cut] they drew nearer, walking up the lawns into the light streaming from the Entrance Hall [GoF ch. #15; p. 216/217]
Draughty though the castle always was in winter, Harry was glad of its fires and thick walls every time he passed the Durmstrang ship on the lake [GoF ch. #21; p. 321]
For reasons discussed in the section on basic layout, the fact that the mast of the Durmstrang ship is visible from the window of the DADA classroom means we want the Durmstrang ship to be moored as close to the castle as possible. We know that the ship is indeed moored quite close in, because standing on the lawn in front of the main doors Harry can hear the gangplank landing on the bank, and when the Durmstrang students disembark they very soon come into the area illuminated by the light from those doors. The fact that Harry thinks about "every time" he passes by the ship suggests that its mooring is near the main path from the castle to the gate. To get the ship as close to the castle as possible I have assumed a curving limb of water which curls round and leaves the fateful beech tree and its accompanying bushes sitting on a promontory.
[cut] students were enjoying themselves skating on the frozen lake [OotP ch. #21; p. 390]
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. [PS ch. #06; p. 83]
[cut] Harry saw the smooth, black, glassy surface of the water [CoS ch. #05; p. 58]
[cut] the cloudless sky smiled at itself in the smoothly sparkling lake [OotP ch. #31; p. 622]
We are not specifically told what sort of lake it is, nor how it is filled. However, we can probably eliminate the possibility that it is a salt-water loch and that Hogwarts is at therefore sea-level. Students are able to walk all the way round the lake without any suggestion that they have to cross over a significant inlet to do so, and in a hard winter the water forms a crust of ice thick enough to skate on. It also seems too smooth to have any tidal element.
So, we can say with a high degree of certainty that the lake is not a tidal inlet, and is presumably fresh-water - unless it has been artificially and magically made salt. It has to be the case either that the lake has been made magically salty, or that the giant squid has been made magically able to survive in fresh water.
As to how it is filled, it seems unlikely that it is maintained simply by rainwater, since there is no mention of the lake shrinking significantly in hot, dry weather. Either it is groundwater, welling up from an aquifer, or it is fed by streams - but if the latter they must be quite small, as there is no suggestion that the students have to cross any bridges when they walk around the lake. This does not exclude the presence of small plank bridges, or stepping stones, but if there were any large bridges across significant watercourses you'd expect they'd be mentioned. Either of these solutions require that the mountains around Hogwarts should be fairly close and massive and substantially higher than the castle is. An aquifer-fed lake is the more convenient solution; if the lake was fed by streams it would have to have actual slopes leading up from the lakeside, and further up. That may well be the case with the slopes which lead up from the lake to the station, and there may be small streams running down through the pine trees, narrow enough to jump over or crossed by small plank bridges; but the lake is quite a large body of water, and to produce enough run-off from higher ground to keep it filled you would expect that those slopes and streams continue up the side of a susbstantial mass of mountain. That's possible - it may well be that Hogwarts is on its own ledge halfway up a large mountain - but we've never been told that there's a peak looming that close.
Groundwater on the other hand can be squeezed out of the top of a free-standing hill so long as there are taller landmasses around it, so it is the more flexible option. It requires, however, that there should be either an underground water-sustem with which the open lake communicates - and which raises the same problems about how it is kept filled - or an extremly high water table which would leave Hogsmeade as soggy as Norfolk.
If it's an aquifer it must be very localized, or the lake must sit at the bottom of a deep hollow a long way below the level of the lawns around it, because we know there are tunnels leading out of the Hogwarts grounds (i.e. going lower than the ground-level at the lowest level of the grounds) and there's no suggestion that they fill with water, so presumably they are above the water-table. And it seems unlikely that the lake sits at the bottom of a very deep hollow, since Ron fears it will overflow in heavy rain. So perhaps we should assume that Hogwarts is in fact on a ledge partway up a mountain, and the lake is fed by numerous but small streams coming down the hillside from the direction of the station, although it remains possible that there may be one or more small underground lakes in the surrounding area which communicate with the Hogwarts loch via sunterranean fissures.
They walked past a mossy tree-stump. Harry could hear running water; there must be a stream somewhere close by. [PS ch. #15; p. 183]
Their robes billowed and swirled around them as they splashed across the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology [OotP ch. #18; p. 344]
We also don't know how the lake empties itself, if it does. I suppose it might be sitting exactly at the level of the water-table - but if it does have an outflow, it's either not very big (because students walking around the lake don't have to cross any notewortjy bridges) or it's underground. We do know the lake probably doesn't drain very freely, as the water-level rises noticeably in heavy rain even though the lake is probably quite high up.
The stream which runs through the forest is probably one, since the Forest seems to be at a lower level than the castle and to slope downwards away from it, at least in the area around Aragog's nest. Since the vegetable patch floods in heavy rain it may well be that this outlet stream runs through or close to the vegetable patch, irrigating it in summer and flooding it in winter.
From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water – except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep in the centre; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks – and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor ...[cut] Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, [cut] Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide towards the bank. [GoF ch. #15; p. 216/217]
It's to be hoped that the lake does have some significant inflow and outflow to keep it fresh, since the castle seems to empty its lavatories straight into the lake, and the merpeople and the squid have to live in that. And it's to be sincerely hoped that the castle doesn't get its drinking-water from the lake.
It is possible that the tunnel which leads the lake in under the castle connects to a subterranean outflow, probably connecting to Hogsmeade. This would enable the mer-people to swim to the sea if they want to, rather than being prisoners at Hogwarts, and it would explain why the Durmstrang ship popped up from underneath the surface of the lake: rather than Apparating there, it may have sailed upstream to Hogsmeade and then squeezed up a narrow subterranean fissure in the manner of the Knight Bus going through a narrow alley. That it comes up right in the middle of the lake could mean that there is another low-level fissure conencting the lake to its outflow, as well as or instead of the tunnel under the castle.
If the tunnel does lead to an outflow, though, it's going to be close to the outflow from the lavatories, which would risk polluting Hogsmeade. Perhaps some sort of physical or magical sewage filter in involved. Given that the mer-people seem to have quite a large village, it makes sense that they would be not just hunter-gatherers but farmers of edible waterweeds, so perhaps sewage from the castle is magically sanitised and pumped to underwater fields in the shallow areas of the lake.
Note that the Durmstrang ship comes up roughly in the middle of the lake and in a position which is visible from the lawn in front of the castle. On the map which I have worked out (below) that means that the ship surfaces a short distance south of the Mer village.
[cut] he worked his flippers furiously, but Ron and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging him back down ... he fixed his eyes skywards, although he knew he must still be very deep, the water above him was so dark ... [GoF ch. #26; p. 435]
Although the lake has shallows at the edges we know the main body of water is at least 12ft deep because it is described as being "fathoms deep", and a fathom is 6ft. The lake seems to be pretty deep when Harry swims down to the mer village, but we can set a limit on how deep. It's difficult to find figures for the depths at which swimmers start getting the bends, because it varies very much according to fitness, speed of ascent etc., but at a depth of 95ft swimmers are said to be at risk of developing the bends after only twenty minutes, and the hostages for the Second Task have certainly been down there a lot longer than that before Harry rescues them. So we know that the lake is at least 12ft deep, but a lot less than 95ft.
Quoting from Wikipedia article on Underwater:
The euphotic depth is the depth at which light intensity falls to 1% of the value at the surface. This depth is dependent upon water clarity, being only a few meters underwater in a turbid estuary, but may reach 200 meters in the open ocean. At the euphotic depth, plants (such as phytoplankton) have no net energy gain from photosynthesis and thus cannot grow.
He was passing over vast expanses of black mud now, which swirled murkily as he disturbed the water. [GoF ch. #26; p. 431]
Harry swam faster, and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were carrying spears, and chasing what looked like the giant squid. [GoF ch. #26; p. 431]
A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. [GoF ch. #26; p. 432]
Harry sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them [GoF ch. #26; p. 432]
The merpeople had greyish skins and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth [GoF ch. #26; p. 432]
He swam swiftly towards a seven-foot tall merman with a long green beard [GoF ch. #26; p. 433]
Half-a-dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads [GoF ch. #26; p. 433]
[cut] the mermen had understood him, because they suddenly stopped laughing. Their yellowish eyes were fixed upon Harry's wand [GoF ch. #26; p. 435]
As Harry swims from the lake shore towards the mer village, he experiences the water as fairly dark, and the visibility is only 10ft. After he has already started to swim up from the mer village - so probably at least 12ft above the floor of the lake - he looks up and still sees the water over him as dark.
But at the same time there is enough light to support substantial fields of water-weed, and for him to see some of the water-weed as pale green, not blue or dark, and to support gardens at the depth of the mer village; and Harry is able to see the mer village perfectly clearly and to distinguish colour (even eye-colour!) at that depth.
According to the Water Encyclopedia "Most of the visible light spectrum is absorbed within 10 meters (33 feet) of the water's surface [cut] The long wavelengths of the light spectrum—red, yellow, and orange—can penetrate to approximately 15, 30, and 50 meters (49, 98, and 164 feet), respectively, while the short wavelengths of the light spectrum—violet, blue and green—can penetrate further, to the lower limits of the euphotic zone." which it confirms is generally 330 ft.
So the fact that Harry can see yellow and green only limits us to 98 ft, and we know it's shallower than that anyway, because of the risk of getting the bends. According to Water on the Web the euphotic zone - the zone at which plants will grow - is generally two to three times the distance at which it is possible to see a Secchi disc (a 12" disc divided into four alternating black and white quadrants). Visibility where Harry is is supposed to be 10ft, which would limit the euphotic zone, and the mer village, to only 30ft depth. But a Secchi disc is designed to be highly visible, so probably Harry could see it rather further away and in any case he sees rather more of the mer village than you would expect if he can really only see 10ft around him. Even so, it limits the mer village to an absolute maximum of about 60ft - probably rather less, since we've no reason to think they are at the edge of the euphotic zone, and Harry can see pretty well.
We know the water tends to be a bit muddy, so probably the poor visibility is partly due to mud rather than depth. But mud in the water will reduce the amount of light getting through, so in order for the mer people to have gardens the mer village, and the areas of lake-floor which Harry passes over to get there, are probably not more than 40ft deep. But they can't be less than about 25ft deep, because Harry sees the water above him as so dark.
There's another way of looking at it (partly based on information gleaned by silvialaura from Italian-language websites). Surface water down to a depth of about 30ft generally has poor visibility due to the presence of mud and plankton. Below that, the water is more still and much more clear and visibility is much better, although the light has a deep green tinge. Even in very clear, still water, less than 25% of visible light penetrates beyond about 30ft, so between them these two factors mean that the fact that Harry looks up and sees the water above him as dark only means he's over 30ft down.
As Harry swims he sees 'a strange, dark, foggy landscape' in which 'he could only see ten feet around him', and yet there is enough light getting through to support large growths of plants. This suggests the water is muddy and he's stirred it up, rather than that it's dark because so deep - especially as he goes deeper from this point in order to reach the mer village, yet once he gets there he can still see the colour yellow. We're also told the floor of the lake is muddy and he's stirred it up.
Wherever Harry goes in the lake, although there are bare mudflats there are also areas of rich growth. There are different kinds of weed growing thickly, there are Grindylows, there are fish, as well as the mer-people and their gardens. The implication is that the lake isn't very deep and all of it is oxygenated and capable of supporting rich life.
Perhaps the bare mudflat is where the sewage outflow from the castle has buried everything....
There may, of course, be deep cold water beyond the mer village. The mer people might live on the edge of their own under-water cliff. But the area of lake Harry swims over is fairly shallow and full of life.
The description of the Second Task in GoF tells us a lot about what's on the floor of the lake, but to understand it we need to know where Harry starts from and which way he's headed.
To begin with, as explained in the section on scale Harry probably swims about 450-500 yards from the shore by the judges' table to the mer village, allowing for the fact that he swims for about twenty minutes, that normal long-distance speed for an experienced swimmer wearing flippers is only 1 mph, that he's an inexperienced swimmer and that he probably isn't going in a dead straight line, since he has to actually find the mer village. Although he may well have gone further than the middle of the lake to get to the mer village, there is no indication that in doing so he has come very close to the opposite shore. On the contrary, since he chooses to swim all the way back to the judges, rather than get out on a nearby bank and walk round, he's probably still in the middle of the water. So we know that in the direction in which he is travelling, the lake is a lot more than 450 yards long.
As shown in the section on scale, the size of the lake is constrained by the fact that Harry and Hermione are able to walk all the way around it three times without exhausting themselves. If the lake was roundish then you could get away with it being, say, 700 yards across and have the perimeter still be short enough to make walking round it three times for recreation feasible. But JK's own map shows it as having a definite long and short axis and an irregular outline, and if that's the case, and if it were about 700 yards across the short axis, then the length of the shoreline would be well over two miles and it seems unlikely that Harry and Hermione would walk around it three times. Ergo, the judges' table for the Second Task is at or near one end of the lake, and Harry swims up its long axis to reach the mer village.
'See you later, Dobby!' Harry shouted, and he sprinted along the corridor and down the stairs, three at a time. [cut] They stared as Harry flashed past, sending Colin and Dennis Creevey flying as he leapt down the stone steps and out into the bright, chilly grounds. As he pounded down the lawn he saw that the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now ranged along the opposite bank, rising in stands that were packed to bursting point and reflected in the lake below; the excited babble of the crowd echoed strangely across the water as Harry ran, flat out, around the other side of the lake towards the judges, who were sitting at another gold-draped table at the water's edge. [cut] 'Where have you been?' said a bossy, disapproving voice. 'The task's about to start.' [GoF ch. #26; p. 427]
We are told that Harry runs down the lawn and round the edge of the lake to its opposite side in order to reach the judges' table, which must be down the end of the lake and a little bit round the far side. We are not told whether he runs clockwise or anti-clockwise around the lake (i.e., which end of it he heads for). However, both on JK's own map and on my variant version, running clockwise would involve Harry either taking a wide detour to avoid the greenhouses, or running across the vegetable patch and in between the greenhouses, or taking a detour round the back of the castle between it and the lake. There's no indication that he does any of these things, so probably he goes anti-clockwise; heading initially in the general direction of the Quidditch pitch, and then following the lake shore round its end. Running flat out, it takes him only about five minutes or less to get there; since Dobby tells him in the library that he has ten minutes before the task starts, they then talk for about a minute and half, and then Harry has to run along a corridor and down from the fourth or fifth floor (see section on Hogwarts castle for how we know this), taking another couple of minutes at least, and then he sprints around the lake and arrives shortly before the task is due to start.
So, he runs from the castle to a point rounbd the end of the lake in about five minutes, or less. Assuming his running speed to be 10 mph, that means he could have run almost 1,500 yards, albeit if he were to run such a distance you would expect he would slow down. So, the distance from the castle to a point a short way around the far end of the lake is up to 1,500 yards - following the route taken by Haryr which probably cut off soem nbut not all of the curves of the shore - but it could be substantially less, depending on how long it took Harry to get through the castle, how fast he can run and how long before the task started he managed to arrive. And in swimming towards the mer village, Harry is also swimming back towards the castle.
Starting from the end of the lake furthest from the castle, Harry wades into shallow water. He has to walk out some way from the shore before the water is even waist-deep, so we know that at least at that end the lake has quite extensive shallows, from the sound of it probably extending 20-30ft from the shore. At this point the floor of the lake is covered in silt and in flat stones which are slimy, which probably means covered in algae; not surprizing in a lake which is contaminated by raw sewage.
As Harry leaves the shallows, the water quite rapidly becomes at least about 15ft deep. We know because he is already swimming below the surface (he must be, because he has gills), visibility is only 10ft at that point, and he can't see the bottom unless he dives.
As the water deepens, the first thing he comes to is a "dark, foggy landscape", which presumably means there's a lot of mud or algae in the water. In this area there are large expanses of tangled black waterweed and of bare muddy floor scattered with dull, glimmering stones (and with oxymorons).
Moving on from the area of flat plains and black weed, Harry goes deeper (so he is now probably down to about 25ft, at least). He passes through an area where there are small fish, fallen logs and random clumps of weed, and then comes to a great expanse of pale-green weed, 2ft tall and stretching ahead in the general direction of the castle (albeit "as far as he could see" is supposedly only 10ft). Grindylows live in this light-green weed.
Harry gave her the thumbs up to show his thanks, and set off once more, careful to swim a bit higher over the weed [GoF ch. #26; p. 431]
Escaping from the Grindylows, Harry goes deeper (so he is now down to probably about 30ft), but he is still swimming over waterweed - presumably this same pale-green, grass-like weed. He meets Moaning Myrtle and then swims on, initially still over the same weed.
He swims on for what feels like twenty minutes and is probably fifteen (if it was really twenty minutes, it would mean the mer village was nearly half a mile from shore and that Cedric took forty minutes to reach it but only twenty to get back, which is unlikely because Cedric doesn't have flippers). So Harry has swum something over 400 yards from the point where he met Myrtle. Somewhere during that 400 yards the pale-green weed ran out, to be replaced by plain black mud, easily disturbed. At this point, he is close to the mer village.
A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, Harry saw faces [GoF ch. #26; p. 432]
Harry sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and he even saw a pet Grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching him eagerly, pointing at his webbed hands and gills, talking behind their hands to each other. Harry sped around a corner and a very strange sight met his eyes. A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions towards them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson. [GoF ch. #26; p. 432]
There were rocks littering the lake bottom. He dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one, and returned to the statue. [GoF ch. #26; p. 433]
Approaching the mer village from the side away from the castle, you come first to a large rock painted with a hunting scene, showing merpeople with spears chasing the giant squid. Beyond that is the village proper. It is quite large, made up of simple houses made of algae-stained stone. The houses have windows. Houses at the centre of the village are more closely-packed than on the outskirts; some of those near the centre have gardens. The houses on the outskirts are clumped together in little clusters. There are either proper streets or some large buildings which obstruct the view, because Harry has to go round a corner before he can see the central square, where there is a large, rough sculpture of a merperson, hewn from a boulder. It is sculpted in the round, not just a relief, because it is possible to tie four people to the tail. The lake floor in this area is littered with rocks, some of them jagged and capable of holding an edge.
The mer village sounds quite large - we're probably looking at about two hundred houses, not twenty. They may be quite small, but some of them have gardens, and the ones on the outskirts, although not having gardens, have quite a lot of space around them. However, if we assume an average plot-size of about 20ft by 30ft (room for a small hut-type house plus smallish garden, bearing in mind that not all the houses have gardens), we can still get two hundred houses, a village square and enough space for streets into a rough circle about 150 yards across. We don't want it any bigger than that, otherwise it starts to occupy too high a proportion of the lake floor. It seems fairly clear from the descriptions that JKR intends the merpeople's world to be a small village surrounded by vaste murky plains - not a sizeable town with a small amount of unused ground around the edges.
He led them to the very edge of the Forest. Holding his lamp up high he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. [PS ch. #15; p. 183]
'I'll leave Fang with yeh, Headmaster,' Hagrid said, still staring menacingly at Karkaroff, who was still sprawled at the foot of the tree, tangled in furs and tree-roots. [GoF ch. #28; p. 488]
The internal layout of the Forest - its paths and clearings and Acromantula nests - has its own separate page. This section below deals only with the edge of the Forest as it impinges on the layout of the Hogwarts grounds.
The trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest are generally dark, with tangled roots. They are probably not very tall, since we know that JK Rowling classifies a twenty-foot tree as "towering" (see section on lawns).
Then, as they glimpsed the front of Hagrid's house, they heard a knock upon his door. They moved quickly behind a wide oak trunk [PoA ch. #21; p. 291]
Next moment a man had staggered out from behind a tall oak. For a moment, Harry didn't recognise him ... then he realised it was Mr Crouch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 480]
Although we know that there is a swathe of pine trees between the station and the lake, and there are pines and yews deep in the Forest (see separate page on the internal features of the Forbidden Forest), the edge of the Forest where it meets the Hogwarts grounds seems to be entirely deciduous. At least, the only trees which are mentioned are a large sycamore near Hagrid's house, and a tall oak near where the Beauxbatons carriage parks. The oak from which they peer at Hagrid's cabin in PoA may be the same one from behind which Barty Crouch Snr. emerges - or at least very near it. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. [PS ch. #08; p. 104] 'What're we going this way for?' said Harry, as they passed Hagrid's cabin, and the illuminated Beauxbatons carriage. 'Don't vont to be overheard,' said Krum shortly. When at last they had reached a quiet stretch of ground, a short way from the Beauxbatons' horses' paddock, Krum stopped in the shade of the trees and turned to face Harry. [GoF ch. #28; p. 479] 'Where are they?' said Dumbledore, as the Beauxbatons carriage emerged from the darkness. 'Over here,' said Harry, moving in front of Dumbledore, leading the way through the trees. He couldn't hear Crouch's voice any more, but he knew where he was going; it hadn't been much past the Beauxbatons carriage ... somewhere around here ... [GoF ch. #28; p. 485] He raised his wand into the air and pointed it in the direction of Hagrid's cabin. Harry saw something silvery dart out of it and streak away through the trees like a ghostly bird. [GoF ch. #28; p. 486] As they neared Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the mystery of the Beauxbatons' sleeping quarters was solved. The gigantic powder-blue carriage in which they had arrived had been parked two hundred yards from Hagrid's front door [GoF ch. #16; p. 231/232] They set off back towards the castle, walking slowly to keep themselves hidden under the Cloak. Light was fading fast now. By the time they reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them. [PoA ch. #17; p. 244] The edge of the Forest is evidently quite uneven and wavy. We know that Hagrid's cabin is close to the edge of the Forest, yet coming from the Quidditch pitch Harry and Krum walk past Hagrid's cabin, past the Beauxbatons carriage and at least part of a paddock big enough to hold twelve elephant-sized flying horses, and then come to edge of the Forest. And although they are said to be only standing at the Forest's edge when Crouch appears, when Harry leads Dumbledore back to the spot they come to the Beauxbatons carriage and then walk through trees to find Krum, and when Dumbledore sends a Patronus-messenger from that point to Hagrid's cabin, it goes through trees to get there. This suggests that the Forest swings round in loops and lumps and curliques, with the Beauxbatons carriage and the paddock tucked into an arena of grass which is almost surrounded by trees - which would also explain why the Trio couldn't see the Beauxbatons carriage until they were close to Hagrid's cabin, and why the area around Hagrid's cabin is not considered to be open ground. For one nasty moment, Harry thought that Hagrid was going to lead them into the Forest; Harry had had enough unpleasant experiences in there to last him a lifetime. However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. [PoA ch. #06; p. 86] Madame Maxime closed the door behind her, Hagrid offered her his arm, and they set off around the edge of the paddock containing Madame Maxime's giant winged horses [cut} But then – when they had walked so far around the perimeter of the Forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight – Harry heard something. Men were shouting up ahead ... then came a deafening, ear-splitting roar ... Hagrid led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. Harry hurried up alongside them – for a split second, he thought he was seeing bonfires and men darting around them – and then his mouth fell open. Dragons. Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood [GoF ch. #19; p. 285/286] She was leading him towards the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the Forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view. [GoF ch. #20; p. 305] He walked out through the entrance of the tent [cut] And now he was walking past the trees, through a gap in the enclosure fence. [GoF ch. #20; p. 309] And then he heard it, speeding through the air behind him; he turned and saw his Firebolt hurtling towards him around the edge of the woods [GoF ch. #20; p. 309] Harry left the tent, rejoined Ron, and they started to walk back around the edge of the Forest, talking hard [cut] Then, as they rounded the clump of trees behind which Harry had first heard the dragons roar, a witch leapt out from behind them. [GoF ch. #20; p. 316] Rattling and swaying, the carriages moved in convoy up the road. When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, Harry leaned forwards to try and see whether there were any lights on in Hagrid's cabin by the Forbidden Forest [OotP ch. #11; p. 181] Likewise, from Hagrid's cabin to the area where the Hippogriffs and, later, the dragons are kept, the edge of the Forest swings round in a convex curve which cuts off the view of the lake and the castle (but which doesn't protrude so far as to interrupt the line of sight between the front gates and Hagrid's cabin). Going round this curve you come to a clump of trees and then the dragon pen, which must be pretty large, isn't properly visible until you go round the clump. That suggests that the pen is tucked even further into the curve, which forms a sort of J-shape. [cut] they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there. 'Everyone gather round the fence here!' he called. [PoA ch. #06; p. 86] 'Oooooooh!' squealed Lavender Brown, pointing towards the opposite side of the paddock. Trotting towards them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry had ever seen. [cut] Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures. [PoA ch. #06; p. 87] Harry ignored them. He climbed over the paddock fence. [PoA ch. #06; p. 88] Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. [PoA ch. #06; p. 90] Hermione ran to open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy easily. As they passed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash in Malfoy's arm; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope towards the castle. [PoA ch. #06; p. 90] The Hippogriff paddock incidentally is surrounded by a fence which is low enough to climb quite easily, but it seems to only have one gate, which is on the far side from the side the students approach from, and which presumably backs onto the Forest: since Hagrid fetches the Hippogriffs from a location in which they weren't visible to the students, and then appears leading them in through the gate. There seems to be just one gate because the students have to climb into the paddock, and because when Hagrid carries Draco back up to the castle he then passes Harry and the others, who are presumably still at the castle side of the enclosure. The paddock is big enough that it takes a while for twelve horse-sized Hippogriffs to trot across it. Say fifty yards across at least, probably more. Harry tore past Hagrid and his opponent, took aim at Snape's back and yelled, 'Stupefy!' [cut] Snape shouted, 'Run, Draco!' and turned; twenty yards apart he and Harry looked at each other [cut] [cut] the huge Death Eater behind him yelled, 'Incendio!'; Harry heard an explosive bang and a dancing orange light spilled over all of them: Hagrid's house was on fire. [HBP ch. #28; p. 561/562] [cut] he staggered blindly towards Snape [cut] [cut] Snape closed in and looked down on him where he lay [cut] Snape's pale face, illuminated by the flaming cabin, was suffused with hatred [HBP ch. #28; p. 563] Harry had dived for his wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew feet away into the darkness and out of sight. [cut] As Harry raised himself into a sitting position [cut] he saw Snape running as hard as he could [cut] Harry struggled to his feet, looking around groggily for his wand, hoping to give chase again, but even as his fingers fumbled in the grass, discarding twigs, he knew it would be too late, and sure enough, by the time he had located his wand he turned only to see the Hippogriff circling the gates: Snape had managed to Disapparate just beyond the school's boundaries. [cut] He stumbled towards the burning house [HBP ch. #28; p. 564] The Forest probably approaches quite close to the driveway in between Hagrid's house and the front gates, so presumably as part of the curve around to the paddock area. We know because when Harry chases Snape and the Death Eaters towards the front gates, he comes to an area where there are twigs scattered in the grass, after passing Hagrid's cabin, and close enough to the front gates that Snape, who had been standing right next to Harry, reaches the gates from there in the time it takes Harry to find his wand. The time it takes Harry to find his wand is probably less than a minute - we know it shot away into darkness, but the area is being illuminated quite strongly, if flickeringly, by the flames from Hagrid's cabin. The Whomping Willow was a very violent tree which stood alone in the middle of the grounds. [PoA ch. #09; p. 136] 'OK, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!' said Hermione breathlessly. 'We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!' Still working out what she meant, Harry set off at a sprint, Hermione behind him. They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing towards the shelter of the Forest ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 290/291] It would appear that the edge of the Forest does not approach the lake or the greenhouses very closely, or if it does it then falls back around a wide stretch of open lawn. When Time-Turned Harry and Hermione need to approach Hagrid's cabin without being seen, they go round by the greenhouses and then across open grass near the Whomping Willow, which we know stands alone in the middle of the grounds. If the Forest approached anywhere near the greenhouses you would think they would just join it there and follow it round, unless it falls back in such a wide curve that following it would make their journey impractically long. We already established in the section on lawns that there in an obstruction of some sort, probably a rise in the ground, between the greenhouses and the Whomping Willow, so probably what Harry and Hermione are doing is using the greenhouses as a screen which enables them to get behind the bulge in the ground and follow it round as near to the Willow as it goes, before they break cover. Otherwise skirting the Willow doesn't make much sense - neither on my map nor on JK's. They moved around the edge of the Forest, darkness falling thickly around them, until they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow. [PoA ch. #21; p. 295] [cut] they heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle. [cut] They watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear from view. For a few minutes the scene was deserted. Then – 'Here comes Lupin!' said Harry, as they saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and haring towards the Willow. [cut] Barely two minutes later, the castle doors flew open yet again, and Snape had come charging out of them, running towards the Willow. [PoA ch. #21; p. 295/296] Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Sirius, his chin bumping on his chest. And then – A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. [cut] There was a howl and a rumbling growl; Harry turned to see the werewolf taking flight; it was galloping into the forest – [PoA ch. #20; p. 278/279] 'Hermione!' said Harry suddenly. 'We've got to move!' [cut] '[cut] Lupin's going to run into the Forest, right at us!' [PoA ch. #21; p. 299] There is a free-standing or nearly free-standing clump of trees at the edge of the Forest, in a convenient position from which to observe the Whomping Willow. From this clump of trees there is also a clear view to the castle's front doors. We know that the clump is towards the castle/Hagrid's cabin side of the Willow, not on the far side, because Lupin turns into a werewolf somewhere between the Willow and the castle, and then he runs into the Forest at or very close to this clump. In fact, it must be pretty close to being directly in front of the castle, because Dumbledore, Macnair etc. pass close by en route between Hagrid's cabin and the main door, and even if the path winds about quite a lot they won't have gone very far past the level of the main doors before turning back. He led them to the very edge of the Forest. Holding his lamp up high he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. [PS ch. #15; p. 183] 'Yeh – yeh'll see in a mo',' said Hagrid, looking over his shoulder as a great roar rose from the stands behind them. [cut] They had to jog to keep up with him as he strode across the lawn, looking around with every other step. When they reached his cabin, Hermione turned automatically left towards the front door. Hagrid, however, walked straight past it into the shade of the trees on the outermost edge of the Forest [OotP ch. #30; p. 604] [cut] Harry felt no sense of unease until Hagrid stepped unexpectedly off the path and began wending his way in and out of trees towards the dark heart of the Forest. [OotP ch. #30; p. 606] Hagrid’s hut loomed out of the darkness. [cut] All those visits to Hagrid, and the gleam of the copper kettle on the fire, [cut] He moved on, and now he reached the edge of the Forest [DH ch. #34; p. 559] Somewhere near Hagrid's cabin, there is a path going into the trees. We are not told exactly where it starts, but when Hagrid takes Harry and Hermione to see Grawp they start from the Quidditch pitch and then pass Hagrid's cabin on their left before entering the Forest. Although we are not told that they use the path at the outset, instead of cutting through the woods and joining it later, they are certainly walking along a path some time later and it seems likely that they followed the path from the beginning. This would put the start of the path somewhere north or north-east of Hagrid's cabin, since the Quidditch pitch is south or south-west of it. Harry also enters the Forest near Hagrid's cabin when he goes to meet Voldemort in DH. At last they rejoined the path and, after another ten minutes, the trees began to thin; they were able to see patches of clear blue sky again and, in the distance, the definite sounds of cheering and shouting. 'Was that another goal?' asked Hagrid, pausing in the shelter of the trees as the Quidditch stadium came into view. [OotP ch. #30; p. 617] When they return down this path after meeting Grawp, they come into an area near the edge of the Forest where the tree-cover is thinner and they can hear the noise from the Quidditch pitch. It is not clear whether they also see the pitch through the trees, or only see it when they get to the entrance/exit of the path. However, making the trees in this area spaced widely enough to see some distance between the trunks would raise the possibility that students would be able to see the dragons through the trees in GoF, since they are penned in this area at the edge of the Forest, and screened from the grounds only by a curve of trees. We must assume therefore that the stadium is visible only from the mouth of the path, even though the trees at the edge of the Forest nearest the stadium/paddock area are quite thinly spaced and open. Return to contents-list The Whomping Willow
'Where are they?' said Dumbledore, as the Beauxbatons carriage emerged from the darkness. 'Over here,' said Harry, moving in front of Dumbledore, leading the way through the trees. He couldn't hear Crouch's voice any more, but he knew where he was going; it hadn't been much past the Beauxbatons carriage ... somewhere around here ... [GoF ch. #28; p. 485]
He raised his wand into the air and pointed it in the direction of Hagrid's cabin. Harry saw something silvery dart out of it and streak away through the trees like a ghostly bird. [GoF ch. #28; p. 486]
As they neared Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the mystery of the Beauxbatons' sleeping quarters was solved. The gigantic powder-blue carriage in which they had arrived had been parked two hundred yards from Hagrid's front door [GoF ch. #16; p. 231/232]
The edge of the Forest is evidently quite uneven and wavy. We know that Hagrid's cabin is close to the edge of the Forest, yet coming from the Quidditch pitch Harry and Krum walk past Hagrid's cabin, past the Beauxbatons carriage and at least part of a paddock big enough to hold twelve elephant-sized flying horses, and then come to edge of the Forest. And although they are said to be only standing at the Forest's edge when Crouch appears, when Harry leads Dumbledore back to the spot they come to the Beauxbatons carriage and then walk through trees to find Krum, and when Dumbledore sends a Patronus-messenger from that point to Hagrid's cabin, it goes through trees to get there. This suggests that the Forest swings round in loops and lumps and curliques, with the Beauxbatons carriage and the paddock tucked into an arena of grass which is almost surrounded by trees - which would also explain why the Trio couldn't see the Beauxbatons carriage until they were close to Hagrid's cabin, and why the area around Hagrid's cabin is not considered to be open ground.
Madame Maxime closed the door behind her, Hagrid offered her his arm, and they set off around the edge of the paddock containing Madame Maxime's giant winged horses [cut} But then – when they had walked so far around the perimeter of the Forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight – Harry heard something. Men were shouting up ahead ... then came a deafening, ear-splitting roar ... Hagrid led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. Harry hurried up alongside them – for a split second, he thought he was seeing bonfires and men darting around them – and then his mouth fell open. Dragons. Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood [GoF ch. #19; p. 285/286]
She was leading him towards the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the Forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view. [GoF ch. #20; p. 305]
He walked out through the entrance of the tent [cut] And now he was walking past the trees, through a gap in the enclosure fence. [GoF ch. #20; p. 309]
And then he heard it, speeding through the air behind him; he turned and saw his Firebolt hurtling towards him around the edge of the woods [GoF ch. #20; p. 309]
Harry left the tent, rejoined Ron, and they started to walk back around the edge of the Forest, talking hard [cut] Then, as they rounded the clump of trees behind which Harry had first heard the dragons roar, a witch leapt out from behind them. [GoF ch. #20; p. 316]
Rattling and swaying, the carriages moved in convoy up the road. When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, Harry leaned forwards to try and see whether there were any lights on in Hagrid's cabin by the Forbidden Forest [OotP ch. #11; p. 181]
Likewise, from Hagrid's cabin to the area where the Hippogriffs and, later, the dragons are kept, the edge of the Forest swings round in a convex curve which cuts off the view of the lake and the castle (but which doesn't protrude so far as to interrupt the line of sight between the front gates and Hagrid's cabin). Going round this curve you come to a clump of trees and then the dragon pen, which must be pretty large, isn't properly visible until you go round the clump. That suggests that the pen is tucked even further into the curve, which forms a sort of J-shape.
'Oooooooh!' squealed Lavender Brown, pointing towards the opposite side of the paddock. Trotting towards them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry had ever seen. [cut] Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures. [PoA ch. #06; p. 87]
Harry ignored them. He climbed over the paddock fence. [PoA ch. #06; p. 88]
Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. [PoA ch. #06; p. 90]
Hermione ran to open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy easily. As they passed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash in Malfoy's arm; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope towards the castle. [PoA ch. #06; p. 90]
The Hippogriff paddock incidentally is surrounded by a fence which is low enough to climb quite easily, but it seems to only have one gate, which is on the far side from the side the students approach from, and which presumably backs onto the Forest: since Hagrid fetches the Hippogriffs from a location in which they weren't visible to the students, and then appears leading them in through the gate. There seems to be just one gate because the students have to climb into the paddock, and because when Hagrid carries Draco back up to the castle he then passes Harry and the others, who are presumably still at the castle side of the enclosure. The paddock is big enough that it takes a while for twelve horse-sized Hippogriffs to trot across it. Say fifty yards across at least, probably more.
[cut] he staggered blindly towards Snape [cut] [cut] Snape closed in and looked down on him where he lay [cut] Snape's pale face, illuminated by the flaming cabin, was suffused with hatred [HBP ch. #28; p. 563]
Harry had dived for his wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew feet away into the darkness and out of sight. [cut] As Harry raised himself into a sitting position [cut] he saw Snape running as hard as he could [cut] Harry struggled to his feet, looking around groggily for his wand, hoping to give chase again, but even as his fingers fumbled in the grass, discarding twigs, he knew it would be too late, and sure enough, by the time he had located his wand he turned only to see the Hippogriff circling the gates: Snape had managed to Disapparate just beyond the school's boundaries. [cut] He stumbled towards the burning house [HBP ch. #28; p. 564]
The Forest probably approaches quite close to the driveway in between Hagrid's house and the front gates, so presumably as part of the curve around to the paddock area. We know because when Harry chases Snape and the Death Eaters towards the front gates, he comes to an area where there are twigs scattered in the grass, after passing Hagrid's cabin, and close enough to the front gates that Snape, who had been standing right next to Harry, reaches the gates from there in the time it takes Harry to find his wand. The time it takes Harry to find his wand is probably less than a minute - we know it shot away into darkness, but the area is being illuminated quite strongly, if flickeringly, by the flames from Hagrid's cabin.
The Whomping Willow was a very violent tree which stood alone in the middle of the grounds. [PoA ch. #09; p. 136]
It would appear that the edge of the Forest does not approach the lake or the greenhouses very closely, or if it does it then falls back around a wide stretch of open lawn. When Time-Turned Harry and Hermione need to approach Hagrid's cabin without being seen, they go round by the greenhouses and then across open grass near the Whomping Willow, which we know stands alone in the middle of the grounds. If the Forest approached anywhere near the greenhouses you would think they would just join it there and follow it round, unless it falls back in such a wide curve that following it would make their journey impractically long. We already established in the section on lawns that there in an obstruction of some sort, probably a rise in the ground, between the greenhouses and the Whomping Willow, so probably what Harry and Hermione are doing is using the greenhouses as a screen which enables them to get behind the bulge in the ground and follow it round as near to the Willow as it goes, before they break cover. Otherwise skirting the Willow doesn't make much sense - neither on my map nor on JK's.
[cut] they heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle. [cut] They watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear from view. For a few minutes the scene was deserted. Then – 'Here comes Lupin!' said Harry, as they saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and haring towards the Willow. [cut] Barely two minutes later, the castle doors flew open yet again, and Snape had come charging out of them, running towards the Willow. [PoA ch. #21; p. 295/296]
Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Sirius, his chin bumping on his chest. And then – A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. [cut] There was a howl and a rumbling growl; Harry turned to see the werewolf taking flight; it was galloping into the forest – [PoA ch. #20; p. 278/279]
'Hermione!' said Harry suddenly. 'We've got to move!' [cut] '[cut] Lupin's going to run into the Forest, right at us!' [PoA ch. #21; p. 299]
There is a free-standing or nearly free-standing clump of trees at the edge of the Forest, in a convenient position from which to observe the Whomping Willow. From this clump of trees there is also a clear view to the castle's front doors. We know that the clump is towards the castle/Hagrid's cabin side of the Willow, not on the far side, because Lupin turns into a werewolf somewhere between the Willow and the castle, and then he runs into the Forest at or very close to this clump. In fact, it must be pretty close to being directly in front of the castle, because Dumbledore, Macnair etc. pass close by en route between Hagrid's cabin and the main door, and even if the path winds about quite a lot they won't have gone very far past the level of the main doors before turning back.
'Yeh – yeh'll see in a mo',' said Hagrid, looking over his shoulder as a great roar rose from the stands behind them. [cut] They had to jog to keep up with him as he strode across the lawn, looking around with every other step. When they reached his cabin, Hermione turned automatically left towards the front door. Hagrid, however, walked straight past it into the shade of the trees on the outermost edge of the Forest [OotP ch. #30; p. 604]
[cut] Harry felt no sense of unease until Hagrid stepped unexpectedly off the path and began wending his way in and out of trees towards the dark heart of the Forest. [OotP ch. #30; p. 606]
Hagrid’s hut loomed out of the darkness. [cut] All those visits to Hagrid, and the gleam of the copper kettle on the fire, [cut] He moved on, and now he reached the edge of the Forest [DH ch. #34; p. 559]
Somewhere near Hagrid's cabin, there is a path going into the trees. We are not told exactly where it starts, but when Hagrid takes Harry and Hermione to see Grawp they start from the Quidditch pitch and then pass Hagrid's cabin on their left before entering the Forest. Although we are not told that they use the path at the outset, instead of cutting through the woods and joining it later, they are certainly walking along a path some time later and it seems likely that they followed the path from the beginning. This would put the start of the path somewhere north or north-east of Hagrid's cabin, since the Quidditch pitch is south or south-west of it. Harry also enters the Forest near Hagrid's cabin when he goes to meet Voldemort in DH.
When they return down this path after meeting Grawp, they come into an area near the edge of the Forest where the tree-cover is thinner and they can hear the noise from the Quidditch pitch. It is not clear whether they also see the pitch through the trees, or only see it when they get to the entrance/exit of the path. However, making the trees in this area spaced widely enough to see some distance between the trunks would raise the possibility that students would be able to see the dragons through the trees in GoF, since they are penned in this area at the edge of the Forest, and screened from the grounds only by a curve of trees. We must assume therefore that the stadium is visible only from the mouth of the path, even though the trees at the edge of the Forest nearest the stadium/paddock area are quite thinly spaced and open.
As discussed in the section on lawns, we know that the Whomping Willow stands alone in the grounds, and there is an obstruction of some kind, probably a hillock, obscuring the line of sight between it and the greenhouses.
{cut] Harry set off at a sprint, Hermione behind him. They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing towards the shelter of the Forest ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 291]
They set off back towards the castle [cut] By the time they reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them. [PoA ch. #17; p. 244]
Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off himself and pelted away into the darkness. [cut] [Hermione] and Harry looked at each other, then followed at a sprint; it was impossible to run full out under the Cloak; they pulled it off and it streamed behind them like a banner as they hurtled after Ron; they could hear his feet thundering along ahead and his shouts at Crookshanks. [cut] The wand-light showed him the trunk of a thick tree; they had chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow [PoA ch. #17; p. 245/246]
No breath of wind disturbed the treetops in the Forbidden Forest; the Whomping Willow was motionless and innocent-looking. [cut] [cut] An animal of some kind was prowling across the silvery lawn. Harry [cut] snatched up his glasses, and [cut] hurried back to the window. [cut] He peered out at the grounds again and [cut] spotted it. It was skirting the edge of the Forest now ... [cut] it was a cat ... [PoA ch. #15; p. 223]
[cut] he ran faster than he had ever moved in his life, and it was he who saw the great tree first, the Willow that protected the secret at its roots with whip-like, slashing branches. [DH ch. #32; p. 522/523]
We know that there is a wide area of lawn between the vegetable patch and the Whomping Willow, and that it is on a short route between the greenhouses and the Forest, suitable to be taken by somebody trying to reach the Forest in a hurry. It is quite a long way from the area near Hagrid's cabin, and probably quite a way off from the route between Hagrid's cabin and the castle - judging from how far the Trio seem to run pursuing Scabbers, and how far they had already come before he escaped. Its position is such that Harry, looking from the dorm room at the top of Gryffindor Tower, is able to see both the Willow and the nearest approach of the Forest from the same window (a point from which he can distinguish an individual cat! - so not more than about 300 yards).
We know also that the tree is a significant distance from the front doors of the castle, and closer to the Forest than to the castle. In DH, Harry runs for a noticeable time in order to reach a point halfway between the castle and the Forest, and then runs on from there to reach the Willow.
JK's own map shows the Willow as rto the front of the castle, in between the castle and Hagrid's hut, but at no point is anybody described as passing by the Willow en route between the main doors and Hagrid's place. We know that Hagrid's hut is about 320 yards from the front of the castle, and a normal human goes at about 80 yards per minute when walking, and at about 10mph, or nearly 300 yards a minute, when running fast. When the Trio come away from Hagrid's hut after they think Buckbeak has been executed, they walk some way towards the castle, and this takes at least a few minutes, because "By the time they reached open ground, darkness was settling" - a remark which would make no sense if they had walked for mere seconds. If they have walked for even as little as two minutes, or 160 yards, they ought to be almost on top of the Willow by this point if it were positioned as shown on JK's map, but instead they then have a significant sprint to get to the tree. The Willow must in fact be some distance past the castle, as you come from Hagrid's hut.
Lupin sighed. 'They planted the Whomping Willow the same year that I arrived at Hogwarts.' [PoA ch. #10; p. 139]
The tree was obviously transplanted to the Hogwarts grounds, not planted there as a sapling, since we know it was only placed in its current position during the academic year 1971/1972, and yet it is described as an old tree.
The wand-light showed him the trunk of a thick tree; they had chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow [PoA ch. #17; p. 246]
Ron gasped, staring through the windscreen, and Harry looked around just in time to see a branch as thick as a python smash into it. The tree they had hit was attacking them. Its trunk was bent almost double, and its gnarled boughs were pummelling every inch of the car it could reach. 'Aaargh!' said Ron as another twisted limb punched a large dent into his door; the windshield was now trembling under a hail of blows from knuckle-like twigs and a branch as thick as a battering ram was pounding furiously on the roof [CoS ch. #05; p. 59/60]
Another branch whipped down at them, twigs clenched like knuckles. [PoA ch. #17; p. 246]
They watched Lupin seize a broken branch from the ground and prod the knot on the trunk. [PoA ch. #21; p. 296]
The Whomping Willow was creaking and lashing out with its lower branches [PoA ch. #21; p. 295]
[cut] it was he who saw the great tree first, the Willow that protected the secret at its roots with whip-like, slashing branches. Panting and gasping, Harry slowed down, skirting the Willow's swiping branches, peering through the darkness towards its thick trunk [DH ch. #32; p. 523]
The Willow has a thick trunk, and thick, gnarled branches which flail like tentacles and are described as "whip-like", and which probably start quite near the ground. It can clench its twigs like knuckles. Although the branches are thick they can be snapped, and evidently not just by flying cars, since Lupin finds a broken branch under the Willow nearly two years after the flying Ford Anglia incident.
Crookshanks darted forwards. He slithered between the battering branches like a snake and placed his front paws upon a knot on the trunk. Abruptly, as though the tree had been turned to marble, it stopped moving. [cut] They covered the distance to the trunk in seconds, but before they had reached the gap in the roots, Crookshanks had slid into it with a flick of his bottle-brush tail. Harry went next; he crawled forwards, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel. [PoA ch. #17; p. 246/247]
Harry wriggled into the earthy passage hidden in the tree’s roots. It was a much tighter squeeze than it had been the last time they had entered it. [DH ch. #32; p. 523]
There is a a hole among the Willow's roots, leading down into the start of a low tunnel which eventually leads to the Shrieking Shack. The mouth of the tunnel is wide enough to admit a large dog dragging a tallish fourteen-year-old boy, but small enough to be a tight squeeze for a young adult.. The roots are so gnarled that at least one evidently curls right out of the ground, or perhaps sticks up in a complex knobbly curve, since Ron is able to wedge his leg into it so firmly that it breaks rather than pulling free; and we must assume that they are long and strong, gripping the ground firmly beyond the limits of the hole so the tree doesn't collapse into it when the ground is softened by rain.
[cut] Harry slowed down, skirting the Willow's swiping branches, peering through the darkness towards its thick trunk, trying to see the single knot in the bark of the old tree that would paralyse it. [cut][cut]The twig [cut] jabbed at a place near the roots and at once, the writhing tree became still. [DH ch. #32; p. 523]
On the lower part of the trunk, at a height accessible to a large domestic cat or an agile rat, there is a knot-hole which acts as a switch to deactivate the Willow's thrashing about. It is described as "the single knot" which will paralyse the tree; it's not clear whether this means the tree has only one knot, or several knots only one of which has this effect.
The Willow's lower branches are presumably not all that long, since Lupin was able to deactivate it by prodding the knothole with a branch without getting hit. It might have been a really long branch, of course - but if so it would be unwieldy and difficult to manoeuvre, and there's no suggestion that Lupin had any trouble with it.
Nor do the lower branches hang right down to the ground. We know both that the tree can bend its trunk and that it can strike low enough that Padfoot can't approach it without being hit, presumably not even if he crawls on his belly. But Wormtail can, so the tree can't strike close enough to the ground to hit a rat, presumably not even by bending its trunk. If the branches habitually hung very low, bending at the trunk ought to enable it to hit the ground but it doesn't, so they don't. Gnarled oak on the golf-course at the Marriott Country Club, St Pierre, near junction of M48 and A48, © Jonathan Billinger at Geograph Detail of JK Rowling\'s own sketch of Hogwarts Reclining mulberry tree on the golf-course at the Marriott Country Club, St Pierre, near the Marriott hotel, courtesy of John Nettleship Visually, the Whomping Willow may have been inspired by two grand and very gnarled and knobbly trees which grow at the Marriott country club and golf course at St Pierre in South Wales - a club of which the Rowling family were members when they lived at Chepstow, and where the young Joanne swam regularly. Neither of these is a willow, but the limbs of the oak resemble JKR's own sketch of the Whomping Willow to a remarkable degree, and the mulberry "whomped" by falling over while the Rowlings were members, and then continued to grow, sideways, with its trunk bent to the ground. Both trees are in prominent positions - the mulberry next to the Marriott hotel, the oak by the main path around the grounds - where the young Jo would have been bound to see them. Old willows near Coxley Wick, Somerset © Derek Harper at Geograph Old willow at Golders Green, North London © Martin Addison at Geograph Real willow trees, however, can also become quite gnarly and sinister-looking in old age, especially if they've been pollarded - that is, with the main trunk having been cut back to encourage the growth of numerous smaller trunks from the raw surface. You can imagine that the Whomping Willow is a species as thick and gnarled as an ancient oak, but as flexible and whippy as a normal willow. They set off back towards the castle, walking slowly to keep themselves hidden under the Cloak. Light was fading fast now. By the time they reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them. [cut][cut] Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off himself and pelted away into the darkness. [cut][cut] they hurtled after Ron [cut] Harry and Hermione almost fell over Ron; they skidded to a stop right in front of him. He was sprawled on the ground,[cut] The wand-light showed him the trunk of a thick tree; they had chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow and its branches were creaking as though in a high wind, whipping backwards and forwards to stop them going nearer. [cut] And there, at the base of the trunk, was the dog, dragging Ron backwards into a large gap in the roots [PoA ch. #17; p. 244-246] They moved around the edge of the Forest, darkness falling thickly around them, until they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow. [cut] 'There's Sirius!' said Harry. The great shape of the dog had bounded out from the roots of the Willow. They saw him bowl Harry over, then seize Ron ... 'Looks even worse from here, doesn't it?' said Harry, watching the dog pulling Ron into the roots. [cut][cut] they heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle. [cut] 'Here comes Lupin!' said Harry, as they saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and haring towards the Willow. [cut] They watched Lupin seize a broken branch from the ground and prod the knot on the trunk. The tree stopped fighting, and Lupin, too, disappeared into the gap in its roots. [PoA ch. #21; p. 295/296] They saw Lupin, Ron and Pettigrew clambering awkwardly out of the hole in the roots. [PoA ch. #21; p. 298] We can also make a stab at which way the hole in the Willow faces. In the scene leading up to the point where Padfoot grabs Ron, the Trio come out of Hagrid's hut, walk through the rough ground surrounding it and onto the lawn in front of the castle, although we do not know how far they get. From there they run towards the Willow, chasing Scabbers. They seem to be running in a fairly straight line, not weaving about, and they end up at the Willow in a position from which they can then clearly see Padfoot drag Ron down the hole, so the hole faces more or less towards the spot on the lawn from which they started running, which was either in front of the castle or between Hagrid's hut and the castle. Later, Harry, Hermione and Buckbeak hide at the edge of the Forest at a point at which they can clearly see the Willow, and the hole in the Willow. At this point they must be in a bit of the Forest more or less straight in front of the castle. We know this because they're not in the bit near Hagrid's hut, because from there there would be a dense stand of trees between them and the Willow, and they can't have gone much further towards the Willow than bang in front of the castle, because Dumbledore, Fudge and Macnair pass very close by them, en route between Hagrid's hut and the main door. Ergo, from a position which we know must be not more than around 300 yards in front of the castle (because of the constraints we adressed before about the distance from which Harry could possibly see Crookshanks in the pre-dawn light), they are looking at the hole in the tree. So, the hole in the trunk of the Willow faces crosswise across the castle, but because it is probably out to the side, in the middle of the lawn, the hole should be visible on a diagonal from every point on the front or the near end of the main castle building. The point from which it would come closest to being seen straight-on would be from the West Wing and West or Owl Tower, which project from the front of the castle out into the lawns. This raises the possibility that when Snape saw Lupin being escorted to the Willow he was up in the Owl Tower, attending to an owl. Return to contents-list Hagrid's cabin
Visually, the Whomping Willow may have been inspired by two grand and very gnarled and knobbly trees which grow at the Marriott country club and golf course at St Pierre in South Wales - a club of which the Rowling family were members when they lived at Chepstow, and where the young Joanne swam regularly. Neither of these is a willow, but the limbs of the oak resemble JKR's own sketch of the Whomping Willow to a remarkable degree, and the mulberry "whomped" by falling over while the Rowlings were members, and then continued to grow, sideways, with its trunk bent to the ground. Both trees are in prominent positions - the mulberry next to the Marriott hotel, the oak by the main path around the grounds - where the young Jo would have been bound to see them. Old willows near Coxley Wick, Somerset © Derek Harper at Geograph Old willow at Golders Green, North London © Martin Addison at Geograph Real willow trees, however, can also become quite gnarly and sinister-looking in old age, especially if they've been pollarded - that is, with the main trunk having been cut back to encourage the growth of numerous smaller trunks from the raw surface. You can imagine that the Whomping Willow is a species as thick and gnarled as an ancient oak, but as flexible and whippy as a normal willow.
They moved around the edge of the Forest, darkness falling thickly around them, until they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow. [cut] 'There's Sirius!' said Harry. The great shape of the dog had bounded out from the roots of the Willow. They saw him bowl Harry over, then seize Ron ... 'Looks even worse from here, doesn't it?' said Harry, watching the dog pulling Ron into the roots. [cut][cut] they heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle. [cut] 'Here comes Lupin!' said Harry, as they saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and haring towards the Willow. [cut] They watched Lupin seize a broken branch from the ground and prod the knot on the trunk. The tree stopped fighting, and Lupin, too, disappeared into the gap in its roots. [PoA ch. #21; p. 295/296]
They saw Lupin, Ron and Pettigrew clambering awkwardly out of the hole in the roots. [PoA ch. #21; p. 298]
We can also make a stab at which way the hole in the Willow faces. In the scene leading up to the point where Padfoot grabs Ron, the Trio come out of Hagrid's hut, walk through the rough ground surrounding it and onto the lawn in front of the castle, although we do not know how far they get. From there they run towards the Willow, chasing Scabbers. They seem to be running in a fairly straight line, not weaving about, and they end up at the Willow in a position from which they can then clearly see Padfoot drag Ron down the hole, so the hole faces more or less towards the spot on the lawn from which they started running, which was either in front of the castle or between Hagrid's hut and the castle.
Later, Harry, Hermione and Buckbeak hide at the edge of the Forest at a point at which they can clearly see the Willow, and the hole in the Willow. At this point they must be in a bit of the Forest more or less straight in front of the castle. We know this because they're not in the bit near Hagrid's hut, because from there there would be a dense stand of trees between them and the Willow, and they can't have gone much further towards the Willow than bang in front of the castle, because Dumbledore, Fudge and Macnair pass very close by them, en route between Hagrid's hut and the main door. Ergo, from a position which we know must be not more than around 300 yards in front of the castle (because of the constraints we adressed before about the distance from which Harry could possibly see Crookshanks in the pre-dawn light), they are looking at the hole in the tree.
So, the hole in the trunk of the Willow faces crosswise across the castle, but because it is probably out to the side, in the middle of the lawn, the hole should be visible on a diagonal from every point on the front or the near end of the main castle building. The point from which it would come closest to being seen straight-on would be from the West Wing and West or Owl Tower, which project from the front of the castle out into the lawns. This raises the possibility that when Snape saw Lupin being escorted to the Willow he was up in the Owl Tower, attending to an owl.
[cut] the three of them dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the Forest. Hagrid greeted them [PS ch. #14; p. 171]
'Hagrid, you live in a wooden house,' she said. [PS ch. #14; p. 171]
Harry and Hermione supported Ron over the threshold, into the one-roomed cabin [CoS ch. #07; p. 88]
Hagrid's cabin comprised a single room [GoF ch. #16; p. 232]
[cut] the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's small wooden cabin, which stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. [GoF ch. #13; p. 173]
We've already established (under scale) that Hagrid's house is around 320 yards from the castle, or a four-minute walk. We've established (under lawns) that it is downslope from the castle and the greenhouses, but upslope from the lake.
[cut] they hurried across the grass towards the edge of the Forest. 'Yeh – yeh'll see in a mo',' said Hagrid, looking over his shoulder as a great roar rose from the stands behind them. [cut] They had to jog to keep up with him as he strode across the lawn, looking around with every other step. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604]
Hagrid had turned and begun to run with Fang still hung around his neck. Umbridge sent one last Stunning Spell after him but it missed; and Hagrid, running full-pelt towards the distant gates, disappeared into the darkness. [OotP ch. #31; p. 637]
Hagrid's house, or "cabin", is a small, wooden, one-room structure, close to the edge of the Forest. We are not told what sort of wooden structure it is, but as this is Britain it is likely that the walls are weatherboarded (clad with overlapping horizontal planks) rather than a U.S.-style log-cabin. Weatherboarding might be either creosoted or whitewashed and, unless very new, would have a slightly irregular look.
It is at a significant distance from both the Quidditch pitch and the front gates, although close enough to the pitch that Hagrid is able to watch the action through binoculars.
In the small vegetable patch behind Hagrid's house were a dozen of the largest pumpkins Harry had ever seen. Each was the size of a large boulder. [CoS ch. #07; p. 90]
[cut] the flowerbeds turned into muddy streams and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds. [CoS ch. #08; p. 94]
There were now only ten Skrewts left [cut] Each of them was now approaching six feet in length. [cut] The class looked dispiritedly at the enourmous boxes Hagrid had brought out [cut] [cut] Hagrid was soon yelling, 'Don' panic, now, don' panic!' while the Skrewts rampaged around the pumpkin patch, now strewn with the smouldering wreckage of the boxes. [GoF ch. #21; p. 321]
Hagrid, it transpired, was picking runner beans in his back garden. [OotP ch. #38; p. 752]
Hagrid had come striding round the corner of his cabin wearing a large flowery apron and carrying a sack of potatoes. [HBP ch. #11; p. 215]
[cut] he saw the rather horrible sight of the enormous dead spider lying on its back outside, its legs curled and tangled. 'Are we going to bury him here, Hagrid, in your garden?' 'Jus' beyond the pumpkin patch, I thought,' said Hagrid in a choked voice. 'I've already dug the – you know – grave.' [cut] The three of them stepped out into the back garden. [cut] light spilling from Hagrid's window to illuminate Aragog's body lying on the edge of a massive pit, beside a ten-foot-high mound of freshly dug earth. [HBP ch. #22; p. 452]
'Tha' was ... tha' was ... beau'iful!' howled Hagrid and he collapsed on to the compost heap, crying harder than ever. [HBP ch. #22; p. 453]
Hagrid held up the limp rooster. 'Second one killed this term,' he explained. 'It's either foxes or a Blood-Suckin Bugbear, an' I need the Headmaster's permission ter put a charm around the hen-coop.' [CoS ch. #11; p. 150]
'The crowing of the rooster is fatal to it!' he read aloud. 'Hagrid's roosters were killed!' [CoS ch. #16; p. 216]
The ground around it is fairly flat - flat enough to sit out in an armchair, anyway. It has a vegetable garden behind it which is described as "small" but which is big enough to hold twelve pumpkins the size of garden sheds (or a class of twenty - Gryffindor and Slytherin - plus ten Skrewts and big boxes), a stand of runner beans, a potato bed, an enormous grave and a compost heap big enough for Hagrid to collapse onto. There is also probably a hen-coop - we know there are chickens kept somewhere about the castle, and since they seem to be Hagrid's they probably live in his back yard.
Seen from Hagrid's back door, the pumpkin patch does not even extend as far as the farther limit of the garden - there is a "beyond the pumpkin patch" which is still inside the garden, and is big enough to bury a large Acromantula in. All in all, Hagrid's "small" garden has to be at least about 40ft by 60ft.
Harry felt strangely unreal, and even more so when he saw Buckbeak a few yards away, tethered to a tree behind Hagrid's Pumpkin patch. [PoA ch. #16; p. 242]
Slowly, in a kind of horrified trance, Harry, Ron and Hermione set off silently around Hagrid's house. As they reached the other side, the front door closed with a sharp snap. [they've come from the back garden] [PoA ch. #16; p. 242]
They crept through the trees until they saw the nervous Hippogriff, tethered to the fence around Hagrid's pumpkin patch. [PoA ch. #21; p. 291]
[cut] Harry darted out from behind his tree, vaulted the fence into the pumpkin patch and approached Buckbeak. [PoA ch. #21; p. 293]
Harry began to fumble with the knot of rope tying Buckbeak to the fence. [PoA ch. #21; p. 293]
Harry tugged harder on the rope around Buckbeak's neck. The Hippogriff began to walk, rustling its wings irritably. They were still ten feet away from the Forest, in plain view of Hagrid's back door. [PoA ch. #21; p. 293]
Rita Skeeter was leaning on Hagrid's garden fence, looking in at the mayhem. [GoF ch. #21; p. 322]
He thought at first when he knocked on Hagrid's cabin door that he was out, but then Fang came charging around the corner and almost bowled him over with the enthusiasm of his welcome. Hagrid, it transpired, was picking runner beans in his back garden. [OotP ch. #38; p. 752]
Hagrid had come striding round the corner of his cabin wearing a large flowery apron and carrying a sack of potatoes. His enormous boarhound, Fang, was at his heels [HBP ch. #11; p. 215]
The boundary of Hagrid's back garden is problematic. When the Trio initially see Buckbeak tied in Hagrid's back garden, awaiting execution, he is tied to a tree; when they go back with the Time-Turner he is tied to the fence, without there having been any opportunity or reason for Hagrid to move him. This continuity error could be proof that when they went back in time they went into a different time-line; otherwise it suggests that Hagrid's garden fence is of the kind which has growing trees woven into it, and is halfway to being a hedge.
The fence is either incomplete or it has a gate in it, because Harry vaults it to get in, but he and Buckbeak walk out; also because Hagrid appears round the side of his house after being in the garden, which implies an entrance other than going through the house - although as he is so big I suppose he might just step over the fence. We know that it is low enough for Rita Skeeter to lean on, and Fang can get over or through a fence or gate, because he charges round from the side of the house. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door. [PS ch. #08; p. 104] When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. [PS ch. #14; p. 169] 'Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains' [PS ch. #14; p. 172] [cut] they went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk to them. [PS ch. #14; p. 174] Ahead, Harry could see the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut. [coming from the castle] [PS ch. #15; p. 181] It was with relief that they reached the oak front doors and eased them open. It was a clear, starry night. They hurried towards the lit windows of Hagrid's house [CoS ch. #14; p. 192] They followed him to the door into his back garden. [PoA ch. #16; p. 242] Slowly, in a kind of horrified trance, Harry, Ron and Hermione set off silently around Hagrid's house. As they reached the other side, the front door closed with a sharp snap. [cut] They started up the sloping lawn towards the castle. [PoA ch. #16; p. 242] There was a knock on Hagrid's front door. The execution party had arrived. Hagrid turned around and headed back into his cabin, leaving the back door ajar. Harry watched the grass flatten in patches all around the cabin and heard three pairs of feet retreating. He, Ron and Hermione had gone ... but the Harry and Hermione hidden in the trees could now hear what was happening inside the cabin through the back door. [cut] Harry pulled his head out of sight as Macnair's face appeared at Hagrid's window, staring out at Buckbeak. [PoA ch. #21; p. 292/293] Harry was looking out of the window. It was much harder to see what was going on from here. [cut] Harry stepped outside again and edged around the cabin. [cut] Harry stared out towards the lake [cut] For a fraction of a second he stood, irresolute, in front of Hagrid's door. [cut] And there were the Dementors. They were emerging out of the darkness from every direction, gliding around the edges of the lake ... they were moving away from where Harry stood, to the opposite bank [PoA ch. #21; p. 299/300] The grounds were very dark. Harry walked down the lawn towards the lights shining in Hagrid's cabin. [GoF ch. #19; p. 284] [cut] and then to the cabin windows, where most of the class stood, their noses pressed against the glass, waiting to see if the coast was clear. [they are peering out at the back garden] [GoF ch. #21; p. 323] The carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak front doors and Harry got out of the carriage first. He turned again to look for lit windows down by the Forest, but there was definitely no sign of life within Hagrid's cabin. [OotP ch. #11; p. 182] With a great leap of his heart, Harry saw little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. He set off at a quick march, the other two jostling and bumping along behind him. They crunched excitedly through the thickening snow until at last they reached the wooden front door. When Harry raised his fist and knocked three times, a dog started barking frantically inside. 'Hagrid, its us!' Harry called through the keyhole. [OotP ch. #20; p. 372] All four of them stared at the window beside the doorway. The shadow of somebody small and squat rippled across the thin curtain. [OotP ch. #20; p. 384] 'Oh, yes,' said Umbridge softly, looking back at him with her hand on the door handle. [OotP ch. #20; p. 388] [cut] he merely moved to the rear window of Hagrid's hut where he saw the rather horrible sight of the enormous dead spider lying on its back outside [HBP ch. #22; p. 452] The three of them stepped out into the back garden. The moon was glistening palely through the trees and its rays mingled with the light spilling from Hagrid's window [HBP ch. #22; p. 452] Then again, the Trio also go from the garden round the side of the house. The garden is evidently close to the Forest, but not right against it, since Harry leads Buckbeak out of the back garden and they are ten feet from the Forest at some point shortly afterwards. It's probably something like 30ft from the trees. The cabin has a front and a back door (the front one is specified as wooden, with a keyhole lock and a bolt on the inside, and it has a door-handle which must be high enough for Hagrid to use but low enough for Umbridge), with at least two windows (square, or square-paned, opening, and with thin, paired curtains) facing front and two facing the back. There are evidently not windows facing the sides, or at least not the lake side, because Harry has to come out of the cabin and walk round it when he wants a view of the lake seen from the side of Hagrid's house. As the Trio approach Hagrid's house they can see his windows: since we know he doesn't have side-windows, and the back of the house faces the vegetable garden which itself faces the Forest, we can presume it is the front windows which we are seeing, and that Hagrid's house faces towards the castle. This is further confirmed by the fact that in PoA the Trio go out into the back garden and then they have to walk around the side of the house, and past the front, in order to get back to the castle. In doing so they are walking on a grassy route which is overlooked from the trees. With a great leap of his heart, Harry saw little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. [OotP ch. #20; p. 372] Hagrid heaved himself out of his chair and followed Hermione unsteadily outside. They heard a loud splash. 'What's he done?' said Harry nervously as Hermione came back in with the empty tankard. 'Stuck his head in the water barrel,' said Hermione [PoA ch. #06; p. 93] The gigantic powder-blue carriage in which they had arrived had been parked two hundred yards from Hagrid's front door [GoF ch. #16; p. 231/232] He stumped out of the cabin, and they saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window. [cut] 'Look!' said Ron suddenly, pointing out of the window. Hagrid had just straightened up and turned round. [cut] Getting to their feet very cautiously, so that Hagrid wouldn't spot them, Harry, Ron and Hermione peered through the window and saw that Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons students had just emerged from their carriage [GoF ch. #16; p. 234] 'What're we going this way for?' said Harry, as they passed Hagrid's cabin, and the illuminated Beauxbatons carriage. 'Don't vont to be overheard,' said Krum shortly. When at last they had reached a quiet stretch of ground, a short way from the Beauxbatons' horses' paddock, Krum stopped in the shade of the trees and turned to face Harry. [GoF ch. #28; p. 479] We know that Hagrid's cabin has a chimney, and a water-barrel - presumably a rain-barrel - by one of the windows. This barrel is on the side towards where the Beauxbatons carriage parks - and is therefore presumably by the front door, not the back, since the Beauxbatons carriage is stated as being a given distance from Hagrid's front door (even though, as discussed under basic orientation & layout, that distance is clearly an error). This seems like the wrong side if he wants to use it to water the garden: but perhaps there is another one at the back, and this one is for drinking and washing water. If so, it's rather unhygienic of him to stick his head in it. The barrel will be to the right of the front door as you stand outside facing it - we know because coming from the Quidditch pitch the Beauxbatons carriage is on the Forest side of Hagrid's cabin. The great grey Hippogriff, Buckbeak, was tethered in front of Hagrid's cabin. [HBP ch. #11; p. 214] At the front of the house, so somewhere near the water barrel, there is also an unspecified feature - a stake? - part of the doorframe? - to which it is possible to tether a Hippogriff. Harry and Hermione supported Ron over the threshold, into the one-roomed cabin, which had an enormous bed in one corner, a fire crackling merrily in the other. [CoS ch. #07; p. 88] [cut] and then to the cabin windows, where most of the class stood, their noses pressed against the glass, waiting to see if the coast was clear. [they are peering out at the back garden] [GoF ch. #21; p. 323] With a great leap of his heart, Harry saw little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. [OotP ch. #20; p. 372] We can surmise that Hagrid's chimney is at the side of the house, and possibly over a corner, rather than in the centre of the roof: we know that the fire is in a corner of the room, and since the house is wooden-walled it probably doesn't have scope for an elaborate chimney winding about within the walls and roof - just a straightish pipe. The windows must be fairly wide, since a large number of students can cram into them, and they must be pretty long vertically - since fourth-year students can look out of them quite easily, and even press their noses to the glass, and so presumably can Hagrid. They must start about 3ft from the ground and finish at 11ft - and if they divide into square panes then they must be about 4ft wide (presumably broken up into 2ft squares by wooden transoms and mullions). Given their proportions, they are probably sash rather than casement windows.
When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. [PS ch. #14; p. 169]
'Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains' [PS ch. #14; p. 172]
[cut] they went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk to them. [PS ch. #14; p. 174]
Ahead, Harry could see the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut. [coming from the castle] [PS ch. #15; p. 181]
It was with relief that they reached the oak front doors and eased them open. It was a clear, starry night. They hurried towards the lit windows of Hagrid's house [CoS ch. #14; p. 192]
They followed him to the door into his back garden. [PoA ch. #16; p. 242]
Slowly, in a kind of horrified trance, Harry, Ron and Hermione set off silently around Hagrid's house. As they reached the other side, the front door closed with a sharp snap. [cut] They started up the sloping lawn towards the castle. [PoA ch. #16; p. 242]
There was a knock on Hagrid's front door. The execution party had arrived. Hagrid turned around and headed back into his cabin, leaving the back door ajar. Harry watched the grass flatten in patches all around the cabin and heard three pairs of feet retreating. He, Ron and Hermione had gone ... but the Harry and Hermione hidden in the trees could now hear what was happening inside the cabin through the back door. [cut] Harry pulled his head out of sight as Macnair's face appeared at Hagrid's window, staring out at Buckbeak. [PoA ch. #21; p. 292/293]
Harry was looking out of the window. It was much harder to see what was going on from here. [cut] Harry stepped outside again and edged around the cabin. [cut] Harry stared out towards the lake [cut] For a fraction of a second he stood, irresolute, in front of Hagrid's door. [cut] And there were the Dementors. They were emerging out of the darkness from every direction, gliding around the edges of the lake ... they were moving away from where Harry stood, to the opposite bank [PoA ch. #21; p. 299/300]
The grounds were very dark. Harry walked down the lawn towards the lights shining in Hagrid's cabin. [GoF ch. #19; p. 284]
[cut] and then to the cabin windows, where most of the class stood, their noses pressed against the glass, waiting to see if the coast was clear. [they are peering out at the back garden] [GoF ch. #21; p. 323]
The carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak front doors and Harry got out of the carriage first. He turned again to look for lit windows down by the Forest, but there was definitely no sign of life within Hagrid's cabin. [OotP ch. #11; p. 182]
With a great leap of his heart, Harry saw little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. He set off at a quick march, the other two jostling and bumping along behind him. They crunched excitedly through the thickening snow until at last they reached the wooden front door. When Harry raised his fist and knocked three times, a dog started barking frantically inside. 'Hagrid, its us!' Harry called through the keyhole. [OotP ch. #20; p. 372]
All four of them stared at the window beside the doorway. The shadow of somebody small and squat rippled across the thin curtain. [OotP ch. #20; p. 384]
'Oh, yes,' said Umbridge softly, looking back at him with her hand on the door handle. [OotP ch. #20; p. 388]
[cut] he merely moved to the rear window of Hagrid's hut where he saw the rather horrible sight of the enormous dead spider lying on its back outside [HBP ch. #22; p. 452]
The three of them stepped out into the back garden. The moon was glistening palely through the trees and its rays mingled with the light spilling from Hagrid's window [HBP ch. #22; p. 452]
Then again, the Trio also go from the garden round the side of the house. The garden is evidently close to the Forest, but not right against it, since Harry leads Buckbeak out of the back garden and they are ten feet from the Forest at some point shortly afterwards. It's probably something like 30ft from the trees.
The cabin has a front and a back door (the front one is specified as wooden, with a keyhole lock and a bolt on the inside, and it has a door-handle which must be high enough for Hagrid to use but low enough for Umbridge), with at least two windows (square, or square-paned, opening, and with thin, paired curtains) facing front and two facing the back. There are evidently not windows facing the sides, or at least not the lake side, because Harry has to come out of the cabin and walk round it when he wants a view of the lake seen from the side of Hagrid's house.
As the Trio approach Hagrid's house they can see his windows: since we know he doesn't have side-windows, and the back of the house faces the vegetable garden which itself faces the Forest, we can presume it is the front windows which we are seeing, and that Hagrid's house faces towards the castle. This is further confirmed by the fact that in PoA the Trio go out into the back garden and then they have to walk around the side of the house, and past the front, in order to get back to the castle. In doing so they are walking on a grassy route which is overlooked from the trees.
Hagrid heaved himself out of his chair and followed Hermione unsteadily outside. They heard a loud splash. 'What's he done?' said Harry nervously as Hermione came back in with the empty tankard. 'Stuck his head in the water barrel,' said Hermione [PoA ch. #06; p. 93]
The gigantic powder-blue carriage in which they had arrived had been parked two hundred yards from Hagrid's front door [GoF ch. #16; p. 231/232]
He stumped out of the cabin, and they saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window. [cut] 'Look!' said Ron suddenly, pointing out of the window. Hagrid had just straightened up and turned round. [cut] Getting to their feet very cautiously, so that Hagrid wouldn't spot them, Harry, Ron and Hermione peered through the window and saw that Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons students had just emerged from their carriage [GoF ch. #16; p. 234]
We know that Hagrid's cabin has a chimney, and a water-barrel - presumably a rain-barrel - by one of the windows. This barrel is on the side towards where the Beauxbatons carriage parks - and is therefore presumably by the front door, not the back, since the Beauxbatons carriage is stated as being a given distance from Hagrid's front door (even though, as discussed under basic orientation & layout, that distance is clearly an error). This seems like the wrong side if he wants to use it to water the garden: but perhaps there is another one at the back, and this one is for drinking and washing water. If so, it's rather unhygienic of him to stick his head in it. The barrel will be to the right of the front door as you stand outside facing it - we know because coming from the Quidditch pitch the Beauxbatons carriage is on the Forest side of Hagrid's cabin.
At the front of the house, so somewhere near the water barrel, there is also an unspecified feature - a stake? - part of the doorframe? - to which it is possible to tether a Hippogriff.
With a great leap of his heart, Harry saw little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. [OotP ch. #20; p. 372]
We can surmise that Hagrid's chimney is at the side of the house, and possibly over a corner, rather than in the centre of the roof: we know that the fire is in a corner of the room, and since the house is wooden-walled it probably doesn't have scope for an elaborate chimney winding about within the walls and roof - just a straightish pipe. The windows must be fairly wide, since a large number of students can cram into them, and they must be pretty long vertically - since fourth-year students can look out of them quite easily, and even press their noses to the glass, and so presumably can Hagrid. They must start about 3ft from the ground and finish at 11ft - and if they divide into square panes then they must be about 4ft wide (presumably broken up into 2ft squares by wooden transoms and mullions). Given their proportions, they are probably sash rather than casement windows.
Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else [PS ch. #05; p. 52]
'Well, gotta be off,' said Hagrid, [cut] And he strode away, head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the packed street. [CoS ch. #4; p. 46]
Hagrid being at least twice the size of a normal man, this was no laughing matter. [PoA ch. #11; p. 161]
About twice as tall as a normal man, and at least three times as broad, Hagrid, with his long, wild, tangled black hair and beard, looked slightly alarming [GoF ch. #12; p. 158/159]
[cut] Hagrid was bent double as though anxious not to be seen, though he was still at least four feet taller than everybody else. [OotP ch. #30; p. 603]
Harry patted him consolingly on the elbow, which was the highest point of Hagrid he could easily reach. [HBP ch. #22; p. 451]
[cut] Slughorn, who, like Harry, could reach no higher than Hagrid's elbow, but patted it all the same. [HBP ch. #22; p. 453]
We can make at least a stab at estimating the actual size of Hagrid's cabin if we look at the size of Hagrid himself (and therefore what size of furniture he needs), and what he has in the house. Hagrid himself is described variously as being twice the height of a normal man (which would make him about 11'6"), or as head-and-shoulders taller than anyone else in Diagon Alley which, unless there is somebody else present who is really extraordinarily tall, would only make Hagrid about 8'8". Harry finds that Hagrid's elbow (which should be rather more than halfway up Hagrid's body) is the highest point of Hagrid which he can easily reach, not the highest point he can reach. Admittedly we are told that Harry has grown a lot, but Slughorn has the same difficulty, and he seems to be short-to-average, so Hagrid's elbow is probably not more than 6'6" high, and Hagrid is around 10'6" or a little under.
[cut] Draco greatly resembled his father. His mother was blonde, too; tall and slim [GoF ch. #08; p. 91]
When Snape said nothing, Narcissa [cut] staggered to Snape and seized the front of his robes. Her face close to his [cut] [cut] Looking down into her tearstained face [HBP ch. #02; p. 39]
[cut] Black was a tall, full-grown man. [PoA ch. #17; p. 249]
'I'll get to the point, then,' said Sirius, standing up. He was rather taller than Snape [OotP ch. #24; p. 459]
Harry had only ever seen one person as large as this woman in his life, and that was Hagrid; he doubted whether there was an inch difference in their heights. [cut] Her face relaxed into a gracious smile, and she walked forwards towards Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though tall himself, had barely to bend to kiss it. [GoF ch. #15; p. 214/215]
Panting slightly, Harry saw a very tall figure moving towards them. 'Are you all right?' Dumbledore asked. [OotP ch. #27; p. 548]
The top of [Slughorn's] head barely reached Dumbledore's chin. [HBP ch. #04; p. 65]
Harry in HBP is (at least at the start of the book) about the same height as Narcissa Malfoy - who is tall for a woman, but substantially shorter than Snape, who is slightly shorter than Sirius (Harry doesn't seem to have been aware of the height difference until he sees them next to each other), who is tall, but not so unnaturally so as to invite undue comment. That puts Snape probably in the range 5'10"-6'1", but sinbce he was based largely on the late John Nettleship, who was 5'8", the lower limit is probably to be preferred. Narcissa and Harry are probably about 5'7", Snape about 5'10" and Sirius about 6ft.
We also know that Albus barely has to stoop to kiss Madame Maxime's hand. If she is holding out her hand to be kissed it will probably be at about the height of her navel or waist and she is the same height as Hagrid - however tall that is. Albus's lips are only a little higher than her navel or waist - he doesn't have to stoop far to kiss her hand - and Slughorn only comes up to Albus's chin. So the top of Slughorn's head is about level with Madam Maxime's - and Hagrid's - waist.
Albus is described once as "very tall" and in many other places as simply "tall", so he is probably about 6'4 to 6'6" (if he was e.g. 7ft tall he'd be described as "very tall" all the time). Sluggie at a head shorter would be somewhere around 5'8" or 5'9", marginally taller than NewImproved!Harry. If Hagrid follows normal human proportions his waist should be at about ten-fifteenths of his total height - so that would make him only about 9'5" tall. If we want him taller than that we have to assume Albus is significantly more than 6'4", or Maxime had to strain (or bow) and hold her hand awkwardly low for him to kiss it.
Of course, as Albus is standing in front of the castle and Maxime is a guest approaching it, and we know the ground slopes down around the castle, Maxime may well be standing some inches lower than Albus. Even so, we want to make her, and Hagrid, as short as we can in order to make this scene work.
Hagrid had never quite managed to comport himself with the dignity of Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, the top of whose head came up to somewhere between Hagrid's elbow and shoulder as they were sitting side by side [HBP ch. #8; p. 156]
We know Minerva McGonagall is tall for a woman, so probably about 5'8" or 5'9". Your sitting height, from your backside to the top of your head, is a little over half your standing height, so hers will be about 3'1". She comes up to about half of Hagrid's height from backside to head, which is therefore about 6ft, which makes his overall height about 11ft - but we want him as much shorter than that as we can get away with (i.e. without bringing Minerva's head higher than his shoulder), in order to make the scene with Maxime feasible. So we can say Hagrid is probably about 10'8" (and Maxime was standing at a lower level than Albus and she held her hand really low), and his bed will need to be about 11ft long - and at least 7ft wide, because Hagrid is about three times as broad as a normal human, and will need a bed about three times as wide.
Hagrid leapt to his feet, his shaggy black head grazing the ceiling. [CoS ch. #14; p. 194]
There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling [PS ch. #08; p. 104]
A similarly enormous wooden table and chairs stood in front of the fire, beneath the quantity of cured hams and dead birds hanging from the ceiling. [GoF ch. #16; p. 232]
Slughorn, however, did not seem to be listening; he was looking up at the ceiling, from which a number of brass pots hung, and also a long, silky skein of bright white hair. [HBP ch. #22; p. 455]
From this, we can work out the height and shape of Hagrid's roof. At one point his head is said to brush the ceiling, but he also has quite large objects hanging from the ceiling (rafters?). Presumably he doesn't walk around his house with dead geese and brass pots literally hanging in his face, so we can deduce that his roof is sloping - probably gabled, with a high ridge along the middle, over the table; since it is said to look like a gingerbread house. Inside, the height of the roof varies from about 10ft (Hagrid is 10'8" and it's unlikey he was standing right against the wall, at the lowest point of the roof, when his head brushed the ceiling) up to probably about 15ft. Outside it will of course be a little higher, by the thickness of the roof.
Things Hagrid has in his cabin:
A dog-basket on the hearth, big enough to hold a boarhound (a type of mastiff) and with enough cushions to hide two very large mugs under, and at least one blanket
An armchair, big enough for Hagrid
A dresser
A wardrobe
A chest of drawers, close to the bed
At least two cupboards
A very large table, big enough to hold a steak bigger than a tyre, with kitchen chairs to seat at least four, standing somewhere near the fire, and under a high part of the roof (since we've already established that hams and pheasants hang over it)
[cut] a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it. [PS ch. #08; p. 104]
Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house [PS ch. #16; p. 193]
They reached Hagrid's house, sad and sorry looking with its blank windows. When Harry pushed the door open, Fang went mad with joy at the sight of them. Worried he might wake everyone at the castle with his deep, booming barks, they hastily fed him treacle fudge from a tin on the mantelpiece, which glued his teeth together. [CoS ch. #15; p. 201]
Hagrid's hand trembled so violently that the milk jug slipped from his grasp and shattered all over the floor. [cut] 'There's another one in the cupboard,' Hagrid said [PoA ch. #16; p. 240]
Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. [PS ch. #14; p. 169]
In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg. [PS ch. #14; p. 170]
But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire. [PS ch. #14; p. 171]
Harry and Hermione supported Ron over the threshold, into the one-roomed cabin, which had an enormous bed in one corner, a fire crackling merrily in the other. [CoS ch. #07; p. 88]
'Better out than in,' he said cheerfully, plonking a large copper basin in front of him. [CoS ch. #07; p. 88]
'Givin' me advice on gettin' kelpies out of a well,' growled Hagrid, moving a half-plucked rooster off his scrubbed table and setting down the teapot. [CoS ch. #07; p. 88]
He hardly seemed to know what he was doing. He nearly extinguished the fire, spilling water from the kettle on it, and then smashed the teapot with a nervous jerk of his massive hand. [CoS ch. #14; p. 192]
Fang was trembling under a blanket in his basket. [CoS ch. #15; p. 208]
Hagrid was sitting in his shirtsleeves at his scrubbed wooden table; his boarhound, Fang, had his head in Hagrid's lap. One look told them that Hagrid had been drinking a lot; there was a pewter tankard almost as big as a bucket in front of him [PoA ch. #06; p. 92]
The first thing they saw on entering Hagrid's cabin was Buckbeak, who was stretched out on top of Hagrid's patchwork quilt, his enormous wings folded tight to his body, enjoying a large plate of dead ferrets. Averting his eyes from this unpleasant sight, Harry saw a gigantic, hairy brown suit and a very horrible yellow and orange tie hanging from the top of Hagrid's wardrobe door. [PoA ch. #14; p. 201]
Buckbeak seemed very happy to find himself back inside Hagrid's house. He lay down in front of the fire [PoA ch. #21; p. 299]
Hagrid's cabin comprised a single room, in one corner of which was a gigantic bed covered in a patchwork quilt. A similarly enormous wooden table and chairs stood in front of the fire [GoF ch. #16; p. 232]
Hagrid got up, went across to the chest of drawers beside his bed and began searching for something inside it. [GoF ch. #16; p. 234]
Hagrid got up, went over to his dresser, opened a drawer and pulled out a picture of a short wizard with Hagrid's crinkled black eyes, beaming as he sat on top of Hagrid's shoulder. [GoF ch. #24; p. 395]
They saw two bucket-size cups and saucers on the wooden table in front of the fireplace when they entered Hagrid's cabin. [GoF ch. #37; p. 622/623]
'Dunno what yeh're talkin' about,' said Hagrid airily, fetching more cups from the dresser. [GoF ch. #37; p. 623]
[cut] a thick black travelling cloak lay over the back of a chair and a haversack large enough to carry several small children leaned against the wall inside the door. Hagrid himself, twice the size of a normal man, was now limping over to the fire and placing a copper kettle over it. [OotP ch. #20; p. 373]
He walked across to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of his cabin and twitched aside a tea towel that had been lying on it. Underneath was a raw, bloody, green-tinged steak slightly larger than the average car tyre. [OotP ch. #20; p. 373/374]
Hagrid glared at them, then snorted, threw the steak back on to the table and strode over to the kettle, which was now whistling. 'Never known kids like you three fer knowin' more'n yeh oughta,' he muttered, splashing boiling water into three of his bucket-shaped mugs. [OotP ch. #20; p. 374]
Hagrid seized Harry and Ron's mugs and shoved them under the cushion in Fang's basket. [OotP ch. #20; p. 384]
Umbridge wheeled round and strode the length of the cabin, looking around carefully. She bent and peered under the bed. She opened Hagrid's cupboards. [cut] After looking carefully inside the enormous cauldron Hagrid used for cooking [OotP ch. #20; p. 386]
But Hagrid merely yawned widely and cast a one-eyed look of longing towards the vast bed in the corner. [OotP ch. #20; p. 389]
They deposited Hagrid in a chair at the table. Fang, who had been skulking in his basket during the burial, now came padding softly across to them [HBP ch. #22; p. 454]
'I have had it all tested for poison,' he assured Harry, pouring most of the first bottle into one of Hagrid's bucket-sized mugs [HBP ch. #22; p. 454]
Hagrid’s hut loomed out of the darkness. [cut] All those visits to Hagrid, and the gleam of the copper kettle on the fire, [DH ch. #34; p. 559]
All of this furniture is large - even things like the dresser must be, because they have to hold bucket-sized mugs and huge basins, the cupboards have to take large equipment such as a crossbow, the wardrobe has to hold Hagrid-sized suits etc.. And all this large furniture is not crammed in.
The cabin was in sight; Harry skidded to the door, wrenched it open, and Hermione and Buckbeak flashed past him [PoA ch. #21; p. 299]
Fang was now leaping up at the door; Hagrid pushed him out of the way with his foot and pulled it open. [OotP ch. #20; p. 384]
Harry crossed to the door as fast as he could and pulled it open; he was out in the sunshine again before Hagrid had finished saying goodbye [OotP ch. #38; p. 753]
There is a clear bit of wall by the door, big enough to take Hagrid's huge rucksack; there are two doors and four windows apparently unobstructed by furniture; and Hagrid, big though he is, has to do a certain amount of walking around to get from object to object. Little Umbridge can actually get up a stride from one end of the room to the other, and even though we are told the table is near the fire, and Fang's basket is by the fire, Fang nevertheless has to "pad across" to get from his basket to the table.
For Hagrid to get through them at all comfortably, the doors must be about 5ft wide - and there has to be enough clearance for the doors to open without hitting the furniture, since they seem on the whole to open inwards (there are three references clearly stating that Hagrid's front door opens inwards, that it must be pushed from the outside and pulled from the inside, and only one less definite suggestion - the reference to Harry "wrenching" the door from the outside - that it opens outwards). The windows also are not tiny, since they are wide enough for most of a twenty-strong class to crowd into them to view the Skrewts, and since their width must be evenly divisible into a height of about 8ft: nor is there furniture in front of them, at least at the back, otherwise the students wouldn't be able to cram into the windows.
In fact, far from being all that tiny, the interior of Hagrid's house must be about 34ft by 20ft, plus the thickness of the walls on top of that. So the house must be about 37ft by 23ft on the outside.
A possible layout for Hagrid\'s cabin - could also be reversed, with the bed in the far left corner as you come in. In that case, the front door should hinge on the right, so Hagrid\'s bed is still the first thing you see as you open the door. But the barrel has to remain right of the front door.
1)
Front door
2)
Back door
3)
Windows
4)
Bed
5)
Fire
6)
Dog-basket
7)
Armchair
8)
Dresser
9)
Wardrobe
10)
Chest of drawers
11)
Cupboards
12)
Table and chairs
13)
Barrels
Probable front view of Hagrid\'s cabin, with Hagrid, Fang and 5\'7\", extra-tall HBP Harry to scale.
The position of the barrel is problematic, because it really ought to be under the gutter at the lowest point of the roof. We know the roof slopes because there is a point where it is so low inside that Hagrid's head brushes it, and a point where it is high enough to hang pots and hams - and it's most unlikely that the low end(s) of the roof are fore and/or aft, because if that was the case Hagrid would have to duck to get through the door(s). So the low end(s) must be at the side. That ought to mean the barrel should be at the side too, but we know it is so close to the window that the Trio are able to see Hagrid washing in the barrel when they are seated at the table. So there must be a drainpipe to carry the rain some distance sideways. Hagrid leapt to his feet, his shaggy black head grazing the ceiling. [CoS ch. #14; p. 194] A similarly enormous wooden table and chairs stood in front of the fire, beneath the quantity of cured hams and dead birds hanging from the ceiling. [GoF ch. #16; p. 232] He walked across to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of his cabin [OotP ch. #20; p. 373] Assuming that the roof is symmetrical, with a high point in the middle - which seems likely, since we've been told that the hams and pots hang over the table and the table is in the middle of the room - then the roof will have two low sides, both presumably with gutters to drain. This is some evidence that there is another barrel at the back, on the left side as you face the front of the cabin, and providing water for the garden. Return to contents-list The Quidditch pitch
He walked across to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of his cabin [OotP ch. #20; p. 373]
Assuming that the roof is symmetrical, with a high point in the middle - which seems likely, since we've been told that the hams and pots hang over the table and the table is in the middle of the room - then the roof will have two low sides, both presumably with gutters to drain. This is some evidence that there is another barrel at the back, on the left side as you face the front of the cabin, and providing water for the garden.
At either end of the pitch were three golden poles with hoops on the end. They reminded Harry of the little plastic sticks Muggle children blew bubbles through, except that they were fifty feet high. [PS ch. #10; p. 123]
We've already established, under the sections on basic orientation & layout and scale, and from JK's own map, that the Quidditch pitch is somewhere near the front gates, between 100 and 300 yards from the driveway, and probably between 350 and 600 yards from the school - close enough that someone looking at it from the school can see players zooming up and down and can see Hagrid on the pitch, clearly enough to tell what he is doing, but far enough that Harry cannot pick Ron out from the other players, even by his hair-colour. It is some way from the lake, enough that Harry thinks of the roaring of rain on the lake as being "at a distance", and it is so placed that it is possible for someone standing on the pitch to see whether the castle doors are open.
JK's map makes the Quidditch pitch look like quite a fat oval, with the goalposts arranged in two curves at the very ends of that oval; but on reading Quidditch Through the Ages it would appear that this is not the case. We are told that in the fourteenth century the pitch was five hundred feet long and a hundred and eighty feet wide, with a two-foot circle in the middle. There follows a description of changes which took place in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries (the introduction of scoring areas, and the replacement of goal-baskets by hoops, respectively), with no mention of any change in size, and then we are told that the pitch has not altered since then. The picture which accompanies the description (Fig. D, page #19) shows the pitch as a narrow oval with quite pointed ends - almost a surf-board shape - with the scoring areas coming about eighty feet into the pitch, and the goalposts arranged in straight lines, some distance in from the ends. Since JK's map was an impromptu doodle I have taken the information in Quidditch Through the Ages as more authoritative, and based my version of the pitch on the drawing in that book.
The goalposts we know to be fifty foot high, and resembling bubble-blowing hoops. Quidditch Through the Ages shows us a drawing of a goal consisting of a basket on a pole, (Fig. C, page #18), as used in the fourteenth century. It tells us that goals used in the seventeenth century were substantially higher, with smaller baskets; then, that in the late nineteenth century baskets were replaced by hoops, with no mention of a further change of height or diameter. So we can assume that modern Quidditch hoops are higher than the basket-goal shown in the drawing in Quidditch Through the Ages, and with smaller hoops.
Since we know modern hoops are 50ft high, we can assume that the one shown in Quidditch Through the Ages, which we know to be significantly shorter, is around 40ft. That would make its basket about 7ft across. So we can guess that the "considerably smaller" modern hoop is about 5ft in diameter.
On page #54 of Quidditch Through the Ages there is a drawing of a goalkeeper performing a manoeuvre called "Starfish and Stick", in the background of which we can see the three goalposts. Their proportions are such that if we assume the hoops to be about 5ft across, then they are 12ft apart, hoop to hoop (the bases, of course, would be 17ft apart, less the width of the pole). That would make the spread of the three hoops 39ft across, which fits exactly with the proportions of the drawing (above) worked out from the measurements and diagrams given in Quidditch Through the Ages.
After about fifty yards, they reached a fork. [cut] 'See you,' Harry said, and he took the left one, while Cedric took the right. [GoF ch. #31; p. 540]
Harry sped up. His chosen path seemed completely deserted. He turned right, and hurried on, [cut] [cut]He reached a second fork. 'Point me,' he whispered to his wand, holding it flat in his palm. The wand spun around once, and pointed towards his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go north-west for the centre of the maze. [GoF ch. #31; p. 540/541]
He took a left path, and hit a dead end, a right, and hit another: forcing himself to stop, heart hammering, he performed the Four-Point Spell again, backtracked, and chose a path that would take him north-west. He had been hurrying along the new path for a few minutes, [GoF ch. #31; p. 544]
Originally, I had a long section here analysing what we know about the layout of the maze which was set up on the Quidditch pitch for use in the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, and what this could tell us about the orientation and shape of the pitch. However, I have since realised that I made a fundamental error when I interpreted the fork in the path to which Harry and Cedric come first as being a T-junction. In fact a fork is much more likely to involve two paths heading off at an angle. Harry enters the maze (with Cedric), walks for 50 yards, comes to a fork, bears left, then turns right into a path which runs east to west (because north is on his right, through the hedge alongside which he has been walking).
At this point Harry is heading roughly towards the centre of the maze and is south-east of it. This combined with the fact that there are paths in the maze which actually run south-east to north-west suggests that the long axis of the maze probably runs either north yo south, east to west, north-east to south-west or south-east to north-west.
If we assume that the initial 50 yard path runs straight from the entrance to the fork, and that the forks are at roughly 45° symmetrically right and left of the initial path, Harry goes in a straight line, bears left 45° and then right more or less 90° and we know he is now heading east to west (because north is on his right). This means that the initial path was running north-east to south-west. If the entrance runs parallel to the main axis of the pitch that means that the pitch itself is angled north-east to south-west. They walked onto the Quidditch pitch, which was now completely unrecognisable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them; the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy. [GoF ch. #31; p. 538] Then, as he strode down a long, straight path, he saw movement once again, and his beam of wand-light hit an extraordinary creature, [GoF ch. #31; p. 545] However, we do not have any firm evidence that the initial path is straight for the whole 50 yards, just that it is straight enough to be able to see some distance into it from the entrance, and the fact that a later path is specified as "straight" means that some of them aren't. There are two substantial problems associated with having the pitch angled north-east to south-west, and because of this I tend to assume that the initial path is not straight and that the pitch is oriented broadly east to west. The reasons are these. Firstly, Rowling's own map shows the pitch as angled at a diagonal relative to the front face of the castle, in such a way that the end which is nearest to the castle is the one on the Astronomy Tower side. This is compatible with the long axis of the pitch running east to west. If the long axis of the pitch runs north-east to south-west, it's still on a diagonal relative to the front face of the castle, but now the end which is nearest to the castle is the one on the West Tower side. Wood paced the pitch, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance, and the rest of the school spill onto the lawn. [PoA ch. #15; p. 224] But Colin didn't stop questioning Harry all the way down the sloping lawns to the Quidditch pitch [CoS ch. #07; p. 83] [cut] they ran down the lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, heads bowed against the ferocious wind [PoA ch. #09; p. 131] 'I mean, we can do it tonight,' said Ron, as he and Harry walked down the sloping lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, their broomsticks over their shoulders [OotP ch. #14; p. 259] A great tide of students was moving up the sloping lawns from the pitch. [OotP ch. #30; p. 618] They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the pitch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 477/478] Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we know that there is a line of sight from the front doors of the castle to part of the pitch. We also know that the students are repeatedly described as walking down the lawns, not the carriage track, to access the pitch. For reasons discussed in the section on the layout of the castle itself, we know that the Astronomy Tower is on the right of the main doors as you face them, and is a true tower, not a turret - that is, it goes all the way down to the ground. This restricts the line of sight from the entrance and means that you cannot move very far east of the carriage track and still be able to see the main doors, because the base of the Astronomy Tower gets in the way. If the long axis of the pitch lies east to west, it is possible to have a line of sight from the doors to the western tip of the stadium, while the bulk of it lies further east. If, however, the pitch lies north-east to south-west then it will be pretty-much parallel to the carriage track, and the lines of sight from the pitch to the main doors, from the gates to the main doors and from the gates to Hagrid's cabin mean that the pitch would have to be not only parallel to the track but quite close to it along its entire length, if any part of it is to have a view of the main doors. It then becomes difficult to explain why the students don't just walk down the nice dry track to get to the pitch, and why the entrance to the pitch would point anywhere other than the adjacent track, and why, if it does point towards the track, they should come out and then go round to the other side of the stadium and walk up the grass. For this reason I am assuming that the long axis of the Quidditch pitch is oriented broadly east to west, even though that entails a certain amount of special pleading as regards the layout of the maze in GoF. 'That's right!' said Bagman. 'A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the centre of the maze.' [GoF ch. #28; p. 478] The wand spun around once, and pointed towards his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go north-west for the centre of the maze. [GoF ch. #31; p. 540] Every so often he hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made him feel sure he was getting near the heart of the maze. [GoF ch. #31; p. 545] He had a choice of paths up ahead. 'Point me!' he whispered again to his wand, and it spun around and pointed him to the right-hand one. He dashed up this one, and saw light ahead. The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. [GoF ch. #31; p. 547] That's assuming, of course, that the maze has a one to one correspondence with physical reality, and doesn't exist at least partly in wizard space. It definitely has some physical peculiarities which need to be explained. We're told, for example, that the Triwizard Cup will be at the centre of the maze - at least, Ludo Bagman says so, and Harry believes him and heads for the literal centre. We're not given any reason to think that the centre of the maze is geographically different from the centre of the Quidditch pitch. Yet, the entire pitch is supposed to be 500ft long, or 167 yards, and we are told that the Triwizard Cup is at the centre of the maze, and yet Harry, believing himself to be close to the centre of the maze, sees the Triwizard Cup as 100 yards away. If the maze exists in real space, these things cannot all be true. If Harry is at the centre of the pitch the 100-yards-away Cup must be down one end, and vice versa. 'We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze,' said Professor McGonagall to the champions. [GoF ch. #31; p. 539] Even if we assume that the centre of the pitch corresponds with the point at which one resolves the puzzle and comes in sight of the Cup, which in fact is down one end, you still have the problem that 100 yards is more than half the length of the pitch so neither the position Harry comes to when he feels he has reached the centre, and sees the Cup, nor the actual position of the Cup, can correspond with the actual centre of the pitch - unless the distance is really only 83 yards, not 100, or the pitch is longer than 500ft. Perhaps there is a 50ft-wide "offside" margin between the pitch proper and the stands. Indeed, the drawing of the Quidditch pitch on JK's own map rather supports the idea that there might be a wide offside strip around the pitch. In addition we know that there is still a walkway left between the edge of the maze and the stands, or perhaps between the stands and the barrier, because the four stewards have room to walk around the maze. It may be, of course, that the maze simply exstends into wizard space. Given the speed at which the players fly, it does make sense that there would be a narrow walkway in front of the seats to enable ground-level spectators to reach their seats, separated from the pitch by some sort of barrier, and then a wide offside strip around the actual competition area. Harry felt himself slam flat into the ground; his face was pressed into grass [GoF ch. #35; p. 582] He had come back to the edge of the maze. He could see the stands rising above him [GoF ch. #35; p. 583] 'You arrived back in the middle of the lawn clutching Cedric's dead body ... none of us saw what happened in the maze ...' [OotP ch. #13; p. 226/227] There must certainly be a little space in front of the entrance to the maze, inside the stadium but not in the maze proper, because when Harry returns with Cedric's body he lands outside the maze but still inside the stadium, and "in the middle of the lawn". If the entrance to the maze is at one end of the pitch the clear space in front of the entrance is presumably part of one of the scoring areas. I have a theory about this, incidentally. On the face of it, the entire plot of GoF makes no real sense, since it seems as if false!Moody could have tricked Harry into touching a Portkey, and whisked him away to Voldemort, at any point during the school year. Admittedly having it happen during the third task was very melodramatic and the Death Eaters do like melodrama - but would even Voldemort put off his own revivification for an entire year just so he could stage an impressive bit of terrorist theatre? But it makes perfect sense if we assume that a) the wards of Hogwarts can detect unauthorized Portkeys and b) the Triwizard Cup was always intended to be a Portkey, which would whisk the victor out of the maze and onto the lawn in full view of the judges. In that case, the only way false!Moody would be able to trick the castle wards would be to take a pre-existing and authorized Portkey, i.e. the Cup, and simply change its destination. A more detailed examination of the possible layout of the Triwizard maze can be found in the section on journeys around the grounds. [cut] remnants of mist hung over the grass in the stadium. As Harry walked onto the pitch, he saw Ron and Hermione sitting in the stands. [CoS ch. #07; p. 84] Harry looked into the stands. Colin was sitting in one of the highest seats [CoS ch. #07; p. 85] Three-quarters of the crowd were wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them or brandishing banners with slogans like 'GO GRYFFINDOR!' and 'LIONS FOR THE CUP!' Behind the Slytherin goalposts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; [PoA ch. #15; p. 225] Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. [GoF ch. #31; p. 538] They could hear hundreds of footsteps mounting the banked benches of the spectators' stands. [OotP ch. #19; p. 359] The pitch has a grass surface and is surrounded by tiered seating, which we know to be wooden and hollow, not built up from earth banks, because it thunders as people walk on it. There are at least three tiers (the existence of a "highest" tier implies at least a low, a higher and a highest), angled so that someone standing on the pitch can see who is sitting in the stands, and with at least enough room to seat about eight hundred. Given that a 500ft by 180ft oval pitch has a perimeter over 1,100 ft long (over 1,400 ft if we assume a 50ft offside strip), however, then even if we allow 3ft per person and a generous amount of space for the stairs and entrances, three tiers would provide seating for over a thousand spectators - so we don't want any more than three tiers. Of course, we are never actually told whether the seating runs right round the the stadium, or whether it is grouped in one or more blocks. All we know is that there are stands directly behind at least one of the sets of goal-posts. If the stands only run around a small part of the stadium they will of course seat fewer people, and/or might run to more than three tiers. However, JK's map shows them running all the way round, and from the point of view of people wanting to be able to see the game from all angles it seems more likely they do run all or most of the way around the pitch. They found seats in the [paperback edition inserts 'second'] topmost row of the stands. [OotP ch. #30; p. 602] Harry looked round and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face sticking between the seats. Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind, for the first- and second-years he had just passed had a ruffled, flattened look about them. [OotP ch. #30; p. 603] He and Hermione edged back along their row of seats, causing much grumbling among the students who had to stand up for them. The people in Hagrid's row were not complaining, merely attempting to make themselves as small as possible. 'I 'ppreciate this, you two, I really do,' said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking around nervously as they descended towards the lawn below. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604] The first edition of OotP contained an anomaly in the description of the stands in chapter #30. We can assume, I think, that the tiers of seats are staggered so each row can see over the heads of the row in front of and below them. We can also assume there's a single row of seating on each tier - since we have a "topmost" row we know we have at least three degrees of height (low, higher, highest), and an extra rank of seating on any of of those levels would mean there were places for fourteen hundred spectators, which seems ridiculous. Yet, in the first edition we were told that Harry and Hermione were seated in the topmost row, and then Hagrid was in another row behind them. And it isn't the case that he has simply walked along a gangway behind the row in which Harry and Hermione are seated, forcing people in the same row as themselves to bend forwards out of his way, because "Hagrid's row" is clearly differentiated from "their row". Evidently this was simply a continuity error. The paperback editions, both U.K. and U.S., have been altered to specify that Harry and co. are in the second-to-topmost row, thus allowing Hagrid to be in a higher row - whilst unfortunately raising the spectre of there being even more than three rows. We can at any rate see from this scene that the stairs down are widely-spaced, since they have to go quite a long way along a row to find a stair, and we can see that the exit from the stair opens onto the lawn, not inside the stadium itself. 'Yeah, well, a bit o' trouble wouldn' hurt,' said Hagrid, pausing to peer around the edge of the stands to make sure the stretch of lawn between there and his cabin was deserted. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604] They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the pitch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 477/478] The foot of the stair which Hagrid, Harry and Hermione go down (or the entrance to the stands which leads to the foot of the stair) is so placed that it faces broadly towards Hagrid's cabin, but at an angle to it, so that they can peer around a corner of the stands to see the cabin. Likewise, there is an entrance into the pitch (which may or may not be beside the stair to the stands) which is broadly on a side of the pitch which faces upslope towards the castle, but is so angled that a person coming down from the castle must turn into it rather than walking straight in. We do not know whether there is more than one entrance to the pitch, or more than one stair to the upper stands; but given the numbers of specatators, you would think that there were two or three stairs at least, and probably four or six; and also several ground-level entrances onto the bottom tier of seats, even though there may well be only one entrance onto the playing area itself. 'Bin watchin' from me hut,' said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, 'But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. [PS ch. #11; p. 137] Wood paced the pitch, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance, and the rest of the school spill onto the lawn. [PoA ch. #15; p. 224] The height of the stands, and/or the comparative heights above sea level of Hagrid's cabin and the Quidditch pitch, are such that Hagrid, standing or sitting in or by his cabin and using binoculars, is able to see much of the action on/above the pitch. Harry, standing on the pitch, is able to see the front doors of the castle: either he is looking straight through one of the entrances to the pitch, or the stands are of an open construction which enables him to see out between the tiers. [cut] while the rest of the team headed off to the changing rooms, Harry strode over to Ron, who vaulted the barrier to the stands and came to meet him. [PoA ch. #13; p. 189] There is a barrier between the playing area and the stands, low enough to vault over. If the maze at the Triwizard Tournament filled the pitch and any offside area to the edge, which seems likely from the description, then there must be a space between the barrier and the first row of seats, wide enough to enable the stewards (including Hagrid) to walk right around the perimeter of the pitch. [cut] Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentator's podium. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring [HBP ch. #14; p. 278/279] There is also a wooden podium for the match commentator, high enough for somebody on a broomstick to fly into it, low enough for somebody to fall off it without serious injury, and flimsy enough to be collapsed by being hit by one rider travelling at fairly high speed. It would make sense for the podium to be in the middle of one of the long sides, so it commands an equal view of both sets of goalposts: if that puts it in the way of the entrance to the pitch, or of the changing rooms, it may well stand over some sort of arch or bridge, so the players can walk underneath it to reach the pitch. It is probably not built into the stands, or right up close to them, as there is no indication that Ginny endangers spectators when she brings the podium down. Lockhart's idea of a morale-booster became clear at breakfast time on February the fourteenth. Harry hadn't had much sleep because of a late-running Quidditch practice the night before [CoS ch. #13; p. 176] Full of determination, the team started training sessions, three evenings a week. The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker, but no amount of mud, wind or rain could tarnish Harry's wonderful vision of finally winning the huge, silver Quidditch Cup. [PoA ch. #08; p. 109] The pitch appears to be lit in some way. At least, we sometimes see players practising quite late in the evening during winter, and there is no mention of them using wand-light: and indeed, it would be difficult to do so. If it was a very clear, bright night they might play by moonlight - but clear, bright nights are uncommon in Scotland. But Colin didn't stop questioning Harry all the way down the sloping lawns to the Quidditch pitch, and Harry only shook him off when he reached the changing rooms. [CoS ch. #07; p. 83] The words came, just as they had back in the Gryffindor changing room [OotP ch. #24; p. 478] 'OK, everyone,' said Angelina, entering from the Captain's office, already changed. [OotP ch. #14; p. 260] There are changing rooms (plural), which appear to consist of one changing room plus one captain's office per house. [cut] all except Ron, who had dismounted from his broom over by the goalposts and seemed to be making his way slowly back to the changing rooms alone. [OotP ch. #19; p. 365] The team rose, shouldered their brooms and marched in single file out of the changing room and into the dazzling sunlight. A roar of sound greeted them in which Harry could still hear singing, though it was muffled by the cheers and whistles. The Slytherin team was standing waiting for them. [OotP ch. #19; p. 359] The changing rooms are some distance from the goalposts (or at least, the Gryffindor changing room is some distance from Gryffindor's defending goalposts). They open directly onto the pitch. There was a quiet sort of desperation in his voice as he addressed his six fellow team members in the chilly changing rooms on the edge of the darkening Quidditch pitch. [PoA ch. #08; p. 108] The sky was a deep, thundery grey and it was a relief to gain the warmth and light of the changing rooms [cut] [cut] the hammering of rain on the roof intensified and wind howled around the building. [OotP ch. #18; p. 335/336] [cut] he gave Ron a look as the rest of the team filed back outside [cut] 'But ...' looking scared, Ron strode across to the window and stared out into the rain, 'he – he can't be near us now, can he?' 'No,' Harry muttered, sinking on to a bench [OotP ch. #18; p. 337/338] The changing rooms are not very warm, but warmer than the outside, and lighted, with benches to sit on and at least one window per changing room, though we don't know if these windows look out onto the grounds or the pitch. They are in a position which leaves them somewhat exposed to the weather. If they are underneath some of the stands then the stands don't provide them with very good protection. Actually, the changing rooms can't be tucked under more than the rim of the stands, because the first two rows of stands would be too low (indeed, the first row is presumably at ground-level plus chair-height). Only row three would be high enough to fit even a low-roofed building under, and it is probably only 4ft wide (a row of seats and barely room to walk past them, since people have to squeeze up, or even stand up, if somebody wants to walk along the row). So if the changing rooms are under the stands they must actually stick out well beyond the limits of the stands, onto the lawn. We know they aren't actually at a distance from the pitch, because the team walk straight out into the playing area. They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the pitch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 477/478] There's no suggestion on JK's map that the changing rooms stick out beyond the perimeter of the stadium. Another possibility is that they take a bite out of the perimeter and interrupt the stands - presumably along one of the long sides, since supporters will want and need to sit near their own side's goal. If the changing rooms do indeed take a bite out of the stands, and if there is only one path from the outside directly onto the pitch - which we don't know, of course - then the changing rooms are not next to that path, because when Harry and Cedric walk down the dark grounds and turn onto the pitch, they do so through a gap in the stands. We don't know how big the changing rooms are; they only have to accommodate six players plus the team captain (in his/her own office) but they do have to include the captain's office, there are four lots of them, and there's probably an office/changing room for Madam Hooch as well. Even if we nest them together so that the Captain's offices overlap, and assume that the changing rooms themselves are only 12ft by 10ft, the Captains' offices 6ft square and Hooch's room about 12ft by 7ft, which is all a pretty tight squeeze, they still make a block over 60ft long, once you factor in the thickness of the walls (even if the walls are wooden, and thin). However, it's perfectly possible that the topmost tier of seating continues right across the top of the changing rooms. Probable layout of the Quidditch pitch, showing stands, changing rooms etc.. In this plan, the block of changing rooms is about 85ft long, which gives plenty of room. In any case, even if we assume a 62ft block of changing rooms, a 10ft-wide path into the pitch proper and four 15ft-wide stairs cutting their way through the stands, that still leaves room to seat a thousand spectators with three feet of space each in only three tiers of stands - thirteen hundred spectators, if the pitch has a 50ft offside area around it (which adds about 300ft to the length of the perimeter). So there is still no need for more than three tiers of seats. Even if we were to double the size of the changing rooms (which would make them very big) there is still ample space in three tiers, bearing in mind that the greatest number of spectators we know of for sure was eight hundred, although there may well have been more at the Triwizard Tournament. But 3ft per person is a generous allowance; if they ever did get more than thirteen hundred spectators they could just bunt up a bit. The provision of seating is so extremely generous that it may well be a legacy of a previous Triwizard Tournament, extra benches having been installed for the spectators and never removed. Return to contents-list Greenhouses, vegetables & flowers They were over the lake ... the castle was right ahead ... [cut] The nose of the car dropped. They were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle wall. 'Noooooo!' Ron yelled, swinging the steering wheel around; they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch and then out over the black lawns, losing height all the time.[cut] MIND THAT TREE!' Harry bellowed, lunging for the steering wheel, but too late – CRUNCH. With an ear-splitting bang of metal on wood, they hit the thick tree trunk [CoS ch. #05; p. 58/59] JK's map shows the greenhouses as close to the edge of the lake, and this is confirmed by the fact that the flying car passes over them after it crosses the lake and dodges the wall which is at the edge of the water. If the grounds are laid out anything like the way they are in JK's map then in order to cross the lake, dodge the wall and then follow a curved path over the greenhouses and the vegetable patch, to end by hitting the Whomping Willow, the car must have performed an S-shaped curve rather than a simple arc - bearing right to miss the wall, and then left again towards the Willow. [cut] they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle [PS ch. #08; p. 99] Harry, Ron and Hermione left the castle together, crossed the vegetable patch and made for the greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept. [CoS ch. #06; p. 70] [cut] Snape had seen them out of the castle, and they were making their way across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. [CoS ch. #15; p. 199] [coming from the castle] They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses [PoA ch. #21; p. 291] [cut] he could not wait to see Hagrid again, to play Quidditch, even to stroll across the vegetable patches to the Herbology greenhouses [OotP ch. #09; p. 145] When the bell echoed distantly over the grounds, Harry rolled up his blood-stained Bowtruckle picture [made during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson conducted near Hagrid's cabin] and marched off to Herbology [cut] [cut] Together, they traipsed across the vegetable patch. The sky still appeared unable to make up its mind whether it wanted to rain or not. 'I just wish Hagrid would hurry up and get back, that's all,' said Harry in a low voice, as they reached the greenhouses. [OotP ch. #13; p. 235] Their robes billowed and swirled around them as they splashed across the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology [OotP ch. #18; p. 344] He had been unable to tell Ron and Hermione about his lesson with Dumbledore over breakfast for fear of being overheard, but he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261] JK's map shows the greenhouses as lying on the left side of the castle as you face the front doors, and the vegetable patch as being further to the left of that. However, the text states that the greenhouses (some of them, anyway) are behind the castle, not alongside it: and whilst the vegetable patch may well extend to the left of the greenhouses, part of it must also lie between the greenhouses and the castle, and between the greenhouses and Hagrid's cabin, since they always seem to have to cross the vegetable patch to reach the greenhouses when coming from castle or cabin. The vegetable patch must be either quite low-lying relative to the rest of the grounds, or in its own little hollow, because it can flood in heavy rain. It may well be that the stream which Harry hears in the Forest is fed by an outflow from the lake, which starts by trickling through or close to the vegetable patch, irrigating it in summer and flooding it in winter. It was when he reached the bottom step that it occurred to him how very pleasant it would be to pass the vegetable patch on his walk to Hagrid's. It was not strictly on the way, but it seemed clear to Harry that this was a whim on which he should act, so he directed his feet immediately towards the vegetable patch [HBP ch. #22; p. 448] [cut] the [Herbology] class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's small wooden cabin [GoF ch. #13; p. 173] The edge of the vegetable patch is not on a direct route from the castle to Hagrid's cabin; at the same time, it is not in a completely opposite direction, or at least not very far in one. Coming from the greenhouses, the castle doors lie in one direction and Hagrid's cabin in another, so we know the front doors aren't on a straight line between the cabin and the greenhouses. It was when he reached the bottom step that [cut] he directed his feet immediately towards the vegetable patch where he was pleased, but not altogether surprised, to find Professor Slughorn in conversation with Professor Sprout. Harry lurked behind a low stone wall, feeling at peace with the world and listening to their conversation. [HBP ch. #22; p. 448] Professor Sprout headed off into the gathering darkness in the direction of her greenhouses and Slughorn directed his steps to the spot where Harry stood, invisible. [cut] 'Touching, touching,' said Slughorn absent-mindedly, his large droopy eyes fixed upon the distant lights of Hagrid's cabin. [HBP ch. #22; p. 449/450] There is a low wall along part of the edge of the vegetable patch - perhaps part of the ruins of an old curtain wall which once enclosed space around the castle. Coming from the castle, you reach this wall first, then the vegetable patch is beyond it, and the greenhouses beyond that. Standing by this wall, it is possible to see the windows of Hagrid's cabin, although they are quite far away. 'Greenhouse Three today, chaps!' said Professor Sprout [CoS ch. #06; p. 70] Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. About twenty pairs of different coloured earmuffs were lying on the bench. [CoS ch. #06; p. 72] [cut] he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. The weekend's brutal wind had died out at last; the weird mist had returned and it took them a little longer than usual to find the correct greenhouse. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261] We know that there are at least three greenhouses, because there is a "Greenhouse Three". No higher-numbered greenhouse has been mentioned, but that doesn't prove that there aren't any. Even if there are only three greenhouses which are used as Herbology classrooms, there may well be others which are used for research, or to grow food or potions ingredients. The fact that the trio have trouble finding the right greenhouse in the mist suggests there may well be more than three greenhouses, possibly plus potting sheds etc., and that their layout is quit complex and confusing. Also, at least those greenhouses where we know classes are held, i.e. Greenhouses One and Three, must be fairly large, since a class of twenty are able to work in them, but they are probably not as truly enormous as, say, the Palm House at Kew, because if they were so large that it took a significant amount of time to walk past a single greenhouse, the Trio would probably not be confused about how many they had passed, even in the mist. 'We'll run for it,' said Harry determinedly. 'Straight into the Forest, all right? We'll have to hide behind a tree or something and keep a lookout –' 'OK, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!' said Hermione breathlessly. 'We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!' Still working out what she meant, Harry set off at a sprint, Hermione behind him. They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing towards the shelter of the Forest ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 290/291] Also, in PoA when Harry and Hermione wish to hide from Hagrid's line of sight they cross the vegetable patch to the greenhouses, and then make their way behind the greenhouses to a point from which they break cover and dash for the Whomping Willow. The implication is that the greenhouses extend some distance towards the Willow, otherwise detouring behind them would make no sense (and it's a considerable detour, according to JK's map). If the greenhouses start behind the castle, as indicated in PS, and then extend significantly closer to the Willow than the castle itself does, either they are enormous or there are a lot more than three of them. And, as already stated, it's unlikely that they are enormous because then it would be hard to explain how the Trio could lose count of them, even in thick mist. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learnt how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and found out what they were used for. [PS ch. #08; p. 99] 'Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare ... what did Professor Sprout say? It likes the dark and the damp –' [PS ch. #16; p. 202] 'Greenhouse Three today, chaps!' said Professor Sprout [cut] [cut] They had only ever worked in Greenhouse One before – Greenhouse Three housed far more interesting and dangerous plants. Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door. Harry caught a whiff of damp earth and fertilizer, mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella-sized flowers dangling from the ceiling. [CoS ch. #06; p. 70/71] Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. [CoS ch. #06; p. 72] 'Four to a tray – there is a large supply of pots here – compost in the sacks over there – and be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething.' She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder. [CoS ch. #06; p. 73] Ernie Macmillan asked Harry quite politely to pass a bucket of leaping toadstools in Herbology one day, and in March several of the Mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in Greenhouse Three. {CoS ch. #14; p. 186] Professor Sprout set them all to work pruning the Abyssinian Shrivelfigs. Harry went to tip an armful of withered stalks onto the compost heap [CoS ch. #15; p. 199] Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley, with whom Harry normally got on very well, did not talk to him even though they were re-potting Bouncing Bulbs at the same tray – though they did laugh rather unpleasantly when one of the Bouncing Bulbs wriggled free from Harry's grip and smacked him hard in the face. [Gof ch. #18; p. 257] The door of the nearest greenhouse opened and some fourth-years spilled out of it [OotP ch. #13; p. 236] 'And I don't know how you stand it – it's horrible,' she said bluntly, dumping far too much dragon manure on her tray of Screechsnap seedlings, causing them to wriggle and squeak in discomfort. [OotP ch. #25; p. 485] Harry was deeply thankful that Professor Sprout ushered them into greenhouse three at that point, forcing Ernie to abandon his recital. [OotP ch. #31; p. 623] It was a relief to get outside into the greenhouses; they were dealing with more dangerous plants than ever in Herbology, but at least they were still allowed to swear loudly if the Venomous Tentacula seized them unexpectedly from behind. [HBP ch. #11; p. 205] 'Wow, scary thought, the boy You-Know-Who,' said Ron quietly, as they took their places around one of the gnarled Snargaluff stumps that formed that term's project, and began pulling on their protective gloves. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261] They looked round; sure enough, there sat Neville with a bloody lip and several nasty scratches along the side of his face, but clutching an unpleasantly pulsating green object about the size of a grapefruit. [cut] [cut] they all took deep breaths and then dived at the gnarled stump between them. It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramble-like vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air. One tangled itself in Hermione's hair and Ron beat it back with a pair of secateurs; Harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentacle-like branches; Hermione plunged her arm bravely into this hole, which closed like a trap around her elbow; Harry and Ron tugged and wrenched at the vines, forcing the hole to open again and Hermione snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod just like Neville's. At once, the prickly vines shot back inside and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood. [HBP ch. #14; p. 262/263] We know a bit about what's in the greenhouses - at least, in Greenhouses One and Three. We know that in first year they studied Herbology entirely in Greenhouse One, where they learned about "strange plants and fungi", including Devil's Snare - although we aren't told whether they saw actual specimens of Devil's Snare, or were merely told about it. In second year they moved up to Greenhouse Three and apparently stayed there, since there's a reference to them working in greenhouse three [sic] in OotP, and in HBP they are working with a Venomous Tentacula, and we know that there is one in Greenhouse Three. This might be some confirmation that Herbology classes are confined to Greenhouses One and Three, except that the reference in OotP to fourth-years spilling out of the nearest greenhouse sounds as if it isn't the greenhouse Harry's fifth-year class are heading to, and it won't be Greenhouse One because that's apparently reserved for first-years. In any case, Greenhouse Two seems not to be used for classes, or at least not for Harry's first through sixth years, which tends to confirm that at least one, possibly more greenhouses are reserved for other uses. It may well be that there are one or more greenhouses in which seventh years are able to pursue individual projects, but if so we haven't seen this yet. Things in Greenhouse Three include a big trestle bench at the centre of the greenhouse, big enough for a class of about nineteen students to work at; a sizeable compost heap; supplies of pots, trays and dragon-dung fertilizer; umbrella-sized flowers hanging down from the ceiling; the Venomous Tentacula (which is spiky, dark red, presumably venomous and has prehensile feelers and, apparently, teeth); leaping toadstools; Mandrakes; Abyssinian Shrivelfigs; Bouncing Bulbs (which wriggle and jump); Screechsnap seedlings; and Snargaluff stumps, which look like dead lumps of wood, but are built on the same plan as a sea anemone, with mobile, thorny, bramble-like vines which emerge from the top and lash about, protecting a foot-deep central hollow at the bottom of which is a green, pulsating pod the size of a grapefruit. Summer was creeping over the grounds around the castle; sky and lake alike turned periwinkle blue and flowers large as cabbages burst into bloom in the greenhouses. [CoS ch. #15; p. 197] Some of the greenhouses (plural) are used to grow cabbage-sized flowers which bloom in late spring/early summer. These are presumably different from the umbrella-sized flowers hanging down from the ceiling of Greenhouse Three in September. Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on end; the lake rose, the flowerbeds turned into muddy streams and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds. [CoS ch. #08; p. 94] We know that there are flowerbeds, although they are only mentioned once. We are never told where they are, or whether they are found in more than one area of the grounds. It seems likely, however, that at least some flowerbeds are at the end of the lake, near the greenhouses. Firstly, it would make sense for them to be near the greenhouses, where we know there are flowers being grown. Secondly, if they are low-lying and near the lake that would make sense of the way the water runs down through them when it rains. Thirdly, it might explain why - as discussed in the section on the lake - Sirius, when he chased after Wormtail, ended up quite far along the side of the lake (opposite the bushes from which Harry launched the stag Patronus, and which are themselves in a position to command a view of the West Tower), rather than simply hitting the lakeside at the nearest point; and why Harry and Hermione, chasing after him, also do not seem to reach the water's edge until they get close to where Sirius is, even though, on either JK's own map or on mine, this means they must have bypassed the end of the lake. [cut] an area of lawn right in front of the castle had been transformed into a sort of grotto full of fairy lights – meaning hundreds of actual living fairies were sitting in the rosebushes that had been conjured there [GoF ch. #23; p. 359] This last is doubly true if the flowerbeds include a lot of rosebushes and other impassably prickly things, which would cause all three of them to swing wide of the water. Roses do very well in Scotland, and also it would explain where they got the rose-bushes which were conjured to make the rose-garden for the Yule Ball. We are never told whether things which are conjured are actually created out of nothing, or simply summoned from elsewhere, but the latter seems more likely; if wizards really could make something permanent - or even semi-permanent - out of nothing by a method as easy and common as conjuration seems to be, there would be no poverty in their world, and that definitely doesn't seem to be the case. 'We went up to her office to see her; we took her some daffodils - not the honking ones that Sprout’s got, nice ones.' [OotP ch. #27; p. 528] There are probably daffodils growing in the grounds, since Parvati and Lavender take daffodils to Trelawney and they haven't had an opportunity to go to Hogsmeade and buy any. They might have conjured them, possibly - but you would actually expect a tract of parkland in Scotland to be liberally scattered with self-propagating daffodils. Professor Sprout also grows honking daffodils; we are not told whether these are grown in a greenhouse or in a flowerbed but their obvious nuisance-potential suggests that they probably aren't allowed to grow wild. Return to contents-list Beyond the grounds When speculating about the overall shape of Hogwarts and its immediate surroundings, one point to consider is the possible etymology of the name. JK Rowling is supposed to have said the name might have been inspired, subconsciously, by having seen the American plant called a hogwort (Croton capitatus, a source of the laxative croton oil) at Kew Gardens many years beforehand. But within the story universe the castle can hardly have been named after the English name of an American plant, five hundred years before English was first spoken on the American continent. "Wart" is a Mediaeval pet-name for people called Arthur, and King Arthur is of course perhaps the greatest British folk hero, so the castle is probably called The-Something-of-Arthur. The writer excessivelyperky has suggested that the "hog" part is a corruption of "howe", "hoo" or "hough", a word for a free-standing domed hill, usually an ancient burial mound - in which case Hogwarts would mean "Arthur's Howe", and you would expect that either the hill on which the castle stands, or a separate hill in or very near the school grounds, was a fairly even dome, like a true burial mound. It might even be the burial-mound of Arthur: indeed, the fact that Harry goes down through the witch's hump into an earth tunnel supports the idea that the mound the castle stands on might be an artificial one, built up of earth, rather than the big lump of rocky outcrop you would expect at the heart of a natural Scottish hill. Yet, against this, the fact that one side of the mound ends in a cliff does suggest it is natural, and the likely layout of the castle is a long oval rather than a circle. Given its position, if there's an artificial element to the mound Hogwarts stands on it's more likely that it's an old Iron Age hill fort, where a natural hill has been improved on a bit. But that doesn't mean that a tradition couldn't grow up that it was the burial-mound of a king. Also, the castle grounds are clearly extensive, and we are not really told that much about them, except for the stretch between the castle and the gates (which incorporates part of the lakeside, Hagrid's cabin and the Quidditch pitch). We do not, for example, ever again see a student visit the pinewood between the station and the lake which the students descend through at the start of Harry's first year, even though it's on the opposite side of the grounds from the Forbidden Forest and we're shown students walking all the way around the lake. It is possible, therefore, that there is a small to medium-sized howe somewhere in a less-visited area of the grounds, and it simply hasn't been mentioned. The fact that even ghosts believe that the Shrieking Shack is haunted, despite it supposedly only having been erected in 1971, may mean that the hill on which the Shack stands is a burial mound. If there's already one definite burial mound in the area, people might assume that the larger hill the castle stands on, or a round hill within the gorunds, is a burial mound (or a sidhe hill), whether it is or not. On the other hand, a hog is a pig - usually but not always a castrated boar - or anything which is bent up in the middle like the back of a boar. Some of the Arthurian legends involve the hunting of magical boars - Twrch Trywth, for example, who was a human king transformed into a giant boar carrying a comb and shears between his ears - so Hogwarts might well mean "Boar of Arthur". This would suggest that the hill on which the castle stands is shaped like a pig. In favour of this option, Hogsmeade would normally mean either "Meadow of the Pig" or "Meadow where pigs are kept" (although I suppose it could conceivably mean "Meadow with a howe in it"), and JK Rowling lives in Edinburgh and must be very well aware of the hill around which south-east Edinburgh is built, which is called Arthur's Seat and is famously, obviously and unmistakably shaped like a lion. Whether the hill is shaped like a hog or a howe, we don't know whether that refers just to the immediate mound which the castle stands on, or to the whole of the hillside which the grounds slope down. However, the idea that "meade" means "meadow is a serious cultural anomaly - in Scottish placenames the English "meade" is replaced be "lea". So perhaps it means something else. If the names of the village and castle are corruptions of Gaelic names, Hogsmeade could be "Something-Meadhanach", where "Meadhanach" means "middle one". It could be all Gaelic and the "hog" bit could be a corruption of "oighreachd", an estate or inheritance of land. Hogsmeade could then be "the middle estate" (or Middle Earth!), and Hogwarts "the estate of Arthur". But you do sometimes get bilingual names in Scotland, and it's quite possible that Hogsmeade is "the middle howe". In that case, the village would be called after the mound that the Shack stands on, and there would be other domed mounds either side of it - the one in the castle grounds (which may or may not be the one the castle is built on), and another one in the opposite direction. As described in the separate section on the overall setting of Hogwarts, we can ascertain that there are two or more mountains north-east of the castle and about three miles away, and at least one to the north-west which is only around a mile away, and which abuts the Forest. There are more mountains to the south or south-east, obstructing access from that direction, but there is at least once substantial gap in the ring of mountains, at about north-north-west or due north. 'It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head – that's the pub down in the village.' [PS ch. #16; p. 193] Breaking into a run, she led them all the way back up the road, through the gates flanked by winged boars, and up through the grounds to Hagrid's cabin. [GoF ch. #24; p. 392] Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way back into Hogsmeade, and up towards Hogwarts. [GoF ch. #27; p. 463] He turned, halfway along the third-floor corridor, to see Fred and George peering out at him from behind a statue of a humpbacked, one-eyed witch. [PoA ch. #10; p. 142] 'Dissendium!' Harry whispered, tapping the stone witch again. At once, the statue's hump opened wide enough to admit a fairly thin person. Harry [cut] hoisted himself into the hole headfirst, and pushed himself forwards. He slid a considerable way down what felt like a stone slide, then landed on cold, damp earth. He stood up, looking around. It was pitch dark. He [cut] saw that he was in a very narrow, low, earthy passageway. [cut] The passage twisted and turned, more like the burrow of a giant rabbit than anything else. Harry hurried along it, stumbling now and then on the uneven floor [cut] [cut] After what felt like an hour, the passage began to rise. Panting, Harry sped up [cut] Ten minutes later, he came to the foot of some worn, stone steps, which rose out of sight above him. [cut] A hundred steps, two hundred steps, he lost count as he climbed, watching his feet ... then, without warning, his head hit something hard. It seemed to be a trapdoor. [cut] Very slowly, he pushed the trapdoor open and peered over the edge. He was in a cellar [cut] Harry crept slowly towards the wooden staircase that led upstairs. [PoA ch. #10; p. 145/146] Harry didn't have a very clear idea of how he had managed to get back into the Honeydukes cellar, through the tunnel and into the castle once more. All he knew was that the return trip seemed to take no time at all [PoA ch. #11; p. 157] There is a problem to do with the relative levels of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. It usually sounds as though the village is below the level of the front gates of the Hogwarts grounds, and tends if anything to continue to slope down from the point at which you enter it when approaching from Hogwarts. We are told at least twice that the trio go up from Hogsmeade to the Hogwarts gates, in a context which makes it sounds as though up really does mean up, and not just along. However, when Harry goes to Honeydukes via the tunnel, he climbs to a considerable height to do so. Harry enters the tunnel through the hump of the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor - that's the third storey above the ground, not counting ground-level. Her robes incidentally must go down to the floor all round her if there is a physical passage through her, not some sort of magical portal. He then goes headfirst down a stone slide - within the wall, presumably - which discharges him onto cold, damp earth in a very narrow, low, earthy passageway. Since he has hit earth, he is presumably now at ground level. This passage has an uneven floor and it twists and turns like a burrow. Although we are not told this, the passage must at least initially slope downwards, since we know the ground slopes down from the castle towards the boundary wall. After what feels like an hour (so is probably about half an hour) the passage starts to rise. Harry then speeds up. He was already hurrying before that, but the passage is twisty and dark and uneven underfoot - so probably he'd been going at less than normal walking speed, despite his attempts to hurry. Say he's been walking at about two miles an hour, so he's come about a mile at this point. Now he speeds up, probably to about normal walking speed, so in the ten minutes he would go just under half a mile. So when he reaches the foot of the stairs he's probably walked about a mile and a half, maybe a little over, but the passage was so winding he may well have come less than a mile, as the crow flies. The fact that the return trip felt very quick tends to confirm that on the outward journey he had been walking slowly, and not really for anything like as long as an hour, so Honeydukes is probably not more than a mile from the castle, maybe a little less. From this point, there are over two hundred steps leading upwards, before Harry hits the cellar of Hogsmeade. Even if they are shallow 4" steps he's gone up 70ft, plus the celar - another 10ft at least, so after walking up a noticeable slope for about half a mile he is still at least 80ft below ground, probably more - that's about seven storeys plus. Either the tunnel plunged down several storeys underground, in addition to the drop in height necessitated by the slope of the grounds, or the Honeydukes end of Hogsmeade is substantially uphill. This is unlikely because (as discussed in the Hogsmeade section) Honeydukes appears to be partway down a general slope of which even the highest point is still lower than the front gates. It is possible that the tunnel really does burrow right underground, in order to avoid an outcrop of rock or an underground waterway, since we are not told how the lake drains (if it does), and there must be springs and watercourses supporting the village. But in that case if the lake is aquifer-fed the tunnel probably extends below the watertable, as well as below the ground, and magic must be being used to keep it ventilated and unflooded. This could be seen as evidence that the lake is fed from streams coming from further upslope, which we simply haven't been told about, and Hogwarts is very close against, and possibly partway up, a mountain on its east side, so that there is a continuous slope down from the mountain to the lake. [cut] the three of them left Honeydukes for the blizzard outside. [cut] [cut] They headed up the street, heads bowed against the wind, [cut] 'That's the Post Office –' 'Zonko's is up there –' 'We could go up to the Shrieking Shack –' 'Tell you what,' said Ron, his teeth chattering, 'shall we go for a Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?' Harry was more than willing; [cut] so they crossed the road, and in a few minutes were entering the tiny inn. [PoA ch. #10; p. 149] Harry [cut] emerged into the sunlight outside Honeydukes [cut] They set off up the High Street. [cut] They went to the Post Office; [cut] Then they visited Zonko's [cut] The day was fine and breezy, and neither of them felt like staying indoors, so they walked past the Three Broomsticks and climbed a slope to visit the Shrieking Shack [PoA ch. #14; p. 205] They covered the distance to the trunk in seconds [cut] Harry went next; he crawled forwards, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel. [cut] 'This way,' said Harry, setting off, bent-backed, after Crookshanks. 'Where does this tunnel come out?' Hermione asked [cut] 'I don't know ... [cut] It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it ends up in Hogsmeade ...' They moved as fast as they could, bent almost double; [cut] On and on went the passage; it felt at least as long as the one to Honeydukes ... [cut] And then the tunnel began to rise; moments later it twisted, and Crookshanks had gone. Instead, Harry could see a patch of dim light through a small opening. [PoA ch. #17; p. 247] From Honeydukes one apparently goes either on a level or up a slight slope towards the Three Broomsticks ("up" a street may sometimes just mean "along", but one wouldn't go "up" in a direction which sloped down). Then the Shrieking Shack is up a slope from the Three Broomsticks - so the Shack is quite definitely on a higher level than Honeydukes. The tunnel to the Shrieking Shack feels about the same length as the one to Honeydukes. As the crow flies, it probably is: the distance from the castle to Honeydukes is probably very close to the distance from the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack. [**insert map reference**] There's no mention of the tunnel to the Shack twisting about the way the Honeydukes one does, though, so it ought to be shorter: probably Harry feels it to be as long because every second's delay could mean danger to Ron. At any rate, although the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack does rise noticeably towards the end, there's no suggestion of having to go up over seven storeys in height, although we know they are ending up at a point higher than Honeydukes. Hence, it cannot be that Honeydukes simply is very high up; it must be that for some reason the tunnel to Honeydukes plunges very low. This raises questions as to how the thing is kept ventilated, as it is effectively a mine. Indeed, it may well be a former mine-working which has been adapted for another use. Return to contents-list Conclusions and criteria which must be met by any map: Basic orientation & layout The Forbidden Forest is west and north-west of the castle, and the front face of the castle, where the main doors are, faces broadly west or north-west, and therefore broadly towards the Forest. The castle has to be so oriented that light coming from 36° north of west can illuminate the front steps, and light coming from 32° north of west can shine fairly directly into the Entrance Hall. The front gates are south or south-west of the castle. Heading from the main doors of the castle towards the front gates, the Forbidden Forest is on the right. The castle and the lake are probably both partway up a mountain, but they are surrounded by mountains which are bigger and higher. The castle stands at the edge of a cliff over the lake. The cliff is probably about 120ft high, and its upper part inclines back from the water towards the castle. The lower part of the cliff may also incline back, or may be vertical. There is a footpath all round the perimeter of the lake, within the boundaries of the castle grounds. This path probably passes along the inclined slope at the top of the cliff, just below the base of the castle wall, and may well have its own lower safety-wall along the edge.The lake is probably south of the castle, or at least part of it is. A large part of it wraps around at least one side of the castle, such that the centre of the lake may be seen by somebody standing a little way in front of the castle's main doors. It approaches near enough to the castle that people splashing in the water can be heard from the Entrance Hall, when the doors are open. The greenhouses and vegetable patch are close to the lake, partly behind and partly to one side of the castle. Part of the lake lies close to the route between the castle and the front gates, between Hagrid's house and the castle and between the Quidditch pitch and the castle Heading from the castle towards the Quidditch pitch means the Forbidden Forest is on your right, and heading from the Quidditch pitch towards Hagrid's cabin also means heading towards the Forest. There is a direct line of sight from the Quidditch pitch to the front steps of the castle, and to the Owlery in the West Tower. Scale The lake is maybe 800 to 1,200 yards long, with a perimeter about a mile and a half (2,640 yards) long, or just under. At the point at which Time-Turned and first-time Harry confront each other, it is probably between 100 and 300 yards across. The mer village is probably less than 600 yards from the shore by the Triwizard judges' table. The distance from Dumbledore's tomb across the lake to the edge of the Forbidden Forest is not more than 650 yards. Hagrid's cabin is certainly no more than 400 yards from the front door of the castle, and is more probably about 320 yards. If you follow the edge of the Forest from Hagrid's cabin, going away from the castle rather than back towards it, you go round a curve, so that the trees eventually cut out the view of both castle and lake. Then you come to a clear area large enough to hold a pen containing four dragons, plus stands for spectators. The distance from Hagrid's cabin to this paddock area is about 400 yards. The nearest approach of the Forest is about 300 yards from Gryffindor Tower. The Quidditch pitch is between 100 and 300 yards from the driveway as it approaches the front gates. It is up to about 600 yards from the nearest part of the school. The driveway sweeps through one or more loose curves, and is between about 470 and 800 yards The distance from the gates to the castle "as the crow flies" is around 600-700 yards. The length of the road which runs around the outside of the grounds, from the station to the front gates, is around one and a third miles (2,346 yards). Entrances & boundaries The boundary of the grounds, which seems be a wall reinforced by spells, encloses the lake, and an area on the far side of the lake wide enough to incorporate a path around the lake back by a long steep slope thickly covered with pine trees. Hogsmeade station lies close to the boundary wall. It has a narrow platform about 170 yards long, with some sort of barrier along the back. At the near end (probably) of the platform, as you approach from London, there is a way through this barrier, which leads to an entrance in the Hogwarts boundary wall, and thence to a narrow, steep path which cuts down through the pine trees to the lakeside, rounding a sharp bend just before it reaches the lake. At the far end of the platform (probably), nearest to Hogsmeade, there is a building of some sort, with windows, and a narrow door which lets onto the road outside. The railway line goes around a sharp bend just before it reaches the station. The castle cannot be seen at night from either the station or the path down to the lake, until you actually emerge onto the lakeside. This may be due to first the boundary wall and then the pine trees cutting off the line of sight. Outside the station there is the start of an earth-floored but substantial carriageway. At the station-end this is wide enough to enable a hundred carriages, each drawn by a single horse (sort-of), to park in something a lot more compact than single-file. This carriageway leads all the way around the castle grounds to the front gates. At the station end it is level, or possibly slopes upwards a little, but overall it slopes downwards towards the front gates. At some point there is probably a spur of track veering off towards Hogsmeade. The front gates are set into a wall and flanked on either side by tall stone pillars bearing figures of winged boars. If you stand at the gates with your back to the castle, to your left there is a twisting lane which turns a corner and bears towards Hogsmeade, and which connects to the road which runs around the Hogwarts grounds. Through the gates, a sweeping driveway about 20ft wide leads up to the castle. In addition to the front gates and the station gate, there is at least one other entrance to the grounds, probably somewhere around the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The lawns The castle stands on top of its own little hill or mound, and is raised at least 20ft higher up than the floor of the Forbidden Forest. It is surrounded by lawns, which generally slope downwards towards the perimeter of the grounds (at least in the direction of the front gates), and which are fairly well-cared for but not cut very short. There is a substantial skirt of lawn in front of the castle. The lawns slope down markedly from the castle towards the lake, and from the castle towards the Quidditch pitch. The east and perhaps south-east side of the castle is on a cliff above the water, but on the south side there is a grassy slope which can easily be walked down from the level of the main doors to the level of the lake, close to the side of the castle. This must wrap round the side of the mound the castle stands on, since it drops from the top of the cliff to the water-level in quite a tight space. On the front or west side of the castle the lawns slope down, but not too steeply for the students to line up on them. The approach from the north is either a slope up to the castle walls or, if a drop, then a very low one. Hagrid's cabin is downslope from the castle, and probably also downslope from the greenhouses. The front gates are lower down than Hagrid's cabin. The ground around Hagrid's cabin is in some way not open. The slope of the grounds is probably quite uneven and lumpy. As you descend to a level lower than the front doors there is an obstruction interrupting the line of sight between the castle-end of the drive and the front gates, which suggests either a stand of trees in the way, or a bulge in the ground, between the castle and the area of Hagrid's cabin There is a similar obstruction between the greenhouses and the Whomping Willow, stands alone in the grounds. The top of it can be seen from the greenhouses, but the base cannot. Another obstriction, probably a bulge of ground, prevents Hagrid's house from being in plain view all the way from the Quidditch pitch. On the opposite side of the grounds from the Forbidden Forest, there is a smooth expanse of lawn. There are trees around the lake, and other individual trees scattered about the lawns. The lake The lake is not a tidal inlet, and is presumably fresh-water. Hogwarts is probably very close to the foot of a mountain, or on a ledge partway up a mountain, and the lake is probably fed by numerous but small streams coming down the hillside from the direction of the station. The lake is fairly wide, and has a longish shore which is quite close to Hagrid's house and can be seen, from Hagrid's house, as running towards and away from you. The lake has quite extensive shallows, but is at least 12ft deep at the point where the boats cross it, close to the station. The mer village, and the areas of lake-floor which Harry passes over to get there, are probably about 40ft deep - certainly a lot less than 95ft deep. On the castle side of the lake there is a wide, ivy-curtained opening which leads into a water-filled channel which penetrates the cliff-face and flows to an underground harbour. The lake seems to be mostly surrounded by low, grassy slopes, and is also at least partly surrounded by trees and bushes. This includes an area of pine wood between the lake and the station, which clothes a steep bank. As you stand facing the front doors of the castle, to your right is a slope of lawn leading down to the lake, at the foot of which are a large beech tree and some bushes. The bushes are south or west of the beech tree. The distance from the castle around the lake to the far end is up to 1,500 yards, or a little under. If you start from that far end and swim towards the centre of the lake and/or towards the castle, you start by passing through shallows where the floor of the lake is covered in silt and in flat, slimy stones. Passing out of the shallows, the water quite rapidly becomes at least about 15ft deep. In this area there are large expanses of tangled black waterweed and of bare muddy floor scattered with dull, glimmering stones. Next comes an area where there are tangled clumps of weed (which may still be black but we aren't told) and fallen logs, as well as fish, and then you come to a great expanse of Grindylow-haunted pale-green weed, which extends for about 400 to 500 yards. The water in this area is about 30ft deep. After the pale green weed comes an expanse of plain black mud, easily disturbed. In the midst of the black plain, you come to a small underwater village. There is a stone painted with scenes in front of the entrance, and then probably about two hundred crude stone houses forming a village about 150 yards across, with a square at the centre containing a large, rough-hewn statue. The Forbidden Forest Near to Hagrid's cabin there is probably a big more-or-less circular bite out of the edge of the Forest, forming a sort of arena almost surrounded by trees, into which the Beauxbatons carriage and flying-horse paddock were tucked. Between Hagrid's cabin and the area nearer the front gates where the Hippogriffs and, later, the dragons are kept, the edge of the Forest swings round in a convex curve. The Forest probably approaches quite close to the driveway in between Hagrid's house and the front gates. The edge of the Forest does not approach the lake or the greenhouses very closely, or if it does it then falls back around a wide stretch of open lawn. There is a free-standing or nearly free-standing clump of trees at the edge of the Forest, in a convenient position from which to observe the Whomping Willow. The Whomping Willow The Whomping Willow stands alone in the grounds. It is on an arc which goes lake -> greenhouses -> vegetable-patch -> lawn -> Willow, and there is quite a wide area of lawn between it and the vegetable-patch. It is also on a fairly short, direct route between the greenhouses and the Forbidden Forest. There is an obstruction of some kind, probably a hillock, obscuring the line of sight between it and the greenhouses. This obstruction probably interrupts the line of sight from Hagrid's cabin, for part of the area between the greenhouses and the Willow. The Willow is quite a long way from Hagrid's cabin, and if you walk from one to the other you pass the main doors of the castle somewhere on the way. It is a significant distance from the front doors of the castle, and closer to the Forest than to the castle. Hagrid's cabin Hagrid's house is a wooden, one-room structure, close to the edge of the Forest, and at a significant distance from both the Quidditch pitch and the front gates. It faces towards the castle, and stands on ground which is fairly flat but which is in some way not "open". The floor-size of the house is around 35ft by 21ft. It has a sloping roof - probably gabled, with a high ridge along the middle. The height of the roof varies from about 10ft up to probably about 15ft, or a little more, depending on how thick the roof itself is. The house has a chimney, to one side. The chimney may be over a corner: if so, it is one of the corners at the front of the house. It has a front and a back door, both probably about 5ft wide, and two windows each at front and back. The windows are divided into square panes; they must extend from about 3ft above ground to about 11ft, and are probably sash windows, about 4ft wide. As you face the front of the house, there is a rain-barrel by the right-hand window. There is probably another barrel at the back, on the left (as judged from the front of the house). Behind the house there is a vegetable garden, which is described as "small" but which must be at least 40ft by 60ft. The back of this garden is probably about 30ft from the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It is surrounded by a fence which has at least one growing tree incorporated into it, and this fence is either incomplete or it has a gate in it. The Quidditch pitch The Quidditch pitch is somewhere near the front gates, between 100 and 300 yards from the driveway, and probably between 350 and 600 yards from the school. Its long axis is oriented east to west and is at an angle to the driveway (as big an angle as we can make it and still have the June sunset shining into the Entrance Hall). The pitch proper five hundred feet long and a hundred and eighty feet wide, forming a narrow oval with quite pointed ends, with the scoring areas coming about eighty feet into the pitch, and the goalposts arranged in straight lines, some distance in from the ends. The goalposts are golden hoops 50ft high, about 17ft apart and having hoops about 5ft across. There is probably an "offside" strip about 50ft wide around the pitch proper. The pitch has a grass surface and is surrounded by tiered seating which is wooden and hollow. There are at least three tiers of seats, but probably only three - no more than four, certainly. The seating is accessed by stairs which are entered from the lawn, and which are widely spaced. The height of the stands is such that Hagrid, standing or sitting in or by his cabin and using binoculars, is able to see much of the action on/above the pitch. Players standing on the pitch are able to see the front doors of the castle: either they is looking straight through one of the entrances to the pitch, or the stands are of an open construction which enables them to see out between the tiers. The foot of one of the stairs faces broadly towards Hagrid's cabin, but at an angle to it. There is an entrance from the lawn outside onto the pitch proper and which is broadly on a side of the pitch which faces upslope towards the castle, but is so angled that a person coming down from the castle must turn into it. There is a barrier between the playing area and the stands, low enough to vault over. There is probably space between this barrier and the first row of seats, wide enough for Hagrid to walk around it. There is a wooden podium for the match commentator, probably placed midway along one of the long sides. There are four changing rooms, one per house, each with a captain's office attached, and opening directly onto the pitch. There is probably an office for Madam Hooch in the same block. The block of changing rooms probably interrupts the stands at that point, rather than sticking out onto the lawn. The changing rooms are some distance from the goalposts, and not next to the path which leads onto the pitch - not the one we've been told about, anyway, though there may be others. Greenhouses, vegetables & flowers The greenhouses are close to the edge of the lake, partly behind the castle and partly to the left of it, as you face the main doors. The vegetable patch may well extend to the left of the greenhouses, but part of it must also lie between the greenhouses and the castle, and between the greenhouses and Hagrid's cabin. The whole area is quite low-lying, since the vegetable patch can flood, and there is probably a stream running through or close by it. The edge of the vegetable patch is not on a direct route from the castle to Hagrid's cabin; at the same time, it is not in a completely opposite direction. There is a low wall along part of the edge of the vegetable patch, placed so that you come to it as you head down from the castle towards the vegetable patch. Coming from the castle, you reach this wall first, then the vegetable patch is beyond it, and the greenhouses beyond that. There are at least three greenhouses, and are probably more, possibly plus potting sheds etc.. If there are only three then they must be very long. Their layout is quite complex and confusing, but we know they extend some distance towards the Whomping Willow. There are flowerbeds, at least some of which are probably at the end of the lake, near the greenhouses. Beyond the grounds One of three things is true: there is a burial mound, or a rounded hill resembling a burial mound, in the castle grounds, or the hill on which the castle stands is itself a fairly even dome, like a burial mound, or the hill the castle stands on is shaped like a pig. This last could apply either to the immediate mound on which the castle stands, or to the mound which incorporates the whole of the grounds. Of the three options, the most likely is probably that there is a burial mound, or something which looks like one, somewhere in the grounds. There are mountains around Hogwarts, including some which are in the direction of travel of the Hogwarts Express, and within about three miles of the castle. The whole area around the castle is probably quite high up, and it is either snuggled against the base of a land-mass, or partway up one. Streams flow down from this higher mass to feed the lake. Hogsmeade itself is somewhere to the left of the gates, south-south-west of the castle. It is downslope from the castle grounds, and is about a mile away from the castle, or a little under. The castle probably also stands significantly higher than the station, despite the station being at the top of the pine-wood slope. The station road bears left from the castle gates, then right and left in order to swing away from the edge of the castle grounds and skirt the village, before bending round to the left again to hug the edge of the grounds. About where it turns to skirt the village, a small, winding lane bears away to the right and carries on until it joins the village High Street. The Shrieking Shack stands on higher ground than Hogsmeade. It is probably slightly uphill as you approach from the castle side as well, not just on a level, because the tunnel by which it is entered rises slightly. The tunnel which enters Honeydukes rises a lot - eight storeys or more. It cannot be that Honeydukes simply is very high up, since we know it is lower than the Shrieking Shack; so it must be that for some reason the tunnel to Honeydukes burrows very low. Return to contents-list Map of the Hogwarts grounds I have shown the map twice: once in an unlabelled overview version (below) which is displayed at a small enough size that you can see the whole map at a glance, in order to form an impression of the whole area, and then again in a labelled version which is at too high a magnification to fit on the screen, and has to be scrolled through. Because the map files are so large, even as .gifs, that having two of them on the same page my screw up your browser, I have placed the labelled map in a separate window until I think of a better way of doing this. In regard to this map of the grounds of Hogwarts, most details are strongly indicated by canon, but the presence of a less-frequented area of the grounds lying to the north of the greenhouses, and including a small hill or burial mound, is my own whimsy, based in part on the possibility that the "hog" in Hogwarts is really "hough" or "howe", in part on my fondness for the fanfic The Horse by Elsa2, which features a small hill, called iirc Squirrel Hill, in the castle grounds, and in part on my memories of working for a large hospital whose grounds opened up into unexpected, unfrequented green corners behind some of the high-tech buildings. If you don't like it just imagine the boundary wall as cutting in more closely behind the greenhouses. Smooth, fertile land suitable for farming. Rough scrubland, not suitable for farming. Bushes. Semi-open forest ground and undergrowth. Sparse growth of trees. Dense growth of trees. Bare earth or paving. Water. Buildings. Wooden structures, other than buildings. ::Display labelled map::
Then, as he strode down a long, straight path, he saw movement once again, and his beam of wand-light hit an extraordinary creature, [GoF ch. #31; p. 545]
However, we do not have any firm evidence that the initial path is straight for the whole 50 yards, just that it is straight enough to be able to see some distance into it from the entrance, and the fact that a later path is specified as "straight" means that some of them aren't. There are two substantial problems associated with having the pitch angled north-east to south-west, and because of this I tend to assume that the initial path is not straight and that the pitch is oriented broadly east to west. The reasons are these.
Firstly, Rowling's own map shows the pitch as angled at a diagonal relative to the front face of the castle, in such a way that the end which is nearest to the castle is the one on the Astronomy Tower side. This is compatible with the long axis of the pitch running east to west. If the long axis of the pitch runs north-east to south-west, it's still on a diagonal relative to the front face of the castle, but now the end which is nearest to the castle is the one on the West Tower side. Wood paced the pitch, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance, and the rest of the school spill onto the lawn. [PoA ch. #15; p. 224] But Colin didn't stop questioning Harry all the way down the sloping lawns to the Quidditch pitch [CoS ch. #07; p. 83] [cut] they ran down the lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, heads bowed against the ferocious wind [PoA ch. #09; p. 131] 'I mean, we can do it tonight,' said Ron, as he and Harry walked down the sloping lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, their broomsticks over their shoulders [OotP ch. #14; p. 259] A great tide of students was moving up the sloping lawns from the pitch. [OotP ch. #30; p. 618] They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the pitch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 477/478] Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we know that there is a line of sight from the front doors of the castle to part of the pitch. We also know that the students are repeatedly described as walking down the lawns, not the carriage track, to access the pitch. For reasons discussed in the section on the layout of the castle itself, we know that the Astronomy Tower is on the right of the main doors as you face them, and is a true tower, not a turret - that is, it goes all the way down to the ground. This restricts the line of sight from the entrance and means that you cannot move very far east of the carriage track and still be able to see the main doors, because the base of the Astronomy Tower gets in the way. If the long axis of the pitch lies east to west, it is possible to have a line of sight from the doors to the western tip of the stadium, while the bulk of it lies further east. If, however, the pitch lies north-east to south-west then it will be pretty-much parallel to the carriage track, and the lines of sight from the pitch to the main doors, from the gates to the main doors and from the gates to Hagrid's cabin mean that the pitch would have to be not only parallel to the track but quite close to it along its entire length, if any part of it is to have a view of the main doors. It then becomes difficult to explain why the students don't just walk down the nice dry track to get to the pitch, and why the entrance to the pitch would point anywhere other than the adjacent track, and why, if it does point towards the track, they should come out and then go round to the other side of the stadium and walk up the grass. For this reason I am assuming that the long axis of the Quidditch pitch is oriented broadly east to west, even though that entails a certain amount of special pleading as regards the layout of the maze in GoF. 'That's right!' said Bagman. 'A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the centre of the maze.' [GoF ch. #28; p. 478] The wand spun around once, and pointed towards his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go north-west for the centre of the maze. [GoF ch. #31; p. 540] Every so often he hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made him feel sure he was getting near the heart of the maze. [GoF ch. #31; p. 545] He had a choice of paths up ahead. 'Point me!' he whispered again to his wand, and it spun around and pointed him to the right-hand one. He dashed up this one, and saw light ahead. The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. [GoF ch. #31; p. 547] That's assuming, of course, that the maze has a one to one correspondence with physical reality, and doesn't exist at least partly in wizard space. It definitely has some physical peculiarities which need to be explained. We're told, for example, that the Triwizard Cup will be at the centre of the maze - at least, Ludo Bagman says so, and Harry believes him and heads for the literal centre. We're not given any reason to think that the centre of the maze is geographically different from the centre of the Quidditch pitch. Yet, the entire pitch is supposed to be 500ft long, or 167 yards, and we are told that the Triwizard Cup is at the centre of the maze, and yet Harry, believing himself to be close to the centre of the maze, sees the Triwizard Cup as 100 yards away. If the maze exists in real space, these things cannot all be true. If Harry is at the centre of the pitch the 100-yards-away Cup must be down one end, and vice versa. 'We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze,' said Professor McGonagall to the champions. [GoF ch. #31; p. 539] Even if we assume that the centre of the pitch corresponds with the point at which one resolves the puzzle and comes in sight of the Cup, which in fact is down one end, you still have the problem that 100 yards is more than half the length of the pitch so neither the position Harry comes to when he feels he has reached the centre, and sees the Cup, nor the actual position of the Cup, can correspond with the actual centre of the pitch - unless the distance is really only 83 yards, not 100, or the pitch is longer than 500ft. Perhaps there is a 50ft-wide "offside" margin between the pitch proper and the stands. Indeed, the drawing of the Quidditch pitch on JK's own map rather supports the idea that there might be a wide offside strip around the pitch. In addition we know that there is still a walkway left between the edge of the maze and the stands, or perhaps between the stands and the barrier, because the four stewards have room to walk around the maze. It may be, of course, that the maze simply exstends into wizard space. Given the speed at which the players fly, it does make sense that there would be a narrow walkway in front of the seats to enable ground-level spectators to reach their seats, separated from the pitch by some sort of barrier, and then a wide offside strip around the actual competition area. Harry felt himself slam flat into the ground; his face was pressed into grass [GoF ch. #35; p. 582] He had come back to the edge of the maze. He could see the stands rising above him [GoF ch. #35; p. 583] 'You arrived back in the middle of the lawn clutching Cedric's dead body ... none of us saw what happened in the maze ...' [OotP ch. #13; p. 226/227] There must certainly be a little space in front of the entrance to the maze, inside the stadium but not in the maze proper, because when Harry returns with Cedric's body he lands outside the maze but still inside the stadium, and "in the middle of the lawn". If the entrance to the maze is at one end of the pitch the clear space in front of the entrance is presumably part of one of the scoring areas. I have a theory about this, incidentally. On the face of it, the entire plot of GoF makes no real sense, since it seems as if false!Moody could have tricked Harry into touching a Portkey, and whisked him away to Voldemort, at any point during the school year. Admittedly having it happen during the third task was very melodramatic and the Death Eaters do like melodrama - but would even Voldemort put off his own revivification for an entire year just so he could stage an impressive bit of terrorist theatre? But it makes perfect sense if we assume that a) the wards of Hogwarts can detect unauthorized Portkeys and b) the Triwizard Cup was always intended to be a Portkey, which would whisk the victor out of the maze and onto the lawn in full view of the judges. In that case, the only way false!Moody would be able to trick the castle wards would be to take a pre-existing and authorized Portkey, i.e. the Cup, and simply change its destination. A more detailed examination of the possible layout of the Triwizard maze can be found in the section on journeys around the grounds. [cut] remnants of mist hung over the grass in the stadium. As Harry walked onto the pitch, he saw Ron and Hermione sitting in the stands. [CoS ch. #07; p. 84] Harry looked into the stands. Colin was sitting in one of the highest seats [CoS ch. #07; p. 85] Three-quarters of the crowd were wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them or brandishing banners with slogans like 'GO GRYFFINDOR!' and 'LIONS FOR THE CUP!' Behind the Slytherin goalposts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; [PoA ch. #15; p. 225] Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. [GoF ch. #31; p. 538] They could hear hundreds of footsteps mounting the banked benches of the spectators' stands. [OotP ch. #19; p. 359] The pitch has a grass surface and is surrounded by tiered seating, which we know to be wooden and hollow, not built up from earth banks, because it thunders as people walk on it. There are at least three tiers (the existence of a "highest" tier implies at least a low, a higher and a highest), angled so that someone standing on the pitch can see who is sitting in the stands, and with at least enough room to seat about eight hundred. Given that a 500ft by 180ft oval pitch has a perimeter over 1,100 ft long (over 1,400 ft if we assume a 50ft offside strip), however, then even if we allow 3ft per person and a generous amount of space for the stairs and entrances, three tiers would provide seating for over a thousand spectators - so we don't want any more than three tiers. Of course, we are never actually told whether the seating runs right round the the stadium, or whether it is grouped in one or more blocks. All we know is that there are stands directly behind at least one of the sets of goal-posts. If the stands only run around a small part of the stadium they will of course seat fewer people, and/or might run to more than three tiers. However, JK's map shows them running all the way round, and from the point of view of people wanting to be able to see the game from all angles it seems more likely they do run all or most of the way around the pitch. They found seats in the [paperback edition inserts 'second'] topmost row of the stands. [OotP ch. #30; p. 602] Harry looked round and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face sticking between the seats. Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind, for the first- and second-years he had just passed had a ruffled, flattened look about them. [OotP ch. #30; p. 603] He and Hermione edged back along their row of seats, causing much grumbling among the students who had to stand up for them. The people in Hagrid's row were not complaining, merely attempting to make themselves as small as possible. 'I 'ppreciate this, you two, I really do,' said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking around nervously as they descended towards the lawn below. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604] The first edition of OotP contained an anomaly in the description of the stands in chapter #30. We can assume, I think, that the tiers of seats are staggered so each row can see over the heads of the row in front of and below them. We can also assume there's a single row of seating on each tier - since we have a "topmost" row we know we have at least three degrees of height (low, higher, highest), and an extra rank of seating on any of of those levels would mean there were places for fourteen hundred spectators, which seems ridiculous. Yet, in the first edition we were told that Harry and Hermione were seated in the topmost row, and then Hagrid was in another row behind them. And it isn't the case that he has simply walked along a gangway behind the row in which Harry and Hermione are seated, forcing people in the same row as themselves to bend forwards out of his way, because "Hagrid's row" is clearly differentiated from "their row". Evidently this was simply a continuity error. The paperback editions, both U.K. and U.S., have been altered to specify that Harry and co. are in the second-to-topmost row, thus allowing Hagrid to be in a higher row - whilst unfortunately raising the spectre of there being even more than three rows. We can at any rate see from this scene that the stairs down are widely-spaced, since they have to go quite a long way along a row to find a stair, and we can see that the exit from the stair opens onto the lawn, not inside the stadium itself. 'Yeah, well, a bit o' trouble wouldn' hurt,' said Hagrid, pausing to peer around the edge of the stands to make sure the stretch of lawn between there and his cabin was deserted. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604] They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the pitch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 477/478] The foot of the stair which Hagrid, Harry and Hermione go down (or the entrance to the stands which leads to the foot of the stair) is so placed that it faces broadly towards Hagrid's cabin, but at an angle to it, so that they can peer around a corner of the stands to see the cabin. Likewise, there is an entrance into the pitch (which may or may not be beside the stair to the stands) which is broadly on a side of the pitch which faces upslope towards the castle, but is so angled that a person coming down from the castle must turn into it rather than walking straight in. We do not know whether there is more than one entrance to the pitch, or more than one stair to the upper stands; but given the numbers of specatators, you would think that there were two or three stairs at least, and probably four or six; and also several ground-level entrances onto the bottom tier of seats, even though there may well be only one entrance onto the playing area itself. 'Bin watchin' from me hut,' said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, 'But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. [PS ch. #11; p. 137] Wood paced the pitch, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance, and the rest of the school spill onto the lawn. [PoA ch. #15; p. 224] The height of the stands, and/or the comparative heights above sea level of Hagrid's cabin and the Quidditch pitch, are such that Hagrid, standing or sitting in or by his cabin and using binoculars, is able to see much of the action on/above the pitch. Harry, standing on the pitch, is able to see the front doors of the castle: either he is looking straight through one of the entrances to the pitch, or the stands are of an open construction which enables him to see out between the tiers. [cut] while the rest of the team headed off to the changing rooms, Harry strode over to Ron, who vaulted the barrier to the stands and came to meet him. [PoA ch. #13; p. 189] There is a barrier between the playing area and the stands, low enough to vault over. If the maze at the Triwizard Tournament filled the pitch and any offside area to the edge, which seems likely from the description, then there must be a space between the barrier and the first row of seats, wide enough to enable the stewards (including Hagrid) to walk right around the perimeter of the pitch. [cut] Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentator's podium. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring [HBP ch. #14; p. 278/279] There is also a wooden podium for the match commentator, high enough for somebody on a broomstick to fly into it, low enough for somebody to fall off it without serious injury, and flimsy enough to be collapsed by being hit by one rider travelling at fairly high speed. It would make sense for the podium to be in the middle of one of the long sides, so it commands an equal view of both sets of goalposts: if that puts it in the way of the entrance to the pitch, or of the changing rooms, it may well stand over some sort of arch or bridge, so the players can walk underneath it to reach the pitch. It is probably not built into the stands, or right up close to them, as there is no indication that Ginny endangers spectators when she brings the podium down. Lockhart's idea of a morale-booster became clear at breakfast time on February the fourteenth. Harry hadn't had much sleep because of a late-running Quidditch practice the night before [CoS ch. #13; p. 176] Full of determination, the team started training sessions, three evenings a week. The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker, but no amount of mud, wind or rain could tarnish Harry's wonderful vision of finally winning the huge, silver Quidditch Cup. [PoA ch. #08; p. 109] The pitch appears to be lit in some way. At least, we sometimes see players practising quite late in the evening during winter, and there is no mention of them using wand-light: and indeed, it would be difficult to do so. If it was a very clear, bright night they might play by moonlight - but clear, bright nights are uncommon in Scotland. But Colin didn't stop questioning Harry all the way down the sloping lawns to the Quidditch pitch, and Harry only shook him off when he reached the changing rooms. [CoS ch. #07; p. 83] The words came, just as they had back in the Gryffindor changing room [OotP ch. #24; p. 478] 'OK, everyone,' said Angelina, entering from the Captain's office, already changed. [OotP ch. #14; p. 260] There are changing rooms (plural), which appear to consist of one changing room plus one captain's office per house. [cut] all except Ron, who had dismounted from his broom over by the goalposts and seemed to be making his way slowly back to the changing rooms alone. [OotP ch. #19; p. 365] The team rose, shouldered their brooms and marched in single file out of the changing room and into the dazzling sunlight. A roar of sound greeted them in which Harry could still hear singing, though it was muffled by the cheers and whistles. The Slytherin team was standing waiting for them. [OotP ch. #19; p. 359] The changing rooms are some distance from the goalposts (or at least, the Gryffindor changing room is some distance from Gryffindor's defending goalposts). They open directly onto the pitch. There was a quiet sort of desperation in his voice as he addressed his six fellow team members in the chilly changing rooms on the edge of the darkening Quidditch pitch. [PoA ch. #08; p. 108] The sky was a deep, thundery grey and it was a relief to gain the warmth and light of the changing rooms [cut] [cut] the hammering of rain on the roof intensified and wind howled around the building. [OotP ch. #18; p. 335/336] [cut] he gave Ron a look as the rest of the team filed back outside [cut] 'But ...' looking scared, Ron strode across to the window and stared out into the rain, 'he – he can't be near us now, can he?' 'No,' Harry muttered, sinking on to a bench [OotP ch. #18; p. 337/338] The changing rooms are not very warm, but warmer than the outside, and lighted, with benches to sit on and at least one window per changing room, though we don't know if these windows look out onto the grounds or the pitch. They are in a position which leaves them somewhat exposed to the weather. If they are underneath some of the stands then the stands don't provide them with very good protection. Actually, the changing rooms can't be tucked under more than the rim of the stands, because the first two rows of stands would be too low (indeed, the first row is presumably at ground-level plus chair-height). Only row three would be high enough to fit even a low-roofed building under, and it is probably only 4ft wide (a row of seats and barely room to walk past them, since people have to squeeze up, or even stand up, if somebody wants to walk along the row). So if the changing rooms are under the stands they must actually stick out well beyond the limits of the stands, onto the lawn. We know they aren't actually at a distance from the pitch, because the team walk straight out into the playing area. They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the pitch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 477/478] There's no suggestion on JK's map that the changing rooms stick out beyond the perimeter of the stadium. Another possibility is that they take a bite out of the perimeter and interrupt the stands - presumably along one of the long sides, since supporters will want and need to sit near their own side's goal. If the changing rooms do indeed take a bite out of the stands, and if there is only one path from the outside directly onto the pitch - which we don't know, of course - then the changing rooms are not next to that path, because when Harry and Cedric walk down the dark grounds and turn onto the pitch, they do so through a gap in the stands. We don't know how big the changing rooms are; they only have to accommodate six players plus the team captain (in his/her own office) but they do have to include the captain's office, there are four lots of them, and there's probably an office/changing room for Madam Hooch as well. Even if we nest them together so that the Captain's offices overlap, and assume that the changing rooms themselves are only 12ft by 10ft, the Captains' offices 6ft square and Hooch's room about 12ft by 7ft, which is all a pretty tight squeeze, they still make a block over 60ft long, once you factor in the thickness of the walls (even if the walls are wooden, and thin). However, it's perfectly possible that the topmost tier of seating continues right across the top of the changing rooms. Probable layout of the Quidditch pitch, showing stands, changing rooms etc.. In this plan, the block of changing rooms is about 85ft long, which gives plenty of room. In any case, even if we assume a 62ft block of changing rooms, a 10ft-wide path into the pitch proper and four 15ft-wide stairs cutting their way through the stands, that still leaves room to seat a thousand spectators with three feet of space each in only three tiers of stands - thirteen hundred spectators, if the pitch has a 50ft offside area around it (which adds about 300ft to the length of the perimeter). So there is still no need for more than three tiers of seats. Even if we were to double the size of the changing rooms (which would make them very big) there is still ample space in three tiers, bearing in mind that the greatest number of spectators we know of for sure was eight hundred, although there may well have been more at the Triwizard Tournament. But 3ft per person is a generous allowance; if they ever did get more than thirteen hundred spectators they could just bunt up a bit. The provision of seating is so extremely generous that it may well be a legacy of a previous Triwizard Tournament, extra benches having been installed for the spectators and never removed. Return to contents-list Greenhouses, vegetables & flowers They were over the lake ... the castle was right ahead ... [cut] The nose of the car dropped. They were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle wall. 'Noooooo!' Ron yelled, swinging the steering wheel around; they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch and then out over the black lawns, losing height all the time.[cut] MIND THAT TREE!' Harry bellowed, lunging for the steering wheel, but too late – CRUNCH. With an ear-splitting bang of metal on wood, they hit the thick tree trunk [CoS ch. #05; p. 58/59] JK's map shows the greenhouses as close to the edge of the lake, and this is confirmed by the fact that the flying car passes over them after it crosses the lake and dodges the wall which is at the edge of the water. If the grounds are laid out anything like the way they are in JK's map then in order to cross the lake, dodge the wall and then follow a curved path over the greenhouses and the vegetable patch, to end by hitting the Whomping Willow, the car must have performed an S-shaped curve rather than a simple arc - bearing right to miss the wall, and then left again towards the Willow. [cut] they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle [PS ch. #08; p. 99] Harry, Ron and Hermione left the castle together, crossed the vegetable patch and made for the greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept. [CoS ch. #06; p. 70] [cut] Snape had seen them out of the castle, and they were making their way across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. [CoS ch. #15; p. 199] [coming from the castle] They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses [PoA ch. #21; p. 291] [cut] he could not wait to see Hagrid again, to play Quidditch, even to stroll across the vegetable patches to the Herbology greenhouses [OotP ch. #09; p. 145] When the bell echoed distantly over the grounds, Harry rolled up his blood-stained Bowtruckle picture [made during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson conducted near Hagrid's cabin] and marched off to Herbology [cut] [cut] Together, they traipsed across the vegetable patch. The sky still appeared unable to make up its mind whether it wanted to rain or not. 'I just wish Hagrid would hurry up and get back, that's all,' said Harry in a low voice, as they reached the greenhouses. [OotP ch. #13; p. 235] Their robes billowed and swirled around them as they splashed across the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology [OotP ch. #18; p. 344] He had been unable to tell Ron and Hermione about his lesson with Dumbledore over breakfast for fear of being overheard, but he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261] JK's map shows the greenhouses as lying on the left side of the castle as you face the front doors, and the vegetable patch as being further to the left of that. However, the text states that the greenhouses (some of them, anyway) are behind the castle, not alongside it: and whilst the vegetable patch may well extend to the left of the greenhouses, part of it must also lie between the greenhouses and the castle, and between the greenhouses and Hagrid's cabin, since they always seem to have to cross the vegetable patch to reach the greenhouses when coming from castle or cabin. The vegetable patch must be either quite low-lying relative to the rest of the grounds, or in its own little hollow, because it can flood in heavy rain. It may well be that the stream which Harry hears in the Forest is fed by an outflow from the lake, which starts by trickling through or close to the vegetable patch, irrigating it in summer and flooding it in winter. It was when he reached the bottom step that it occurred to him how very pleasant it would be to pass the vegetable patch on his walk to Hagrid's. It was not strictly on the way, but it seemed clear to Harry that this was a whim on which he should act, so he directed his feet immediately towards the vegetable patch [HBP ch. #22; p. 448] [cut] the [Herbology] class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's small wooden cabin [GoF ch. #13; p. 173] The edge of the vegetable patch is not on a direct route from the castle to Hagrid's cabin; at the same time, it is not in a completely opposite direction, or at least not very far in one. Coming from the greenhouses, the castle doors lie in one direction and Hagrid's cabin in another, so we know the front doors aren't on a straight line between the cabin and the greenhouses. It was when he reached the bottom step that [cut] he directed his feet immediately towards the vegetable patch where he was pleased, but not altogether surprised, to find Professor Slughorn in conversation with Professor Sprout. Harry lurked behind a low stone wall, feeling at peace with the world and listening to their conversation. [HBP ch. #22; p. 448] Professor Sprout headed off into the gathering darkness in the direction of her greenhouses and Slughorn directed his steps to the spot where Harry stood, invisible. [cut] 'Touching, touching,' said Slughorn absent-mindedly, his large droopy eyes fixed upon the distant lights of Hagrid's cabin. [HBP ch. #22; p. 449/450] There is a low wall along part of the edge of the vegetable patch - perhaps part of the ruins of an old curtain wall which once enclosed space around the castle. Coming from the castle, you reach this wall first, then the vegetable patch is beyond it, and the greenhouses beyond that. Standing by this wall, it is possible to see the windows of Hagrid's cabin, although they are quite far away. 'Greenhouse Three today, chaps!' said Professor Sprout [CoS ch. #06; p. 70] Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. About twenty pairs of different coloured earmuffs were lying on the bench. [CoS ch. #06; p. 72] [cut] he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. The weekend's brutal wind had died out at last; the weird mist had returned and it took them a little longer than usual to find the correct greenhouse. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261] We know that there are at least three greenhouses, because there is a "Greenhouse Three". No higher-numbered greenhouse has been mentioned, but that doesn't prove that there aren't any. Even if there are only three greenhouses which are used as Herbology classrooms, there may well be others which are used for research, or to grow food or potions ingredients. The fact that the trio have trouble finding the right greenhouse in the mist suggests there may well be more than three greenhouses, possibly plus potting sheds etc., and that their layout is quit complex and confusing. Also, at least those greenhouses where we know classes are held, i.e. Greenhouses One and Three, must be fairly large, since a class of twenty are able to work in them, but they are probably not as truly enormous as, say, the Palm House at Kew, because if they were so large that it took a significant amount of time to walk past a single greenhouse, the Trio would probably not be confused about how many they had passed, even in the mist. 'We'll run for it,' said Harry determinedly. 'Straight into the Forest, all right? We'll have to hide behind a tree or something and keep a lookout –' 'OK, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!' said Hermione breathlessly. 'We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!' Still working out what she meant, Harry set off at a sprint, Hermione behind him. They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing towards the shelter of the Forest ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 290/291] Also, in PoA when Harry and Hermione wish to hide from Hagrid's line of sight they cross the vegetable patch to the greenhouses, and then make their way behind the greenhouses to a point from which they break cover and dash for the Whomping Willow. The implication is that the greenhouses extend some distance towards the Willow, otherwise detouring behind them would make no sense (and it's a considerable detour, according to JK's map). If the greenhouses start behind the castle, as indicated in PS, and then extend significantly closer to the Willow than the castle itself does, either they are enormous or there are a lot more than three of them. And, as already stated, it's unlikely that they are enormous because then it would be hard to explain how the Trio could lose count of them, even in thick mist. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learnt how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and found out what they were used for. [PS ch. #08; p. 99] 'Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare ... what did Professor Sprout say? It likes the dark and the damp –' [PS ch. #16; p. 202] 'Greenhouse Three today, chaps!' said Professor Sprout [cut] [cut] They had only ever worked in Greenhouse One before – Greenhouse Three housed far more interesting and dangerous plants. Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door. Harry caught a whiff of damp earth and fertilizer, mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella-sized flowers dangling from the ceiling. [CoS ch. #06; p. 70/71] Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. [CoS ch. #06; p. 72] 'Four to a tray – there is a large supply of pots here – compost in the sacks over there – and be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething.' She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder. [CoS ch. #06; p. 73] Ernie Macmillan asked Harry quite politely to pass a bucket of leaping toadstools in Herbology one day, and in March several of the Mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in Greenhouse Three. {CoS ch. #14; p. 186] Professor Sprout set them all to work pruning the Abyssinian Shrivelfigs. Harry went to tip an armful of withered stalks onto the compost heap [CoS ch. #15; p. 199] Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley, with whom Harry normally got on very well, did not talk to him even though they were re-potting Bouncing Bulbs at the same tray – though they did laugh rather unpleasantly when one of the Bouncing Bulbs wriggled free from Harry's grip and smacked him hard in the face. [Gof ch. #18; p. 257] The door of the nearest greenhouse opened and some fourth-years spilled out of it [OotP ch. #13; p. 236] 'And I don't know how you stand it – it's horrible,' she said bluntly, dumping far too much dragon manure on her tray of Screechsnap seedlings, causing them to wriggle and squeak in discomfort. [OotP ch. #25; p. 485] Harry was deeply thankful that Professor Sprout ushered them into greenhouse three at that point, forcing Ernie to abandon his recital. [OotP ch. #31; p. 623] It was a relief to get outside into the greenhouses; they were dealing with more dangerous plants than ever in Herbology, but at least they were still allowed to swear loudly if the Venomous Tentacula seized them unexpectedly from behind. [HBP ch. #11; p. 205] 'Wow, scary thought, the boy You-Know-Who,' said Ron quietly, as they took their places around one of the gnarled Snargaluff stumps that formed that term's project, and began pulling on their protective gloves. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261] They looked round; sure enough, there sat Neville with a bloody lip and several nasty scratches along the side of his face, but clutching an unpleasantly pulsating green object about the size of a grapefruit. [cut] [cut] they all took deep breaths and then dived at the gnarled stump between them. It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramble-like vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air. One tangled itself in Hermione's hair and Ron beat it back with a pair of secateurs; Harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentacle-like branches; Hermione plunged her arm bravely into this hole, which closed like a trap around her elbow; Harry and Ron tugged and wrenched at the vines, forcing the hole to open again and Hermione snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod just like Neville's. At once, the prickly vines shot back inside and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood. [HBP ch. #14; p. 262/263] We know a bit about what's in the greenhouses - at least, in Greenhouses One and Three. We know that in first year they studied Herbology entirely in Greenhouse One, where they learned about "strange plants and fungi", including Devil's Snare - although we aren't told whether they saw actual specimens of Devil's Snare, or were merely told about it. In second year they moved up to Greenhouse Three and apparently stayed there, since there's a reference to them working in greenhouse three [sic] in OotP, and in HBP they are working with a Venomous Tentacula, and we know that there is one in Greenhouse Three. This might be some confirmation that Herbology classes are confined to Greenhouses One and Three, except that the reference in OotP to fourth-years spilling out of the nearest greenhouse sounds as if it isn't the greenhouse Harry's fifth-year class are heading to, and it won't be Greenhouse One because that's apparently reserved for first-years. In any case, Greenhouse Two seems not to be used for classes, or at least not for Harry's first through sixth years, which tends to confirm that at least one, possibly more greenhouses are reserved for other uses. It may well be that there are one or more greenhouses in which seventh years are able to pursue individual projects, but if so we haven't seen this yet. Things in Greenhouse Three include a big trestle bench at the centre of the greenhouse, big enough for a class of about nineteen students to work at; a sizeable compost heap; supplies of pots, trays and dragon-dung fertilizer; umbrella-sized flowers hanging down from the ceiling; the Venomous Tentacula (which is spiky, dark red, presumably venomous and has prehensile feelers and, apparently, teeth); leaping toadstools; Mandrakes; Abyssinian Shrivelfigs; Bouncing Bulbs (which wriggle and jump); Screechsnap seedlings; and Snargaluff stumps, which look like dead lumps of wood, but are built on the same plan as a sea anemone, with mobile, thorny, bramble-like vines which emerge from the top and lash about, protecting a foot-deep central hollow at the bottom of which is a green, pulsating pod the size of a grapefruit. Summer was creeping over the grounds around the castle; sky and lake alike turned periwinkle blue and flowers large as cabbages burst into bloom in the greenhouses. [CoS ch. #15; p. 197] Some of the greenhouses (plural) are used to grow cabbage-sized flowers which bloom in late spring/early summer. These are presumably different from the umbrella-sized flowers hanging down from the ceiling of Greenhouse Three in September. Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on end; the lake rose, the flowerbeds turned into muddy streams and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds. [CoS ch. #08; p. 94] We know that there are flowerbeds, although they are only mentioned once. We are never told where they are, or whether they are found in more than one area of the grounds. It seems likely, however, that at least some flowerbeds are at the end of the lake, near the greenhouses. Firstly, it would make sense for them to be near the greenhouses, where we know there are flowers being grown. Secondly, if they are low-lying and near the lake that would make sense of the way the water runs down through them when it rains. Thirdly, it might explain why - as discussed in the section on the lake - Sirius, when he chased after Wormtail, ended up quite far along the side of the lake (opposite the bushes from which Harry launched the stag Patronus, and which are themselves in a position to command a view of the West Tower), rather than simply hitting the lakeside at the nearest point; and why Harry and Hermione, chasing after him, also do not seem to reach the water's edge until they get close to where Sirius is, even though, on either JK's own map or on mine, this means they must have bypassed the end of the lake. [cut] an area of lawn right in front of the castle had been transformed into a sort of grotto full of fairy lights – meaning hundreds of actual living fairies were sitting in the rosebushes that had been conjured there [GoF ch. #23; p. 359] This last is doubly true if the flowerbeds include a lot of rosebushes and other impassably prickly things, which would cause all three of them to swing wide of the water. Roses do very well in Scotland, and also it would explain where they got the rose-bushes which were conjured to make the rose-garden for the Yule Ball. We are never told whether things which are conjured are actually created out of nothing, or simply summoned from elsewhere, but the latter seems more likely; if wizards really could make something permanent - or even semi-permanent - out of nothing by a method as easy and common as conjuration seems to be, there would be no poverty in their world, and that definitely doesn't seem to be the case. 'We went up to her office to see her; we took her some daffodils - not the honking ones that Sprout’s got, nice ones.' [OotP ch. #27; p. 528] There are probably daffodils growing in the grounds, since Parvati and Lavender take daffodils to Trelawney and they haven't had an opportunity to go to Hogsmeade and buy any. They might have conjured them, possibly - but you would actually expect a tract of parkland in Scotland to be liberally scattered with self-propagating daffodils. Professor Sprout also grows honking daffodils; we are not told whether these are grown in a greenhouse or in a flowerbed but their obvious nuisance-potential suggests that they probably aren't allowed to grow wild. Return to contents-list Beyond the grounds When speculating about the overall shape of Hogwarts and its immediate surroundings, one point to consider is the possible etymology of the name. JK Rowling is supposed to have said the name might have been inspired, subconsciously, by having seen the American plant called a hogwort (Croton capitatus, a source of the laxative croton oil) at Kew Gardens many years beforehand. But within the story universe the castle can hardly have been named after the English name of an American plant, five hundred years before English was first spoken on the American continent. "Wart" is a Mediaeval pet-name for people called Arthur, and King Arthur is of course perhaps the greatest British folk hero, so the castle is probably called The-Something-of-Arthur. The writer excessivelyperky has suggested that the "hog" part is a corruption of "howe", "hoo" or "hough", a word for a free-standing domed hill, usually an ancient burial mound - in which case Hogwarts would mean "Arthur's Howe", and you would expect that either the hill on which the castle stands, or a separate hill in or very near the school grounds, was a fairly even dome, like a true burial mound. It might even be the burial-mound of Arthur: indeed, the fact that Harry goes down through the witch's hump into an earth tunnel supports the idea that the mound the castle stands on might be an artificial one, built up of earth, rather than the big lump of rocky outcrop you would expect at the heart of a natural Scottish hill. Yet, against this, the fact that one side of the mound ends in a cliff does suggest it is natural, and the likely layout of the castle is a long oval rather than a circle. Given its position, if there's an artificial element to the mound Hogwarts stands on it's more likely that it's an old Iron Age hill fort, where a natural hill has been improved on a bit. But that doesn't mean that a tradition couldn't grow up that it was the burial-mound of a king. Also, the castle grounds are clearly extensive, and we are not really told that much about them, except for the stretch between the castle and the gates (which incorporates part of the lakeside, Hagrid's cabin and the Quidditch pitch). We do not, for example, ever again see a student visit the pinewood between the station and the lake which the students descend through at the start of Harry's first year, even though it's on the opposite side of the grounds from the Forbidden Forest and we're shown students walking all the way around the lake. It is possible, therefore, that there is a small to medium-sized howe somewhere in a less-visited area of the grounds, and it simply hasn't been mentioned. The fact that even ghosts believe that the Shrieking Shack is haunted, despite it supposedly only having been erected in 1971, may mean that the hill on which the Shack stands is a burial mound. If there's already one definite burial mound in the area, people might assume that the larger hill the castle stands on, or a round hill within the gorunds, is a burial mound (or a sidhe hill), whether it is or not. On the other hand, a hog is a pig - usually but not always a castrated boar - or anything which is bent up in the middle like the back of a boar. Some of the Arthurian legends involve the hunting of magical boars - Twrch Trywth, for example, who was a human king transformed into a giant boar carrying a comb and shears between his ears - so Hogwarts might well mean "Boar of Arthur". This would suggest that the hill on which the castle stands is shaped like a pig. In favour of this option, Hogsmeade would normally mean either "Meadow of the Pig" or "Meadow where pigs are kept" (although I suppose it could conceivably mean "Meadow with a howe in it"), and JK Rowling lives in Edinburgh and must be very well aware of the hill around which south-east Edinburgh is built, which is called Arthur's Seat and is famously, obviously and unmistakably shaped like a lion. Whether the hill is shaped like a hog or a howe, we don't know whether that refers just to the immediate mound which the castle stands on, or to the whole of the hillside which the grounds slope down. However, the idea that "meade" means "meadow is a serious cultural anomaly - in Scottish placenames the English "meade" is replaced be "lea". So perhaps it means something else. If the names of the village and castle are corruptions of Gaelic names, Hogsmeade could be "Something-Meadhanach", where "Meadhanach" means "middle one". It could be all Gaelic and the "hog" bit could be a corruption of "oighreachd", an estate or inheritance of land. Hogsmeade could then be "the middle estate" (or Middle Earth!), and Hogwarts "the estate of Arthur". But you do sometimes get bilingual names in Scotland, and it's quite possible that Hogsmeade is "the middle howe". In that case, the village would be called after the mound that the Shack stands on, and there would be other domed mounds either side of it - the one in the castle grounds (which may or may not be the one the castle is built on), and another one in the opposite direction. As described in the separate section on the overall setting of Hogwarts, we can ascertain that there are two or more mountains north-east of the castle and about three miles away, and at least one to the north-west which is only around a mile away, and which abuts the Forest. There are more mountains to the south or south-east, obstructing access from that direction, but there is at least once substantial gap in the ring of mountains, at about north-north-west or due north.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we know that there is a line of sight from the front doors of the castle to part of the pitch. We also know that the students are repeatedly described as walking down the lawns, not the carriage track, to access the pitch.
For reasons discussed in the section on the layout of the castle itself, we know that the Astronomy Tower is on the right of the main doors as you face them, and is a true tower, not a turret - that is, it goes all the way down to the ground. This restricts the line of sight from the entrance and means that you cannot move very far east of the carriage track and still be able to see the main doors, because the base of the Astronomy Tower gets in the way.
If the long axis of the pitch lies east to west, it is possible to have a line of sight from the doors to the western tip of the stadium, while the bulk of it lies further east. If, however, the pitch lies north-east to south-west then it will be pretty-much parallel to the carriage track, and the lines of sight from the pitch to the main doors, from the gates to the main doors and from the gates to Hagrid's cabin mean that the pitch would have to be not only parallel to the track but quite close to it along its entire length, if any part of it is to have a view of the main doors. It then becomes difficult to explain why the students don't just walk down the nice dry track to get to the pitch, and why the entrance to the pitch would point anywhere other than the adjacent track, and why, if it does point towards the track, they should come out and then go round to the other side of the stadium and walk up the grass. For this reason I am assuming that the long axis of the Quidditch pitch is oriented broadly east to west, even though that entails a certain amount of special pleading as regards the layout of the maze in GoF. 'That's right!' said Bagman. 'A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the centre of the maze.' [GoF ch. #28; p. 478] The wand spun around once, and pointed towards his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go north-west for the centre of the maze. [GoF ch. #31; p. 540] Every so often he hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made him feel sure he was getting near the heart of the maze. [GoF ch. #31; p. 545] He had a choice of paths up ahead. 'Point me!' he whispered again to his wand, and it spun around and pointed him to the right-hand one. He dashed up this one, and saw light ahead. The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. [GoF ch. #31; p. 547] That's assuming, of course, that the maze has a one to one correspondence with physical reality, and doesn't exist at least partly in wizard space. It definitely has some physical peculiarities which need to be explained. We're told, for example, that the Triwizard Cup will be at the centre of the maze - at least, Ludo Bagman says so, and Harry believes him and heads for the literal centre. We're not given any reason to think that the centre of the maze is geographically different from the centre of the Quidditch pitch. Yet, the entire pitch is supposed to be 500ft long, or 167 yards, and we are told that the Triwizard Cup is at the centre of the maze, and yet Harry, believing himself to be close to the centre of the maze, sees the Triwizard Cup as 100 yards away. If the maze exists in real space, these things cannot all be true. If Harry is at the centre of the pitch the 100-yards-away Cup must be down one end, and vice versa. 'We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze,' said Professor McGonagall to the champions. [GoF ch. #31; p. 539] Even if we assume that the centre of the pitch corresponds with the point at which one resolves the puzzle and comes in sight of the Cup, which in fact is down one end, you still have the problem that 100 yards is more than half the length of the pitch so neither the position Harry comes to when he feels he has reached the centre, and sees the Cup, nor the actual position of the Cup, can correspond with the actual centre of the pitch - unless the distance is really only 83 yards, not 100, or the pitch is longer than 500ft. Perhaps there is a 50ft-wide "offside" margin between the pitch proper and the stands. Indeed, the drawing of the Quidditch pitch on JK's own map rather supports the idea that there might be a wide offside strip around the pitch. In addition we know that there is still a walkway left between the edge of the maze and the stands, or perhaps between the stands and the barrier, because the four stewards have room to walk around the maze. It may be, of course, that the maze simply exstends into wizard space. Given the speed at which the players fly, it does make sense that there would be a narrow walkway in front of the seats to enable ground-level spectators to reach their seats, separated from the pitch by some sort of barrier, and then a wide offside strip around the actual competition area. Harry felt himself slam flat into the ground; his face was pressed into grass [GoF ch. #35; p. 582] He had come back to the edge of the maze. He could see the stands rising above him [GoF ch. #35; p. 583] 'You arrived back in the middle of the lawn clutching Cedric's dead body ... none of us saw what happened in the maze ...' [OotP ch. #13; p. 226/227] There must certainly be a little space in front of the entrance to the maze, inside the stadium but not in the maze proper, because when Harry returns with Cedric's body he lands outside the maze but still inside the stadium, and "in the middle of the lawn". If the entrance to the maze is at one end of the pitch the clear space in front of the entrance is presumably part of one of the scoring areas. I have a theory about this, incidentally. On the face of it, the entire plot of GoF makes no real sense, since it seems as if false!Moody could have tricked Harry into touching a Portkey, and whisked him away to Voldemort, at any point during the school year. Admittedly having it happen during the third task was very melodramatic and the Death Eaters do like melodrama - but would even Voldemort put off his own revivification for an entire year just so he could stage an impressive bit of terrorist theatre? But it makes perfect sense if we assume that a) the wards of Hogwarts can detect unauthorized Portkeys and b) the Triwizard Cup was always intended to be a Portkey, which would whisk the victor out of the maze and onto the lawn in full view of the judges. In that case, the only way false!Moody would be able to trick the castle wards would be to take a pre-existing and authorized Portkey, i.e. the Cup, and simply change its destination. A more detailed examination of the possible layout of the Triwizard maze can be found in the section on journeys around the grounds. [cut] remnants of mist hung over the grass in the stadium. As Harry walked onto the pitch, he saw Ron and Hermione sitting in the stands. [CoS ch. #07; p. 84] Harry looked into the stands. Colin was sitting in one of the highest seats [CoS ch. #07; p. 85] Three-quarters of the crowd were wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them or brandishing banners with slogans like 'GO GRYFFINDOR!' and 'LIONS FOR THE CUP!' Behind the Slytherin goalposts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; [PoA ch. #15; p. 225] Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. [GoF ch. #31; p. 538] They could hear hundreds of footsteps mounting the banked benches of the spectators' stands. [OotP ch. #19; p. 359] The pitch has a grass surface and is surrounded by tiered seating, which we know to be wooden and hollow, not built up from earth banks, because it thunders as people walk on it. There are at least three tiers (the existence of a "highest" tier implies at least a low, a higher and a highest), angled so that someone standing on the pitch can see who is sitting in the stands, and with at least enough room to seat about eight hundred. Given that a 500ft by 180ft oval pitch has a perimeter over 1,100 ft long (over 1,400 ft if we assume a 50ft offside strip), however, then even if we allow 3ft per person and a generous amount of space for the stairs and entrances, three tiers would provide seating for over a thousand spectators - so we don't want any more than three tiers. Of course, we are never actually told whether the seating runs right round the the stadium, or whether it is grouped in one or more blocks. All we know is that there are stands directly behind at least one of the sets of goal-posts. If the stands only run around a small part of the stadium they will of course seat fewer people, and/or might run to more than three tiers. However, JK's map shows them running all the way round, and from the point of view of people wanting to be able to see the game from all angles it seems more likely they do run all or most of the way around the pitch. They found seats in the [paperback edition inserts 'second'] topmost row of the stands. [OotP ch. #30; p. 602] Harry looked round and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face sticking between the seats. Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind, for the first- and second-years he had just passed had a ruffled, flattened look about them. [OotP ch. #30; p. 603] He and Hermione edged back along their row of seats, causing much grumbling among the students who had to stand up for them. The people in Hagrid's row were not complaining, merely attempting to make themselves as small as possible. 'I 'ppreciate this, you two, I really do,' said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking around nervously as they descended towards the lawn below. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604] The first edition of OotP contained an anomaly in the description of the stands in chapter #30. We can assume, I think, that the tiers of seats are staggered so each row can see over the heads of the row in front of and below them. We can also assume there's a single row of seating on each tier - since we have a "topmost" row we know we have at least three degrees of height (low, higher, highest), and an extra rank of seating on any of of those levels would mean there were places for fourteen hundred spectators, which seems ridiculous. Yet, in the first edition we were told that Harry and Hermione were seated in the topmost row, and then Hagrid was in another row behind them. And it isn't the case that he has simply walked along a gangway behind the row in which Harry and Hermione are seated, forcing people in the same row as themselves to bend forwards out of his way, because "Hagrid's row" is clearly differentiated from "their row". Evidently this was simply a continuity error. The paperback editions, both U.K. and U.S., have been altered to specify that Harry and co. are in the second-to-topmost row, thus allowing Hagrid to be in a higher row - whilst unfortunately raising the spectre of there being even more than three rows. We can at any rate see from this scene that the stairs down are widely-spaced, since they have to go quite a long way along a row to find a stair, and we can see that the exit from the stair opens onto the lawn, not inside the stadium itself. 'Yeah, well, a bit o' trouble wouldn' hurt,' said Hagrid, pausing to peer around the edge of the stands to make sure the stretch of lawn between there and his cabin was deserted. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604] They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the pitch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 477/478] The foot of the stair which Hagrid, Harry and Hermione go down (or the entrance to the stands which leads to the foot of the stair) is so placed that it faces broadly towards Hagrid's cabin, but at an angle to it, so that they can peer around a corner of the stands to see the cabin. Likewise, there is an entrance into the pitch (which may or may not be beside the stair to the stands) which is broadly on a side of the pitch which faces upslope towards the castle, but is so angled that a person coming down from the castle must turn into it rather than walking straight in. We do not know whether there is more than one entrance to the pitch, or more than one stair to the upper stands; but given the numbers of specatators, you would think that there were two or three stairs at least, and probably four or six; and also several ground-level entrances onto the bottom tier of seats, even though there may well be only one entrance onto the playing area itself. 'Bin watchin' from me hut,' said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, 'But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. [PS ch. #11; p. 137] Wood paced the pitch, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance, and the rest of the school spill onto the lawn. [PoA ch. #15; p. 224] The height of the stands, and/or the comparative heights above sea level of Hagrid's cabin and the Quidditch pitch, are such that Hagrid, standing or sitting in or by his cabin and using binoculars, is able to see much of the action on/above the pitch. Harry, standing on the pitch, is able to see the front doors of the castle: either he is looking straight through one of the entrances to the pitch, or the stands are of an open construction which enables him to see out between the tiers. [cut] while the rest of the team headed off to the changing rooms, Harry strode over to Ron, who vaulted the barrier to the stands and came to meet him. [PoA ch. #13; p. 189] There is a barrier between the playing area and the stands, low enough to vault over. If the maze at the Triwizard Tournament filled the pitch and any offside area to the edge, which seems likely from the description, then there must be a space between the barrier and the first row of seats, wide enough to enable the stewards (including Hagrid) to walk right around the perimeter of the pitch. [cut] Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentator's podium. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring [HBP ch. #14; p. 278/279] There is also a wooden podium for the match commentator, high enough for somebody on a broomstick to fly into it, low enough for somebody to fall off it without serious injury, and flimsy enough to be collapsed by being hit by one rider travelling at fairly high speed. It would make sense for the podium to be in the middle of one of the long sides, so it commands an equal view of both sets of goalposts: if that puts it in the way of the entrance to the pitch, or of the changing rooms, it may well stand over some sort of arch or bridge, so the players can walk underneath it to reach the pitch. It is probably not built into the stands, or right up close to them, as there is no indication that Ginny endangers spectators when she brings the podium down. Lockhart's idea of a morale-booster became clear at breakfast time on February the fourteenth. Harry hadn't had much sleep because of a late-running Quidditch practice the night before [CoS ch. #13; p. 176] Full of determination, the team started training sessions, three evenings a week. The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker, but no amount of mud, wind or rain could tarnish Harry's wonderful vision of finally winning the huge, silver Quidditch Cup. [PoA ch. #08; p. 109] The pitch appears to be lit in some way. At least, we sometimes see players practising quite late in the evening during winter, and there is no mention of them using wand-light: and indeed, it would be difficult to do so. If it was a very clear, bright night they might play by moonlight - but clear, bright nights are uncommon in Scotland. But Colin didn't stop questioning Harry all the way down the sloping lawns to the Quidditch pitch, and Harry only shook him off when he reached the changing rooms. [CoS ch. #07; p. 83] The words came, just as they had back in the Gryffindor changing room [OotP ch. #24; p. 478] 'OK, everyone,' said Angelina, entering from the Captain's office, already changed. [OotP ch. #14; p. 260] There are changing rooms (plural), which appear to consist of one changing room plus one captain's office per house. [cut] all except Ron, who had dismounted from his broom over by the goalposts and seemed to be making his way slowly back to the changing rooms alone. [OotP ch. #19; p. 365] The team rose, shouldered their brooms and marched in single file out of the changing room and into the dazzling sunlight. A roar of sound greeted them in which Harry could still hear singing, though it was muffled by the cheers and whistles. The Slytherin team was standing waiting for them. [OotP ch. #19; p. 359] The changing rooms are some distance from the goalposts (or at least, the Gryffindor changing room is some distance from Gryffindor's defending goalposts). They open directly onto the pitch. There was a quiet sort of desperation in his voice as he addressed his six fellow team members in the chilly changing rooms on the edge of the darkening Quidditch pitch. [PoA ch. #08; p. 108] The sky was a deep, thundery grey and it was a relief to gain the warmth and light of the changing rooms [cut] [cut] the hammering of rain on the roof intensified and wind howled around the building. [OotP ch. #18; p. 335/336] [cut] he gave Ron a look as the rest of the team filed back outside [cut] 'But ...' looking scared, Ron strode across to the window and stared out into the rain, 'he – he can't be near us now, can he?' 'No,' Harry muttered, sinking on to a bench [OotP ch. #18; p. 337/338] The changing rooms are not very warm, but warmer than the outside, and lighted, with benches to sit on and at least one window per changing room, though we don't know if these windows look out onto the grounds or the pitch. They are in a position which leaves them somewhat exposed to the weather. If they are underneath some of the stands then the stands don't provide them with very good protection. Actually, the changing rooms can't be tucked under more than the rim of the stands, because the first two rows of stands would be too low (indeed, the first row is presumably at ground-level plus chair-height). Only row three would be high enough to fit even a low-roofed building under, and it is probably only 4ft wide (a row of seats and barely room to walk past them, since people have to squeeze up, or even stand up, if somebody wants to walk along the row). So if the changing rooms are under the stands they must actually stick out well beyond the limits of the stands, onto the lawn. We know they aren't actually at a distance from the pitch, because the team walk straight out into the playing area. They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the pitch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 477/478] There's no suggestion on JK's map that the changing rooms stick out beyond the perimeter of the stadium. Another possibility is that they take a bite out of the perimeter and interrupt the stands - presumably along one of the long sides, since supporters will want and need to sit near their own side's goal. If the changing rooms do indeed take a bite out of the stands, and if there is only one path from the outside directly onto the pitch - which we don't know, of course - then the changing rooms are not next to that path, because when Harry and Cedric walk down the dark grounds and turn onto the pitch, they do so through a gap in the stands. We don't know how big the changing rooms are; they only have to accommodate six players plus the team captain (in his/her own office) but they do have to include the captain's office, there are four lots of them, and there's probably an office/changing room for Madam Hooch as well. Even if we nest them together so that the Captain's offices overlap, and assume that the changing rooms themselves are only 12ft by 10ft, the Captains' offices 6ft square and Hooch's room about 12ft by 7ft, which is all a pretty tight squeeze, they still make a block over 60ft long, once you factor in the thickness of the walls (even if the walls are wooden, and thin). However, it's perfectly possible that the topmost tier of seating continues right across the top of the changing rooms. Probable layout of the Quidditch pitch, showing stands, changing rooms etc.. In this plan, the block of changing rooms is about 85ft long, which gives plenty of room. In any case, even if we assume a 62ft block of changing rooms, a 10ft-wide path into the pitch proper and four 15ft-wide stairs cutting their way through the stands, that still leaves room to seat a thousand spectators with three feet of space each in only three tiers of stands - thirteen hundred spectators, if the pitch has a 50ft offside area around it (which adds about 300ft to the length of the perimeter). So there is still no need for more than three tiers of seats. Even if we were to double the size of the changing rooms (which would make them very big) there is still ample space in three tiers, bearing in mind that the greatest number of spectators we know of for sure was eight hundred, although there may well have been more at the Triwizard Tournament. But 3ft per person is a generous allowance; if they ever did get more than thirteen hundred spectators they could just bunt up a bit. The provision of seating is so extremely generous that it may well be a legacy of a previous Triwizard Tournament, extra benches having been installed for the spectators and never removed. Return to contents-list Greenhouses, vegetables & flowers
The wand spun around once, and pointed towards his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go north-west for the centre of the maze. [GoF ch. #31; p. 540]
Every so often he hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made him feel sure he was getting near the heart of the maze. [GoF ch. #31; p. 545]
He had a choice of paths up ahead. 'Point me!' he whispered again to his wand, and it spun around and pointed him to the right-hand one. He dashed up this one, and saw light ahead. The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. [GoF ch. #31; p. 547]
That's assuming, of course, that the maze has a one to one correspondence with physical reality, and doesn't exist at least partly in wizard space. It definitely has some physical peculiarities which need to be explained. We're told, for example, that the Triwizard Cup will be at the centre of the maze - at least, Ludo Bagman says so, and Harry believes him and heads for the literal centre. We're not given any reason to think that the centre of the maze is geographically different from the centre of the Quidditch pitch. Yet, the entire pitch is supposed to be 500ft long, or 167 yards, and we are told that the Triwizard Cup is at the centre of the maze, and yet Harry, believing himself to be close to the centre of the maze, sees the Triwizard Cup as 100 yards away. If the maze exists in real space, these things cannot all be true. If Harry is at the centre of the pitch the 100-yards-away Cup must be down one end, and vice versa. 'We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze,' said Professor McGonagall to the champions. [GoF ch. #31; p. 539] Even if we assume that the centre of the pitch corresponds with the point at which one resolves the puzzle and comes in sight of the Cup, which in fact is down one end, you still have the problem that 100 yards is more than half the length of the pitch so neither the position Harry comes to when he feels he has reached the centre, and sees the Cup, nor the actual position of the Cup, can correspond with the actual centre of the pitch - unless the distance is really only 83 yards, not 100, or the pitch is longer than 500ft. Perhaps there is a 50ft-wide "offside" margin between the pitch proper and the stands. Indeed, the drawing of the Quidditch pitch on JK's own map rather supports the idea that there might be a wide offside strip around the pitch. In addition we know that there is still a walkway left between the edge of the maze and the stands, or perhaps between the stands and the barrier, because the four stewards have room to walk around the maze. It may be, of course, that the maze simply exstends into wizard space. Given the speed at which the players fly, it does make sense that there would be a narrow walkway in front of the seats to enable ground-level spectators to reach their seats, separated from the pitch by some sort of barrier, and then a wide offside strip around the actual competition area. Harry felt himself slam flat into the ground; his face was pressed into grass [GoF ch. #35; p. 582] He had come back to the edge of the maze. He could see the stands rising above him [GoF ch. #35; p. 583] 'You arrived back in the middle of the lawn clutching Cedric's dead body ... none of us saw what happened in the maze ...' [OotP ch. #13; p. 226/227] There must certainly be a little space in front of the entrance to the maze, inside the stadium but not in the maze proper, because when Harry returns with Cedric's body he lands outside the maze but still inside the stadium, and "in the middle of the lawn". If the entrance to the maze is at one end of the pitch the clear space in front of the entrance is presumably part of one of the scoring areas. I have a theory about this, incidentally. On the face of it, the entire plot of GoF makes no real sense, since it seems as if false!Moody could have tricked Harry into touching a Portkey, and whisked him away to Voldemort, at any point during the school year. Admittedly having it happen during the third task was very melodramatic and the Death Eaters do like melodrama - but would even Voldemort put off his own revivification for an entire year just so he could stage an impressive bit of terrorist theatre? But it makes perfect sense if we assume that a) the wards of Hogwarts can detect unauthorized Portkeys and b) the Triwizard Cup was always intended to be a Portkey, which would whisk the victor out of the maze and onto the lawn in full view of the judges. In that case, the only way false!Moody would be able to trick the castle wards would be to take a pre-existing and authorized Portkey, i.e. the Cup, and simply change its destination. A more detailed examination of the possible layout of the Triwizard maze can be found in the section on journeys around the grounds. [cut] remnants of mist hung over the grass in the stadium. As Harry walked onto the pitch, he saw Ron and Hermione sitting in the stands. [CoS ch. #07; p. 84] Harry looked into the stands. Colin was sitting in one of the highest seats [CoS ch. #07; p. 85] Three-quarters of the crowd were wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them or brandishing banners with slogans like 'GO GRYFFINDOR!' and 'LIONS FOR THE CUP!' Behind the Slytherin goalposts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; [PoA ch. #15; p. 225] Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. [GoF ch. #31; p. 538] They could hear hundreds of footsteps mounting the banked benches of the spectators' stands. [OotP ch. #19; p. 359] The pitch has a grass surface and is surrounded by tiered seating, which we know to be wooden and hollow, not built up from earth banks, because it thunders as people walk on it. There are at least three tiers (the existence of a "highest" tier implies at least a low, a higher and a highest), angled so that someone standing on the pitch can see who is sitting in the stands, and with at least enough room to seat about eight hundred. Given that a 500ft by 180ft oval pitch has a perimeter over 1,100 ft long (over 1,400 ft if we assume a 50ft offside strip), however, then even if we allow 3ft per person and a generous amount of space for the stairs and entrances, three tiers would provide seating for over a thousand spectators - so we don't want any more than three tiers. Of course, we are never actually told whether the seating runs right round the the stadium, or whether it is grouped in one or more blocks. All we know is that there are stands directly behind at least one of the sets of goal-posts. If the stands only run around a small part of the stadium they will of course seat fewer people, and/or might run to more than three tiers. However, JK's map shows them running all the way round, and from the point of view of people wanting to be able to see the game from all angles it seems more likely they do run all or most of the way around the pitch. They found seats in the [paperback edition inserts 'second'] topmost row of the stands. [OotP ch. #30; p. 602] Harry looked round and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face sticking between the seats. Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind, for the first- and second-years he had just passed had a ruffled, flattened look about them. [OotP ch. #30; p. 603] He and Hermione edged back along their row of seats, causing much grumbling among the students who had to stand up for them. The people in Hagrid's row were not complaining, merely attempting to make themselves as small as possible. 'I 'ppreciate this, you two, I really do,' said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking around nervously as they descended towards the lawn below. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604] The first edition of OotP contained an anomaly in the description of the stands in chapter #30. We can assume, I think, that the tiers of seats are staggered so each row can see over the heads of the row in front of and below them. We can also assume there's a single row of seating on each tier - since we have a "topmost" row we know we have at least three degrees of height (low, higher, highest), and an extra rank of seating on any of of those levels would mean there were places for fourteen hundred spectators, which seems ridiculous. Yet, in the first edition we were told that Harry and Hermione were seated in the topmost row, and then Hagrid was in another row behind them. And it isn't the case that he has simply walked along a gangway behind the row in which Harry and Hermione are seated, forcing people in the same row as themselves to bend forwards out of his way, because "Hagrid's row" is clearly differentiated from "their row". Evidently this was simply a continuity error. The paperback editions, both U.K. and U.S., have been altered to specify that Harry and co. are in the second-to-topmost row, thus allowing Hagrid to be in a higher row - whilst unfortunately raising the spectre of there being even more than three rows. We can at any rate see from this scene that the stairs down are widely-spaced, since they have to go quite a long way along a row to find a stair, and we can see that the exit from the stair opens onto the lawn, not inside the stadium itself. 'Yeah, well, a bit o' trouble wouldn' hurt,' said Hagrid, pausing to peer around the edge of the stands to make sure the stretch of lawn between there and his cabin was deserted. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604] They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the pitch. [GoF ch. #28; p. 477/478] The foot of the stair which Hagrid, Harry and Hermione go down (or the entrance to the stands which leads to the foot of the stair) is so placed that it faces broadly towards Hagrid's cabin, but at an angle to it, so that they can peer around a corner of the stands to see the cabin. Likewise, there is an entrance into the pitch (which may or may not be beside the stair to the stands) which is broadly on a side of the pitch which faces upslope towards the castle, but is so angled that a person coming down from the castle must turn into it rather than walking straight in. We do not know whether there is more than one entrance to the pitch, or more than one stair to the upper stands; but given the numbers of specatators, you would think that there were two or three stairs at least, and probably four or six; and also several ground-level entrances onto the bottom tier of seats, even though there may well be only one entrance onto the playing area itself. 'Bin watchin' from me hut,' said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, 'But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. [PS ch. #11; p. 137] Wood paced the pitch, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance, and the rest of the school spill onto the lawn. [PoA ch. #15; p. 224] The height of the stands, and/or the comparative heights above sea level of Hagrid's cabin and the Quidditch pitch, are such that Hagrid, standing or sitting in or by his cabin and using binoculars, is able to see much of the action on/above the pitch. Harry, standing on the pitch, is able to see the front doors of the castle: either he is looking straight through one of the entrances to the pitch, or the stands are of an open construction which enables him to see out between the tiers. [cut] while the rest of the team headed off to the changing rooms, Harry strode over to Ron, who vaulted the barrier to the stands and came to meet him. [PoA ch. #13; p. 189] There is a barrier between the playing area and the stands, low enough to vault over. If the maze at the Triwizard Tournament filled the pitch and any offside area to the edge, which seems likely from the description, then there must be a space between the barrier and the first row of seats, wide enough to enable the stewards (including Hagrid) to walk right around the perimeter of the pitch. [cut] Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentator's podium. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring [HBP ch. #14; p. 278/279] There is also a wooden podium for the match commentator, high enough for somebody on a broomstick to fly into it, low enough for somebody to fall off it without serious injury, and flimsy enough to be collapsed by being hit by one rider travelling at fairly high speed. It would make sense for the podium to be in the middle of one of the long sides, so it commands an equal view of both sets of goalposts: if that puts it in the way of the entrance to the pitch, or of the changing rooms, it may well stand over some sort of arch or bridge, so the players can walk underneath it to reach the pitch. It is probably not built into the stands, or right up close to them, as there is no indication that Ginny endangers spectators when she brings the podium down. Lockhart's idea of a morale-booster became clear at breakfast time on February the fourteenth. Harry hadn't had much sleep because of a late-running Quidditch practice the night before [CoS ch. #13; p. 176] Full of determination, the team started training sessions, three evenings a week. The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker, but no amount of mud, wind or rain could tarnish Harry's wonderful vision of finally winning the huge, silver Quidditch Cup. [PoA ch. #08; p. 109] The pitch appears to be lit in some way. At least, we sometimes see players practising quite late in the evening during winter, and there is no mention of them using wand-light: and indeed, it would be difficult to do so. If it was a very clear, bright night they might play by moonlight - but clear, bright nights are uncommon in Scotland.
Even if we assume that the centre of the pitch corresponds with the point at which one resolves the puzzle and comes in sight of the Cup, which in fact is down one end, you still have the problem that 100 yards is more than half the length of the pitch so neither the position Harry comes to when he feels he has reached the centre, and sees the Cup, nor the actual position of the Cup, can correspond with the actual centre of the pitch - unless the distance is really only 83 yards, not 100, or the pitch is longer than 500ft. Perhaps there is a 50ft-wide "offside" margin between the pitch proper and the stands. Indeed, the drawing of the Quidditch pitch on JK's own map rather supports the idea that there might be a wide offside strip around the pitch. In addition we know that there is still a walkway left between the edge of the maze and the stands, or perhaps between the stands and the barrier, because the four stewards have room to walk around the maze.
It may be, of course, that the maze simply exstends into wizard space. Given the speed at which the players fly, it does make sense that there would be a narrow walkway in front of the seats to enable ground-level spectators to reach their seats, separated from the pitch by some sort of barrier, and then a wide offside strip around the actual competition area. Harry felt himself slam flat into the ground; his face was pressed into grass [GoF ch. #35; p. 582] He had come back to the edge of the maze. He could see the stands rising above him [GoF ch. #35; p. 583] 'You arrived back in the middle of the lawn clutching Cedric's dead body ... none of us saw what happened in the maze ...' [OotP ch. #13; p. 226/227] There must certainly be a little space in front of the entrance to the maze, inside the stadium but not in the maze proper, because when Harry returns with Cedric's body he lands outside the maze but still inside the stadium, and "in the middle of the lawn". If the entrance to the maze is at one end of the pitch the clear space in front of the entrance is presumably part of one of the scoring areas. I have a theory about this, incidentally. On the face of it, the entire plot of GoF makes no real sense, since it seems as if false!Moody could have tricked Harry into touching a Portkey, and whisked him away to Voldemort, at any point during the school year. Admittedly having it happen during the third task was very melodramatic and the Death Eaters do like melodrama - but would even Voldemort put off his own revivification for an entire year just so he could stage an impressive bit of terrorist theatre? But it makes perfect sense if we assume that a) the wards of Hogwarts can detect unauthorized Portkeys and b) the Triwizard Cup was always intended to be a Portkey, which would whisk the victor out of the maze and onto the lawn in full view of the judges. In that case, the only way false!Moody would be able to trick the castle wards would be to take a pre-existing and authorized Portkey, i.e. the Cup, and simply change its destination. A more detailed examination of the possible layout of the Triwizard maze can be found in the section on journeys around the grounds.
He had come back to the edge of the maze. He could see the stands rising above him [GoF ch. #35; p. 583]
'You arrived back in the middle of the lawn clutching Cedric's dead body ... none of us saw what happened in the maze ...' [OotP ch. #13; p. 226/227]
There must certainly be a little space in front of the entrance to the maze, inside the stadium but not in the maze proper, because when Harry returns with Cedric's body he lands outside the maze but still inside the stadium, and "in the middle of the lawn". If the entrance to the maze is at one end of the pitch the clear space in front of the entrance is presumably part of one of the scoring areas.
I have a theory about this, incidentally. On the face of it, the entire plot of GoF makes no real sense, since it seems as if false!Moody could have tricked Harry into touching a Portkey, and whisked him away to Voldemort, at any point during the school year. Admittedly having it happen during the third task was very melodramatic and the Death Eaters do like melodrama - but would even Voldemort put off his own revivification for an entire year just so he could stage an impressive bit of terrorist theatre? But it makes perfect sense if we assume that a) the wards of Hogwarts can detect unauthorized Portkeys and b) the Triwizard Cup was always intended to be a Portkey, which would whisk the victor out of the maze and onto the lawn in full view of the judges. In that case, the only way false!Moody would be able to trick the castle wards would be to take a pre-existing and authorized Portkey, i.e. the Cup, and simply change its destination.
A more detailed examination of the possible layout of the Triwizard maze can be found in the section on journeys around the grounds.
Harry looked into the stands. Colin was sitting in one of the highest seats [CoS ch. #07; p. 85]
Three-quarters of the crowd were wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them or brandishing banners with slogans like 'GO GRYFFINDOR!' and 'LIONS FOR THE CUP!' Behind the Slytherin goalposts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; [PoA ch. #15; p. 225]
Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. [GoF ch. #31; p. 538]
They could hear hundreds of footsteps mounting the banked benches of the spectators' stands. [OotP ch. #19; p. 359]
The pitch has a grass surface and is surrounded by tiered seating, which we know to be wooden and hollow, not built up from earth banks, because it thunders as people walk on it. There are at least three tiers (the existence of a "highest" tier implies at least a low, a higher and a highest), angled so that someone standing on the pitch can see who is sitting in the stands, and with at least enough room to seat about eight hundred. Given that a 500ft by 180ft oval pitch has a perimeter over 1,100 ft long (over 1,400 ft if we assume a 50ft offside strip), however, then even if we allow 3ft per person and a generous amount of space for the stairs and entrances, three tiers would provide seating for over a thousand spectators - so we don't want any more than three tiers.
Of course, we are never actually told whether the seating runs right round the the stadium, or whether it is grouped in one or more blocks. All we know is that there are stands directly behind at least one of the sets of goal-posts. If the stands only run around a small part of the stadium they will of course seat fewer people, and/or might run to more than three tiers. However, JK's map shows them running all the way round, and from the point of view of people wanting to be able to see the game from all angles it seems more likely they do run all or most of the way around the pitch.
Harry looked round and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face sticking between the seats. Apparently, he had squeezed his way all along the row behind, for the first- and second-years he had just passed had a ruffled, flattened look about them. [OotP ch. #30; p. 603]
He and Hermione edged back along their row of seats, causing much grumbling among the students who had to stand up for them. The people in Hagrid's row were not complaining, merely attempting to make themselves as small as possible. 'I 'ppreciate this, you two, I really do,' said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking around nervously as they descended towards the lawn below. [OotP ch. #30; p. 604]
The first edition of OotP contained an anomaly in the description of the stands in chapter #30. We can assume, I think, that the tiers of seats are staggered so each row can see over the heads of the row in front of and below them. We can also assume there's a single row of seating on each tier - since we have a "topmost" row we know we have at least three degrees of height (low, higher, highest), and an extra rank of seating on any of of those levels would mean there were places for fourteen hundred spectators, which seems ridiculous. Yet, in the first edition we were told that Harry and Hermione were seated in the topmost row, and then Hagrid was in another row behind them. And it isn't the case that he has simply walked along a gangway behind the row in which Harry and Hermione are seated, forcing people in the same row as themselves to bend forwards out of his way, because "Hagrid's row" is clearly differentiated from "their row".
Evidently this was simply a continuity error. The paperback editions, both U.K. and U.S., have been altered to specify that Harry and co. are in the second-to-topmost row, thus allowing Hagrid to be in a higher row - whilst unfortunately raising the spectre of there being even more than three rows. We can at any rate see from this scene that the stairs down are widely-spaced, since they have to go quite a long way along a row to find a stair, and we can see that the exit from the stair opens onto the lawn, not inside the stadium itself.
The foot of the stair which Hagrid, Harry and Hermione go down (or the entrance to the stands which leads to the foot of the stair) is so placed that it faces broadly towards Hagrid's cabin, but at an angle to it, so that they can peer around a corner of the stands to see the cabin. Likewise, there is an entrance into the pitch (which may or may not be beside the stair to the stands) which is broadly on a side of the pitch which faces upslope towards the castle, but is so angled that a person coming down from the castle must turn into it rather than walking straight in. We do not know whether there is more than one entrance to the pitch, or more than one stair to the upper stands; but given the numbers of specatators, you would think that there were two or three stairs at least, and probably four or six; and also several ground-level entrances onto the bottom tier of seats, even though there may well be only one entrance onto the playing area itself.
Wood paced the pitch, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance, and the rest of the school spill onto the lawn. [PoA ch. #15; p. 224]
The height of the stands, and/or the comparative heights above sea level of Hagrid's cabin and the Quidditch pitch, are such that Hagrid, standing or sitting in or by his cabin and using binoculars, is able to see much of the action on/above the pitch. Harry, standing on the pitch, is able to see the front doors of the castle: either he is looking straight through one of the entrances to the pitch, or the stands are of an open construction which enables him to see out between the tiers.
There is a barrier between the playing area and the stands, low enough to vault over. If the maze at the Triwizard Tournament filled the pitch and any offside area to the edge, which seems likely from the description, then there must be a space between the barrier and the first row of seats, wide enough to enable the stewards (including Hagrid) to walk right around the perimeter of the pitch.
There is also a wooden podium for the match commentator, high enough for somebody on a broomstick to fly into it, low enough for somebody to fall off it without serious injury, and flimsy enough to be collapsed by being hit by one rider travelling at fairly high speed. It would make sense for the podium to be in the middle of one of the long sides, so it commands an equal view of both sets of goalposts: if that puts it in the way of the entrance to the pitch, or of the changing rooms, it may well stand over some sort of arch or bridge, so the players can walk underneath it to reach the pitch. It is probably not built into the stands, or right up close to them, as there is no indication that Ginny endangers spectators when she brings the podium down.
Full of determination, the team started training sessions, three evenings a week. The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker, but no amount of mud, wind or rain could tarnish Harry's wonderful vision of finally winning the huge, silver Quidditch Cup. [PoA ch. #08; p. 109]
The pitch appears to be lit in some way. At least, we sometimes see players practising quite late in the evening during winter, and there is no mention of them using wand-light: and indeed, it would be difficult to do so. If it was a very clear, bright night they might play by moonlight - but clear, bright nights are uncommon in Scotland.
The words came, just as they had back in the Gryffindor changing room [OotP ch. #24; p. 478]
'OK, everyone,' said Angelina, entering from the Captain's office, already changed. [OotP ch. #14; p. 260]
There are changing rooms (plural), which appear to consist of one changing room plus one captain's office per house.
The team rose, shouldered their brooms and marched in single file out of the changing room and into the dazzling sunlight. A roar of sound greeted them in which Harry could still hear singing, though it was muffled by the cheers and whistles. The Slytherin team was standing waiting for them. [OotP ch. #19; p. 359]
The changing rooms are some distance from the goalposts (or at least, the Gryffindor changing room is some distance from Gryffindor's defending goalposts). They open directly onto the pitch.
The sky was a deep, thundery grey and it was a relief to gain the warmth and light of the changing rooms [cut] [cut] the hammering of rain on the roof intensified and wind howled around the building. [OotP ch. #18; p. 335/336]
[cut] he gave Ron a look as the rest of the team filed back outside [cut] 'But ...' looking scared, Ron strode across to the window and stared out into the rain, 'he – he can't be near us now, can he?' 'No,' Harry muttered, sinking on to a bench [OotP ch. #18; p. 337/338]
The changing rooms are not very warm, but warmer than the outside, and lighted, with benches to sit on and at least one window per changing room, though we don't know if these windows look out onto the grounds or the pitch. They are in a position which leaves them somewhat exposed to the weather. If they are underneath some of the stands then the stands don't provide them with very good protection.
Actually, the changing rooms can't be tucked under more than the rim of the stands, because the first two rows of stands would be too low (indeed, the first row is presumably at ground-level plus chair-height). Only row three would be high enough to fit even a low-roofed building under, and it is probably only 4ft wide (a row of seats and barely room to walk past them, since people have to squeeze up, or even stand up, if somebody wants to walk along the row). So if the changing rooms are under the stands they must actually stick out well beyond the limits of the stands, onto the lawn. We know they aren't actually at a distance from the pitch, because the team walk straight out into the playing area.
There's no suggestion on JK's map that the changing rooms stick out beyond the perimeter of the stadium. Another possibility is that they take a bite out of the perimeter and interrupt the stands - presumably along one of the long sides, since supporters will want and need to sit near their own side's goal. If the changing rooms do indeed take a bite out of the stands, and if there is only one path from the outside directly onto the pitch - which we don't know, of course - then the changing rooms are not next to that path, because when Harry and Cedric walk down the dark grounds and turn onto the pitch, they do so through a gap in the stands.
We don't know how big the changing rooms are; they only have to accommodate six players plus the team captain (in his/her own office) but they do have to include the captain's office, there are four lots of them, and there's probably an office/changing room for Madam Hooch as well.
Even if we nest them together so that the Captain's offices overlap, and assume that the changing rooms themselves are only 12ft by 10ft, the Captains' offices 6ft square and Hooch's room about 12ft by 7ft, which is all a pretty tight squeeze, they still make a block over 60ft long, once you factor in the thickness of the walls (even if the walls are wooden, and thin). However, it's perfectly possible that the topmost tier of seating continues right across the top of the changing rooms.
Probable layout of the Quidditch pitch, showing stands, changing rooms etc.. In this plan, the block of changing rooms is about 85ft long, which gives plenty of room.
In any case, even if we assume a 62ft block of changing rooms, a 10ft-wide path into the pitch proper and four 15ft-wide stairs cutting their way through the stands, that still leaves room to seat a thousand spectators with three feet of space each in only three tiers of stands - thirteen hundred spectators, if the pitch has a 50ft offside area around it (which adds about 300ft to the length of the perimeter). So there is still no need for more than three tiers of seats. Even if we were to double the size of the changing rooms (which would make them very big) there is still ample space in three tiers, bearing in mind that the greatest number of spectators we know of for sure was eight hundred, although there may well have been more at the Triwizard Tournament. But 3ft per person is a generous allowance; if they ever did get more than thirteen hundred spectators they could just bunt up a bit.
The provision of seating is so extremely generous that it may well be a legacy of a previous Triwizard Tournament, extra benches having been installed for the spectators and never removed.
JK's map shows the greenhouses as close to the edge of the lake, and this is confirmed by the fact that the flying car passes over them after it crosses the lake and dodges the wall which is at the edge of the water. If the grounds are laid out anything like the way they are in JK's map then in order to cross the lake, dodge the wall and then follow a curved path over the greenhouses and the vegetable patch, to end by hitting the Whomping Willow, the car must have performed an S-shaped curve rather than a simple arc - bearing right to miss the wall, and then left again towards the Willow. [cut] they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle [PS ch. #08; p. 99] Harry, Ron and Hermione left the castle together, crossed the vegetable patch and made for the greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept. [CoS ch. #06; p. 70] [cut] Snape had seen them out of the castle, and they were making their way across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. [CoS ch. #15; p. 199] [coming from the castle] They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses [PoA ch. #21; p. 291] [cut] he could not wait to see Hagrid again, to play Quidditch, even to stroll across the vegetable patches to the Herbology greenhouses [OotP ch. #09; p. 145] When the bell echoed distantly over the grounds, Harry rolled up his blood-stained Bowtruckle picture [made during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson conducted near Hagrid's cabin] and marched off to Herbology [cut] [cut] Together, they traipsed across the vegetable patch. The sky still appeared unable to make up its mind whether it wanted to rain or not. 'I just wish Hagrid would hurry up and get back, that's all,' said Harry in a low voice, as they reached the greenhouses. [OotP ch. #13; p. 235] Their robes billowed and swirled around them as they splashed across the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology [OotP ch. #18; p. 344] He had been unable to tell Ron and Hermione about his lesson with Dumbledore over breakfast for fear of being overheard, but he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261] JK's map shows the greenhouses as lying on the left side of the castle as you face the front doors, and the vegetable patch as being further to the left of that. However, the text states that the greenhouses (some of them, anyway) are behind the castle, not alongside it: and whilst the vegetable patch may well extend to the left of the greenhouses, part of it must also lie between the greenhouses and the castle, and between the greenhouses and Hagrid's cabin, since they always seem to have to cross the vegetable patch to reach the greenhouses when coming from castle or cabin. The vegetable patch must be either quite low-lying relative to the rest of the grounds, or in its own little hollow, because it can flood in heavy rain. It may well be that the stream which Harry hears in the Forest is fed by an outflow from the lake, which starts by trickling through or close to the vegetable patch, irrigating it in summer and flooding it in winter. It was when he reached the bottom step that it occurred to him how very pleasant it would be to pass the vegetable patch on his walk to Hagrid's. It was not strictly on the way, but it seemed clear to Harry that this was a whim on which he should act, so he directed his feet immediately towards the vegetable patch [HBP ch. #22; p. 448] [cut] the [Herbology] class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's small wooden cabin [GoF ch. #13; p. 173] The edge of the vegetable patch is not on a direct route from the castle to Hagrid's cabin; at the same time, it is not in a completely opposite direction, or at least not very far in one. Coming from the greenhouses, the castle doors lie in one direction and Hagrid's cabin in another, so we know the front doors aren't on a straight line between the cabin and the greenhouses. It was when he reached the bottom step that [cut] he directed his feet immediately towards the vegetable patch where he was pleased, but not altogether surprised, to find Professor Slughorn in conversation with Professor Sprout. Harry lurked behind a low stone wall, feeling at peace with the world and listening to their conversation. [HBP ch. #22; p. 448] Professor Sprout headed off into the gathering darkness in the direction of her greenhouses and Slughorn directed his steps to the spot where Harry stood, invisible. [cut] 'Touching, touching,' said Slughorn absent-mindedly, his large droopy eyes fixed upon the distant lights of Hagrid's cabin. [HBP ch. #22; p. 449/450] There is a low wall along part of the edge of the vegetable patch - perhaps part of the ruins of an old curtain wall which once enclosed space around the castle. Coming from the castle, you reach this wall first, then the vegetable patch is beyond it, and the greenhouses beyond that. Standing by this wall, it is possible to see the windows of Hagrid's cabin, although they are quite far away. 'Greenhouse Three today, chaps!' said Professor Sprout [CoS ch. #06; p. 70] Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. About twenty pairs of different coloured earmuffs were lying on the bench. [CoS ch. #06; p. 72] [cut] he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. The weekend's brutal wind had died out at last; the weird mist had returned and it took them a little longer than usual to find the correct greenhouse. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261] We know that there are at least three greenhouses, because there is a "Greenhouse Three". No higher-numbered greenhouse has been mentioned, but that doesn't prove that there aren't any. Even if there are only three greenhouses which are used as Herbology classrooms, there may well be others which are used for research, or to grow food or potions ingredients. The fact that the trio have trouble finding the right greenhouse in the mist suggests there may well be more than three greenhouses, possibly plus potting sheds etc., and that their layout is quit complex and confusing. Also, at least those greenhouses where we know classes are held, i.e. Greenhouses One and Three, must be fairly large, since a class of twenty are able to work in them, but they are probably not as truly enormous as, say, the Palm House at Kew, because if they were so large that it took a significant amount of time to walk past a single greenhouse, the Trio would probably not be confused about how many they had passed, even in the mist. 'We'll run for it,' said Harry determinedly. 'Straight into the Forest, all right? We'll have to hide behind a tree or something and keep a lookout –' 'OK, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!' said Hermione breathlessly. 'We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!' Still working out what she meant, Harry set off at a sprint, Hermione behind him. They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing towards the shelter of the Forest ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 290/291] Also, in PoA when Harry and Hermione wish to hide from Hagrid's line of sight they cross the vegetable patch to the greenhouses, and then make their way behind the greenhouses to a point from which they break cover and dash for the Whomping Willow. The implication is that the greenhouses extend some distance towards the Willow, otherwise detouring behind them would make no sense (and it's a considerable detour, according to JK's map). If the greenhouses start behind the castle, as indicated in PS, and then extend significantly closer to the Willow than the castle itself does, either they are enormous or there are a lot more than three of them. And, as already stated, it's unlikely that they are enormous because then it would be hard to explain how the Trio could lose count of them, even in thick mist. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learnt how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and found out what they were used for. [PS ch. #08; p. 99] 'Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare ... what did Professor Sprout say? It likes the dark and the damp –' [PS ch. #16; p. 202] 'Greenhouse Three today, chaps!' said Professor Sprout [cut] [cut] They had only ever worked in Greenhouse One before – Greenhouse Three housed far more interesting and dangerous plants. Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door. Harry caught a whiff of damp earth and fertilizer, mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella-sized flowers dangling from the ceiling. [CoS ch. #06; p. 70/71] Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. [CoS ch. #06; p. 72] 'Four to a tray – there is a large supply of pots here – compost in the sacks over there – and be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething.' She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder. [CoS ch. #06; p. 73] Ernie Macmillan asked Harry quite politely to pass a bucket of leaping toadstools in Herbology one day, and in March several of the Mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in Greenhouse Three. {CoS ch. #14; p. 186] Professor Sprout set them all to work pruning the Abyssinian Shrivelfigs. Harry went to tip an armful of withered stalks onto the compost heap [CoS ch. #15; p. 199] Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley, with whom Harry normally got on very well, did not talk to him even though they were re-potting Bouncing Bulbs at the same tray – though they did laugh rather unpleasantly when one of the Bouncing Bulbs wriggled free from Harry's grip and smacked him hard in the face. [Gof ch. #18; p. 257] The door of the nearest greenhouse opened and some fourth-years spilled out of it [OotP ch. #13; p. 236] 'And I don't know how you stand it – it's horrible,' she said bluntly, dumping far too much dragon manure on her tray of Screechsnap seedlings, causing them to wriggle and squeak in discomfort. [OotP ch. #25; p. 485] Harry was deeply thankful that Professor Sprout ushered them into greenhouse three at that point, forcing Ernie to abandon his recital. [OotP ch. #31; p. 623] It was a relief to get outside into the greenhouses; they were dealing with more dangerous plants than ever in Herbology, but at least they were still allowed to swear loudly if the Venomous Tentacula seized them unexpectedly from behind. [HBP ch. #11; p. 205] 'Wow, scary thought, the boy You-Know-Who,' said Ron quietly, as they took their places around one of the gnarled Snargaluff stumps that formed that term's project, and began pulling on their protective gloves. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261] They looked round; sure enough, there sat Neville with a bloody lip and several nasty scratches along the side of his face, but clutching an unpleasantly pulsating green object about the size of a grapefruit. [cut] [cut] they all took deep breaths and then dived at the gnarled stump between them. It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramble-like vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air. One tangled itself in Hermione's hair and Ron beat it back with a pair of secateurs; Harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentacle-like branches; Hermione plunged her arm bravely into this hole, which closed like a trap around her elbow; Harry and Ron tugged and wrenched at the vines, forcing the hole to open again and Hermione snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod just like Neville's. At once, the prickly vines shot back inside and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood. [HBP ch. #14; p. 262/263] We know a bit about what's in the greenhouses - at least, in Greenhouses One and Three. We know that in first year they studied Herbology entirely in Greenhouse One, where they learned about "strange plants and fungi", including Devil's Snare - although we aren't told whether they saw actual specimens of Devil's Snare, or were merely told about it. In second year they moved up to Greenhouse Three and apparently stayed there, since there's a reference to them working in greenhouse three [sic] in OotP, and in HBP they are working with a Venomous Tentacula, and we know that there is one in Greenhouse Three. This might be some confirmation that Herbology classes are confined to Greenhouses One and Three, except that the reference in OotP to fourth-years spilling out of the nearest greenhouse sounds as if it isn't the greenhouse Harry's fifth-year class are heading to, and it won't be Greenhouse One because that's apparently reserved for first-years. In any case, Greenhouse Two seems not to be used for classes, or at least not for Harry's first through sixth years, which tends to confirm that at least one, possibly more greenhouses are reserved for other uses. It may well be that there are one or more greenhouses in which seventh years are able to pursue individual projects, but if so we haven't seen this yet. Things in Greenhouse Three include a big trestle bench at the centre of the greenhouse, big enough for a class of about nineteen students to work at; a sizeable compost heap; supplies of pots, trays and dragon-dung fertilizer; umbrella-sized flowers hanging down from the ceiling; the Venomous Tentacula (which is spiky, dark red, presumably venomous and has prehensile feelers and, apparently, teeth); leaping toadstools; Mandrakes; Abyssinian Shrivelfigs; Bouncing Bulbs (which wriggle and jump); Screechsnap seedlings; and Snargaluff stumps, which look like dead lumps of wood, but are built on the same plan as a sea anemone, with mobile, thorny, bramble-like vines which emerge from the top and lash about, protecting a foot-deep central hollow at the bottom of which is a green, pulsating pod the size of a grapefruit. Summer was creeping over the grounds around the castle; sky and lake alike turned periwinkle blue and flowers large as cabbages burst into bloom in the greenhouses. [CoS ch. #15; p. 197] Some of the greenhouses (plural) are used to grow cabbage-sized flowers which bloom in late spring/early summer. These are presumably different from the umbrella-sized flowers hanging down from the ceiling of Greenhouse Three in September.
Harry, Ron and Hermione left the castle together, crossed the vegetable patch and made for the greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept. [CoS ch. #06; p. 70]
[cut] Snape had seen them out of the castle, and they were making their way across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. [CoS ch. #15; p. 199]
[coming from the castle] They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses [PoA ch. #21; p. 291]
[cut] he could not wait to see Hagrid again, to play Quidditch, even to stroll across the vegetable patches to the Herbology greenhouses [OotP ch. #09; p. 145]
When the bell echoed distantly over the grounds, Harry rolled up his blood-stained Bowtruckle picture [made during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson conducted near Hagrid's cabin] and marched off to Herbology [cut] [cut] Together, they traipsed across the vegetable patch. The sky still appeared unable to make up its mind whether it wanted to rain or not. 'I just wish Hagrid would hurry up and get back, that's all,' said Harry in a low voice, as they reached the greenhouses. [OotP ch. #13; p. 235]
He had been unable to tell Ron and Hermione about his lesson with Dumbledore over breakfast for fear of being overheard, but he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261]
JK's map shows the greenhouses as lying on the left side of the castle as you face the front doors, and the vegetable patch as being further to the left of that. However, the text states that the greenhouses (some of them, anyway) are behind the castle, not alongside it: and whilst the vegetable patch may well extend to the left of the greenhouses, part of it must also lie between the greenhouses and the castle, and between the greenhouses and Hagrid's cabin, since they always seem to have to cross the vegetable patch to reach the greenhouses when coming from castle or cabin.
The vegetable patch must be either quite low-lying relative to the rest of the grounds, or in its own little hollow, because it can flood in heavy rain. It may well be that the stream which Harry hears in the Forest is fed by an outflow from the lake, which starts by trickling through or close to the vegetable patch, irrigating it in summer and flooding it in winter. It was when he reached the bottom step that it occurred to him how very pleasant it would be to pass the vegetable patch on his walk to Hagrid's. It was not strictly on the way, but it seemed clear to Harry that this was a whim on which he should act, so he directed his feet immediately towards the vegetable patch [HBP ch. #22; p. 448] [cut] the [Herbology] class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's small wooden cabin [GoF ch. #13; p. 173] The edge of the vegetable patch is not on a direct route from the castle to Hagrid's cabin; at the same time, it is not in a completely opposite direction, or at least not very far in one. Coming from the greenhouses, the castle doors lie in one direction and Hagrid's cabin in another, so we know the front doors aren't on a straight line between the cabin and the greenhouses. It was when he reached the bottom step that [cut] he directed his feet immediately towards the vegetable patch where he was pleased, but not altogether surprised, to find Professor Slughorn in conversation with Professor Sprout. Harry lurked behind a low stone wall, feeling at peace with the world and listening to their conversation. [HBP ch. #22; p. 448] Professor Sprout headed off into the gathering darkness in the direction of her greenhouses and Slughorn directed his steps to the spot where Harry stood, invisible. [cut] 'Touching, touching,' said Slughorn absent-mindedly, his large droopy eyes fixed upon the distant lights of Hagrid's cabin. [HBP ch. #22; p. 449/450] There is a low wall along part of the edge of the vegetable patch - perhaps part of the ruins of an old curtain wall which once enclosed space around the castle. Coming from the castle, you reach this wall first, then the vegetable patch is beyond it, and the greenhouses beyond that. Standing by this wall, it is possible to see the windows of Hagrid's cabin, although they are quite far away.
[cut] the [Herbology] class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's small wooden cabin [GoF ch. #13; p. 173]
The edge of the vegetable patch is not on a direct route from the castle to Hagrid's cabin; at the same time, it is not in a completely opposite direction, or at least not very far in one. Coming from the greenhouses, the castle doors lie in one direction and Hagrid's cabin in another, so we know the front doors aren't on a straight line between the cabin and the greenhouses.
Professor Sprout headed off into the gathering darkness in the direction of her greenhouses and Slughorn directed his steps to the spot where Harry stood, invisible. [cut] 'Touching, touching,' said Slughorn absent-mindedly, his large droopy eyes fixed upon the distant lights of Hagrid's cabin. [HBP ch. #22; p. 449/450]
There is a low wall along part of the edge of the vegetable patch - perhaps part of the ruins of an old curtain wall which once enclosed space around the castle. Coming from the castle, you reach this wall first, then the vegetable patch is beyond it, and the greenhouses beyond that. Standing by this wall, it is possible to see the windows of Hagrid's cabin, although they are quite far away.
[cut] he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch towards the greenhouses. The weekend's brutal wind had died out at last; the weird mist had returned and it took them a little longer than usual to find the correct greenhouse. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261]
We know that there are at least three greenhouses, because there is a "Greenhouse Three". No higher-numbered greenhouse has been mentioned, but that doesn't prove that there aren't any. Even if there are only three greenhouses which are used as Herbology classrooms, there may well be others which are used for research, or to grow food or potions ingredients. The fact that the trio have trouble finding the right greenhouse in the mist suggests there may well be more than three greenhouses, possibly plus potting sheds etc., and that their layout is quit complex and confusing.
Also, at least those greenhouses where we know classes are held, i.e. Greenhouses One and Three, must be fairly large, since a class of twenty are able to work in them, but they are probably not as truly enormous as, say, the Palm House at Kew, because if they were so large that it took a significant amount of time to walk past a single greenhouse, the Trio would probably not be confused about how many they had passed, even in the mist.
Also, in PoA when Harry and Hermione wish to hide from Hagrid's line of sight they cross the vegetable patch to the greenhouses, and then make their way behind the greenhouses to a point from which they break cover and dash for the Whomping Willow. The implication is that the greenhouses extend some distance towards the Willow, otherwise detouring behind them would make no sense (and it's a considerable detour, according to JK's map). If the greenhouses start behind the castle, as indicated in PS, and then extend significantly closer to the Willow than the castle itself does, either they are enormous or there are a lot more than three of them. And, as already stated, it's unlikely that they are enormous because then it would be hard to explain how the Trio could lose count of them, even in thick mist.
'Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare ... what did Professor Sprout say? It likes the dark and the damp –' [PS ch. #16; p. 202]
'Greenhouse Three today, chaps!' said Professor Sprout [cut] [cut] They had only ever worked in Greenhouse One before – Greenhouse Three housed far more interesting and dangerous plants. Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door. Harry caught a whiff of damp earth and fertilizer, mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella-sized flowers dangling from the ceiling. [CoS ch. #06; p. 70/71]
Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. [CoS ch. #06; p. 72]
'Four to a tray – there is a large supply of pots here – compost in the sacks over there – and be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething.' She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder. [CoS ch. #06; p. 73]
Ernie Macmillan asked Harry quite politely to pass a bucket of leaping toadstools in Herbology one day, and in March several of the Mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in Greenhouse Three. {CoS ch. #14; p. 186]
Professor Sprout set them all to work pruning the Abyssinian Shrivelfigs. Harry went to tip an armful of withered stalks onto the compost heap [CoS ch. #15; p. 199]
Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley, with whom Harry normally got on very well, did not talk to him even though they were re-potting Bouncing Bulbs at the same tray – though they did laugh rather unpleasantly when one of the Bouncing Bulbs wriggled free from Harry's grip and smacked him hard in the face. [Gof ch. #18; p. 257]
The door of the nearest greenhouse opened and some fourth-years spilled out of it [OotP ch. #13; p. 236]
'And I don't know how you stand it – it's horrible,' she said bluntly, dumping far too much dragon manure on her tray of Screechsnap seedlings, causing them to wriggle and squeak in discomfort. [OotP ch. #25; p. 485]
Harry was deeply thankful that Professor Sprout ushered them into greenhouse three at that point, forcing Ernie to abandon his recital. [OotP ch. #31; p. 623]
It was a relief to get outside into the greenhouses; they were dealing with more dangerous plants than ever in Herbology, but at least they were still allowed to swear loudly if the Venomous Tentacula seized them unexpectedly from behind. [HBP ch. #11; p. 205]
'Wow, scary thought, the boy You-Know-Who,' said Ron quietly, as they took their places around one of the gnarled Snargaluff stumps that formed that term's project, and began pulling on their protective gloves. [HBP ch. #14; p. 261]
They looked round; sure enough, there sat Neville with a bloody lip and several nasty scratches along the side of his face, but clutching an unpleasantly pulsating green object about the size of a grapefruit. [cut] [cut] they all took deep breaths and then dived at the gnarled stump between them. It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramble-like vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air. One tangled itself in Hermione's hair and Ron beat it back with a pair of secateurs; Harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentacle-like branches; Hermione plunged her arm bravely into this hole, which closed like a trap around her elbow; Harry and Ron tugged and wrenched at the vines, forcing the hole to open again and Hermione snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod just like Neville's. At once, the prickly vines shot back inside and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood. [HBP ch. #14; p. 262/263]
We know a bit about what's in the greenhouses - at least, in Greenhouses One and Three. We know that in first year they studied Herbology entirely in Greenhouse One, where they learned about "strange plants and fungi", including Devil's Snare - although we aren't told whether they saw actual specimens of Devil's Snare, or were merely told about it.
In second year they moved up to Greenhouse Three and apparently stayed there, since there's a reference to them working in greenhouse three [sic] in OotP, and in HBP they are working with a Venomous Tentacula, and we know that there is one in Greenhouse Three. This might be some confirmation that Herbology classes are confined to Greenhouses One and Three, except that the reference in OotP to fourth-years spilling out of the nearest greenhouse sounds as if it isn't the greenhouse Harry's fifth-year class are heading to, and it won't be Greenhouse One because that's apparently reserved for first-years. In any case, Greenhouse Two seems not to be used for classes, or at least not for Harry's first through sixth years, which tends to confirm that at least one, possibly more greenhouses are reserved for other uses. It may well be that there are one or more greenhouses in which seventh years are able to pursue individual projects, but if so we haven't seen this yet.
Things in Greenhouse Three include a big trestle bench at the centre of the greenhouse, big enough for a class of about nineteen students to work at; a sizeable compost heap; supplies of pots, trays and dragon-dung fertilizer; umbrella-sized flowers hanging down from the ceiling; the Venomous Tentacula (which is spiky, dark red, presumably venomous and has prehensile feelers and, apparently, teeth); leaping toadstools; Mandrakes; Abyssinian Shrivelfigs; Bouncing Bulbs (which wriggle and jump); Screechsnap seedlings; and Snargaluff stumps, which look like dead lumps of wood, but are built on the same plan as a sea anemone, with mobile, thorny, bramble-like vines which emerge from the top and lash about, protecting a foot-deep central hollow at the bottom of which is a green, pulsating pod the size of a grapefruit.
Some of the greenhouses (plural) are used to grow cabbage-sized flowers which bloom in late spring/early summer. These are presumably different from the umbrella-sized flowers hanging down from the ceiling of Greenhouse Three in September.
We know that there are flowerbeds, although they are only mentioned once. We are never told where they are, or whether they are found in more than one area of the grounds. It seems likely, however, that at least some flowerbeds are at the end of the lake, near the greenhouses. Firstly, it would make sense for them to be near the greenhouses, where we know there are flowers being grown. Secondly, if they are low-lying and near the lake that would make sense of the way the water runs down through them when it rains. Thirdly, it might explain why - as discussed in the section on the lake - Sirius, when he chased after Wormtail, ended up quite far along the side of the lake (opposite the bushes from which Harry launched the stag Patronus, and which are themselves in a position to command a view of the West Tower), rather than simply hitting the lakeside at the nearest point; and why Harry and Hermione, chasing after him, also do not seem to reach the water's edge until they get close to where Sirius is, even though, on either JK's own map or on mine, this means they must have bypassed the end of the lake.
This last is doubly true if the flowerbeds include a lot of rosebushes and other impassably prickly things, which would cause all three of them to swing wide of the water. Roses do very well in Scotland, and also it would explain where they got the rose-bushes which were conjured to make the rose-garden for the Yule Ball. We are never told whether things which are conjured are actually created out of nothing, or simply summoned from elsewhere, but the latter seems more likely; if wizards really could make something permanent - or even semi-permanent - out of nothing by a method as easy and common as conjuration seems to be, there would be no poverty in their world, and that definitely doesn't seem to be the case.
There are probably daffodils growing in the grounds, since Parvati and Lavender take daffodils to Trelawney and they haven't had an opportunity to go to Hogsmeade and buy any. They might have conjured them, possibly - but you would actually expect a tract of parkland in Scotland to be liberally scattered with self-propagating daffodils. Professor Sprout also grows honking daffodils; we are not told whether these are grown in a greenhouse or in a flowerbed but their obvious nuisance-potential suggests that they probably aren't allowed to grow wild.
When speculating about the overall shape of Hogwarts and its immediate surroundings, one point to consider is the possible etymology of the name.
JK Rowling is supposed to have said the name might have been inspired, subconsciously, by having seen the American plant called a hogwort (Croton capitatus, a source of the laxative croton oil) at Kew Gardens many years beforehand. But within the story universe the castle can hardly have been named after the English name of an American plant, five hundred years before English was first spoken on the American continent.
"Wart" is a Mediaeval pet-name for people called Arthur, and King Arthur is of course perhaps the greatest British folk hero, so the castle is probably called The-Something-of-Arthur. The writer excessivelyperky has suggested that the "hog" part is a corruption of "howe", "hoo" or "hough", a word for a free-standing domed hill, usually an ancient burial mound - in which case Hogwarts would mean "Arthur's Howe", and you would expect that either the hill on which the castle stands, or a separate hill in or very near the school grounds, was a fairly even dome, like a true burial mound.
It might even be the burial-mound of Arthur: indeed, the fact that Harry goes down through the witch's hump into an earth tunnel supports the idea that the mound the castle stands on might be an artificial one, built up of earth, rather than the big lump of rocky outcrop you would expect at the heart of a natural Scottish hill. Yet, against this, the fact that one side of the mound ends in a cliff does suggest it is natural, and the likely layout of the castle is a long oval rather than a circle. Given its position, if there's an artificial element to the mound Hogwarts stands on it's more likely that it's an old Iron Age hill fort, where a natural hill has been improved on a bit. But that doesn't mean that a tradition couldn't grow up that it was the burial-mound of a king.
Also, the castle grounds are clearly extensive, and we are not really told that much about them, except for the stretch between the castle and the gates (which incorporates part of the lakeside, Hagrid's cabin and the Quidditch pitch). We do not, for example, ever again see a student visit the pinewood between the station and the lake which the students descend through at the start of Harry's first year, even though it's on the opposite side of the grounds from the Forbidden Forest and we're shown students walking all the way around the lake. It is possible, therefore, that there is a small to medium-sized howe somewhere in a less-visited area of the grounds, and it simply hasn't been mentioned.
The fact that even ghosts believe that the Shrieking Shack is haunted, despite it supposedly only having been erected in 1971, may mean that the hill on which the Shack stands is a burial mound. If there's already one definite burial mound in the area, people might assume that the larger hill the castle stands on, or a round hill within the gorunds, is a burial mound (or a sidhe hill), whether it is or not.
On the other hand, a hog is a pig - usually but not always a castrated boar - or anything which is bent up in the middle like the back of a boar. Some of the Arthurian legends involve the hunting of magical boars - Twrch Trywth, for example, who was a human king transformed into a giant boar carrying a comb and shears between his ears - so Hogwarts might well mean "Boar of Arthur". This would suggest that the hill on which the castle stands is shaped like a pig. In favour of this option, Hogsmeade would normally mean either "Meadow of the Pig" or "Meadow where pigs are kept" (although I suppose it could conceivably mean "Meadow with a howe in it"), and JK Rowling lives in Edinburgh and must be very well aware of the hill around which south-east Edinburgh is built, which is called Arthur's Seat and is famously, obviously and unmistakably shaped like a lion.
Whether the hill is shaped like a hog or a howe, we don't know whether that refers just to the immediate mound which the castle stands on, or to the whole of the hillside which the grounds slope down.
However, the idea that "meade" means "meadow is a serious cultural anomaly - in Scottish placenames the English "meade" is replaced be "lea". So perhaps it means something else. If the names of the village and castle are corruptions of Gaelic names, Hogsmeade could be "Something-Meadhanach", where "Meadhanach" means "middle one". It could be all Gaelic and the "hog" bit could be a corruption of "oighreachd", an estate or inheritance of land. Hogsmeade could then be "the middle estate" (or Middle Earth!), and Hogwarts "the estate of Arthur". But you do sometimes get bilingual names in Scotland, and it's quite possible that Hogsmeade is "the middle howe". In that case, the village would be called after the mound that the Shack stands on, and there would be other domed mounds either side of it - the one in the castle grounds (which may or may not be the one the castle is built on), and another one in the opposite direction.
As described in the separate section on the overall setting of Hogwarts, we can ascertain that there are two or more mountains north-east of the castle and about three miles away, and at least one to the north-west which is only around a mile away, and which abuts the Forest. There are more mountains to the south or south-east, obstructing access from that direction, but there is at least once substantial gap in the ring of mountains, at about north-north-west or due north.
Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way back into Hogsmeade, and up towards Hogwarts. [GoF ch. #27; p. 463]
He turned, halfway along the third-floor corridor, to see Fred and George peering out at him from behind a statue of a humpbacked, one-eyed witch. [PoA ch. #10; p. 142]
'Dissendium!' Harry whispered, tapping the stone witch again. At once, the statue's hump opened wide enough to admit a fairly thin person. Harry [cut] hoisted himself into the hole headfirst, and pushed himself forwards. He slid a considerable way down what felt like a stone slide, then landed on cold, damp earth. He stood up, looking around. It was pitch dark. He [cut] saw that he was in a very narrow, low, earthy passageway. [cut] The passage twisted and turned, more like the burrow of a giant rabbit than anything else. Harry hurried along it, stumbling now and then on the uneven floor [cut] [cut] After what felt like an hour, the passage began to rise. Panting, Harry sped up [cut] Ten minutes later, he came to the foot of some worn, stone steps, which rose out of sight above him. [cut] A hundred steps, two hundred steps, he lost count as he climbed, watching his feet ... then, without warning, his head hit something hard. It seemed to be a trapdoor. [cut] Very slowly, he pushed the trapdoor open and peered over the edge. He was in a cellar [cut] Harry crept slowly towards the wooden staircase that led upstairs. [PoA ch. #10; p. 145/146]
There is a problem to do with the relative levels of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. It usually sounds as though the village is below the level of the front gates of the Hogwarts grounds, and tends if anything to continue to slope down from the point at which you enter it when approaching from Hogwarts. We are told at least twice that the trio go up from Hogsmeade to the Hogwarts gates, in a context which makes it sounds as though up really does mean up, and not just along. However, when Harry goes to Honeydukes via the tunnel, he climbs to a considerable height to do so.
Harry enters the tunnel through the hump of the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor - that's the third storey above the ground, not counting ground-level. Her robes incidentally must go down to the floor all round her if there is a physical passage through her, not some sort of magical portal. He then goes headfirst down a stone slide - within the wall, presumably - which discharges him onto cold, damp earth in a very narrow, low, earthy passageway. Since he has hit earth, he is presumably now at ground level.
This passage has an uneven floor and it twists and turns like a burrow. Although we are not told this, the passage must at least initially slope downwards, since we know the ground slopes down from the castle towards the boundary wall.
After what feels like an hour (so is probably about half an hour) the passage starts to rise. Harry then speeds up. He was already hurrying before that, but the passage is twisty and dark and uneven underfoot - so probably he'd been going at less than normal walking speed, despite his attempts to hurry. Say he's been walking at about two miles an hour, so he's come about a mile at this point. Now he speeds up, probably to about normal walking speed, so in the ten minutes he would go just under half a mile. So when he reaches the foot of the stairs he's probably walked about a mile and a half, maybe a little over, but the passage was so winding he may well have come less than a mile, as the crow flies. The fact that the return trip felt very quick tends to confirm that on the outward journey he had been walking slowly, and not really for anything like as long as an hour, so Honeydukes is probably not more than a mile from the castle, maybe a little less.
From this point, there are over two hundred steps leading upwards, before Harry hits the cellar of Hogsmeade. Even if they are shallow 4" steps he's gone up 70ft, plus the celar - another 10ft at least, so after walking up a noticeable slope for about half a mile he is still at least 80ft below ground, probably more - that's about seven storeys plus. Either the tunnel plunged down several storeys underground, in addition to the drop in height necessitated by the slope of the grounds, or the Honeydukes end of Hogsmeade is substantially uphill. This is unlikely because (as discussed in the Hogsmeade section) Honeydukes appears to be partway down a general slope of which even the highest point is still lower than the front gates.
It is possible that the tunnel really does burrow right underground, in order to avoid an outcrop of rock or an underground waterway, since we are not told how the lake drains (if it does), and there must be springs and watercourses supporting the village. But in that case if the lake is aquifer-fed the tunnel probably extends below the watertable, as well as below the ground, and magic must be being used to keep it ventilated and unflooded. This could be seen as evidence that the lake is fed from streams coming from further upslope, which we simply haven't been told about, and Hogwarts is very close against, and possibly partway up, a mountain on its east side, so that there is a continuous slope down from the mountain to the lake. [cut] the three of them left Honeydukes for the blizzard outside. [cut] [cut] They headed up the street, heads bowed against the wind, [cut] 'That's the Post Office –' 'Zonko's is up there –' 'We could go up to the Shrieking Shack –' 'Tell you what,' said Ron, his teeth chattering, 'shall we go for a Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?' Harry was more than willing; [cut] so they crossed the road, and in a few minutes were entering the tiny inn. [PoA ch. #10; p. 149] Harry [cut] emerged into the sunlight outside Honeydukes [cut] They set off up the High Street. [cut] They went to the Post Office; [cut] Then they visited Zonko's [cut] The day was fine and breezy, and neither of them felt like staying indoors, so they walked past the Three Broomsticks and climbed a slope to visit the Shrieking Shack [PoA ch. #14; p. 205] They covered the distance to the trunk in seconds [cut] Harry went next; he crawled forwards, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel. [cut] 'This way,' said Harry, setting off, bent-backed, after Crookshanks. 'Where does this tunnel come out?' Hermione asked [cut] 'I don't know ... [cut] It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it ends up in Hogsmeade ...' They moved as fast as they could, bent almost double; [cut] On and on went the passage; it felt at least as long as the one to Honeydukes ... [cut] And then the tunnel began to rise; moments later it twisted, and Crookshanks had gone. Instead, Harry could see a patch of dim light through a small opening. [PoA ch. #17; p. 247] From Honeydukes one apparently goes either on a level or up a slight slope towards the Three Broomsticks ("up" a street may sometimes just mean "along", but one wouldn't go "up" in a direction which sloped down). Then the Shrieking Shack is up a slope from the Three Broomsticks - so the Shack is quite definitely on a higher level than Honeydukes. The tunnel to the Shrieking Shack feels about the same length as the one to Honeydukes. As the crow flies, it probably is: the distance from the castle to Honeydukes is probably very close to the distance from the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack. [**insert map reference**] There's no mention of the tunnel to the Shack twisting about the way the Honeydukes one does, though, so it ought to be shorter: probably Harry feels it to be as long because every second's delay could mean danger to Ron. At any rate, although the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack does rise noticeably towards the end, there's no suggestion of having to go up over seven storeys in height, although we know they are ending up at a point higher than Honeydukes. Hence, it cannot be that Honeydukes simply is very high up; it must be that for some reason the tunnel to Honeydukes plunges very low. This raises questions as to how the thing is kept ventilated, as it is effectively a mine. Indeed, it may well be a former mine-working which has been adapted for another use. Return to contents-list Conclusions and criteria which must be met by any map: Basic orientation & layout The Forbidden Forest is west and north-west of the castle, and the front face of the castle, where the main doors are, faces broadly west or north-west, and therefore broadly towards the Forest. The castle has to be so oriented that light coming from 36° north of west can illuminate the front steps, and light coming from 32° north of west can shine fairly directly into the Entrance Hall. The front gates are south or south-west of the castle. Heading from the main doors of the castle towards the front gates, the Forbidden Forest is on the right. The castle and the lake are probably both partway up a mountain, but they are surrounded by mountains which are bigger and higher. The castle stands at the edge of a cliff over the lake. The cliff is probably about 120ft high, and its upper part inclines back from the water towards the castle. The lower part of the cliff may also incline back, or may be vertical. There is a footpath all round the perimeter of the lake, within the boundaries of the castle grounds. This path probably passes along the inclined slope at the top of the cliff, just below the base of the castle wall, and may well have its own lower safety-wall along the edge.The lake is probably south of the castle, or at least part of it is. A large part of it wraps around at least one side of the castle, such that the centre of the lake may be seen by somebody standing a little way in front of the castle's main doors. It approaches near enough to the castle that people splashing in the water can be heard from the Entrance Hall, when the doors are open. The greenhouses and vegetable patch are close to the lake, partly behind and partly to one side of the castle. Part of the lake lies close to the route between the castle and the front gates, between Hagrid's house and the castle and between the Quidditch pitch and the castle Heading from the castle towards the Quidditch pitch means the Forbidden Forest is on your right, and heading from the Quidditch pitch towards Hagrid's cabin also means heading towards the Forest. There is a direct line of sight from the Quidditch pitch to the front steps of the castle, and to the Owlery in the West Tower. Scale The lake is maybe 800 to 1,200 yards long, with a perimeter about a mile and a half (2,640 yards) long, or just under. At the point at which Time-Turned and first-time Harry confront each other, it is probably between 100 and 300 yards across. The mer village is probably less than 600 yards from the shore by the Triwizard judges' table. The distance from Dumbledore's tomb across the lake to the edge of the Forbidden Forest is not more than 650 yards. Hagrid's cabin is certainly no more than 400 yards from the front door of the castle, and is more probably about 320 yards. If you follow the edge of the Forest from Hagrid's cabin, going away from the castle rather than back towards it, you go round a curve, so that the trees eventually cut out the view of both castle and lake. Then you come to a clear area large enough to hold a pen containing four dragons, plus stands for spectators. The distance from Hagrid's cabin to this paddock area is about 400 yards. The nearest approach of the Forest is about 300 yards from Gryffindor Tower. The Quidditch pitch is between 100 and 300 yards from the driveway as it approaches the front gates. It is up to about 600 yards from the nearest part of the school. The driveway sweeps through one or more loose curves, and is between about 470 and 800 yards The distance from the gates to the castle "as the crow flies" is around 600-700 yards. The length of the road which runs around the outside of the grounds, from the station to the front gates, is around one and a third miles (2,346 yards). Entrances & boundaries The boundary of the grounds, which seems be a wall reinforced by spells, encloses the lake, and an area on the far side of the lake wide enough to incorporate a path around the lake back by a long steep slope thickly covered with pine trees. Hogsmeade station lies close to the boundary wall. It has a narrow platform about 170 yards long, with some sort of barrier along the back. At the near end (probably) of the platform, as you approach from London, there is a way through this barrier, which leads to an entrance in the Hogwarts boundary wall, and thence to a narrow, steep path which cuts down through the pine trees to the lakeside, rounding a sharp bend just before it reaches the lake. At the far end of the platform (probably), nearest to Hogsmeade, there is a building of some sort, with windows, and a narrow door which lets onto the road outside. The railway line goes around a sharp bend just before it reaches the station. The castle cannot be seen at night from either the station or the path down to the lake, until you actually emerge onto the lakeside. This may be due to first the boundary wall and then the pine trees cutting off the line of sight. Outside the station there is the start of an earth-floored but substantial carriageway. At the station-end this is wide enough to enable a hundred carriages, each drawn by a single horse (sort-of), to park in something a lot more compact than single-file. This carriageway leads all the way around the castle grounds to the front gates. At the station end it is level, or possibly slopes upwards a little, but overall it slopes downwards towards the front gates. At some point there is probably a spur of track veering off towards Hogsmeade. The front gates are set into a wall and flanked on either side by tall stone pillars bearing figures of winged boars. If you stand at the gates with your back to the castle, to your left there is a twisting lane which turns a corner and bears towards Hogsmeade, and which connects to the road which runs around the Hogwarts grounds. Through the gates, a sweeping driveway about 20ft wide leads up to the castle. In addition to the front gates and the station gate, there is at least one other entrance to the grounds, probably somewhere around the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The lawns The castle stands on top of its own little hill or mound, and is raised at least 20ft higher up than the floor of the Forbidden Forest. It is surrounded by lawns, which generally slope downwards towards the perimeter of the grounds (at least in the direction of the front gates), and which are fairly well-cared for but not cut very short. There is a substantial skirt of lawn in front of the castle. The lawns slope down markedly from the castle towards the lake, and from the castle towards the Quidditch pitch. The east and perhaps south-east side of the castle is on a cliff above the water, but on the south side there is a grassy slope which can easily be walked down from the level of the main doors to the level of the lake, close to the side of the castle. This must wrap round the side of the mound the castle stands on, since it drops from the top of the cliff to the water-level in quite a tight space. On the front or west side of the castle the lawns slope down, but not too steeply for the students to line up on them. The approach from the north is either a slope up to the castle walls or, if a drop, then a very low one. Hagrid's cabin is downslope from the castle, and probably also downslope from the greenhouses. The front gates are lower down than Hagrid's cabin. The ground around Hagrid's cabin is in some way not open. The slope of the grounds is probably quite uneven and lumpy. As you descend to a level lower than the front doors there is an obstruction interrupting the line of sight between the castle-end of the drive and the front gates, which suggests either a stand of trees in the way, or a bulge in the ground, between the castle and the area of Hagrid's cabin There is a similar obstruction between the greenhouses and the Whomping Willow, stands alone in the grounds. The top of it can be seen from the greenhouses, but the base cannot. Another obstriction, probably a bulge of ground, prevents Hagrid's house from being in plain view all the way from the Quidditch pitch. On the opposite side of the grounds from the Forbidden Forest, there is a smooth expanse of lawn. There are trees around the lake, and other individual trees scattered about the lawns. The lake The lake is not a tidal inlet, and is presumably fresh-water. Hogwarts is probably very close to the foot of a mountain, or on a ledge partway up a mountain, and the lake is probably fed by numerous but small streams coming down the hillside from the direction of the station. The lake is fairly wide, and has a longish shore which is quite close to Hagrid's house and can be seen, from Hagrid's house, as running towards and away from you. The lake has quite extensive shallows, but is at least 12ft deep at the point where the boats cross it, close to the station. The mer village, and the areas of lake-floor which Harry passes over to get there, are probably about 40ft deep - certainly a lot less than 95ft deep. On the castle side of the lake there is a wide, ivy-curtained opening which leads into a water-filled channel which penetrates the cliff-face and flows to an underground harbour. The lake seems to be mostly surrounded by low, grassy slopes, and is also at least partly surrounded by trees and bushes. This includes an area of pine wood between the lake and the station, which clothes a steep bank. As you stand facing the front doors of the castle, to your right is a slope of lawn leading down to the lake, at the foot of which are a large beech tree and some bushes. The bushes are south or west of the beech tree. The distance from the castle around the lake to the far end is up to 1,500 yards, or a little under. If you start from that far end and swim towards the centre of the lake and/or towards the castle, you start by passing through shallows where the floor of the lake is covered in silt and in flat, slimy stones. Passing out of the shallows, the water quite rapidly becomes at least about 15ft deep. In this area there are large expanses of tangled black waterweed and of bare muddy floor scattered with dull, glimmering stones. Next comes an area where there are tangled clumps of weed (which may still be black but we aren't told) and fallen logs, as well as fish, and then you come to a great expanse of Grindylow-haunted pale-green weed, which extends for about 400 to 500 yards. The water in this area is about 30ft deep. After the pale green weed comes an expanse of plain black mud, easily disturbed. In the midst of the black plain, you come to a small underwater village. There is a stone painted with scenes in front of the entrance, and then probably about two hundred crude stone houses forming a village about 150 yards across, with a square at the centre containing a large, rough-hewn statue. The Forbidden Forest Near to Hagrid's cabin there is probably a big more-or-less circular bite out of the edge of the Forest, forming a sort of arena almost surrounded by trees, into which the Beauxbatons carriage and flying-horse paddock were tucked. Between Hagrid's cabin and the area nearer the front gates where the Hippogriffs and, later, the dragons are kept, the edge of the Forest swings round in a convex curve. The Forest probably approaches quite close to the driveway in between Hagrid's house and the front gates. The edge of the Forest does not approach the lake or the greenhouses very closely, or if it does it then falls back around a wide stretch of open lawn. There is a free-standing or nearly free-standing clump of trees at the edge of the Forest, in a convenient position from which to observe the Whomping Willow. The Whomping Willow The Whomping Willow stands alone in the grounds. It is on an arc which goes lake -> greenhouses -> vegetable-patch -> lawn -> Willow, and there is quite a wide area of lawn between it and the vegetable-patch. It is also on a fairly short, direct route between the greenhouses and the Forbidden Forest. There is an obstruction of some kind, probably a hillock, obscuring the line of sight between it and the greenhouses. This obstruction probably interrupts the line of sight from Hagrid's cabin, for part of the area between the greenhouses and the Willow. The Willow is quite a long way from Hagrid's cabin, and if you walk from one to the other you pass the main doors of the castle somewhere on the way. It is a significant distance from the front doors of the castle, and closer to the Forest than to the castle. Hagrid's cabin Hagrid's house is a wooden, one-room structure, close to the edge of the Forest, and at a significant distance from both the Quidditch pitch and the front gates. It faces towards the castle, and stands on ground which is fairly flat but which is in some way not "open". The floor-size of the house is around 35ft by 21ft. It has a sloping roof - probably gabled, with a high ridge along the middle. The height of the roof varies from about 10ft up to probably about 15ft, or a little more, depending on how thick the roof itself is. The house has a chimney, to one side. The chimney may be over a corner: if so, it is one of the corners at the front of the house. It has a front and a back door, both probably about 5ft wide, and two windows each at front and back. The windows are divided into square panes; they must extend from about 3ft above ground to about 11ft, and are probably sash windows, about 4ft wide. As you face the front of the house, there is a rain-barrel by the right-hand window. There is probably another barrel at the back, on the left (as judged from the front of the house). Behind the house there is a vegetable garden, which is described as "small" but which must be at least 40ft by 60ft. The back of this garden is probably about 30ft from the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It is surrounded by a fence which has at least one growing tree incorporated into it, and this fence is either incomplete or it has a gate in it. The Quidditch pitch The Quidditch pitch is somewhere near the front gates, between 100 and 300 yards from the driveway, and probably between 350 and 600 yards from the school. Its long axis is oriented east to west and is at an angle to the driveway (as big an angle as we can make it and still have the June sunset shining into the Entrance Hall). The pitch proper five hundred feet long and a hundred and eighty feet wide, forming a narrow oval with quite pointed ends, with the scoring areas coming about eighty feet into the pitch, and the goalposts arranged in straight lines, some distance in from the ends. The goalposts are golden hoops 50ft high, about 17ft apart and having hoops about 5ft across. There is probably an "offside" strip about 50ft wide around the pitch proper. The pitch has a grass surface and is surrounded by tiered seating which is wooden and hollow. There are at least three tiers of seats, but probably only three - no more than four, certainly. The seating is accessed by stairs which are entered from the lawn, and which are widely spaced. The height of the stands is such that Hagrid, standing or sitting in or by his cabin and using binoculars, is able to see much of the action on/above the pitch. Players standing on the pitch are able to see the front doors of the castle: either they is looking straight through one of the entrances to the pitch, or the stands are of an open construction which enables them to see out between the tiers. The foot of one of the stairs faces broadly towards Hagrid's cabin, but at an angle to it. There is an entrance from the lawn outside onto the pitch proper and which is broadly on a side of the pitch which faces upslope towards the castle, but is so angled that a person coming down from the castle must turn into it. There is a barrier between the playing area and the stands, low enough to vault over. There is probably space between this barrier and the first row of seats, wide enough for Hagrid to walk around it. There is a wooden podium for the match commentator, probably placed midway along one of the long sides. There are four changing rooms, one per house, each with a captain's office attached, and opening directly onto the pitch. There is probably an office for Madam Hooch in the same block. The block of changing rooms probably interrupts the stands at that point, rather than sticking out onto the lawn. The changing rooms are some distance from the goalposts, and not next to the path which leads onto the pitch - not the one we've been told about, anyway, though there may be others. Greenhouses, vegetables & flowers The greenhouses are close to the edge of the lake, partly behind the castle and partly to the left of it, as you face the main doors. The vegetable patch may well extend to the left of the greenhouses, but part of it must also lie between the greenhouses and the castle, and between the greenhouses and Hagrid's cabin. The whole area is quite low-lying, since the vegetable patch can flood, and there is probably a stream running through or close by it. The edge of the vegetable patch is not on a direct route from the castle to Hagrid's cabin; at the same time, it is not in a completely opposite direction. There is a low wall along part of the edge of the vegetable patch, placed so that you come to it as you head down from the castle towards the vegetable patch. Coming from the castle, you reach this wall first, then the vegetable patch is beyond it, and the greenhouses beyond that. There are at least three greenhouses, and are probably more, possibly plus potting sheds etc.. If there are only three then they must be very long. Their layout is quite complex and confusing, but we know they extend some distance towards the Whomping Willow. There are flowerbeds, at least some of which are probably at the end of the lake, near the greenhouses. Beyond the grounds One of three things is true: there is a burial mound, or a rounded hill resembling a burial mound, in the castle grounds, or the hill on which the castle stands is itself a fairly even dome, like a burial mound, or the hill the castle stands on is shaped like a pig. This last could apply either to the immediate mound on which the castle stands, or to the mound which incorporates the whole of the grounds. Of the three options, the most likely is probably that there is a burial mound, or something which looks like one, somewhere in the grounds. There are mountains around Hogwarts, including some which are in the direction of travel of the Hogwarts Express, and within about three miles of the castle. The whole area around the castle is probably quite high up, and it is either snuggled against the base of a land-mass, or partway up one. Streams flow down from this higher mass to feed the lake. Hogsmeade itself is somewhere to the left of the gates, south-south-west of the castle. It is downslope from the castle grounds, and is about a mile away from the castle, or a little under. The castle probably also stands significantly higher than the station, despite the station being at the top of the pine-wood slope. The station road bears left from the castle gates, then right and left in order to swing away from the edge of the castle grounds and skirt the village, before bending round to the left again to hug the edge of the grounds. About where it turns to skirt the village, a small, winding lane bears away to the right and carries on until it joins the village High Street. The Shrieking Shack stands on higher ground than Hogsmeade. It is probably slightly uphill as you approach from the castle side as well, not just on a level, because the tunnel by which it is entered rises slightly. The tunnel which enters Honeydukes rises a lot - eight storeys or more. It cannot be that Honeydukes simply is very high up, since we know it is lower than the Shrieking Shack; so it must be that for some reason the tunnel to Honeydukes burrows very low. Return to contents-list Map of the Hogwarts grounds I have shown the map twice: once in an unlabelled overview version (below) which is displayed at a small enough size that you can see the whole map at a glance, in order to form an impression of the whole area, and then again in a labelled version which is at too high a magnification to fit on the screen, and has to be scrolled through. Because the map files are so large, even as .gifs, that having two of them on the same page my screw up your browser, I have placed the labelled map in a separate window until I think of a better way of doing this. In regard to this map of the grounds of Hogwarts, most details are strongly indicated by canon, but the presence of a less-frequented area of the grounds lying to the north of the greenhouses, and including a small hill or burial mound, is my own whimsy, based in part on the possibility that the "hog" in Hogwarts is really "hough" or "howe", in part on my fondness for the fanfic The Horse by Elsa2, which features a small hill, called iirc Squirrel Hill, in the castle grounds, and in part on my memories of working for a large hospital whose grounds opened up into unexpected, unfrequented green corners behind some of the high-tech buildings. If you don't like it just imagine the boundary wall as cutting in more closely behind the greenhouses. Smooth, fertile land suitable for farming. Rough scrubland, not suitable for farming. Bushes. Semi-open forest ground and undergrowth. Sparse growth of trees. Dense growth of trees. Bare earth or paving. Water. Buildings. Wooden structures, other than buildings. ::Display labelled map::
Harry [cut] emerged into the sunlight outside Honeydukes [cut] They set off up the High Street. [cut] They went to the Post Office; [cut] Then they visited Zonko's [cut] The day was fine and breezy, and neither of them felt like staying indoors, so they walked past the Three Broomsticks and climbed a slope to visit the Shrieking Shack [PoA ch. #14; p. 205]
They covered the distance to the trunk in seconds [cut] Harry went next; he crawled forwards, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel. [cut] 'This way,' said Harry, setting off, bent-backed, after Crookshanks. 'Where does this tunnel come out?' Hermione asked [cut] 'I don't know ... [cut] It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it ends up in Hogsmeade ...' They moved as fast as they could, bent almost double; [cut] On and on went the passage; it felt at least as long as the one to Honeydukes ... [cut] And then the tunnel began to rise; moments later it twisted, and Crookshanks had gone. Instead, Harry could see a patch of dim light through a small opening. [PoA ch. #17; p. 247]
From Honeydukes one apparently goes either on a level or up a slight slope towards the Three Broomsticks ("up" a street may sometimes just mean "along", but one wouldn't go "up" in a direction which sloped down). Then the Shrieking Shack is up a slope from the Three Broomsticks - so the Shack is quite definitely on a higher level than Honeydukes.
The tunnel to the Shrieking Shack feels about the same length as the one to Honeydukes. As the crow flies, it probably is: the distance from the castle to Honeydukes is probably very close to the distance from the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack. [**insert map reference**] There's no mention of the tunnel to the Shack twisting about the way the Honeydukes one does, though, so it ought to be shorter: probably Harry feels it to be as long because every second's delay could mean danger to Ron.
At any rate, although the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack does rise noticeably towards the end, there's no suggestion of having to go up over seven storeys in height, although we know they are ending up at a point higher than Honeydukes. Hence, it cannot be that Honeydukes simply is very high up; it must be that for some reason the tunnel to Honeydukes plunges very low. This raises questions as to how the thing is kept ventilated, as it is effectively a mine. Indeed, it may well be a former mine-working which has been adapted for another use.
The Forbidden Forest is west and north-west of the castle, and the front face of the castle, where the main doors are, faces broadly west or north-west, and therefore broadly towards the Forest. The castle has to be so oriented that light coming from 36° north of west can illuminate the front steps, and light coming from 32° north of west can shine fairly directly into the Entrance Hall.
The front gates are south or south-west of the castle. Heading from the main doors of the castle towards the front gates, the Forbidden Forest is on the right.
The castle and the lake are probably both partway up a mountain, but they are surrounded by mountains which are bigger and higher.
The castle stands at the edge of a cliff over the lake. The cliff is probably about 120ft high, and its upper part inclines back from the water towards the castle. The lower part of the cliff may also incline back, or may be vertical.
There is a footpath all round the perimeter of the lake, within the boundaries of the castle grounds. This path probably passes along the inclined slope at the top of the cliff, just below the base of the castle wall, and may well have its own lower safety-wall along the edge.
The lake is probably south of the castle, or at least part of it is. A large part of it wraps around at least one side of the castle, such that the centre of the lake may be seen by somebody standing a little way in front of the castle's main doors. It approaches near enough to the castle that people splashing in the water can be heard from the Entrance Hall, when the doors are open.
The greenhouses and vegetable patch are close to the lake, partly behind and partly to one side of the castle.
Part of the lake lies close to the route between the castle and the front gates, between Hagrid's house and the castle and between the Quidditch pitch and the castle
Heading from the castle towards the Quidditch pitch means the Forbidden Forest is on your right, and heading from the Quidditch pitch towards Hagrid's cabin also means heading towards the Forest.
There is a direct line of sight from the Quidditch pitch to the front steps of the castle, and to the Owlery in the West Tower.
The lake is maybe 800 to 1,200 yards long, with a perimeter about a mile and a half (2,640 yards) long, or just under. At the point at which Time-Turned and first-time Harry confront each other, it is probably between 100 and 300 yards across.
The mer village is probably less than 600 yards from the shore by the Triwizard judges' table.
The distance from Dumbledore's tomb across the lake to the edge of the Forbidden Forest is not more than 650 yards.
Hagrid's cabin is certainly no more than 400 yards from the front door of the castle, and is more probably about 320 yards.
If you follow the edge of the Forest from Hagrid's cabin, going away from the castle rather than back towards it, you go round a curve, so that the trees eventually cut out the view of both castle and lake. Then you come to a clear area large enough to hold a pen containing four dragons, plus stands for spectators. The distance from Hagrid's cabin to this paddock area is about 400 yards.
The nearest approach of the Forest is about 300 yards from Gryffindor Tower.
The Quidditch pitch is between 100 and 300 yards from the driveway as it approaches the front gates. It is up to about 600 yards from the nearest part of the school.
The driveway sweeps through one or more loose curves, and is between about 470 and 800 yards
The distance from the gates to the castle "as the crow flies" is around 600-700 yards.
The length of the road which runs around the outside of the grounds, from the station to the front gates, is around one and a third miles (2,346 yards).
The boundary of the grounds, which seems be a wall reinforced by spells, encloses the lake, and an area on the far side of the lake wide enough to incorporate a path around the lake back by a long steep slope thickly covered with pine trees.
Hogsmeade station lies close to the boundary wall. It has a narrow platform about 170 yards long, with some sort of barrier along the back. At the near end (probably) of the platform, as you approach from London, there is a way through this barrier, which leads to an entrance in the Hogwarts boundary wall, and thence to a narrow, steep path which cuts down through the pine trees to the lakeside, rounding a sharp bend just before it reaches the lake. At the far end of the platform (probably), nearest to Hogsmeade, there is a building of some sort, with windows, and a narrow door which lets onto the road outside.
The railway line goes around a sharp bend just before it reaches the station. The castle cannot be seen at night from either the station or the path down to the lake, until you actually emerge onto the lakeside. This may be due to first the boundary wall and then the pine trees cutting off the line of sight.
Outside the station there is the start of an earth-floored but substantial carriageway. At the station-end this is wide enough to enable a hundred carriages, each drawn by a single horse (sort-of), to park in something a lot more compact than single-file.
This carriageway leads all the way around the castle grounds to the front gates. At the station end it is level, or possibly slopes upwards a little, but overall it slopes downwards towards the front gates. At some point there is probably a spur of track veering off towards Hogsmeade.
The front gates are set into a wall and flanked on either side by tall stone pillars bearing figures of winged boars. If you stand at the gates with your back to the castle, to your left there is a twisting lane which turns a corner and bears towards Hogsmeade, and which connects to the road which runs around the Hogwarts grounds.
Through the gates, a sweeping driveway about 20ft wide leads up to the castle.
In addition to the front gates and the station gate, there is at least one other entrance to the grounds, probably somewhere around the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
The castle stands on top of its own little hill or mound, and is raised at least 20ft higher up than the floor of the Forbidden Forest. It is surrounded by lawns, which generally slope downwards towards the perimeter of the grounds (at least in the direction of the front gates), and which are fairly well-cared for but not cut very short. There is a substantial skirt of lawn in front of the castle.
The lawns slope down markedly from the castle towards the lake, and from the castle towards the Quidditch pitch.
The east and perhaps south-east side of the castle is on a cliff above the water, but on the south side there is a grassy slope which can easily be walked down from the level of the main doors to the level of the lake, close to the side of the castle. This must wrap round the side of the mound the castle stands on, since it drops from the top of the cliff to the water-level in quite a tight space.
On the front or west side of the castle the lawns slope down, but not too steeply for the students to line up on them. The approach from the north is either a slope up to the castle walls or, if a drop, then a very low one.
Hagrid's cabin is downslope from the castle, and probably also downslope from the greenhouses. The front gates are lower down than Hagrid's cabin.
The ground around Hagrid's cabin is in some way not open.
The slope of the grounds is probably quite uneven and lumpy. As you descend to a level lower than the front doors there is an obstruction interrupting the line of sight between the castle-end of the drive and the front gates, which suggests either a stand of trees in the way, or a bulge in the ground, between the castle and the area of Hagrid's cabin
There is a similar obstruction between the greenhouses and the Whomping Willow, stands alone in the grounds. The top of it can be seen from the greenhouses, but the base cannot. Another obstriction, probably a bulge of ground, prevents Hagrid's house from being in plain view all the way from the Quidditch pitch.
On the opposite side of the grounds from the Forbidden Forest, there is a smooth expanse of lawn.
There are trees around the lake, and other individual trees scattered about the lawns.
The lake is not a tidal inlet, and is presumably fresh-water. Hogwarts is probably very close to the foot of a mountain, or on a ledge partway up a mountain, and the lake is probably fed by numerous but small streams coming down the hillside from the direction of the station.
The lake is fairly wide, and has a longish shore which is quite close to Hagrid's house and can be seen, from Hagrid's house, as running towards and away from you.
The lake has quite extensive shallows, but is at least 12ft deep at the point where the boats cross it, close to the station. The mer village, and the areas of lake-floor which Harry passes over to get there, are probably about 40ft deep - certainly a lot less than 95ft deep.
On the castle side of the lake there is a wide, ivy-curtained opening which leads into a water-filled channel which penetrates the cliff-face and flows to an underground harbour.
The lake seems to be mostly surrounded by low, grassy slopes, and is also at least partly surrounded by trees and bushes. This includes an area of pine wood between the lake and the station, which clothes a steep bank.
As you stand facing the front doors of the castle, to your right is a slope of lawn leading down to the lake, at the foot of which are a large beech tree and some bushes. The bushes are south or west of the beech tree.
The distance from the castle around the lake to the far end is up to 1,500 yards, or a little under.
If you start from that far end and swim towards the centre of the lake and/or towards the castle, you start by passing through shallows where the floor of the lake is covered in silt and in flat, slimy stones. Passing out of the shallows, the water quite rapidly becomes at least about 15ft deep. In this area there are large expanses of tangled black waterweed and of bare muddy floor scattered with dull, glimmering stones.
Next comes an area where there are tangled clumps of weed (which may still be black but we aren't told) and fallen logs, as well as fish, and then you come to a great expanse of Grindylow-haunted pale-green weed, which extends for about 400 to 500 yards. The water in this area is about 30ft deep.
After the pale green weed comes an expanse of plain black mud, easily disturbed. In the midst of the black plain, you come to a small underwater village. There is a stone painted with scenes in front of the entrance, and then probably about two hundred crude stone houses forming a village about 150 yards across, with a square at the centre containing a large, rough-hewn statue.
Near to Hagrid's cabin there is probably a big more-or-less circular bite out of the edge of the Forest, forming a sort of arena almost surrounded by trees, into which the Beauxbatons carriage and flying-horse paddock were tucked.
Between Hagrid's cabin and the area nearer the front gates where the Hippogriffs and, later, the dragons are kept, the edge of the Forest swings round in a convex curve.
The Forest probably approaches quite close to the driveway in between Hagrid's house and the front gates.
The edge of the Forest does not approach the lake or the greenhouses very closely, or if it does it then falls back around a wide stretch of open lawn.
There is a free-standing or nearly free-standing clump of trees at the edge of the Forest, in a convenient position from which to observe the Whomping Willow.
The Whomping Willow stands alone in the grounds. It is on an arc which goes lake -> greenhouses -> vegetable-patch -> lawn -> Willow, and there is quite a wide area of lawn between it and the vegetable-patch. It is also on a fairly short, direct route between the greenhouses and the Forbidden Forest.
There is an obstruction of some kind, probably a hillock, obscuring the line of sight between it and the greenhouses. This obstruction probably interrupts the line of sight from Hagrid's cabin, for part of the area between the greenhouses and the Willow.
The Willow is quite a long way from Hagrid's cabin, and if you walk from one to the other you pass the main doors of the castle somewhere on the way. It is a significant distance from the front doors of the castle, and closer to the Forest than to the castle.
Hagrid's house is a wooden, one-room structure, close to the edge of the Forest, and at a significant distance from both the Quidditch pitch and the front gates. It faces towards the castle, and stands on ground which is fairly flat but which is in some way not "open".
The floor-size of the house is around 35ft by 21ft. It has a sloping roof - probably gabled, with a high ridge along the middle. The height of the roof varies from about 10ft up to probably about 15ft, or a little more, depending on how thick the roof itself is.
The house has a chimney, to one side. The chimney may be over a corner: if so, it is one of the corners at the front of the house. It has a front and a back door, both probably about 5ft wide, and two windows each at front and back. The windows are divided into square panes; they must extend from about 3ft above ground to about 11ft, and are probably sash windows, about 4ft wide.
As you face the front of the house, there is a rain-barrel by the right-hand window. There is probably another barrel at the back, on the left (as judged from the front of the house).
Behind the house there is a vegetable garden, which is described as "small" but which must be at least 40ft by 60ft. The back of this garden is probably about 30ft from the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It is surrounded by a fence which has at least one growing tree incorporated into it, and this fence is either incomplete or it has a gate in it.
The Quidditch pitch is somewhere near the front gates, between 100 and 300 yards from the driveway, and probably between 350 and 600 yards from the school. Its long axis is oriented east to west and is at an angle to the driveway (as big an angle as we can make it and still have the June sunset shining into the Entrance Hall).
The pitch proper five hundred feet long and a hundred and eighty feet wide, forming a narrow oval with quite pointed ends, with the scoring areas coming about eighty feet into the pitch, and the goalposts arranged in straight lines, some distance in from the ends. The goalposts are golden hoops 50ft high, about 17ft apart and having hoops about 5ft across.
There is probably an "offside" strip about 50ft wide around the pitch proper.
The pitch has a grass surface and is surrounded by tiered seating which is wooden and hollow. There are at least three tiers of seats, but probably only three - no more than four, certainly. The seating is accessed by stairs which are entered from the lawn, and which are widely spaced.
The height of the stands is such that Hagrid, standing or sitting in or by his cabin and using binoculars, is able to see much of the action on/above the pitch. Players standing on the pitch are able to see the front doors of the castle: either they is looking straight through one of the entrances to the pitch, or the stands are of an open construction which enables them to see out between the tiers.
The foot of one of the stairs faces broadly towards Hagrid's cabin, but at an angle to it. There is an entrance from the lawn outside onto the pitch proper and which is broadly on a side of the pitch which faces upslope towards the castle, but is so angled that a person coming down from the castle must turn into it.
There is a barrier between the playing area and the stands, low enough to vault over. There is probably space between this barrier and the first row of seats, wide enough for Hagrid to walk around it.
There is a wooden podium for the match commentator, probably placed midway along one of the long sides.
There are four changing rooms, one per house, each with a captain's office attached, and opening directly onto the pitch. There is probably an office for Madam Hooch in the same block. The block of changing rooms probably interrupts the stands at that point, rather than sticking out onto the lawn.
The changing rooms are some distance from the goalposts, and not next to the path which leads onto the pitch - not the one we've been told about, anyway, though there may be others.
The greenhouses are close to the edge of the lake, partly behind the castle and partly to the left of it, as you face the main doors. The vegetable patch may well extend to the left of the greenhouses, but part of it must also lie between the greenhouses and the castle, and between the greenhouses and Hagrid's cabin. The whole area is quite low-lying, since the vegetable patch can flood, and there is probably a stream running through or close by it.
The edge of the vegetable patch is not on a direct route from the castle to Hagrid's cabin; at the same time, it is not in a completely opposite direction. There is a low wall along part of the edge of the vegetable patch, placed so that you come to it as you head down from the castle towards the vegetable patch. Coming from the castle, you reach this wall first, then the vegetable patch is beyond it, and the greenhouses beyond that.
There are at least three greenhouses, and are probably more, possibly plus potting sheds etc.. If there are only three then they must be very long. Their layout is quite complex and confusing, but we know they extend some distance towards the Whomping Willow.
There are flowerbeds, at least some of which are probably at the end of the lake, near the greenhouses.
One of three things is true: there is a burial mound, or a rounded hill resembling a burial mound, in the castle grounds, or the hill on which the castle stands is itself a fairly even dome, like a burial mound, or the hill the castle stands on is shaped like a pig. This last could apply either to the immediate mound on which the castle stands, or to the mound which incorporates the whole of the grounds. Of the three options, the most likely is probably that there is a burial mound, or something which looks like one, somewhere in the grounds.
There are mountains around Hogwarts, including some which are in the direction of travel of the Hogwarts Express, and within about three miles of the castle. The whole area around the castle is probably quite high up, and it is either snuggled against the base of a land-mass, or partway up one. Streams flow down from this higher mass to feed the lake.
Hogsmeade itself is somewhere to the left of the gates, south-south-west of the castle. It is downslope from the castle grounds, and is about a mile away from the castle, or a little under. The castle probably also stands significantly higher than the station, despite the station being at the top of the pine-wood slope.
The station road bears left from the castle gates, then right and left in order to swing away from the edge of the castle grounds and skirt the village, before bending round to the left again to hug the edge of the grounds. About where it turns to skirt the village, a small, winding lane bears away to the right and carries on until it joins the village High Street.
The Shrieking Shack stands on higher ground than Hogsmeade. It is probably slightly uphill as you approach from the castle side as well, not just on a level, because the tunnel by which it is entered rises slightly.
The tunnel which enters Honeydukes rises a lot - eight storeys or more. It cannot be that Honeydukes simply is very high up, since we know it is lower than the Shrieking Shack; so it must be that for some reason the tunnel to Honeydukes burrows very low.
I have shown the map twice: once in an unlabelled overview version (below) which is displayed at a small enough size that you can see the whole map at a glance, in order to form an impression of the whole area, and then again in a labelled version which is at too high a magnification to fit on the screen, and has to be scrolled through. Because the map files are so large, even as .gifs, that having two of them on the same page my screw up your browser, I have placed the labelled map in a separate window until I think of a better way of doing this.
In regard to this map of the grounds of Hogwarts, most details are strongly indicated by canon, but the presence of a less-frequented area of the grounds lying to the north of the greenhouses, and including a small hill or burial mound, is my own whimsy, based in part on the possibility that the "hog" in Hogwarts is really "hough" or "howe", in part on my fondness for the fanfic The Horse by Elsa2, which features a small hill, called iirc Squirrel Hill, in the castle grounds, and in part on my memories of working for a large hospital whose grounds opened up into unexpected, unfrequented green corners behind some of the high-tech buildings. If you don't like it just imagine the boundary wall as cutting in more closely behind the greenhouses.
Smooth, fertile land suitable for farming. Rough scrubland, not suitable for farming. Bushes. Semi-open forest ground and undergrowth. Sparse growth of trees. Dense growth of trees. Bare earth or paving. Water. Buildings. Wooden structures, other than buildings.
